What is the best way to manage Downloaded music files on iPhone?

There are 2 ways to store downloaded music files on your iPhone.

1. iPhone Files - iPhone Files allows you to:

• Store music and other files received from Email, AirDrop, or other Apps.
• Play music from stored music files.
• Sync music and other files with iCloud Drive and other cloud storage service.

2. iPhone Music - iPhone Music allows you to:

• Store music files imported, (called Downloaded Music) with iTunes.
• Store local copies of purchased music from iTunes store.
• Play music from stored music files.

The following diagram shows you different ways to transfer downloaded music files between iPhone and Windows/Man computers:

As you can see from the diagram:

• iPhone does not allow you to store downloaded music files (like *.pm3 files) directly to iPhone Music library. This is to help protecting music digital copyright.
• You can easily save music files in iPhone Files frome email, from iCloud Drive/Microsoft OneDrive/etc., from Website downloads, or from AirDrop transfers.
• You can play music from iPhone Files. But that player is too simple comparing to iPhone Music.
• The only way to transfer music files to iPhone Music is to use iTunes from a desktop computer with a USB connection.
• Transerring music files to iPhone Music is a one-way street. There is no way to transfer them back. So you must keep copies of your music files on your desktop computer.
• The best place to keep your downloaded music files is iCloud Drive. You can get them anytime, anywhere and on any device with a simple Web browser.

To turn on iCloud Drive on your iPhone, tap "Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Drive: ON".

To access iCloud Drive files, tap "Files > Locations > iCloud Drive".

See other tutorials on how to transfer music files with iTunes on desktop computers.

⇒ Record Music with Voice Memos on iPhone

⇐ iPhone Music Settings

⇑ Introduction to iPhone Music

⇑⇑ Apple Music and iTunes Frequently Asked Questions