Use Genius Shuffle, Genius Playlists, or Genius Mixes

You can use Genius to have iTunes play songs from your library that sound great together. There are three ways you can use Genius:

Genius is a free service. To use Genius, you must turn on Genius (on each computer you want to use it on), be connected to the Internet, and have an Apple ID.

Turn Genius on or off

If iCloud Music Library is turned on, you can’t turn Genius off.

Create a Genius Playlist

Genius Playlists appear in the sidebar on the left, below Music Playlists. A Genius Playlist has the Genius icon next to it.

Use Genius Shuffle

To change the selection of songs, repeat the above step.

Play a Genius Mix

  1. Choose Music from the pop-up menu at the top left.

  2. Select Genius Mixes in the sidebar on the left.

  3. To start playing a Genius Mix, move the pointer over the mix you want to play, then click the Play button .

If a song has no Genius suggestions

Your Genius results are automatically updated once a week when iTunes is open. You can update them manually—for example, when you add new music to your library from a CD or a website.

To create Genius Playlists, Genius Shuffle, and Genius Mixes, iTunes uses anonymous information about your library and other iTunes libraries. The iTunes Store updates its Genius data constantly, based on new information from the iTunes Store and customers’ libraries.