Luma Dynamic playlists
Playlists & Collections, updated
A dynamic playlist fills itself. You set rules, such as “genre is rock and year between 1980 and 1989”, and Luma finds the matching songs. When new songs arrive or you listen to something, the list keeps itself up to date.
Create a dynamic playlist
- iPhone and iPad: in the Playlists tab, tap + at the top and choose New Dynamic Playlist.
- Mac: click + at the bottom of the sidebar or New on the Playlists page, then New Dynamic Playlist.
In the editor, enter a name, add your rules with Add Rule and save. While you edit, the editor already shows how many songs match. With no rules at all, every song in your library matches.
To change the rules later, use Edit Rules…: on the iPhone in the playlist's menu (•••), on the Mac with a right-click.
The rules
| Rule | What Luma checks |
|---|---|
| Genre, Artist, Album | Is one or none of several entries you pick from your library. Or contains a text, or doesn't, such as “feat”. |
| Year | Is exactly one year, before or after a year, or between two years. That's how you build a list of the 80s, for example. |
| Plays | Played more than, less than or exactly a number of times. |
| Last played | In the last or not in the last days, weeks or months, or never. |
| Added | In the last or not in the last days, weeks or months. |
| Liked | Yes or no. |
| Format | Is or isn't FLAC, MP3, AAC/ALAC (M4A), WAV, AIFF or Ogg/Opus. |
| Length | Longer or shorter than a time in minutes and seconds. |
In the editor you also decide whether a song has to meet all rules or just any of them. “Genre is jazz” and “liked is yes” with “all” gives you the jazz songs you liked; with “any” it gives you every jazz song plus everything you liked.
Only once you've heard about a third of a song or it played to the end. Skipping after a few seconds doesn't count. That keeps rules about plays and lists like “Most Played” honest.
Genre and year rules are only as good as your files' tags. Fill in missing years or genres in Edit song and album info, fastest for a whole album at once.
Limit and reshuffle
With Limit, the playlist only takes a set number of songs. You choose how many and how they are selected: random, most played, least played, recently played or recently added. That gives you lists like “50 random songs from the 90s” or “the 100 most played”.
For a random pick and for “least played”, Reshuffle in the playlist's menu draws a new selection.
Most Played, Liked and the rest
Earlier versions had fixed automatic lists. When you update to Luma 1.7 and Luma for Mac 1.2.0, Most Played, Recently Played, Recently Added and Liked become dynamic playlists if they were turned on, on the iPhone in your previous order. From now on you adjust them like any other dynamic playlist, change their rules or delete them.
The By Genre and By Decade overviews are gone. Create a dynamic playlist with a genre or year rule instead, for example “year between 1980 and 1989” for the 80s.
Convert to a regular playlist
Convert to Regular Playlist in the playlist's menu (on the Mac with a right-click) turns a dynamic playlist into a regular playlist. It keeps the songs that match right now and no longer changes with the rules. In return you can add and reorder songs yourself.
Where they appear
By default, dynamic playlists have their own section above your other playlists, on the Mac in the sidebar too. To show all playlists in one list, turn off Separate dynamic playlists:
- iPhone and iPad: Settings › General › Playlists Tab
- Mac: Settings › General
Backup
The backup under Settings › Library & Storage (on the Mac Settings › Library) includes your dynamic playlists and their rules. After a restore they fill up again from the music that is in Luma.
Still have a question or found a mistake? Email hello@suenavus.com.