It sounds like you are buying the songs in iTunes on the iMac. (iTunes on an iMac indicates an older operating system, as MacOS has moved from iTunes to Music, but that shouldn't really matter other than I can't test the exact scenario as my MacBook has been upgraded already)
Then you sync the iPhone to get it onto your phone. (Could just enable automatic downloads in
Settings->iTunes and App Store, under
Automatic Downloads turn on
Music to have purchases appear on your iPhone automatically) sometimes you have to sync multiple times to get it to show up. (maybe the switch is on, and you are getting the song that way instead of through the sync. There is a bit of a delay). Maybe your iTunes does not have Automatic Downloads enabled for Music? In iTunes, check in
Settings,
Downloads tab,
Automatic Downloads ensure there is a check mark next to
Music, also check
Always Check for Available Downloads, click
OK to save.
Next, you say the songs are not in your Purchased playlist. In iTunes or the iPhone? My guess is iTunes as this make more sense of what you would be looking at. (The Purchased playlist is a little problematic, as if iTunes removes a song from their library that you purchased, it will be removed from their automatic Purchased Playlist, which is why I have my own My Purchased playlist -
New->Smart Playlist, rules: Match
music for the following rules:
Purchased is true,
live updating is checked.).
When I purchase a song it is downloaded immediately and shows up in both the Apple Purchased playlist and My Purchased playlist.
Based on the information you gave, this is what might be happening.
- Your iTunes does not automatically download music purchases (update settings as stated above, though for me the song downloaded anyway when I used iTunes. A little confused how yours does not download it.)
- Your iPhone does automatically download music purchases, with a delay as the Music app does not query the store all the time, just occasionally.
- Your iTunes gets the song when the iPhone syncs to it (iPhone to iTunes sync of purchased content happens automatically)
- Purchased playlist is delayed in updating due to needing the sync from the iPhone.
Since I can't replicate the behavior exactly, I have some questions:
- Is iTunes configured to automatically download music?
- Does your iMac have a slow network connection?
- Is your iPhone configured to automatically download music?
- Is your iPhone using a different network than your iMac like cellular data?
- Do you have disc space to store music on the iMac?
