iTunes remote for iPhone dont work with Catalina

the threading is bad here @turingtest2

"Captain Slocum

Dec 20, 2019 3:47 AM in response to bofromoslo

Go into Settings on your remote app on the iPhone and choose Add an iTunes Library. Make a note of the 4 figure code, go into Music on Catalina, click the iPhone icon and enter the number. Back in the phone select the name of your library. Then either select a song, or Now Playing."

My response to this was

"Where is the iPhone icon"

in reference to the instructions. I do realize the Apple also changed iPhone sync to use FILES now, but this does NOT help in getting the REMOTE app on the iPhone to control MUSIC on the Mac.

Quite, documentation now appears to be limited to the legal "contracts" we are required read and agree to when installing software, and assistance from forums such as this (that is, assistance from other users) is more helpful than Apple support calls.

I was able to get the iTunes remote working correctly after following tips found here, in addition to poking around the settings and relying on my own decades of experience at generic troubleshooting in Windows environments (I've only been using a Mac for 3 or 4 years, although I've had iPhones and iPods since the iPhone 3).

If you still have trouble with the iTunes remote, see my list of things to check on page 20 of this thread. It can be successfully set up whether or not you are using shared libraries.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250716452?page=20

[Edited by Moderator]

You can leave feedback here requesting a feature - Product Feedback - Apple

In the interest of saving time for everyone on this thread… I believe what is the most painful aspect of this issue of the iTunes remote not working after all the upgrades (Catalina, IOS) is that we cannot control our music via the remote app or change to the next song or change artist, etc without being in front of our computers or Apple TV.

Here is what I have tried and found so far...

• iTunes remote only works with Apple TVs now. The iTunes remote app acts as a trackpad only.
• For some reason, I can now see my iTunes library but CANNOT use any of the control buttons to play, stop, change, music or volume. If I have music play on my Mac, the song being played will NOT show on the remote app.
• Yes, I can play my iTunes library via my Apple TV and I can even select, play my music and control speaker volume. Yes, I can add or disconnect speakers on my network that are are Airplay2, Airplay, or on Airport Exspress. But I CANNOT have an Airplay2 and Airplay speakers receive the music stream at the same time. One or the other, if I select an airplay speaker, it will disconnect all others. Yet, I can have multiple Airplay2 speakers selected and playing at the same time. Though to do all of this, I have to be in front of my TV to take any of these actions.
• I downloaded the Remote + app… nice, simple app that controls iTunes and other apps. You change you music (forward/back) but cannot see what is playing. You control the volume of all your speaker BUT NOT individually. You still have to be in front of your computer to see what is playing and control volumes by speaker zone/type.
• The AirFoil app will is great and allows you all you to control the volume (only) of all your speakers individually or as a whole. BUT you cannot change nor know what music is playing.

I wish Microsoft would roll out better softer… Oops, sorry meant to say Apple… 👎🏼

In case you are interested, if you have an Apple Music account & an Apple TV you can see where I suspect Apple is going with "Remote".

Right at the bottom of the Airplay menu on your phone you will see your Apple TV listed, but not as a speaker, as a server. If you select it you can browse music locally on your phone in the Music app, select AirPlay speakers you want to play to (from the Apple TV's list) and press play and your phone will hand-off the actual playing to the Apple TV. It's quite clever - you can quickly browse music on your phone but then once playing you can turn your phone off and everything will carry-on. It's a bit like how Spotify works with Spotify certified devices.

So I suspect that in the not too distant future your Mac's libraries will appear on that list as well. You'll be able to browse music locally on your iPhone and then hand-off to the Mac to actually play it.

However it's also massively limiting:

• It's not there yet. Home-shared Mac libraries do not yet appear on the Airplay menu with Catalina
• From an Apple TV it only seems to work with Apple Music. Local files & URLs which you could play in iTunes will not hand-off to an Apple TV. If this limitation continues with Macs then it will be a big issue for me.
• It only seems to work with Airplay 2 devices. Again this could be an Apple TV limitation but if continued on the Mac it will be a big issue

So getting Remote up and running again looks like the only short/medium term solution to me.

Update:

As some others have suggested, it looks like the stuff I previously used "Remote" for is now included within the Music app on my iPhone.

Here's what I did:

1. I enabled "Media Sharing" and "Home Sharing" on my Mac (see my previous post).
2. I opened the "Music" app on my phone.
3. I observed a new option: "Home Sharing" which I tapped.
4. I then saw a list of available music libraries which contained the name of the music library stored on my Mac!
5. I tapped the library.
6. I have full access to my Mac's music library!
7. Once a song is playing I can open that song full screen on iPhone and choose which speaker I want.

This is working!

I guess "Remote" is obsolete now.

Try this and report back!

Ben, What device is pushing the music to the speakers? The Mac (then you are remotely controlling it) or the iPhone (then you are "downloading" from the Mac, to the iPhone, and then it is going to the speakers).

Here's the test:

1. On your iPhone, do as you posted, and start playing a playlist.
2. On the phone, Turn off WiFi.
3. Wait until the song playing, (and maybe the next one?) have finished playing. (AirPlay sends whole songs to the speakers, it doesn't really stream "live")

==If the music keeps playing, you are Remotely Controlling your Mac.

==If the music stops playing, your iPhone was playing the tunes.

You can also go look at your Mac. Look at the "Music" app. Is it playing the songs you hear coming from the speakers? Can you pause it from the Mac and restart it from your iPhone? That's "remote" control.

I hear you.

Actually to be fair to Apple (and contrary to what I previously posted) based on my recent testing I think you'll need a subscription to iTunes Match, not the full Apple Music to make this work. Remotes & streamers all need to be operating off the same "iTunes in the Cloud" library but they may not need a full Apple Music subscription unless you select an Apple Music track to play.

This has a couple of implications:

• It's obviously going to be a lot cheaper than full Apple Music (but more expensive than free, which is what we have now)
• If they do extend the functionality to allow Catalina to stream in this way then I would imagine that your local lossless files will be selected to play ahead of anything in the cloud. That's how it currently works; with iTunes Match, cloud versions only get used if there's nothing held locally.

I should stress that this is all speculation on my part. Hopefully they will fix Remote tomorrow and that will be the end of it.

So here is my latest on the iTunes Remote debacle after this horrible [Catalina] upgrade experience… I controlled everything from my MacAir because I could SIMPLY play the same song in a synchronized fashion to all my speakers using AirPlay/Airplay2.

This new Catalina configuration allows me to do the following but some pieces are broken.

• New iTunes/Music app on my MacAir always to play music on Airplay/Airplay devices simultaneously just like before BUT cannot control this music from my iPhone or Watch
• I can play the same music from my iPhone simultaneously to Airplay2 devices. I cannot play this same music on Airplay2 AND Airplay devices simultaneous. As soon as I try to add the Airplay device to the mixed, it KNOCKS out my Airplay2 devices. Then to make matters worse, I can ONLY connect to ONE Airplay device at a time.

I have...

• 25K songs
• iTunes Match - initially so that I could access my music on my iPhone regardless of where I was at. I became the friend that was asked to connect to my friends speakers so they could listen to my music lists.
• Apple Music - I then found myself wanting more than what I already had and subscribed to Apple Music. Love that I can listen to what ever I want whenever I want. And even play Apples suggestions without having to put the effort to creating a list. Even though my kid and others tell me that Spotify has better playlists…

Yes, the iPhone approach works… but not reliably like my MacAir. Here is what I want…

• to play music over Airplay and Airplay2 devices simultaneously just like could before. I now have $700 speakers that have Airplay built into them that I cannot use/control at the same time via my iPhone / Watch.
• control my music on my Mac from my iPhone or Watch just like I could before. As someone said before, I can then leave with my phone and still have the music playing.

Simple request… I really don’t care if it is via iTunes remote. I just want the functionality back. But Apple, you are no longer listening. You are becoming Microsoft.

I am like most… I switched from Windows to everything Apple shortly after our first iPad. I loved telling my friends that were still on Windows that I was on Apple because it just worked. “Should I install the latest upgrade?” My answer was always “sure, it Apple… it not Microsoft!” Well those days have come to an end. I like many are being push to “thinking” of changing back, which is a dangerous road from both points of view.

I installed iTunes 12.9.5.5 with Retroactive and luckily got everything work fine, just as before, with Remote via home sharing.

My library contains 3491 albums, 73286 songs for a total of 1.39TB.

Before importing my files into iTunes, I configured it as follows:

• General
  • iCloud music library => unchecked
• Advanced
  • iTunes Media folder location => /Users/my name/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media
  • Keep iTunes Media folder organized => unchecked
  • Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library => unchecked

This is a five year trend with Apple. iTunes functionality and elegance has been getting cut and moved around making a MAC useless as a Media Server. Apple has basically told owners of a music collection to either buy their streaming service or go pound sand! After over 10 years using my Mac as a Media Server they just sent a clear signal that they will drop support and functions for the products loyal consumers have been using and spending money on for over a decade. They are a trillion dollar company, you would think they could juggle a new streaming service and a music app (iTunes) that basically helped build the brand!

Here is my short list of shortcut comings of the "New Music App"

1. The remote is no longer useful
2. They removed a search bar to sort within playlists, you have to go to the menu and open every time. A real unnecessary Pain in the A
3. The new app is more unstable than the last one. The Airplay receivers drop in and out constantly.
4. It has become very unstable and slow with my external hard drive. (Being used with a 2018 Mini)
5. What used to be an attractive platform has turned into blah.
6. The album art feature sucks more than it used to.
7. FLAC support??? Nope still none!
8. Every time they do an update some clown gets paid to call it an update by moving menu items around, burying menus deep into other menus or just flat out removing features.?? Never really adding anything of usefulness. This has been frosting me for years!

I am done, I moved off the windows platform 10 years ago. I am going back in, screw Apple. Might be time for consumers to send them a message and make them a quarter of a trillion dollar company.

Signed

A soon to be former stock holder

This is STILL not working for me. I checked and iOS 13.3 was pending install (even though I have Automatic Updates turned ON). So installed the 13.3 update, rebooted the Mac, and followed steps 1–5. My iPhone shows up under a new Devices category, but only once and with no icons associated with it. There is no "Play" icon associated with my phone, so I get stuck on Step 6.

What am I doing incorrectly?

is it normal that the library shows up as a grey symbol? It used to be a full colored one.

note: if I click the grey symbol the remote app loads the library and I am able to control the music, so no issue there. To me it is just not the expected behavior that my library show up as a grey (unreachable) library.

please comment

@turingtest2 what does the library name/symbol look like in your remote app? Mine is grey, but back in the good days it was a full coloured icon. In my setup homesharing doesn’t work either, so I agree with your post.

A quick suggestion (you may have done this already)…. Make sure you are the same wifi. Open your Remote App on the device, and then try to connect to the library. A 4-digit code should appear. Then look for your device on the left hand-side of the Music program on you computer. Enter your 4-digit code. You should be all set.