Apple remote app not working after Catalina update

Hi Peurderien

Thanks for reply, I clicked on media sharing and remote login in preferences as you said and can now see music library in remote app. But the same as you it does not control music when streaming to Airplay devices and Apple TV.

I use Rogue Amoeba’s Airfoil to stream to my airplay devices as it is more reliable than Apples Airplay which very often goes out of sync.

I encountered the issue you describe, and have found a temporary solution. Instead of accessing my music library directly in the Remote App, like I did prior to installing Catalina, I use the AppleTV. The path is AppleTV>More>Computers>(my Mac's name), and then I can create playlists, play, pause, etc.. This method feels unrefined compared to the old way of accomplishing the same tasks, but it is better than going to another room to do so on the Mac itself.

Even if the functionality were the same, this implementation of accessing Home Sharing is slow. Loading my 85GB music library takes minutes on the Music app on iOS 13. Reminds me of a line from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Apple, "you're going the wrong way."

Thanks for posting because I did learn a few things.

The only way I’m able to control, play and airplay music on my Mac mini server is is via screen sharing with my MacBook Pro.

Clumsy, but at least that works.

The iOS remote sees the content of the server but is not able to control it in any way.

This. Absolutely every word of this. Home sharing from the iTunes (now Music) app for large libraries has been completely broken for at least the last five years. I say this having gone through several generations of Apple devices and every OS update along the way.

Home sharing became usable only with the Remote app some time ago, and now the Remote app itself can only display your music library, not actually play it. Sad days for those of us who invested for many many years in a large home library of music.

Just wanted to chime in. This is my exact issue. Even updated to the 13.1 and there is no solution to this.

I cannot either play directly from the iPhone, since I am using my mac to controle several airplay units in my home. I want every one in my home to be able to connect and control the music.

Well, nope. This topic is not about airplay or streaming, what btw. doesn't work either with local video content. It's about remote controlling the media content like music and video on your mac with the help of your iOS devices.

Most users here are not noobs and very aware that we have to activate media or family sharing and use the same Apple ID on our devices.

This is such a basic functionality, even Windows and Android can manage this without problems. But it seems like the brains in Cupertino are not capable anymore of giving people a convenient user experience. It almost seems like Apple itself likes to push users into renting or buying media, instead of giving them control over - and even access to - their own property.

Time to switch to better operation systems, Apple has turned into a good looking junk store. Function follows form.

It worked for me. Authorized both Mac mini and MacBook Air in the tv app. Activated home sharing with media files enabled and library showed up again. Keep in mind via the Apple TV it’ll show both libraries Bieber if you want to play a library of the other Mac you need to select that library in the tv app. Good luck

Same issue. Reported issue to Apple during beta stage. No reply or corrective action, sadly.

Tried numerous fixes - including deauthorising/re-authorising, logout/login etc.

Interestingly, like the Remote app, Siri on Homepod has also lost the ability to control (iTunes) Music that is being Airplayed and its like Bonjour fails after handshaking with macOS Catalina.

Connecting using Homesharing on OS device works, but it is slow - and annoyingly, the remote library contents is forgotten after disconnect.

Hi Peurderien. I'm not thrilled with my kludge of a solution, but it works well enough until Apple fixes this obnoxious problem. I have no desire to subscribe to Apple Music, but I do want to continue using AirPlay to stream ALAC files to my two-channel home system via external DAC.

While the Remote App no longer works, you can still control the music in your library or Apple Music subscription from your mobile device using the Home App and the Music icon on your iPhone or iPad using Airplay. The only two slight downsides to this compared to the old Remote App are:

1) you have to choose between controlling your music from your Mac or from one of your mobile devices (with the Remote App you could control it from either), and

2) the volume controls on your iPhone will have to be set at significantly higher levels to get the same decibels from your speakers, which could be a problem is you want to crank up to volume to full for a party and your speakers are not that potent.

How do you use Home app to control Airplay’d music for non-HomePod speakers?

You made an interesting comment that life without Remote is possible, though not equivalent. I just wonder how you use Homepod in practise?

I use Airport Express to connect my non-HomePod speakers. I have three systems: two connected via Airport Express and one via HomePod. In addition to music I use HomePod mainly to turn on and off my Hue bulbs. When I use Hey Siri to turn on music the music only plays on the HomePod. If I want to listen to music from my other speaker systems I use Home Sharing and Airplay.

I also discovered this. I have two AppleTVs: a third generation and a fourth generation (the one where you can talk to your remote). Strangely enough, I can still use my Remote App to control my third generation AppleTV but not the fourth generation one (it doesn't show up on my Remote App). However, I can still use the AppleTV speakers to connect to my AudioVisual library via Home Sharing and Airplay, but not directly from my Mac's local computer library.

Thats great. Can you also see these airplay devices when you use the “Home” app??

I can only see my HomePods but no third party devices or my Airports are not shown. I can of course airplay to those that are Airplay v2 compatible.