Remote app not working with Catalina. When will this be fixed. Massive problem for me

So we have an iMac with Catalina running that we are streaming music from. All 1800 CD:s are ripped there in Apple Lossless so we at least could stream in the same quality that the music was bought in.

Before when using Remote application on any of the family's iOS devices we had the benefit of not handling the actual files (significant larger than compressed formats, e.g. 10 times) only telling "iTunes" on the iMac, where to play and at what volume for each Airplay speaker.

If using iOS "Music" and home sharing feature, we either need to stream the actual file from iMac through the device and stress network and sluggish response as a result of large files and library. Second possibility is the stream compressed copies from the "cloud" and stream to speaker.

Neither of these choices are acceptable - We need an update of Remote for iTunes so it works with new Music application running on Catalina or just to add decent remote function through iOS Music!

As Apple claims to "Love music" and sees themselves as an innovative company with focus on making things nice and simple to use - I feel they missed out here. Maybe need to look at other solutions like Sonos, Roon...

While we are at it - Apple could (or should) also add the possibility to control Music running on one computer from another one e.g. iMac as server and MacBook Pro as client (not using "Shared screen") ;-)

Correction to my last post:

As the albums, playlists, artwork etc. are all available in Remote I assumed that they can be controlled. But you are right, it doesn‘t work ... the control buttons have no effect. :(

This is the closest feedback category for our problem. I'm not holding my breath, but let Apple know your dissatisfaction with the removal of such a useful and sensible feature.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

Try the following:

• Activate Home Sharing in Catalina in Preferences/Sharing by entering xxx as Library Name and using your preferred Apple ID yyy.
• Open Remote.app on your IOS device and select Settings. Turn off Home Sharing. Turn it back on also using Apple ID yyy.
• Done. Now you should see an iTunes icon named xxx in Remote.app.

Hope this helps.

There is another way (without using the iTunes Remote app) of controlling your music from your Mac or from your iOS device. Once you have Media Sharing turned on in the Mac System Preferences/Sharing.

1. Be connected on your WiFi network (Mac & iPhone/iPad)
2. In your Music App, select Library, then Home Sharing
3. Select your Mac Music Library
4. Now select what you want to play

1. On your iPhone/iPad pull down your Control Center
2. Press the little glowing blue icon (in the music control area)
3. From there you can select 1 or more of you Apple TV's, Home Pod's.
4. You can control the volume on each device. (just as you could in the iTunes Remote App)

With this upgrade, there is a down fall with using the 1st-3rd generation Apple TV's. You can only control 1 at a time. With the 4th Gen. and up, you can control all as a group. I am hoping Apple will ether fix the iTunes Remote App / Catalina or create a new App in the near future.

I've worked this out. You need to go to System Prefs > Sharing > Media Sharing (which is a new option in Catalina) and then tick the Home Sharing box. Enter your Apple ID and password and then your Music library will show up in the Remote app on iOS.

I've written this up with some more details in a blog post called "Remote Control Your Music"

Cheers

Dave

Yep I have the same problem. All my music on Mac. Used iTunes remote extensively until Catalina arrived and downloaded

decided to ditch Catalina and reverted back to Mojave’s osx

now all back as it was. Already had my iTunes media on a NAS drive and backed up to external usd he’d just in case NAS drive packed in

keeping an eye out in case remote is fixed for Catalina but not hopeful about it. Probably won’t upgrade at all in the future.

In mean time I’m also using MusicStreamer app on iPad which works well but can only play to one speaker at a time not multiple like iTunes remote.

It's never wise to update to a new release of software without a backup plan. That's a problem with ios. At lease with macOS you can create a backup before upgrading. Should you not like the new release you can downgrade. I'm on yosemite myself.

You can use carbon copy cloner to make a bootable backup.

R

No it is not expected, Remote has worked for a decade and how many people control their home audio system. To drop it is ridiculous, especially since you can see your library but not control it.

FIX THIS NOW

Just in case you are not aware: we are all other end users here. Apple support is not. We are volunteering our time and do not appreciate being shouted at. If you wish to have Apple hear you, you will need to contact them. You can use the feedback process linked to above.

Thanks for techsplaining babowa. I have contacted Apple and hoped that someone here may have a workaround. I see that britter8 is working on it so I'm relieved and know that he/she will have a better workaround than home sharing which is not a workaround.

That's a lot of points you have, did you earn all of them from correcting newbies who shout in lowercase? I'm impressed and stand corrected as I step into your hallowed ground of volunteers.

I see that britter8 is working on it

I don't believe so. Everyone here is a volunteer and you ordered brittier8 to "fix it now" in caps. S/he cannot fix it either.

Good luck. You can leave the sarcasm outside. Read the ToU.

You must have not upgraded to MacOS Catalina. Apple has discontinued the iTunes Application within the new MacOS Catalina operating system. It is replaced with a application called Music.

Only with Mojave or older an MacOS (with iTunes) will work with the iTunes Remote app on any iOS mobile device.

There are a few 3rd party apps that will work (Remote+ and Airfoil Satellite are two that I am using). You can choose, play, pause, adjust the volume for each device. However you can't use the apps to choose a playlist or song. They will only play what is already selected on the Mac Music App itself.

I do hope that Apple will ether fix or create a new Music Remote app.

Not just you. The remote used to enable me to play lossless files directly from my mac to my hifi. Using access to the Library via an IOS Music app and airplay means I would have to play lossy Apple files or play lossless files through a lossy Apple airplay setup.

I am close to concluding that Apple Music in its Catalina version signals the end of using Apple devices for playing music. A brief comparison with Qobuz for streaming and with Audirvana (which also accesses Qobuz - and has a brand new IOS remote) for downloaded files shows how miles behind Apple have fallen. Have you bought an Album with a booklet recently? Apple loses it immediately and you have to go through a great performance to find it again. In Qobuz it is just a single movement to see the booklet. Audirvana offers far more in terms of quality of reproduction. Answer (for me) has been, buy albums from Qobuz and load them into Audirvana (or stream them from (Qobuz: purchased). Apple, as with so many things recently, seem to have become completely distracted and unfocussed.