Cannot control volume using Apple Music when I stream to my AirPlay devices on my iPhone and iPad

I finally found a solution until Apple makes this a proper setting: Airplay can be accessed via Shortcuts app. When you do this, your phone directly controls the volume. Just go into Shortcuts, create a new shortcut and search for “airplay” to find and use it. Siri seems to have issues with it, but at least it can be placed on your Home Screen.

Hello kaneumann and welcome to Apple Support Communities.

I see you are having some issues controlling volume from the Music app when streaming to an AirPlay 2 enabled device (in this case, it appears to be an Apple TV device).

Stream content using AirPlay with Apple TV - Apple Support

That capability should still exist both when streaming from an iOS or iPadOS device or from a Mac.

What device are you streaming from and is the volume control not present when connected to the Apple TV or is it not functional?

Note that if you are doing this from a Mac that the main volume control in the Music app will only control the volume on the Mac itself. In order to control volume on the Apple TV, you would need to click the AirPlay icon just to the right of the volume slider. There, you'll see a list of all nearby AirPlay devices to which you can connect with a checkbox for enabling and disabling each of them and a separate volume control for each one.

Cheers.

Hi kaneumann.

At this point, you'll want to reach out directly to Apple Support:

Contact - Official Apple Support

This next bit is important. If they are not able to resolve the issue, make sure to leave feedback about it here:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Those feedback pages are the only avenue that is guaranteed to get info about this to Apple engineers.

Cheers.

If it is just a problem when using Apple Music or TV, delete and reinstall the app per the directions in this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250916065?login=true

It just worked for me ... Good luck ...

THIS!!!

so I only use my Apple TV’s to stream music and don’t have them even hooked up to any sort of screen. I am using a Gen 4 Apple TV and followed these steps.

1. format Apple TV
2. set up with another Apple device on iCloud
3. rename the device to the appropriate room
4. sign out of iCloud
5. sign out of home sharing (not sure if this one matters)

I now have volume control back and can play to multiple rooms!

I hope this works for others

One more detail which seems consistent: if you sign out of iCloud on the Apple TV when this unwanted handoff occurs, the handoff attempt still continues rather than Airplay, but the music will not play, so to resolve this issue, you have to restart your iPhone to get Airplay to function normally.

I've just spoken at length with a senior advisor at Apple, so hopefully that helps.

So I've been having this issue for a few months. I remember last year I was able to Airplay music from my iPhone to Apple TV and be able to control the volume.

Today I Airplayed music from Apple Music on iPhone to Apple TV and the handoff problem didn't occur. It worked as it used to and was able to turn volume up or down with iPhone physical buttons.

Then I paused the music, and when resumed, the handoff to Apple TV happened again and I wasn't able to control volume.

Now I've tried to stream music from my iPad Mini running iOS 12.4.7 and the Airplay function happens as expected, I am able to control volume and everything and now my iPhone's Music app has an Apple TV logo on the album cover.

I also tried disabling WiFi on iPhone and tried to Airplay and it worked fine, handoff didn't happen and I was able to control the volume from my phone. But then, when I tried to turn WiFi back on, it wouldn't work and had to go to settings, turn it off again and back on.

It might be an iOS 13 issue as I remember controlling the volume last year for a while.

This is not working for me.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'turn off Airplay' – I don't think you can turn it off. Mine always shows what the Apple TV is playing below the iPhone's music controls and I don't know how to turn that thing off. I even turned off and on WiFi and Bluetooth just in case, but nothing.

I closed Apple Music, opened it back and started playing a song on iPhone, then tried sending it to Apple TV and it automatically switched to Apple TV controls, I'm so frustrated.

Also, after writing my previous reply, the whole thing has gotten worse. Now I can't send videos from YouTube to Apple TV without it all getting messed up.

The first one shows your iPhone. The second shows your Apple TV. Don’t scroll down to Apple TV. Just stay on the iPhone.

Make sure your audio on Apple Music on your iPhone is only playing through your iPhone.

just like you have it here.

when you have it marked like that, it means airplay is off. In other words, you’re not broadcasting your music from your iPhone to your Apple TV or anything else. It’s just playing through your phone.

Then, close down Apple Music. That’s when you grab it and swipe the App upwards.

Then, turn Apple Music back on. Before you start playing any music, select the bottom middle red button.

When you do, this will pop

Then change it so it looks like this:

When you do that, you’ve now turned Airplay on. Notice on the top it still says iphone?

then start playing your music.

if you go to this:

You are on the wrong one. Notice how it says Apple TV above the box. That means you’re controlling what your Apple TV does, not your iPhone.

Hi kaneumann.

The proximity issue is interesting as it points to a difference in behavior between when the iPhone is communicating with the Apple TV only via Wi-Fi. You said you have AirPlay 2 "permanently disabled." As AirPlay 2 is a standard part of iOS 13 and tvOS 13, how did you disable it? Did you move back to earlier versions? Also, when you are further away and the volume control appears, is it functional?

Cheers.

I ran into the same problem. Here is the solution I came up with. On your Apple TV go to SETTINGS, then AIRPLAY and HOMEKIT, scroll to ALLOW ACCESS....select ANYONE ON THE SAME NETWORK.....and....make sure ALSO ALLOW NEARBY TO AIRPLAY is ON.

This solution is a little less than ideal as you will now be able to control volume of your song playing on your iPad or iPhone using the volume control buttons on your device. HOWEVER, you will have to turn off your WiFi and make sure your Bluetooth is connected. Thus, the workaround is you are connecting to the Apple TV via Bluetooth. It is my experience that if you attempt to then connect to WiFi you will not be able to do so. You then have to close Apple Music and go to your devise settings and turn off then on WiFi and select your Network.

Controlling the volume from your Apple device was not a problem prior to the iOS 13 update.

Hope this helps.

Same issue for me, and it's only when I try to AirPlay to the Apple TV, which is connected to a Sonos stereo system. Weirdly, I was able to control the volume on it yesterday, and now I can't again. Not sure why it worked that one time.