Audible books not playing on Apple Watch, even though iPhone and Apple watch have synced.

I think we’re all experiencing the same problem in the audible app (although for me and others it also won’t play). That’s why I am using “Now Playing” app (Outside the Audible app) as a workaround. Once I select the book in Audible, opening “Now Playing” will both play and controls the audio. I’ve added an image pointing out the “Now Playing” app icon.

Hello

I suffered from exactly the same problem, went through everything obvious, reinstalled both apps etc.

Contacted Amazon who were very nice but did not provide any solution....

However, I spoke to someone who suggested I go into the phone app profile>settings (gear wheel)>download and change from 'single-part' to 'multi-part'. (They also suggested 'standard' quality but I was already using that).

It worked first time afterwards although I haven't used it for very long , but I'm passing it on in the hope it works for you.

Best wishes.

This did not work for me. I've tried everything. Audiobook is synched but audible application is not responsive on the play display. When I hit play it is not playing. I go to chapters, change the chapter but it is not changing, stuck on the initial player display.

The problem isn’t using the audible controls for a book on your iPhone - the problem is syncing a book to the watch and then playing from the watch. I think the problem we are all having is having the play button respond - you can see the play button and the book in the library but it is unresponsive. Thanks

Yes. I agree. I am a new Apple Watch owner. For the first two days I could not get Audible.com books to play. I could see the watch ‘icon’ on my phone next to the title I had downloaded. Then I read that if one began the book on the iPhone, then switched to opening the app on the watch, that would work. Sporadically, it did. Finally, one morning I simply put the AirPods on, and the controls worked. Not sure why. But I have been able to listen to Audible.com ever since. Mind you, I have only downloaded two titles, but I can access both.

I’ve been struggling with this too. I have found shorter books will play fine, but once I load a larger books (like a 10+ hour book, but I’m not sure what the lower limit truly is), then that larger book won’t play and the controls won’t work on any books within the Audible app. I seem to have found a workaround though. I select the book I want to play, and then I go to the “Now Playing” app. I can usually get the book to play and the Now Playing controls like pause and skip work okay. I may have “closed” the audible app before I started playing it, it’s finicky still but I just tried it again and it was now playing in the audible app okay, but controls still not working except in the “Now Playing” app.

It’s all weird and frustrating, but the Now Playing workaround seems to work for me.

Thank you the "now playing" seem to work. Also, when I turned off bluetooth on the iphone BEFORE synching the book to the watch, it not only went a lot faster but seemed to work when all things prior didn't. So try that. Hope it helps. This is so ridiculous!

Hi

If I can jump in again, this is similar to what I said earlier that loading chapters of the book seems to help.

But additionally, it really does help to leave the watch on charge overnight to let it complete.

It might say it's downloaded and it looks like it should be working but in reality, it's best to leave it another few hours for it to finalise. That's why chapters/sections or shorter books seem to work better: it just takes a lot longer on the bigger titles.

If you assume it's going to take about 5 hours or so to download a book and get it working, you're probably nearer right than not but it may well say it's downloaded in 45 minutes. You do really need to leave it on charge too otherwise it seems to pause it.

Now playing works but it's playing it off your phone of course not off the watch so you can't leave the phone behind.

And similarly, if you want to change to another title, you have to go back to the phone.

It's a pain.

Thank you for your post. My issue is that once the titles are downloaded ( I have two titles on the watch right now and, yes, I let them download overnight) , the Audible controls on the watch don’t work. I have learned that if I tap the ‘library’ icon on the watch twice, I can toggle between the titles and then touch the title I want to listen to, the audio then works through the AirPods. BUT I can’t use the audible controls on the watch: no pause, no rewind, etc. If I remove the AirPods then the playback stops. I don’t want to take my phone with me on my walks—that’s the reason I invested in the watch and the AirPods. Ironically, the controls worked PERFECTLY for two days, and I thought I had the issue resolved....

Thank you very much! This seems to be a good work-around. I tried this today, and the ‘Now Playing’ icon DID allow me to use the controls on the Audible App. I really appreciate your pointing it out because I’m a new Apple Watch owner and had not even noticed that icon.

The controls on the Audible App on my Audible Watch are working.

I had two books on the watch that I could seamlessly access. After I finished one, I deleted it from the watch

Now I am having trouble downloading another book even though I left the watch on its charger and the iPhone on a charger next to it—all night long.

Anybody have a suggestion?

For me, it works sometimes. Really, it’s just a terrible app.

Audible help say there are no known issues!

I’m convinced it’s a problem with the upload being damaged or incomplete even when it says it is ok. 

This is at least in part because over Bluetooth it takes so long but also because I’ve tested and the app on the phone says it’s complete when it absolutely isn’t- because I haven't even had the phone on. Sometimes you get an error message and its says it can’t find the phone but sometimes it says it’s worked ok.

I still feel using the option to send it in parts helps because it’s less likely to get corrupted, but it doesn’t always help.

Also, it’s much better if you can upload over wifi but that doesn’t always work either but it's much faster and much less likely to break down. When the upload stops then it has to find where it was to start again and I think that maybe the problem. Something I thought we had done away with +20 years ago, but I think that's it.

The way to do this on wifi is to start to synch over Bluetooth and when it’s going, then turn off Bluetooth on the phone in settings (it must be in settings) and after a couple of minutes if you are lucky, it’ll pick it up in Wifi and complete the upload in about 10 minutes. or even less. It still likes to be on charge but you might get it to work without.

 The phone and the watch have to be on the same wifi network. 

After it’s uploaded, it should be accessible straight away but if it isn’t you can reboot the watch and it’ll pop up.

 However it’s more than likely that the file is damaged and the controls won’t work afterwards if it doesn’t work straight away.

If it doesn’t work, the best thing is to delete it and have another go. It might take 2 or 3 goes. I’ve persisted this way and got a book to work.

It also seems to help if you haven’t started the book on the phone. I’ve never managed to get it to work on the watch so far if I’m ever at any place than the start to so maybe that’s messing it up too?  Just what I've found for others with no problems, this may well work perfectly.

It is also a good idea to delete it on the phone if you have started then redownload and go straight to synching. This worked for me once when I couldn't get it to work.

If you’ve got it working and it freezes closing the app should fix that.

You do this slightly differently depending on your watch model (and I’m not an expert) but they all involve pressing the power button and then some manipulation like sliding the app screen that appear across to shut it down. I think on some models you press the crown after : you probably know on yours.

 When you start it again the controls should work again if they worked before. This doesn’t help if they have never worked however.

I have never got the controls to work paired to any other headphones either. AirPods, yes but nothing else for me.

We are all really trying to make sense of this. I post this not because I’m sure I have a solution but in the hope it helps a bit and maybe leads to a better solution from someone else.

It may also be linked to a particular version of the watch too considering the way to shut an app is slightly different there must be differences. 

Mine is a 5. 

Good luck everyone.

@FieryJack, thanks, but it appears you didn't read the question and the dozens of "me too!" The page you linked to is only the instructions for what to do. We're all saying "Yeah but it's not working." We need troubleshooting.

I'll add that I can get the book to play using Now Playing, but it won't play on my Bluetooth headset. Having done that, it will now play in the Audible app to my headset, but the controls don't work.

Later I'll see if I can get help from Audible. I know Apple isn't responsible for the functionality of apps developed by other people, though I do think there ought to be some obligation to make the stuff work if it's going to be approved in the App Store ... not your fault! :-/ Again, thanks.

I too have had this issue. It is sporadic but I have been successful a couple times. As previously stated, there is a direct relationship to the size of the book and the length of time the sync takes. Today I had success by first updating my iphone (not sure why it doesn’t automatically even though it’s set up that way). Second, I removed Audible from my watch via a the watch app and then re-installed it. Then , while the watch was on the charger, I added/synced the book to my Watch. I left it to sync for about an hour just to be sure. When I returned, initially the watch app didn’t respond (play didn't work) then I turned off the Bluetooth on the phone. Closed Audible on the watch and I put in my wireless headphones, heard them connect to the watch, then I opened Audible on the watch- it played! I then turned back on the Bluetooth on the phone to test and the watch kept playing. I was able to leave the phone home and go on a run. Pain in the &$$ but it worked! Unfortunately, I do not know which step was the successful step, however I suspect it was the update and/or Bluetooth issue(s). Good luck!

I just called Audible/Amazon and was told it not playing audio books from the Library is a known issue with lots of complaints, and it has been referred to their developers several times. He is confident there will be an update that will fix this bug. I paused my Audible membership for 3 months (no payments or credits; still have access to Library).