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Apple Music stopping after 15 seconds. Error code 16833

After the spatial Audio launch today, songs only play for 15 seconds and then cut off.

i got error code (-16833)


anyone help?

iPhone 12 Pro Max

Posted on Jun 8, 2021 1:48 PM

Reply
Question marked as Apple recommended

Sign out iCloud in your device, restart, sign in again to iCloud. Then open Apple Music, sign in and you are done.

That worked for me.

Posted on Jun 10, 2021 11:44 AM

249 replies

Jun 25, 2021 9:10 AM in response to Riley2082

I really hate it when a company starts making these kind of statements. I as you have found this bug comes and goes. I have logged in and out of iCloud which was a real pain because it affects other things like song downloads, Apple Pay (found that out while trying to make a purchase at the store). If the song keeps stoping at 15 seconds that should be easy to solve since it is consistent. Maybe Apple should us some of its talent to look at the code and fix the darn problem. Giving us a gift that does not work is very upsetting.

Jun 25, 2021 12:31 PM in response to Héctorlopez

For me, the only thing that has seemed to work reliably so far has been disabling Lossless Audio entirely under Settings → Music → Audio Quality.


Here’s what I did:

  1. Delete all downloaded music.
  2. Disable Lossless Audio.
  3. The songs that consistently stopped at 15s started playing in full again.
  4. Reenable Lossless Audio, with Cellular Streaming set to either High Efficiency or High Quality (I was not in WiFi range). Songs that got stuck at 15s immediately started getting stuck again.
  5. Disable Lossless Audio.
  6. The same songs played fine past 15s.


I also tried changing Dolby Atmos On/Off/Automatic; that made no difference. Right now I have it set to On, with no problem whatsoever.


I know this problem has been observed to start happening again at random even if a solution seemed to “fix” it, but so far I haven’t had any issues. The fact that the problem instantly goes away if I disable Lossless Audio, and instantly comes back if I reenable it, gives me a reasonable degree of confidence that disabling Lossless Audio is the workaround for now.


I’m not sure if deleting all downloaded music is necessary, but if you still experience problems after disabling Lossless Audio, try deleting your local songs as well.

Jun 27, 2021 5:47 AM in response to the_fury_2000

I’m having the same issue with downloaded lossless (not spatial and not high res lossless) with a large library and most songs stop after 15 seconds. It’s really annoying. I’ve tried logging out of ICloud, even removing all the downloads and re downloading. Nothing seems to work. My wild guess is it’s some kind of authentication issue on Apple’s end. Maybe I should just go to pure streaming but I like knowing I’m not beholden to data availability.

Jul 1, 2021 2:46 AM in response to the_fury_2000

Yeah, this is an incredibly frustrating issue that's been affecting me too. Have tried many of the recommended fixes here and some of them work temporarily, but none permanently. Seems like it's an issue that Apple are going to need to patch.


For what it's worth:


  • This problem only happens to me in one place - my local gym. I can't get mobile signal in there, nor am I connected to the Wifi.
  • I have only tested it with lossless files downloaded to my device. These work fine in every other location.
  • I am wearing bluetooth earbuds (Sony WF-1000XM3). Again, these work flawlessly everywhere else.


Hoping this gets patched up quickly as it's a bit frustrating not being able to access a service I pay a monthly fee for (and in all likelihood won't be offered any partial refund for). Interesting that it only seems to happen to me in one particular location, mind.

Jul 1, 2021 7:51 PM in response to the_fury_2000

Hello I am new here. I have been experiencing the same with Apple Music stopping at 15 seconds whilst using Sony WI1000X. First time I’ve experienced this as I tend to use Apple Music for my Sonos Roam without any issues from my IPhone 12. Anyway all this happens using home wifi. I followed one suggestion to sign out of iCloud and restart then sign in to iCloud and that worked. Music played beyond 15 seconds however I was not using the Sony WI1000X. The moment I used the Sony WI1000X it stops at 15 seconds again. I then tried turning off the Dolby Atmos on my iPhone settings and it seem to work for now with the Sony headphones WI1000X. Hopefully a more permanent fix comes through.

Apple Music stopping after 15 seconds. Error code 16833

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