Watch shows no devices in Remote, even after connecting with Music on Mac

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Watch shows no devices in Remote, even after connecting with Music on Mac

I recently got a new iMac and was excited to be able to control Music from my Watch. When I connect with the remote app on the watch, I get the 4-digit code, put it into the Music player on my Mac, and am told it's connected. But the watch shows no devices, and continues to show only the 'add device' screen.

In Music in the Advanced tab of Preferences it says paired with two Remotes, one would be my Watch, one would be my iPhone, which...

When I try to connect iMac Music with my iPhone remote app, it connects, and shows the device, but keeps showing only 'connecting to library...', never changing to actually be able to be controlled.

So my iMac thinks both devices are connected; my Watch knows nothing of its connection; and my phone is endlessly 'connecting'.

Any ideas why?

Apple Watch Series 6, watchOS 7

Posted on Jul 6, 2021 12:49 AM

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Answer 1

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kevtron82 Author

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Jul 20, 2021 12:13 AM in response to kevtron82

SOLVED UPDATE:

I talked with Support, and as of today, there is a bug with the Remote app and the new M1 Macs. He said it should be patched in a future update, but it's hard to know exactly when.

There is a workaround though for the iPhone Remote app and MacOS Music, which is to ensure that Home Sharing is turned on on both devices. It doesn't work for the Watch since the Watch doesn't have Home Sharing available.

So for now M1 Macs don't work natively with Remote, but it should be fixed in the future.

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Answer 2

kevtron82 Author

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Jul 6, 2021 6:59 AM in response to kevtron82

update: a couple hours after posting, the remote on my Watch suddenly shows my Library, but now, like my iPhone, it doesn't actually seem connected to anything. When I open the app on the Watch (whether I have anything playing from Music on my Mac or not) it shows the 'nothing playing' screen with a ▶️ button that does nothing if I click on it.

So while it may be 'connected' at this point, it isn't in any manner which matters, as it's still not actually Remote Controlling anything.

Still not sure how to get Remote on the Watch and Phone to connect and respond as a Remote.

Again: Any ideas why?

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Watch shows no devices in Remote, even after connecting with Music on Mac

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