Unable to control iPhone music from Apple watch

OK sure. Let's try a few things. First I would add the Now Playing complication to your current watch face,....just to help trigger it when need be. Or maybe better to add a new face to help test this, if you dont want to change your primary face.

Then in the Watch app, under General > Wake Screen, toggle OFF the Auto-Launch Audio Apps option, restart both devices, then toggle it back ON.

Down there, under Now Playing, you could also enable Return to App (when in session).

Note also that if you have the S3 (?), it can take a a few beats / moments before Now Playing appears. Its just not so fast to react...so allow it something like 15-30secs, especially with the first launch after restart.

Hope this helps...

Thats pretty good combination. My last suggestion would be to uninstall and re-install the Now Playing app itself. Before doing that though, does it work if you start the Music app from the watch directly first? Does it come up better after that?

Is the Now Playing app supposed to show up on the Watch app on my iPhone? Or does it only come up when the iPhone is being used for music? What is the relationship between Music and Now Playing apps.

Good point! Now Playing does not appear as an app on the Watch app actually. Neither does Battery for that matter. Maybe there is really nothing to set up for those, in the similar way that it works for the other apps that are listed there.

But as mentioned above, you can still find it there under General > Wake Screen > Now Playing though.

Music plays music only, but Now Playing will control anything that comes with audio playpack, so audio books, third party apps, etc, etc. Yes they are closely integrated as well.

i have the same problem when playing music on my iphone and my watch cannot control at 'playing now'.

i unpair the watch and pair it again, solved the problem for a day or two but then the same problem came back.

I’ve been having this same issue for about two and a half weeks now. I have the now playing complication on my face and it just says tap to open, even if I have my phone connected to Bluetooth playing something. (This is how I control my music while driving) I’ve disconnected my watch and phone, un-paired and re-paired and nothing.

Are you saying the Now Playing app is not coming up? Or it's not working as it should?

If I reset my watch (which is a pain), it fixes the problem temporarily. Then the same problem happens again in a day or two. This is a very annoying problem.

Hmmm yes, it coming back like that is not sounding good. Are you running the latest software updates and which model is it?

iPhone 12Pro running iOS 14.6

Watch model A1861 running watchOS 7.5