M1 MacBook Pro AirPlay not working on second connect

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Level 1

14 points

M1 MacBook Pro AirPlay not working on second connect

Referring to the thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253041243

When I connect to an AirPort Express (latest generation and with latest software) via AirPlay with my M1 MacBook Pro (2020) (every macOS version since release, current macOS 12.1), the first attempt works and audio is played. Subsequent attempts also connect, but music does not play.

Tested Macs:

MacBook 13" 2011

Mac Pro 2013

MacBook Pro 13" May 2020 Intel

MacBook Pro 2020 M1

Tested iDevices:

iPhone SE iOS 13

iPhone 6s iOS 15

iPhone 8 iOS 15

iPhone 11 iOS 15

iPhone 12 iOS 15

iPad Air 3rd generation iOS 15

iPad mini 6th generation iOS 15

Tested base stations:

4x AirPort Express A1392 with OS 7.8.1

The problem exists with the M1 MacBook Pro 13" and any of the AirPort Express base stations.

All other devices have no problems.

When the Mac is restarted, audio works again on the first connect and again not on subsequent connects.

Workaround:

Quit music app

kill AirPlayXPCHelper

kill AirPlayUIAgent

kill coreaudiod

connect AirPlay to Express station

open music app, play music

Audio works.

I did not try killing all combinations. Killing just any one of the three processes alone does not work. Killing all three does work. Maybe killing just two of them also work. I have not tested.

The problems exists since I have the M1 Book. It existed on the OS version it shipped with, every update and up to now on macOS 12.1. I have also tested with another M1 computer of the same kind, which happened to have the same problem. I did migrate from the old to the new M1 computer all data via Migration Assistant and later back again to the old one (which was in repair for keyboard).

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Dec 30, 2021 9:00 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Thierry_68

Level 1

23 points

Jan 12, 2022 6:59 AM in response to Nikolas Mayr

Hi Nikolas,

I have just posted a reply to a very similar issue that I have with my iPad Pro 2021, that has an M1 chip:

iPad Pro M1 not streaming music to Airpor… - Apple Community

To me it really seems an issue with the M1 chip, that apparently does not connect well to the Airport Express. I still have my previous iPad Pro 12.9 2018, running same IOS (15.1) and that one doesn’t have the issue.

Interestingly enough my 2021 iPad with the M1 chip does connect without any issues to my Apple TV and Samsung TV (to stream music). So the issue is not the airplay connection, but the connection to the airport express.

Lastly it might be interesting for you to know that another workaround on the iPad is as follows.

Select the another Airplay device from the iPad, e.g. the Apple TV
Start streaming music to that device
Then select the Airport and stream to that one as well, music will play through the speakers connected to the airport
Deselect the first device

This always works, no matter many other devices have streamed to the airport express. It is a fairly ok workaround, the only thing is I need to turn on sleep mode on the television, as it wakes when streaming music.

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Answer 2

DuhRyeus

Level 1

4 points

Feb 6, 2022 9:42 PM in response to Thierry_68

This problem sounds very similar to what I'm experiencing. I've got an M1 Macbook Air (Monterey) and a HomePod at home. When the MacBook Air is freshly rebooted, I can use AirPlay to play Apple Music audio to my HomePod and the built-in speakers. However, if the MacBook has been put to sleep (or lid closed) since the reboot, attempting to AirPlay to the HomePod will work first try but de-selecting the HomePod and stopping AirPlay causes Apple Music to crash, and seems to break the audio process as loading videos on YouTube causes the page to crash, OS volume levels can't be adjusted, audio device can't be changed, and Apple TV and Music won't launch anymore. Reboot fixes things but still a bug that I can reproduce 100%.

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M1 MacBook Pro AirPlay not working on second connect

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