I often use the Music miniplayer on my iMac when working. In the most recent upgrade to MacOS 12 (Monterey), it seems as the the current song and artist is not visible beneath the album artwork (see screenshot). The only way that I can find out what song is playing is by clicking on the AirPlay arrow. I cannot find a setting to turn this feature on or off. Anyone else having this issue?
iMac 24″, macOS 12.1
I think I’ve discovered the definitive reason:
This is caused by the ‘Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls’ setting in the Keyboard → Shortcuts section in System Preferences. If it’s selected we get focus outlines around the buttons in the Mini player (like in the screenshot) which prevent the current song title/artist/album names to be shown. That’s why it works when you click on a song in the Playing Next list, or you toggle Full Screen — the focused button in the bar loses the focus.
I just tried it, I turned off the setting and restarted Music.app just in case (maybe it’ll work by just toggling the player, I can’t be bothered to check) and now it works as expected!
I think I’ve discovered the definitive reason:
This is caused by the ‘Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls’ setting in the Keyboard → Shortcuts section in System Preferences. If it’s selected we get focus outlines around the buttons in the Mini player (like in the screenshot) which prevent the current song title/artist/album names to be shown. That’s why it works when you click on a song in the Playing Next list, or you toggle Full Screen — the focused button in the bar loses the focus.
I just tried it, I turned off the setting and restarted Music.app just in case (maybe it’ll work by just toggling the player, I can’t be bothered to check) and now it works as expected!
No fiddling with Keyboard settings is required! It's just a poorly indicated "feature".
Drag the bottom of the Mini Player window border down and, lo, it'll put back the Track Progress and Artist/Title legend.
To switch back to just the cover art, drag the bottom of the Mini Player up again.
Fab1n is right. The solution suggested by AppleJen77 doesn't work. However, I have found that if you click on a song in the Playing Next list, the title and artist information for the current song does come back. It's inelegant, but it works.
Sorry @AppleJen77, this is no solution!!!
The miniplayer is simply missing the title, this is a UI issue. The screenshot that was posted is accurate and looks like that for us all, all the time, no matter which music is played and if the mouse is hovering or not.
Please fix this!
Hi, PACfromtakoma,
I have the same symptoms. When I switch from mini player mode to full screen mode and then come back, the symptoms go away. Hopefully this bug will be fixed soon. : )
Hello there PACfromtakoma,
Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities! It sounds like you're missing the option in the Mini player to see the currently playing song. Does this happen with all music? Does the information show when you are not hovering the mouse on the player?
We recommend taking a look at this article with steps to follow for How to use safe mode on your Mac. This will perform checks and stop certain software from starting up automatically. Once you are in safe mode, test to see if you have the same issue.
Keep us posted and take care!
It is happening to me too… i believe its a bug in the Mac products like computer based “mac os” systems.
ipad and iphone work great! But not in my mac mini!
i am sure if they update the system settings the bug will be fixed. I know it is a bug of how things look. I remember just by clicking on the menu of the song or leaving it pressed unti the title it would definitely input the name and artist of the song.
but i noticed that it wasn’t opening for me either. Until we get an update bug fix performance for Apple Music or iTunes then i am sure that would be history for the mean time what i do is
“hover the mouse to the top menu on full screen, then the “artists name and information appears”
Yep. That works.
mladenny, it such a remarkable obscure and spot on solution! This too has corrected the problem for me. Brilliant and thanks!
OMG THANK YOU. This has been driving me nuts for months - this is the answer!
Thanks! yes, this works as well. appreciate the responses.
Song name and artist no longer visible for current song in apple music app for Mac OS
