How to seamlessly switch Apple Music between devices?

Bumping this as I still run into the desire for this functionality on a daily basis. I do all of my work on Mac / iPhone and I use AirPods Pro / Max to listen to music between devices. I can't explain enough how simple the functionality is for one Apple device to recognize the activity of another. This works for countless other Handoff apps. Music is arguably one of the most logical to include this, but it doesn't.

When I talk to people about why I love using Apple music, I have to deliberately avoid the topic of multi-device streaming as this is a pain point and a leg up for Spotify.

I pay for Apple because of the seamless, integrated ecosystem. This is a big gap and will prevent Apple Music from becoming #1 for streaming so long as the function doesn't exist.

It's unbelievable, after a years of Spotify I've switched to Apple music, and faced with this problem which I couldn’t even imagine with spotify. Black magic of apple)) Not only Apple music do not have continues play, but when I swich device it asks me about family subscription, because "another device tryes to use your account". ARE YOU CRAZY??? - IT IS STILL ME!!! Why can't AM work as spotify, just stop playing on one device and continue to play on other?

We might be discussing two different issues. If I play a song or playlist on any of my devices (iphone 14, iPad mini and M2 iMac) I can’t continue the same playlist/song on another device without finding the playlist and then finding the song I was playing. I am not talking about using the HomePod speakers - just listening from either the device or using AirPods.

This is what Handoff looks like (for Safari). Is there anyone who can say that Apple Music does this for them on iOS and macOS? That is plainly what OP is talking about, and it doesn't exist. It should.

Hi There,

This is a flaw with Apple Music, you can't hand off, even if you are using different devices on the same Apple ID. It's pretty disgraceful really, would be so easy for apple to implement, just like giving Sonos and Apple Music subscribers lossless music. this sort f stuff drives me mad!

handoff between homepod and iphone exists, but not between macs and iphone/homepod/etc.

i work all day on my macbook, and it would be nice to be able to transfer my music to a different device at the end of the day so i can shut down my computer and keep listening. doesn't seem that difficult to implement

I just got a MacBook and this was something I was hoping to have and now I find I can't do it. I mean, it will work with AirPlay but I'd love to just open my MacBook and open Apple Music and pick up from where my phone was. I can do it with texting and Safari...Why not Apple Music? Apple, I hope you're reading this...

I'm pretty sure this is already available. In the Airplay menu you see all devices signed in with the same ID and what they're playing, so you can also switch to any playlist playing on another device. Took me some time too to find out, I hope this helps.

Still an issue.

+1 from me. How do we get more attention on issues like this?

Trialing Apple Music as I like that the audio is clearly better than Spotify (and better royalties for artists) but this is a major feature that I think will stop me making the change.

Very used to having Spotify play over my stereo via an Alexa device, or via the Spotify app on the Tv, and then being able to control it from my laptop or my phone etc., and it's achingly simple. Please consider implementing this, Apple.

Oct 2024 and still no move on this. Very Sad. This is literally the only reason I do not use Apple Music. And for clarification, You can play a song on your phone (Spotify) and interact with it using any of your other devices that has the app. You can go to your computer and see that song is playing on your phone, and have the option to switch it to the computer. You can even change the song if you wanted on your phone or switch it to your Apple TV, Echo, etc. You can't do any of this with Apple Music, as each device is independent and is unaware of what's playing.

I can hand off music to my HomePod, but cannot hand off music between my iPhone and Mac. Then when I try to play music on either device and forget to turn it off on the other, it wants me to upgrade. I too am signed in with the same Apple ID, bluetooth on everywhere, connected to the same wifi, handoff turned on each device, airplay turned on everywhere I can find it. I feel like handoff doesn't work between my iPhone and Mac by design, so the app can ask for an upgrade to family. I live alone so I refuse to upgrade to family on principle.

To be clear, can you can you have music playing on your iPhone, then without pausing, play it in any way shape or form on your mac?

OK, it's not exactly Handoff, but works quite well with minimum effort.

If you've got Handoff turned on to share the clipboard with the phone when copying something on the Mac, you can

1. click the dots in the header of Apple Music, then select "Show in Apple Music"
2. this will select the currently playing song
3. scroll up to view the album art at the top and optionally click the musician's name.
4. find three dots next to either artist, album or song, then select Share -> Copy link
5. this will copy the deep link for Apple Music to the phone's clipboard
6. move over to the phone
7. open Safari
8. tap the address bar
9. long press or tap several times to reveal "Paste"
10. After the deep link from Apple Music has populated the address bar, tap the blue "go" button on the iPhone keyboard
11. That's it! You've arrived at the same display that you had on your Mac, and you can start playing on your iPhone

While not as smooth as a one-click on a button in Music on your Mac, it offers some capability with not too many steps.

Hope this helps somebody looking for a way to make Music work between Macs and iPhones.

I have a Mac, iPhone, and HomePods and Handoff works on all devices. Playing Apple Music on iPhone shows the song on my Mac in Apple Music and I can switch songs there and I can hold the iPhone next to the HomePods and the song will continue to play on the HomePods. When HomePods are playing, I can switch songs with my Mac or iPhone and holding iPhone next to HomePods will transfer the music back to playing on iPhone. My setup is as follows:

• Same Apple ID
• Bluetooth on
• Connected to same Wifi network
• Mac and iPhone have Handoff turned on
• AirPlay is also on

Not sure if all are required, that is just how mine is set up. Maybe others can chime in with their observations. I am aware of past reports of Apple Music not working correctly between devices, but that has not been my experience.

Absolutely insane that this is an issue in 2024. Apple already has near-perfect hand-off between devices, what is going on with Music specifically?