Having issues with AirPlay streaming but only on newer devices

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Having issues with AirPlay streaming but only on newer devices

Hi all 😊

I have a really really bizarre problem that's doing my head in ...

I’ve got an old iPhone 12 Pro and 5 Airport Expresses around the house which I can stream music to via AirPlay 2 and it all works just fine.

However, when I got the latest M4 iPad Pro it couldn’t stream to any of the AirPlay receivers any more … it can see the AirPlay receivers but if you tap on one it appears to connect and the music is shown as playing, but no sound comes out of the speaker … and then about 5 seconds later it disconnects from the AirPlay receiver, and the device sits there with the music paused.

This exact problem is now happening on my new iPhone 16 Pro.

It’s running exactly the same software as the iPhone 12 (iOS 18.0) and all the WiFi, Security and Music settings I can find are exactly the same across both devices (I've literally scrolled through the same menus at the same time on both whilst next to each other to try and find a difference) … and yet something is different between the iPhone 12 Pro and both the iPhone 16 Pro and new iPad Pro as neither can connect to my AirPlay speakers any more.

BUT! … completely by accident I stumbled across a bizarre trick that allows me to stream music from either of these new devices to my AirPlay speakers just fine … and that’s to stream to one of my HomePod Minis at the same time … then it’s like the problem doesn’t exist! 🤷🏻‍♂️

And even more weirdly, once it’s successfully streaming to one of my AirPlay receivers, I can then disconnect from the HomePod and it will keep streaming! Only if I pause the music and restart does it then go back into its old ways and refuse to stream …

What on earth could be going on here?! 🤯

Any thoughts you might have would be much appreciated 🙂

Many thanks,

David

PS. This happens regardless of which app the music is being streamed from, eg. Music app, Podcasts app, radio players, etc.

iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 25, 2024 12:20 PM

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Hogster86 Author

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25 points

Oct 1, 2024 1:11 AM in response to Hogster86

Just to add some further findings to this strange problem …

It seems the issue is when starting, or restarting a stream to any AirPort Express from the newer devices. So if I’m currently streaming to 2 rooms, but then want to start streaming to a 3rd, this will only work if the music is already being streamed to a HomePod Mini as well. Otherwise it tries to connect to the 3rd room, no music comes out of the speakers, and then it disconnects from the 3rd room again.

The same happens if you pause the music and then restart it, or skip a track (either in a music app on the phone or if you fast forward a podcast or radio show) — if the music isn’t already streaming to a HomePod Mini, then the music stops coming out of all the AirPort Expresses until the HomePod Mini is selected as a streaming destination as well.

To me, this points to an issue with the initial handshake procedure for setting up / starting a stream to the AirPort Express devices. Once music is streaming it works just fine, but as soon as the stream is interrupted, it can no longer be restarted without having a HomePod Mini selected as a streaming destination. It’s like only the HomePod Mini has some newer firmware or software that is able to accept the initial handshake to start the stream, but then once it’s playing the music can continue playing to all connected AirPlay devices even without the HomePod Mini in the loop.

This issue also applies to the breaks between songs, eg. listening to an album with multiple tracks. When the music stops between tracks, the stream breaks, so the only way to listen to a whole album is to leave the HomePod Mini connected as one of the streaming destinations.

I appreciate the AirPort Expresses are old and unsupported technology now, so maybe there’s nothing that can be done about this, but I know Apple pushed out a firmware update for the AirPort Expresses many years ago to allow them to support the new (at the time) AirPlay 2 protocol, so I’m hoping something like this can happen again to fix this streaming issue with new devices.

I will be submitting this as a ticket to Apple support, but if anyone else has any thoughts, or is also experiencing the same problem, please leave a comment below ☺️

I’m wary of buying new AirPlay 2 receiver devices (of which there are many on Amazon) to replace the AirPort Expresses, in case they will also suffer from this same problem…

Many thanks!

David

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Having issues with AirPlay streaming but only on newer devices

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