Apple Music menu pops up on Apple TV with every new song

Question

Level 1

8 points

Apple Music menu pops up on Apple TV with every new song

Recently (I think it's been since all of the 26.x OS versions have come out), I am experiencing an issue whenever I use Apple Music on my Apple TV (tvOS 26.2). The issue is that the Apple Music menu pops up on the top of my screen every time a new song comes on. This happens on more than one TV in my house that I have an Apple TV device hooked to. As part of my troubleshooting, I have

1) Toggled off Airplay on the Apple TV

2) Toggled "Automatically Airplay" to "Never" on my iPhone 16 Pro Max (iOS 26.2)

3) Toggled off "Handoff" on my iPhone

None of these seem to do anything and I still experience the issue. Is anyone out there having a similar problem, or able to provide me with a solution?

Thanks

iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Dec 31, 2025 1:42 PM

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Answer 1

Vancouver22

Level 8

37,646 points

Jan 2, 2026 4:43 PM in response to Dmnrpi92

Can you try disabling lyrics to see if this is why it’s coming up?

See lyrics and sing in Apple Music on your Apple TV - Apple Support

You mention your iPhone and AirPlay. Are you playing music from your phone or beginning playback on the Apple TV Music App?

Do you have any HomePods connected by default audio to the ATVs? They can sometimes initiate the music app to come on.

it’s unclear which model of ATVs you have. I don’t think it’s a 3rd gen ATV 4K because you don’t have Sing feature.

Identify your Apple TV model - Apple Support I’m using two ATV 4k’s a first gen and third gen and this is not happening on mine. It will occasionally happen if a video is in my music playlist. The video will play on screen and display the menu for one or two songs afterwards.

if you can’t resolve this issue the only option that might would be to Reset or restore your Apple TV to its factory settings

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Answer 2

Vancouver22

Level 8

37,646 points

Dec 31, 2025 11:02 PM in response to Dmnrpi92

Have not seen any reports of this. See if closing the music app and restarting the Apple TV resolves it. If not, since this is happening on both of them you can submit a bug report to Apple here ->Feedback - Apple TV - Apple

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Answer 3

Urquhart1244

Level 10

146,256 points

Jan 1, 2026 1:20 AM in response to Dmnrpi92

The issue is that the Apple Music menu pops up on the top of my screen every time a new song comes on.

If you mean a notification overlayed like this ↓ then that is a feature, and has been for a long time. It doesn’t have a toggle setting, afaik.

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Answer 4

Dmnrpi92 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 1, 2026 6:15 AM in response to Vancouver22

My first thought when this started happening was to check the version of the software to make sure it was current. This was happening before I updated to tvOS 26.2. It persisted after I updated. I tried exiting Apple Music and cycling the power on the device as suggested...problem is still there. Thanks for the link for reporting the bug--I will definitely use it if I don't hear from anyone else.

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Answer 5

Dmnrpi92 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 4, 2026 10:27 AM in response to Vancouver22

I have three ATV 4k first gen models on three different TVs. I do not have HomePods. I am beginning playback on the ATV, not my phone. I only mentioned my phone in troubleshooting as this is what came up on a Google search as a possible cause of the problem (i.e., Airplay and Handoff).

Randomly, the problem does not appear to be happening on any of the TVs anymore (at least today). If it happens again, I will revert to the restore option, as I have previously done a reset with no results.

Thanks for your suggestions.

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Answer 6

Dmnrpi92 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 1, 2026 6:20 AM in response to Urquhart1244

The menu I am talking about is the one is have circled below. It pops up and does not go away unless I use the remote. Every single song:

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