Apple EarPods play/ pause button (single tap) not working on media apps and demands a phone restart, every time, to fix the issue.

I see the exact same issue. Volume up/down, long press for Siri and normal press to accept/end a phone call work, but normal press to play/pause in any audio context doesn't work. A reboot fixes the issue temporarily as you described (thank you for that).

I tried this with several wired Apple EarPods (3.5mm with Lighting adapter or straight up Lightening) and verified the 3.5mm ones working as expected on my MacBook Air. So I am sure it's not the hardware, just in case the fix by reboot didn't make that obvious.

iPhone 12 Pro Max, iOS 26.3.1

Did wired headphones fall out of your regression tests? ;-)

I’ve had this same problem too with my iphone 14 with my wired headphones as well and just assumed maybe my headphones were old or damaged. i recently got a new iphone 17 and brand new wire headphones and the same issue is happening. volume button and siri work perfectly fine, but i cannot pause any of my media with that button. very annoying considering they’re brand new apple wire headphones.

A temporary solution to this is restarting your device. I did that too and it does make it functional.

using Wired Airpods, volume Up-Down button is working, Centre button long press to invoke Siri is working but Centre button single press is not working for Play/pause or double press to skip is also not working

Pls suggest a solution, I am sure headphone’s buttons are fine its software issue

My wired headphones work properly some days back, but phone is ask to update i will update the phone, that time to not work Usb-c type play and pause button