Apple music playback pause.(Signal Issue?)

This happens to me on the subway as well, but only for music I have made available offline through Apple Music. When I enter a station that allows my phone to have a data connection (WIFI or Cellular), playback pauses. This does not happen with music I have previously purchased. The work-around I have been doing, is turning off cellular data and WIFI all together while on the subway. When doing this, the only time my music stops is when I get above ground and I turn my cell data back on.

I hope this fix this soon.

✅ I found a work-around that will do for me till Apple fixes the bug: Instead of turning Cellular Data (Settings → Music → Cellular Data) for Music ON, turn it OFF.

This means that between No Signal (guys in Underground / gym with no cell reception) and Poor Signal, there will be no interference with the playback. Since the bug has to do only with Cellular Network, I can confirm that there are no playback issues between Wi-Fi signal and No Signal.

If you'd like to stream (un-downloaded) music in good cellular signal, just turn it back on. I know it's an extra step and it's lame... however, I personally use my iPhone to listen to music only when I'm working out, so my Workout Playlist is always available offline.

I've been doing this for 2 days now and luckily it works. Hope this helps. 🙂

I had the same problem, and after reading a lot about this glitch, I called Apple Support and talked to a senior guy after dealing with someone who had no clue. He asked me to reinitilallize the iPhone like a new one, (then to restore it using a back-up) and upgrade it to 8.4.1 and now, the playback doesn't stop anymore when cellular signal comes back in the subway.

It does happen to me when the cellular signal is low/lost. I think it is because even when you have music downloaded for offline play, the Music app still has to confirm that you have an active Apple Music subscription active.

I was doing some "testing" during a drive upstate NY (2.5 hours each way) when I only played from the iPhone with the "show only offline" music selected. (A playlist of 200 songs and several single albums also added.) When I went into Settings/Cellular it appears that I had used about 15MB during the total of 5 hours of driving. Don't think that that is enough to actually stream 5 hours of music, but certainly within reason to think the Music app is checking as I went along that I have an active subscription.

What I don't understand is why can't the app - if you are playing offline music - just check when you start playing music, instead of what looks like each time a song starts.

I can confirm this is not a signal issue. It appears to be some sort of hardware detection on the audio jack/audio output thinking that the audio device plugged in has changed (unplugged headset, undocked from speaker, etc) and pauses the music. I'm using a 6+ with latest iOS 9.0.2...

I have an aux port on my car and Apple Music will randomly pause the music and sometimes even displays a prompt telling me why... something along the lines of "An audio device has changed" or something like it - and will pause my music. The whole time, I'm sitting in my car, in my driveway, idling with 5 LTE bars and 5 Wifi bars...

Spotify - no problem, stream all day and night through good, bad, and no coverage (cached music). Pandora - works like a champ as long as I have some coverage.

Apple Music - absolute garbage until this gets fixed.

kentfromhalifax wrote:

I had this same problem with my BT speaker. It ended up being an issue with WIFI and BT interference issue. I have a 5 ghz network and switched to that and now everything works fine. If you don't have that luxury you may want to change wireless channels on your router.

This was the same issue for me. I have a Netgear R7000 running the Kong version of DD-WRT (just throwing a data point out there) and when I switched to the 5Ghz radio the pausing stopped.

Apple please fix this problem!!! I can only get the constant pausing of my music to stop when I have poor signal by disabling cellular data. I don't want to disable my wireless single 😠

I can confirm, on my phone at least, this only happens with Apple Music content, stuff that I've downloaded to my phone for offline listening, not stuff that I actually own.

Whenever I change data connection, or get one after being out of service, music I've downloaded for offline listening pauses.

Anyone know if this bug has been fixed in iOS 9?

I had this same problem with my BT speaker. It ended up being an issue with WIFI and BT interference issue. I have a 5 ghz network and switched to that and now everything works fine. If you don't have that luxury you may want to change wireless channels on your router.

I have the same problem with offline music. The fix doesn't work(it's enabled by default), the only way is to switch to Airplane mode during my commute to/from work.

Looks like Music App is heavily relies on online content even if you made it 'Available for offline', the whole can freeze at some point if you're not connected to wifi/data.

Same problem for me, even with cellular data activated for Apple Music (already set from the start)

I am using Apple Music (with downloaded songs) a lot during my travel to work (Train)

First half of this travel is in exterior, no problem at all, and after that I have couple of small Tunnel and after a very long Tunnel untill where I stop

Apple music playing is a total mess in the small period of exterior/tunnel changing, pausing constansty, and after that in the Long Tunnel, couple of stations had data network and can mess with my music too

Very annoying, expect this to be patch soon 😟

I can add my name to those who are experiencing this. I will also choose not to renew Apple Music when my trial expires if this isn't fixed. Especially when I'm in the middle of an intense workout I should not have to stop every five minutes to un-pause my music. And especially when I'm driving!

I know it's not a hardware thing related to my headphones, because when I use Instacast to listen to podcasts the shows never once pause or stop playing. It's only Apple Music. I download my workout playlist to work offline. It worked great for me with Spotify, and I expect better from Apple Music.

I have cellular turned off on my phone for a reason: I have a cheap service that only allows me 500MB a month of data. If Apple's fix is to require me to allow cellular then I'll just go back to Spotify, because this was never a problem with Spotify and I can't afford to let a few MB here and there trickle through from Apple Music.

ThIs has been annoying me since day one of Apple Music. It doesn't matter if it's downloaded Apple Music or music I purchased, it pauses every time the cell signal changes. I did find a fix though- podcasts

This is still an issue for me too after the latest update. I have mobile data on for Music but every time I come into service after having no service my music pauses, even for downloaded songs from Apple Music and music that I actually own too.

This is an obvious bug which I'm staggered Apple can't fix, seriously considering not keeping Apple Music after the trial if this continues.

It seems that writing in these Support Communities doesn't change anything. I called Customer Sercice, and since then, I have been in contact with a regular service person, who transferred me to a senior adviser who talked to me at least 6 or 7 times, (he told me that this was a new problem, even if I told him that many peole posted very similar situations on the Apple Support Communities)and now I am in contact with an engineer at Apple in California who is taking care of the situation. I strongly suggest that you call customer Service so they will know it's not just a few isolated guys like me who are making things up.