Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Songs keep repeating when I shuffle a playlist

On every iPod and iPhone I've ever owned:

I open a playlist and set it to shuffle. It does. I pause a song, put the device away, and press play a few hours or days later. The device remembers what I've already played so I don't hear the same song twice until I get through all, say, 250 songs on the playlist (unless I select a different playlist, manually select a song on the playlist, or close the iTunes app on my phone). As an illustration, using my iPhone 6 (still on iOS 8.3) last month I spent a week of commuting time, about 45 minutes a day, listening through a playlist and never heard the same song twice.


On my iPhone 6 since updating to iOS 8.4 (12H143):

I open a playlist and set it to shuffle. It does. I pause a song, put the device away, and press play a few hours or days later. It doesn't seem to remember what it's already played, so I end up hearing the same set of about 25-30 songs (with occasional randoms thrown in) every time I pause, put it away, and press play a few hours or days later.


Why doesn't Music seem to remember what it's already played? Is there any way of fixing this, or working around the issue so I don't have to keep hearing the same songs on a playlist?


On a possibly related note, I just connected my phone to my computer, and noticed that several of the songs that keep getting repeated show up in iTunes as having never been played. Has Music/iTunes stopped counting, or is this feature just not working any longer?

iPhone 6, iOS 8.4

Posted on Jul 23, 2015 9:12 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 27, 2015 1:25 PM

Sparky87 wrote:


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7127434

Someone already posted sited about this and did not get a response I too have this question

I hadn't seen the original post, but it does indeed sound like we're all having the same problem. I haven't found any fix for it yet.

246 replies

Apr 19, 2016 8:15 AM in response to takara59

That worked for me until I hit any other button in my Apple music player. I ran some tests this morning and as soon as I hit pause, skip, repeat or anything else my music started repeating just 3 or 4 songs later. It seems that any interference causes the songs in the Up Next list to lock up and the player will only play a shuffled mixture of the Up Next list of songs rather than a shuffled mixture of the entire playlist.

May 4, 2016 12:22 PM in response to cahill

I have been having this same issue - I have 200 songs that I want to shuffle and only hear once, before running through all 200 songs again. The issue is sporadic, but what I've seen is that when it repeats a song and I open up the Song interface - the shuffle is highlighted grey (on) but so is the REPEAT (highlighted grey and on). The repeat button is non-responsive to touch, so it cannot be turned off. I have to close the music app, and start shuffling again. But it can happen right away, or a couple days later (where it starts repeating songs, and the REPEAT button is stuck in the ON position).


I have spoken with Apple Tech support several times. I have twice restored my iphone 6 (on OS 9.3.1) and that didn't solve it. Apple Tech then instructed me to wipe it and start as new (which is a real pain in the butt) but the Tech engineer thought that was the only way to make sure that if my music app was corrupted, that it would be a fresh new and uncorrupted version. I have done that twice. The problem still exists.


Tech also thought it could be due to the headphone controls (which I use to pause the music app and start the music app). But I have even seen it happen without headphone use. For example, the music app will be fine - I'll pause it, remove the headphones, check the app and verify that the REPEAT button is off, then a little while later - open the music app (without having plugged in the headphones), and the REPEAT button is on (greyed out) and non-responsive to touch. The only way to turn REPEAT off is to close the music app.


This is ridiculous. So those of you who were hoping that 9.3 would fix it - it hasn't. Like I said, I am on 9.3.1 and the problem still exists.

May 6, 2016 7:46 AM in response to jhkim01

I've not had jhk's problem with the repeat button but I was a frequent complainer early in the string about the frequent repeating of songs and wanted to get this comment in the string (sorry jhk). I have to say the 9.3 update seems to have fixed that problem for me (so long as I don't turn the app or phone off and back on), at least through an eight hour day of listening. That's all I need since I use a smart list to purge played songs from my phone every night. Now I can go through my 5000 favorite songs one at a time, then start over.

May 12, 2016 11:29 PM in response to queue169

I Had The Same Problem, I'm on an Ipod 5th generation, isos 9.3 i think. But I Believe I Solved My Problem, like everyone else I also like to shuffle my playlist and I'd get the same songs playing over and over again. Then I tried something and it hasn't repeated a song twice since then.


Here's What I Did:

See The 3 Lines with the 3 dots by the next button. Hit That it takes you to the "Up Next" screen.


The Next Thing I Did Was "Clear" The Up Next Songs And I Reshuffled My Playlist


And It Worked. No More Repeats.


Hope This Helps Ya'll

May 19, 2016 12:56 PM in response to Jarathen

it's sad that this thread was started 10 months ago and it clearly is a widespread problem with every iOS device. yet apple still has yet to own up to it's problems and isn't doing anything to fix this. I was one of the original posters on this thread having come from another one about the same issue that was started before this, I bought a brand new iPhone 6s plus in december and even it has this issue... I will hook it up to my car which tracks which number song you are on in the "playlist" when on shuffle. it'll go through them but then back track. current example will be it'll be on 640 and then the next song in the order is 135, and then 641, 642, 643, 298, 644, 645, 94, 646... etc. fix your stuff apple!!!!!

May 20, 2016 10:51 AM in response to janfromwilliamson

Really? Look man I've been dealing with this problem since day one of it existing (in 8.4 when Apple Music was released) yes I'm on the newest os and yes the problem persists. This isn't something that you or I can fix with little tricks or work arounds. It's a widespread problem that I effecting EVERY ios device and apple refuses to take responsibility. They won't you to reset your device or start from scratch or whatever but none of it will work. I have had this problem on my iphone 4s my iPad Air and my new iPhone 6s Plus which is a fresh device started from scratch n not a backup. The problem is that apple will not acknowledge there is a problem with their software and immediatly blame you and your device. What is it going to take to get Apple to fix the **** problem once and for all?!?

May 31, 2016 6:06 AM in response to queue169

Alright Apple this is getting really stupid. You've clearly ****** off a lot of music listeners, this thread has been going on for quite some time, and not a single employee from Apple seems to want to bother addressing this issue. ADDRESS THE ISSUE ALREADY, AND THEN GET IT FIXED!


Since the 8.4 update you've pretty much ruined what used to be a perfect format and a very enjoyable experience. I spent an awful lot of money on a 128GB iphone 6 so that I could load the vast majority of my music collection on to my phone, as I use it while I work, commute, at the gym etc. and 8.4 has basically made me regret this purchase. Had I known that this OS would ruin my music playlists I would have just switched to an Android from my old iphone 4, or just stuck with 8.3 forever.


I have numerous different music playlists created on my phone, and I generally like to put one on, on random, until it finishes. What used to happen, is that when opening up a playlist, it would actually list the track number for you, so you knew where you had progressed in your playlist (ex. track 36 of 250). Also, it would NEVER, EVER, repeat any songs until said playlist had finished! Now, it's basically a free-for-all crap-shoot when putting a playlist on shuffle. I may not hear the same song for 30-40 songs sometimes, but that's a rarity. In a playlist of say 300 songs, I might sometimes hear the same song three of four times within a 25 song span, which is utterly ridiculous. In a playlist of say, 300 songs, I should only hear 300 SONGS total for the duration of that playlist!! Also it shouldn't take me 500 songs to listen to a playlist of only 300 songs! It doesn't even bother telling me what track number I'm on anymore either.


I even placed to a call to Apple's customer support centre shortly after the 8.4 update and got someone who said she would look into it, put me on hold for a really long time, and then came back on the phone, said hello? about 30 times pretending that she could not hear me back and then hung up on me.


Apple, seriously, fix this mess. Or at least create a patch so that those who choose to do so can revert their music player to the old version! Something! Do something! If you don't fix this, or at the very least address it, then I'm sure myself and plenty of other music lovers that are particular with their music won't have any issues giving our hard earned money to Google instead.


How many people on this thread wanna place bets that Apple will still just keep ignoring us?

Jun 20, 2016 12:08 PM in response to queue169

I've had this problem with my past few iPhones (I'm now on the 6S Plus) and corresponding IOS versions. I don't have playlists - I just shuffle all my music. But I found a fix that works for me. I switch from shuffle to direct play, which is my songs alphabeticall, and play through one or two songs. I then switch back to Shuffle and it starts shuffling new songs again. Not an ideal situation but Apple hasn't fixed this for a few years (and I don't expect them to any time soon). This method works for me. Plus, when I direct play I sometimes get to hear songs I haven't heard in a long time.


Hope this helps.

Jun 22, 2016 10:18 AM in response to Ad Hoc

I have the same problem and it's super annoying. I listen to my iphone at work and I like to go through playlists but I can't anymore because the shuffle feature is nonexistent. I wish Apple would do something about it but they're too concerned with the latest emoji's or removing features that people enjoy and use a lot! **** you Apple for ruining something that worked great.

Jul 1, 2016 10:36 PM in response to E9TOU

I've been using the Cesium music player app now since March. Unlike the Apple music player app, Cesium shuffles playlists with no subsequent repeats. Cesium also shows the number of songs remaining, like Apple's music player used to do. I only use Cesium these days, saving me the aggravation of having to listen to repeated play list songs ever again. I don't miss the Apple music player app at all. Doubt I will ever go back to it, even if they get their act together and finally resolve this issue. Not holding my breath...

Jul 6, 2016 12:44 PM in response to hnnr03

I'm not spending money on an app that just does what iTunes does. Every now and then, if I hear a repeat song, I just turn shuffle off for a song and turn it back on. Works every time. Sure the app is only $2 but it's the principl. Will Apple ever fix this? Don't know but I don't really have even negligible time devoted to switch from shuffle and back.

Jul 7, 2016 2:04 PM in response to queue169

I can also confirm that wiping your iPhone and setting it up from scratch as a new device did NOT correct the problem, I had a Led Zepplin song play back-to-back 4 songs into my playlist despite their song being in my playlist only once and that playlist having over 100 songs in it. It'd sure be great if Apple would at least acknowledge the bug and say they're working on a fix, even if we won't get it until September when iOS 10 is released.


Is anyone out there an Apple public beta tester and testing iOS 10? If so are you still seeing this issue?

Songs keep repeating when I shuffle a playlist

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.