How do I remove the music player from the lock screen in iOS 11?

Sorry, this is long, but I think progress was made after speaking with Apple Support yesterday. Here's what's happening currently:

I was at work yesterday when Apple called and had no Bluetooth devices to test with. I was asked to perform a reset and did that.

Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings

Just be aware, you will be prompted by virtually every app you launch to "allow notification" again or whatever...

This morning I went into Settings > Music and turned Show Music off. Then Settings > Notifications > Music and from the bottom of that screen and working my way up, set Show previews to Never and toggled all other settings to Off. I restarted the phone at this point.

From here, I powered up my Bluetooth speaker. Swiped down and found no Music Player showing. Launched Pandora and played some music. Swiped down again, no Music Player. Let the phone go to sleep, picked it up, no player on the Lock Screen. Powered down the speaker, again no player. Dismissed Pandora, still no player. So far, so good, right?

Here’s where it gets interesting. Went out to the car and powered up the dashboard, Bluetooth connected to the phone. Swiped down, no player. Set the source for the head unit to the iPhone. No player showing. Launched Pandora, swiped down and there was the Music Player. Strangely, the Music Player was showing the Bluetooth speaker and not the car as the connected device??? So, Bluetooth is still a bit buggy. Anyway, the display in the car was showing the Pandora track info which is good, because it was refusing to do that for a few days.

From here, I powered down the head unit, swiped down and the player was not there anymore. I'm calling this progress and I hope this helps other folks with this issue. I hope not to see the Music Player camped on the lock screen from here. Fingers crossed...

I haven’t done any other tests today, but I think it’s getting better.

The music player will appear on the iOS 11 notification screen when your iPhone is connected to a bluetooth device. It will disappear when you turn off bluetooth on your iPhone or disconnect the bluetooth connection.

Hopefully you didn't wade through all 14 pages of comments to find this.

Yes.... (insert eye roll).... had you read the prior posts you would know that we ALLLLLL get that. But the moment you step into a car with a bluetooth radio or use bluetooth earbuds, the music app comes BACK on the notifications screen even if you have all notifications for the music app set to the off setting.

Just wait... you just THINK you have it off. It will return.

UTTER eye roll this time.... NO, it doesn't act as you state. If the (cuss word) think "will disappear when you disconnect the bluetooth connection." none of this thread would be here.

If your car bluetooth connects with the music app,... the app stays on the lock screen even after you've left the car or are well away from it's bluetooth connection. It stays on until you unlock the phone, find the music app, start the music app, double click the home button, and swipe the music app off. (you have to start the app because it doesn't appear as an active app even though it's showing on the lock screen)

We all have gone through all 15 pages of comments because what you state isn't true.

j kfrommorgantown wrote:

you WANT the music app? .... everyone here is trying to get rid of it.... the (cuss word here) thing just won't stay closed. I can't imagine that if you WANT it, you can't find it.

Yes.

Philly... that's what we're all saying.... if you want it fine. But everyone here DOESN'T want it. We can't get the thing to stop taking over the lock screen. It shows up ALL the time. If you want it, you should be happy.

Bunnyslippers wrote:

Arrgh. I posted the above before discovering the remaining fourteen pages of this thread, and now I can find no way to delete it. Please ignore.

I'm not asking this to be mean or snarky but because this is not an uncommon issue. How were you looking at the thread that you didn't come to see it had multiple pages? Did you do a google search, just see the original post and reply to it? I'd love to be able to explain this usability issue to the Hosts.

😂😂😂

I have read through most of the 23 pages of thread and saw the same things posted over and over. Things that I had tried from day one and still no remedy. I am glad though that I am not the only one with this issue. Hopefully Apple will come up with a fix very soon. I have reported it on their feedback.

I was in and out of the car today. Initially, the player on the lock screen was behaving the way you would expect it to, but that didn't last long. Just had to restart the phone to make it go away.

So much for resetting the phone...

I must be blessed or have good karma or something. After updating to the 11.2.1 (I know, it doesn't work for everyone), it really did clear it up once and for all. I've connected via bluetooth to my car several times over the past 5 days to play music, audio books, connected it to a Bose wireless speaker, etc. When I stop using it, the music app disappears just like it's supposed to. I don't think it's an Apple conspiracy to wreck your lock screen or force anyone to use anything. It's just a bug.

Yeah, that worked. I believe that my music app Pandora was causing the music player to open. I don’t use the music player/iPod part of the phone. I paused the player on the lock screen and it went grey. I couldn’t press play again, so I shut down and restarted, it’s gone for now.

As you described, I’m in the same boat... no music player widget on the preview screen since I updated to the 11.2.1... been on multiple BT devices, carplay, etc.

No more doing all the crazy repetitive tasks to get rid of it...

It’s been as long as the updates been out. I’m so sore for those who are NOT out of the Woods yet, best yet I haven’t seen any negative results from this update jut that Music Player ghost gone!!!

Good luck

VM

My iPhone se is acting the same. I have at least figured out when the stupid music player invades the lock screen I can turn the phone off then on to clear it. I also have turned off music notifications and show Apple Music in settings. This is exceedingly annoying. Please push thru another iOS 11 update to fix this, Apple.

It only works for the short term.... when the phone hits another bluetooth car or earbuds, the thing comes back again. So yes.... turning off notifications for the music app works.... but you've got to do that after every use.

i had same problem. I went to settings, notifications, music, turned off all notifications, powered off and back on iPad. When I turned screen off and on a couple times the music app was not there On lock screen.