Apple Music skipping

Uh Oh. I may have spoken to soon. After four days or so of flawless audio after a full restore, the dropouts and stuttering/garbling just returned briefly.

I was using the headphone jack though (I usually do Bluetooth), which can crap-out if there's lint (possibly corrosion?) in there. I hope it's that. Ugh, so frustrating.

Alright, so the problem is definitely back. Despite cleaning out the audio jack with a pipe cleaner dipped in a tiny bit of 91% isopropyl rubbing alcohol (a bunch of lint/crap did come out), I'm getting the stuttering/garbling audio again.

The only possible trigger I can pinpoint after nearly a week of clean and clear audio (after the full restore), is that I synced a bunch of new mp3 audio files (about a dozen albums - purchased legally, not cheap rips) to the device. The problems came back quickly thereafter.

So, I don't have the technical know-how to say what's happening, only that newly introduced files aren't playing properly and there seems to be some correlation.

Aaapplllle! Fix this please!

How long before Apple admit this is a software issue for them to fix? Appx 250 people on this one thread have same issue. Don’t push it on us to restore phones, delete apps etc because it’s clear from this thread that none of that works. Stop hiding, time for honesty and transparency. When is a fix coming?

Agreed. Mine also still stutters. I got the iPhone 5 out of mothballs (that can only be updated to iOS 10 so it’s safe) to use as an iPod until this issue is resolved. Defense burly should have been addressed in 11.3.1.

I notice it only happens when I use my nice headphones with the lightning to headphone jack converter cable. When I use the earbuds with lightning connector that came with the phone it works fine. Maybe a digital to analog conversion problem.

6s user here. Happens to me when using either analog headphones plugged into the audio jack or wireless Bluetooth headphones, or airplay via airport express over my wi-fi network. So, no easy explanation or theories from me.

I also have this problem it doesn’t matter what source the audio it’s coming from but it’s only a certain songs.

***I did find a way to kind of get rid of the problem but if you turn on the EQ to a different setting besides OFF you might get better clean songs.

what device did you try this on? It happens on my iPhone 6S with all audio apps, but not on any app on my iPad, so it might be heavily dependent on the device.

I complete reset is a huge pain, and it would be frustrating if one did that and then it still didn't work.

I see this pattern too. About 15 sec after pressing PLAY, the playback will stop for 10sec and then resume. Then it will periodically experience episodes of garbled sound. Pausing and pressing PLAY again sometimes results in TWO simultaneous streams of the same playback slightly offset in time. Pausing and pressing PLAY a few times generally clears the problem; but also just tolerating it for a while works too -- it eventually goes away. I experience this in headphones (two different sets) and using the phone's own speaker. I have not noticed this with bluetooth playback yet.

With all due respect, this is not an iTunes issue, this is a playback issue, as the problem is the same across all audio platforms - podcasts, iTunes, Pandora, etc. I'm on iOS 11.4 with a 7 plus, and I've noticed these same issues since 11.3. Sorry folks, but 11.4 didn't fix it. The problem seems to be with the lock screen. If I start a playback with Bluetooth (AirPods mostly) and lock the screen, it invariably drops the Bluetooth. I go into my settings screen, and it has the AirPods listed as still connected, and the playback is still going, but no sound. So I have to disconnect the AirPods, reconnect them, and start the playback over again, this time being mindful not to lock my screen. Super convenient, right? (The issue is slightly different when I have headphones connected physically with the lightning adapter - in that case, if I lock the screen, the music or podcast starts skipping and eventually stops working, or continues to skip even after I unlock the phone).

Most of us on here own Apple products because they work the way they are supposed to work, and do it with as little interruption to our lives as possible. They make our lives easier, not harder. If I wanted a phone that was powerful but has glitches and requires workarounds, I'd just get a Samsung. When will this be fixed?

Update: I have found a way to clear the problem when it occurs (at least when listening through headphones). When the problem begins, I press the center button on my headset controls and wait for 5-10 seconds until I hard the "click" that (I assume) means the playback process has completely shut down. If I then press center button again, the problem is solved.

As I mentioned before, this bug affected both my wife and me after updating our iPhone 6s's to 11.3, A subsequent upgrade to 11.3.1 did not help. This past Friday my wife reset her phone to factory settings, and reloaded her music, podcast subscriptions, and other apps from scratch (not from a backup). The glitching did go away for her. It's now five days later, and the glitching problem is still fixed.

I'd do this, but I have a lot of texts that I can't lose for work reasons. I'm planning on waiting until 11.4 comes out, at which time iMessages will be in the cloud, hopefully. That way I can reset my phone to factory settings without losing my texts.

For those of you who erased your iPhones and still had the audio glitching problem, did any of you restore to factory settings and set up your phone from scratch? Or did you restore from a backup?

I dont know why this is even a bug!!! I have cloud storage (googledrive) and 3-4 minutes in it starts to do it for about a minute then stops. It isnt the file because it plays fine everywhere else. Audible works fine. Purchased itunes songs work fine. For me its just mp3 songs in serveral apps: music, evermusic (googlecloud), louderlogic-reads my itunes syncs files - same as (music).

Here's a solution that works for me. When I play music (Music app, or Sirius/XM, or I Heart Radio), if I turn the screen off once the music starts playing (side button), the pause-then-stutter never happens. I think the stutter starts, as someone mentioned earlier, when the auto-lock starts and the screen turns black. I'll use this for a while and wait to see if there's an ios fix, or I have time to do a phone reset.

Update: I continue to experience this problem. One solution that is working for me: When the problem starts, I hit the pause button. Then wait about 5 seconds until I hear the "click" in my earbuds that tells me the audio driver has stopped. Then I hit PLAY, and after that I experience no problems.

I do not see any relationship to the lock screen. I have my phone on "never autolock", and yet I am experiencing the problem regularly.