Level 1

62 points

Apple Music won't play songs - "Not playing"

So starting last week at some point, Apple Music on my iPhone seems to have just stopped working. It refuses to play anything that is not in my library, nothing from "For you", "Radio", or any saved Apple Music Playlists.

The now playing card only shows "Not playing". If I hit the play button enough times it seems to just pick a random set of songs from my library and start playing.

I have already tried:

Restarting the music app
Reinstalling the music app
Resetting network settings
Restarting the iPhone
Signing out of iCloud and singing back in.
Erasing all content and settings (I restored from backup, I might need to try this again without restoring)

No luck from any of the above. Anyone know how to fix this?

iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 11.3

Posted on Apr 10, 2018 11:02 AM

Top-ranking reply

OregonWoodman

Level 1

9 points

Posted on May 5, 2018 12:17 AM

I just encountered this issue on my Apple TV today. After reading about the corrupt cache file in this thread it had me thinking that the file is attached to a profile rather than the application itself. This was after trying all the basic troubleshooting. I then logged out of my iTunes/App Store profile and logged in under my wife’s account and launched Apple Music. This reset the application and appears to have overwritten the corrupt file with the new profile. I quit Apple Music, logged out of iTunes and back iin under my profile. I then relaunched Apple Music and this appears to have rewritten the data again, thus fixing the issue and allowing Apple Music to work correctly. I’d recommend trying this before performing a reset. Good luck.

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79 replies

May 5, 2018 6:06 AM in response to OregonWoodman

I was super hopeful, but sadly this didn’t solve it for me. Thanks for the suggestion!

May 5, 2018 8:30 AM in response to OregonWoodman

I tried it on my iPhone and it didn’t work. When I sign back in as myself, the problem returns.

Jun 20, 2018 1:35 PM in response to Stukdog

I tried your procedure, but it doesn't helped at my iPhone at all... And the Apple Support doesn't help me anyway... Very poor for a device which costs 1300,- EUR / $!

Aug 30, 2018 3:52 AM in response to goatmasterfunk

The problem is back for me.
Slash Love at the Roxy has about 6 tracks that will not play...

Aug 30, 2018 9:10 AM in response to SysAdmom

Thanks for the path.
However, when I get to COUNTY/REGION I get a message that "To change stores, you first need to cancel your Apple Music Subscription".

Any ideas?

irfan243

Level 1

4 points

Jan 11, 2019 10:13 PM in response to cmx

My I phone music palayer is not playing songs

10xchamp

Level 1

4 points

Jan 16, 2019 9:45 AM in response to OregonWoodman

Worked for me. Appreciate it

Jan 17, 2019 1:56 PM in response to OregonWoodman

Thank you, this worked!

Jan 18, 2019 3:41 PM in response to cmx

Thank you!! This one worked for me!

Feb 10, 2019 9:56 AM in response to KateSKWLSN

This worked for me.

Sardony

Level 1

4 points

Feb 20, 2019 2:04 PM in response to Petr Lohnicky

Thanks Petr, after 3 hours trying to find an answer it really was this simple

rynox77

Level 1

30 points

May 14, 2019 8:12 AM in response to cmx

Spotify?

Aug 30, 2018 10:58 PM in response to SysAdmom

Thanks again. That route worked but I'm all as expected. English, UK etc
The Country/Region is very pale grey but it does say UK.

I just tried the problematic tracks I found yesterday and on the MacBook Air, they work fine (as I expected).

And then when I tried on the iPhone again, expecting them to fail with the NOT PLAYING message, they actually worked.

Who knows what the problem is? Only Apple I guess....

Sep 23, 2018 5:57 PM in response to cmx

Just solved mine by changing the app store location. Somehow my app store was directed to another country while trying to download some app.

Everything works again after changing the location back.

Hope this helps

Oct 13, 2018 12:46 PM in response to cmx

i am experiencing a similar problem. music which I put on my Mac via a disc in 2014 and which I transferred to my iPhone to play will not play - the file is there I can see it - and the subscribe to Apple Music thing pops up. honestly I am a bit sick of this nonsense with apple, seriously considering getting away from their platform if this is the way things are going.

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Apple Music won't play songs - "Not playing"