Audio playback stuttering/skipping iOS11.4

Just a general observation; I'll update if something changes.

A few days ago I turned off "background App Refresh" in Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh. This has serious drawbacks, no doubt. But so far I have not had the problem when this feature is disabled. This dovetails with what I had figured it was since it started happening: background tasks locking up the CPU (or the sound subsystem) such that it can't continue to feed the output buffer fast enough, so the DSP repeats the last buffer (since it would just run in a continuous fast loop).

I reported the problem - with OS logs - at developer.apple.com in the bug reporter. There are instructions on how to generate the log, do it as soon as possible after the problem occurs (press both volume buttons + lock, you should feel phone vibrate; don't hold or the phone will reboot). After 10-20 minutes, sync the phone with your computer and a diagnostics file will be copied to your hard drive:

On a Mac it's here: ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/[Your_Device_Name]/sysdiagnose

On a PC it's here: C:\Users[Your_User_Name]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\Logs\CrashReporter\MobileDevice[Your_Device_Name]\

Seems like a good thing to know in general for any iOS bug you come across.

[Edit: switched the labels for Mac and PC locations, but that was probably obvious, lol]

Did you do a full restore via iTunes? I was having daily and constant stuttering in my 7 Plus until I did a full restore via iTunes and so far I haven't had the bug (2 days of constant music playback for testing)... First I tried restoring via the iPhone itself (Erase All Content and Settings) but that didn't work.

I think it's so, so bad that Apple hasn't even acknowledged this issue. It's everywhere, and it's kind of ironic considering that we're talking about the same company that made the iPod haha.

So far I haven't had the bug but I won't get my hopes up...I'll let you peeps know if anything new comes up.

So I’ve found that turning off the background app refresh won’t do anything.

I actually called apple Apple and they told me to try cleaning the headphone jack.

So I got a toothpick and pulled a little cotton off of a qtip and wrapped it around the tip of the toothpick until it fit inside the jack. I rubbed around pretty well inside there (was a little worried I would do more damage but it was fine).

Honestly, this seems to work!! It’s been a few days of skipless music and podcasts! I highly recommend everyone try... and let us know if it works for you too? Will report back if the skipping returns but I’m shocked it’s been working very well.

I have an Iphone 7 plus and I first started experiencing this with the 11.3 update and it's gotten worse with the 11.4 update. I called them and they said the best way to fix it is to reset your whole phone and start it as a brand new iphone. Don't use an icloud back up because the issue is software related. I did this back with it started doing it with the 11.3 update and it was fine, but there was the whole nightmare of logging back in to everything. I had to put in passwords for apps that I haven't put the password in for years. All was going well until the 11.4 update, which i should've known better than to update to it but I thought it would have the fix in it but nope here i am with the same problem all over again.

This problem was driving me crazy mostly when makng calls using headphones, eventually I updated to IOS 12 Beta, that was around 2 weeks ago and the problem instantly disappeared. I'm currently on the 3rd public beta and absolutely no issues. So as you are competent with backing up and flattening your phone I'd give it a go, you can always go back to 11.4..1 if it doesn't work, but for me 11.4.1 made my issue intolerable.

Well folks. Here is the result of my testing:

Playing music when the iPhone (X, 6 and 6S) is between 90 and 100% charge is flawless. No audio skipping issue when playing music.

The first glitch I received was when I dropped to 87% charge. I immediately put the phone on charge and everything came good again. Have tested this yesterday and today for around 10 hours. I'm fairly convinced at this point it has something to do with power management/RAM usage.

This is not a permanent fix and I realise that we all can't have our phones charged to those points throughout the day, nor should we have to, however, it is a workaround. Apple need to get real and address this.

I have spent more of my life on this issue than I needed/wanted to, so that's it from me until/unless I hear anything more concrete from Apple.

Just did some further googling and this problem is EVERYWHERE, been persistent since iOS 11.3. Looks like only way to fix it is a full ‘erase all content and settings’ and set up iPhone as new instead of restoring from iCloud because the problem will be within your iCloud backup

Okay, so it’s been roughly 1 week since I spoke with an Apple Support Tech on the phone, she had me do an iTunes restore... though I used an iCloud backup (not iTunes backup) and then had to manually reinstall/redownload all my music back onto my phone (a good portion was no longer on iTunes or Apple Music, so I had to find and either rebuy or redownload and then download back onto iTunes and onto my phone) and so far I haven’t had the skipping/distortion issue!

I’ve also had this issue and believe, for me anyway, I have found the solution. I put my Apple Watch into airplane mode and reinstate the Bluetooth on my iPhone X.

To date this has stopped the audio stutter.

It would appear having more than 1 active Bluetooth connection gives the phone to much to do.

If you have other Bluetooth devices connected in addition to the audio Bluetooth device, such as an Apple Watch, try disconnecting it. It seems that too many Bluetooth connections at the same time overwhelms the iPhone.

Hi there,

I’ve been having the same problem for about a week now with the iPhone X. I scheduled a call with Apple support and the guy said it was because I was using old headphones (ones I was using with my previous phone I - like to use the headphones to death till I’ve completely knackered them hence why I was using the old ones)

and that I should use new headphones (the ones that came with the phone). My reaction was “yeah right mate I’m sure that’s the solution **insert eye roll** “ But he was right! I’ve used the new headphones the problem has gone! I’ll update this if it come back though 🤓

Hey all,

I have been experiencing the same issue on my 6s running iOS 11.4. I found a quick solution that, at least for now, is working for me:

Double-click on the home button to bring up all of your apps.

Swipe every app upward to force quit it.

Now open Music or whatever and play. So far I've seen no issues after closing all other apps. playing back from Dropbox seems fine too.

Not the most convenient thing to do, but it seems to work.

Sounds like a cache isn't being cleared somewhere. Nice work, Apple!

Hope this helps some others out there!

Noticed this was happening when my iPhone wasn’t vertical. Podcasts, Spotify, calls going in and out, dropping out. Randomly coming on.

Turned off Siri and Shake to Undo and it seems to have resolved the problem.

Really need a bug fix for this though.

I experienced this issue since 11.x - I updated to ios 12 yesterday and used my phone as normal since then - upgrade to 12 seems to have resolved the issue for me. The issue was very bad, happening very frequently. I listen to a lot of audio and have not had the issue since upgrading to 12.

good luck.

I’ve had a couple of e-mails from Apple today following the diagnostics they ran from my phone last night. They’ve confirmed that (at least in my case) this is a hardware issue - as the Bluetooth signal is compromised in some way. Next step is to the Genius Bar to confirm and quote the work I guess...