Audio playback stuttering/skipping iOS11.4

Hi everyone,

I have managed to fix this issue (at least for now...).

To fix this I simply just deleted the music app from my phone and re-installed it. I only did this yesterday but so far it seems to be okay! 🙂

Hope this helps you all!

I've been having this issue since IOS 11.3.

Some folks have suggested shutting down all other apps except music, but that doesn't work for me on iPhone 7+ with IOS 11.4.1

The only thing that works for me is to re-boot, i.e. turn the phone off and wait 30 seconds for it to totally shut down.

Then turn the phone on again, and wait for it to re-start.

Then music and audio works fine for a few hours.

Shouldn't have to re-boot a thousand dollar phone for it to work properly.

Interesting.

I have another theory based on my experience and sample size of one.

Often, I will get set up with music or a podcast using either bluetooth or wired headphones, and all is good briefly.

Then I put the phone in a pocket upside down or sideways to listen while walking.

I believe the accelerometer then kicks in, the cpu goes to 100%, and the audio stops for 10 or 15 seconds then stutters, skips, and warbles because IOS is confused.

For several months I had been re-booting (turn the phone off, wait 30 seconds, turn the phone on) and that seemed to correct the problem for a few hours. A few weeks ago that tactic stopped working.

New tactic: 1) close all apps, 2) switch to a different audio app and listen for a few seconds, 3) close all apps, 4) return to original audio app. Oddly enough this seems to work for me.

Regardless of the short term solution, this should not be happening with a $1,000 phone from a company that prides itself on developing fantastic hardware and software. Especially software for listening to music.

I also upgraded to iOS 12 today and I do t want to jinx it and say it’s fixed but I went through an hour and a half of listening at the gym without the skipping, whereas previously it would happen multiple times every day. So far so good

My iPhone 6s has been upgraded to iOS 12 for a few weeks now. I still no longer have the audio issues that I had prior. It is sounding like iOS 12 is not helping with newer phones.

I traveled out of town twice to meet with the Genius Bar. The 1st time they wiped my phone. The issue was resolved for about 3 days, before it started up again. The 2nd time, the replaced the phone with a new one (still under warranty). That did not resolve the issue either. Only iOS 12 resolved the issue for my phone.

If it had not resolved the issue, I would be stuck, as iPhone is required by my business for their network. If it was not used for work, I would have switched to Android.

I can only say to be persistent, especially if it is a new phone. Maybe even try contacting the BBB or a news resource, such as CNet or a TV station. The issue needs to be fixed for all iPhones.

I’m using the iPhone XS Max. I have this issue when I use the adapter and headphones. It does not happen when I use AirPods or the original wired lightning earbuds. It does it in all audio playback, in any app.

Easiest solution is is to always use AirPods but when I’m on a tractor or mower, I wear a headphones connected with the lightning adapter.

I only have this issue with bluetooth. I only use Pandora and Spotify and they act about the same. The issue also seems to affect calls over bluetooth. If I reboot the phone it seems fine for a couple of days. I don't have this issue if I use the standard wired earbuds.

For me restoring iOS 11.4 via iTunes solved this problem!

Try updating to ios 12 beta, my 7 plus was unusable with a headset on telephone calls, been on ios12 and now 12.1 for over a week and upto now all good.

I just updated to iOS 12 today, and have been testing for hours, and have had not issues with sound. What a relief (so far)!

I agree, it may take some time to resurface, but I hope that it does not.

I am glad that I am not the only one with this issue. It started for me about 2 weeks ago.

The issue was spotted via Spotify, playback would stop for a second, then restart - followed by glitching and skipping. It was intermittent but happened regularly.

The setup where I experienced this was in my car. iPhone 7 into an auxiliary cable, with a lightning adapter. So I assumed the issue could be any of those connections.

But after updating from 11.3 to 11.4, changing auxiliary cable, uninstalling and reinstalling Spotify - the problem still exists. And it happens with the Apple podcast app, so the issue isn’t unique to Spotify.

Pretty alarmed that other people have this problem also, but notably over an extended period of time, and no updates have solved it.

This is my main way of listening to music - so it’s very frustrating.

I have this problem with my 6s. I've found that turning on 'Low Power Mode' and quitting all/most other apps allows music to play local music files relatively free from glitching/stuttering. Or maybe I've just been lucky.

Ok, updated to 11.4.1 yesterday, but the problem is still there. I was able to reproduce the problem and immediately run a system diagnostic which I have now sent to Apple via the bug reporter on developer.apple.com.

I hope this gets them the info they need to figure it out. It's making listening via wire almost impossible, clearly unacceptable since they got rid of the analog output.

Edit: For reference, I've been able to reproduce the problem using the 3.5mm to lightning dongle attached to Beats Solo 3, the Lightning EarPods (barely used) that were included with my 7 Plus, and a Lightning to USB cable plugged into my car stereo.

I have also had weird behavior when listening via Bluetooth. Both my Solo 3 AND a car bluetooth system randomly muted (it did not mute the music). It doesn't come back until I pause and unease it, and it sometimes takes a couple of tries. I don't know if it's related, but it seems plausible (perhaps the music "pipeline" is getting starved and bluetooth responds by going mute, while the lightning D/A starts repeating buffers).

Hi ya folks...I have something for you to try.

I just hard re-started my iPhone X this morning and music has been playing perfectly ever since (a couple of hours now). My confidence is low, as I can't believe that something so easy would fix it, but it's worth a try.

By hard re-start, I pressed and held the side button until the phone restarted on its own. For non iPhone X users, hold the side button and Home key together until the phone restarts.

Would be interested to hear how you go and I will post back with any new developments after the weekend.

Motion doesn’t cause mine. I’m sitting in a cube with my phone sitting on the desk for 10-12 hours. I will say that since I turned off the app refresh, it only happened ONCE today, which is such an improvement!