How to Stop Apple Music from Automatically Playing

How to stop Apple Music from automatically playing
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How to stop Apple Music from automatically playing
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Photo Credit: Omid Armin

Are you tired of autoplay on Apple Music? Here’s how to stop Apple Music from automatically playing.

Stopping autoplay means after a song or album is finished, Apple Music won’t continue on. The solutions covered here are for connecting to AirPods, headphones, Bluetooth speakers, or even inside your car.

By default, autoplay is turned on in Apple Music, and music will continue to play when your phone connects to another device. Here’s how to stop Apple Music from automatically playing songs without your permission.

How to Turn Off Autoplay in Apple Music

  1. Open the Apple Music app on your device.
  2. Tap the mini-player along the bottom when a song is playing.
  3. Tap the ‘Up Next‘ icon in the lower-right corner.
  4. If autoplay is activated, you will see a playlist of queued songs.
  5. Tap the ‘Autoplay‘ icon to disable the feature.
  6. The autoplay playlist will disappear, and the music will stop after the current song.

How to Stop Apple Music Automatically Playing – With Devices

Sometimes our smart devices can inadvertently activate, making it seem like the app is playing music automatically. There are some steps you can take to avoid problems like this. For example, put your AirPods in their case when you’re not using them. Gripping them in your hand or pocket can trick them into turning on and starting music playback.

If you have paired your iPhone with a Bluetooth speaker you no longer want to use, you can unpair it. This works for your car’s Bluetooth system if you don’t use it, too. If you have iPhone Handoff enabled, the feature may be detecting a previously paired device.

How to Disable iPhone Handoff

  1. Open the ‘Settings‘ app on your iPhone.
  2. Navigate to ‘General‘ then ‘AirPlay & Handoff.
  3. If you are not using the feature, disable it.
  4. If you are using the feature, identify the device you don’t want to connect to any longer and remove it from the settings.

Are you sure it’s Apple Music?

If you’re experiencing problems with music auto-playing in your car, make sure the problem is Apple Music. Some smart cars have built-in Spotify functionality that you may not realize you’re using – especially if you hear ads. Apple Music doesn’t offer a free tier, so the only advertising you’ll hear is on Apple One radio.

One Response

  1. Bea816

    This doesn’t help. I have an iPhone 13, and it is updated beyond iOS 15.0. I’m not sure if they’ve changed things, but when I open Apple Music, play a song, go into the mini player, there’s the repeat album, repeat song, or no repeat icon (3 choices in one). There’s no infinity symbol. Still, I turned the replay on then tapped it off to be sure. Didn’t work. Closed app. Reopened. Chose different song on a different album. It still wanted to autoplay other songs. I would really like to stop the auto playing of songs whenever I hop in my car to go somewhere. I don’t use the Apple Music app, I prefer podcasts through another app. Since I received this iPhone 13, now I can be listening to a podcast through my headphones, pause for a bit, hit play and instead of my podcast continuing the Apple Music app starts playing random songs!!! It never used to hijack my phone like this. Maybe I’ll just delete it.