iOS 17 AirPlay Features

[MacRumors]

With the iOS 17 update, Apple is updating and refining almost every iPhone app and feature, and that includes AirPlay. AirPlay is Apple's wireless communication protocol that allows music and video content from iPhones, iPads, and Macs to be beamed to devices like the Apple TV, HomePod, and third-party speakers, smart TVs, set-top boxes, and receivers.

This guide highlights the changes that Apple is making to AirPlay in iOS 17, with these features also available in iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma.

AirPlay Preferences

iOS 17 improves on-device intelligence for AirPlay, and it is able to better learn your preferences over time. If you typically AirPlay from your iPhone to the Apple TV in the living room, it will learn that behavior and show the Apple TV first in your AirPlay list over other AirPlay devices that may be in the home.

Devices are shown in the AirPlay interface based on relevance, and you'll also now see suggested connections proactively based on your prior AirPlay usage.

The AirPlay interface is smarter from the outset, and it shows the devices that are located closest to you first rather than offering up a more arbitrary list. The AirPlay interface also makes it clearer which device content is AirPlaying to and whether AirPlay is active.

Automatic AirPlay

The Automatic AirPlay feature that was available for TVs in iOS 16 has expanded to include speakers as well in iOS 17. You can opt in to have the iPhone automatically connect to nearby speakers and TVs when playing content from apps that you regularly use with AirPlay.

Previously, this setting was limited to AirPlay TVs.

AirPlay in Hotel Rooms

Apple is teaming up with hotel chains and TV manufacturers to introduce smart TV sets that will let hotel guests automatically AirPlay content from their Apple devices to the hotel TV.

The option will let guests watch their own TV shows and movies without having to sign into streaming accounts on shared televisions, providing more security for viewing content when traveling.

IHG Hotels and Resorts will be the first hotel company to bring AirPlay to its hotels, and LG plans to introduce AirPlay-compatible smart TVs designed specifically for use in hotels.

Read More

You can get more information on the changes coming in iOS 17 in our comprehensive iOS 17 roundup.

Article Link: iOS 17 AirPlay Features

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Can't wait for AirPlay in hotels!

 

[ShivneelSingh]

Just allow me to not include my HomePods as my speakerphone options on my iPhone.

 

[krell100]

Is Airplay still limited to 24/48? I'd like to see an updated Airplay that allows streaming the full bandwidth of high resolution files in Apple Music (24/192). Also, Apple, please fix the auto sample/bit rate changing in macOS, why does it work in iOS but not macOS??!!

 

[PsykX]

I hope it's more reliable, because I've been having a lot of screen flickers and then AirPlay quits right after... on multiple Apple TVs and iPhones in the last 5-6 years.

 

[Cmd-Z]

Re-vamp of AirPlay? What could go wrong? 🥵

Sorry for the jades view, but AirPlay from iPhone to HomePod has been quirky for me ... while AirPlaying from my iPhone, the HomePod decides to take over the playback, i.e. streaming from internet rather than my iPhone playing to the HomePod. Since the playback is not actually happening on the iPhone, song play counts are not updating which means my smart playlists are not updating 🤬

The workaround is to use a 3rd-party music player (Marvis) which mostly seems to keep the playback resident on the iPhone while AirPlaying, and play counts increment. But if I use the native Music app, the HomePod takes full control, why?

 

[segfaultdotorg]

What's new if you have an AirPlay Pro subscription?

 

[Arislan]

If you have what?

What's new if you have an AirPlay Pro subscription?

 

[reubs]

I use AirPlay in my office with Apple Music, but what I'd LOVE is a "now playing" style widget or app that I could have on my desktop. I wonder if this integration+widgets on the Mac will help make this possible.

 

[HVDynamo]

Is Airplay still limited to 24/48? I'd like to see an updated Airplay that allows streaming the full bandwidth of high resolution files in Apple Music (24/192). Also, Apple, please fix the auto sample/bit rate changing in macOS, why does it work in iOS but not macOS??!!

There is literally no benefit to 24/192 outside of the mixing environment. 16/44.1 is enough to flawlessly reproduce any frequency in our hearing range.

 

[SoldOnApple]

It would be nice if there was an option to disable the airplay option entirely for certain sites that you wouldn't want to accidentally airplay to the living room TV. And it would be nice still if Apple could force Google to let us airplay videos from the Safari version of YouTube.

 

[SoldOnApple]

There is literally no benefit to 24/192 outside of the mixing environment. 16/44.1 is enough to flawlessly reproduce any frequency in our hearing range.

But what if you want to AirPlay 4K movies with atmos soundtrack, as Wifi gets faster and faster Apple may as well let us stream audio in that quality. We are already up to gigabit wifi last I checked, as long as you have compatible router and devices.

 

[krell100]

There is literally no benefit to 24/192 outside of the mixing environment. 16/44.1 is enough to flawlessly reproduce any frequency in our hearing range.

Regardless of your opinion on high resolution audio, and yes, it's your opinion, Apple Music offers many albums in the higher Rez format so it makes sense for them to allow said files to be streamed as intended over Airplay.

 

[LightProtector]

While not perfect, AirPlay has been awesome to use. I love having my phone connect to my TV automatically when I open Crunchyroll.

 

[svish]

Good improvements. Nice to have AirPlay in hotels

 

[Nwtmac]

I’m still one of the people that would like to airplay audio from my AppleTV to my iPhone, just like you can to a Mac (or just like you can with a Roku device). I watch a lot of movies and shows with my long distance gf, who has and android phone and a pc, so we cannot use SharePlay. We talk with FB messenger a lot, and I need both the messenger conversation and the audio from the AppleTV going through my AirPods. Right now I am doing this by connecting to everything through a number of steps on my Mac, but it would be more convenient through the phone. (With a Roku device it just requires toggling a couple of buttons in the Roku phone app). Grateful for any improvements, though, including those mentioned in this article.

 

[MAcNIAC]

i just want to control music on my ipad from my iPhone.

then i can use apple music connected to an external dac and use my phone as a remote. i could then save money by not using roon/tidal.

 

[dampfnudel]

Can't wait for AirPlay in hotels!

When I visited Hawaii for the first time a few years ago, I thought to myself it would’ve been nice if I could use AirPlay to watch the videos I took today on that 50” TV.

 

[hagar]

What about performance? It’s sooooo slow and unreliable to connect and stream to other devices. Even Apple’s own HomePod and TV.

also: if I read this article correctly, the “smart” thing Apple is introducing here is the order of the Airplay menu that will update based on usage? big wooop.

Just allow me to not include my HomePods as my speakerphone options on my iPhone.

Wait, what? That has been around since day 1 when the HomePod was released.

 

[arobert3434]

How about instead of all this fancy-schmancy guessing simply preserving your last airplay choice for more than 30 seconds or so if you pause the music? This has driven me crazy for years. A Mac will remember your selection until you change it, why can't iDevices do this?

Also in the missing-basics department, Music won't remember your play history across devices. Why do they make this fancy iCloud thing just to let each device be its own silo? It reminds me of the sad state of Books. Remembering the page across devices seems like the simplest possible cloud application. The Kindle app does it flawlessly. But it was always unreliable in Books, and then in iOS 16 rather than spending software development hours on stabilizing that, they invest in a hack-job UI rewrite AND apparently introduce a hard barrier so Books 16 devices and Books <=15 devices cannot sync the page together at all!

The emphasis on simple basic usability seems to have completely left Apple. If it weren't for so much legacy and existing convention in the software at this point they'd be worse than Windows.

 

[arobert3434]

Can't wait for AirPlay in hotels!

Me neither but it's going to be a long time before upgrade cycles bring this to a decent percentage of hotels let alone AirBnBs. Wish they'd thought of this a little earlier.

 

[krell100]

The emphasis on simple basic usability seems to have completely left Apple.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[pipa]

Airplaygate surprised😲

 

[nnoble]

Re-vamp of AirPlay? What could go wrong? 🥵

Sorry for the jades view, but AirPlay from iPhone to HomePod has been quirky for me ... while AirPlaying from my iPhone, the HomePod decides to take over the playback, i.e. streaming from internet rather than my iPhone playing to the HomePod. Since the playback is not actually happening on the iPhone, song play counts are not updating which means my smart playlists are not updating 🤬

The workaround is to use a 3rd-party music player (Marvis) which mostly seems to keep the playback resident on the iPhone while AirPlaying, and play counts increment. But if I use the native Music app, the HomePod takes full control, why?

HomePod tried this on me. I cut off their power source and swapped them out with two Sonos speakers from a remote part of the house. Furthermore, these HomePod antics has caused a blazing argument with Siri and subsequent divorce from English (Female) as well as increasing swear box revenue by 5,000%. Don't tolerate HomePod power grabs. Fight back!

On a more serious note; there must be a checkbox or something to prevent this happening?

 

[Powerbooky]

I got some issues I hope version 17 fixes:

1) on HomePod (mini) I found a limit, no more than 4 of them can be in one unique AirPlay session. When I try more, for some strange reason the utilisation of the wifi network is maxed out at 85% and causes AirPlay to fail.

2) I'd like the option to have control to HomePod first, instead of the AirPlay checkboxes.

3) In a multi-person household, AirPlay should be more aware who is streaming/controlling.
Currently the Music app gets the controls of any HomePod near that is playing something. I found that this can be very annoying in certain situations. Our kids have a HomePod in their own room and whenever they ask it to play something in the next room some else's iPhone suddenly switches the controls in the Music app. And since this happens kind of silently, that person inadvertently stops or changes the music on the HomePod instead of their iPhone.

I hope it's more reliable, because I've been having a lot of screen flickers and then AirPlay quits right after... on multiple Apple TVs and iPhones in the last 5-6 years.

Maybe, but most issues with AirPlay are caused by the local network. AirPlay with video needs quite some bandwidth and fast connection. When using wifi for video streaming you need at least Wifi 5 and a basestation that is placed on the right spot in the house. Video streaming usually doesn't work reliable on Wifi 4 (802.11n) or lower.

Some other factors that cause a lot of trouble:
- Many neighbouring wifi stations. Even mesh networks can be troublesome.
- Having a lot of wifi devices/clients on the same network. Especially when there are clients with wifi 4 or even lower on the network; that has a great impact.
- Base-stations, modems or switches that do not handle QoS/IGMP traffic correctly. I had a cheap switch that did not support IPv6 traffic correctly - that has great impact on AirPlay too.

There is literally no benefit to 24/192 outside of the mixing environment. 16/44.1 is enough to flawlessly reproduce any frequency in our hearing range.

Depending on the kind of music and used speakers. On good speakers you can hear the difference between 44.1kHz and 192kHz sampling. There's less distortion in the higher frequencies on 192kHz sampling.

i just want to control music on my ipad from my iPhone.

then i can use apple music connected to an external dac and use my phone as a remote. i could then save money by not using roon/tidal.

I did something like that with iTunes on Mac.

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