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IPhone audio not appearing in Watch Now Playing

Tagbert

Tagbert

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 22, 2011
6,467
7,566
Seattle
Recently (perhaps since iOS 16.4 and Watch OS 9.4) when I play audio on my iPhone, it does not trigger Now Playing on the Watch. I always used that as a convenient remote control for phone audio. Even manually launching Now Playing on the watch, I can’t figure out how to connect it to the phone’s audio stream. Anyone run into this problem?

the Auto-launch feature on the Watch is enabled.

A couple of times, I’ve been able to manually launch Now Playing and connect to the phone audio stream but it doesn’t seem to happen automatically, anymore.
 
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I could be wrong, and I didn’t use the auto launch feature, but I feel the behaviour changed a few versions back too. It now defaults to the Watch (now playing on the watch) and then I click the blue arrow (<) in the tile left corner, scroll down, and find my phone. I only ever manually open the Now Playing app, and I also use an AppleTV. In fact sometimes I have both running at the same time (iPhone and ATV) and so maybe the watch just now says “you pick”?
 
Howard2k said:
I could be wrong, and I didn’t use the auto launch feature, but I feel the behaviour changed a few versions back too. It now defaults to the Watch (now playing on the watch) and then I click the blue arrow (<) in the tile left corner, scroll down, and find my phone. I only ever manually open the Now Playing app, and I also use an AppleTV. In fact sometimes I have both running at the same time (iPhone and ATV) and so maybe the watch just now says “you pick”?
Click to expand...
I never play anything directly from my Watch, always from my phone. It was always convenient that Now Playing always appeared on the Watch and I could use it as a remote control for the audio on my phone. I don’t have any Apple TV so the phone is the only realistic option.

I can manually click through a couple of options to choose the phone but it doesn’t seem to remember that choice very long and it doesn’t come up when I start playing. What a pain!
 
auto launch broken for me too after upgrading to 16.4. upgrading to 16.4.1 didn't fix either. and i was getting some weird airplay error when i'd try to open Now Playing manually.

however, after restarting the apple watch, auto-launch appears to be working again.
 
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indg said:
auto launch broken for me too after upgrading to 16.4. upgrading to 16.4.1 didn't fix either. and i was getting some weird airplay error when i'd try to open Now Playing manually.

however, after restarting the apple watch, auto-launch appears to be working again.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I did restart the watch and nothing changed but a few minutes later, it popped up a message about syncing and did that for about a minute. After that, the Now Playing is appearing when I play something open the phone. I hope it sticks.

thanks.
 
I was coming to post this as well, however what I also haven't seen for a long time is the little indicator that you could just tap on the top that would indicate that something was playing.

And im not talking some 3rd party apps, the built in music app doesn't even do it.
 
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HiVolt said:
I was coming to post this as well, however what I also haven't seen for a long time is the little indicator that you could just tap on the top that would indicate that something was playing.

And im not talking some 3rd party apps, the built in music app doesn't even do it.
Click to expand...

This was gone in watchOS 9. Sadly.
 
NME42 said:
This was gone in watchOS 9. Sadly.
Click to expand...
Seriously? Its amazing I havent noticed. Do we now have to waste a complication to bring up now playing? Thats just stupid Apple. It was just an indicator, took up no real estate whatsoever.

I hate it when they take useful features away and not allow you to toggle it.
 
NME42 said:
This was gone in watchOS 9. Sadly.
Click to expand...
I only noticed it gone in the most recent WatchOS update. Before that, Now Playing would automatically appear and automatically show the iPhone audio stream.

Now I have to manually launch Now Playing and fuss with the buttons to switch to the phone because it always default to the Watch. Then 10 minutes later, I have to do it again because it shutdown the Now Playing app and it all starts over again.
 
Tagbert said:
I only noticed it gone in the most recent WatchOS update. Before that, Now Playing would automatically appear and automatically show the iPhone audio stream.
Click to expand...

I thought you mean the indicator icon at the top of the screen.
 
NME42 said:
I thought you mean the indicator icon at the top of the screen.
Click to expand...
What I used to use and what I want back is that, when I play audio on my iPhone that Now Playing appears on the connected Watch and the Watch can control the audio stream that is playing on the phone. That is how it worked until the most recent WatchOS / iOS update.
 
NME42 said:
Yes.

www.myhealthyapple.com

Now Playing status icon and notification missing after watchOS upgrade? Here’s what you can do

Not seeing the Now Playing icon on your watch face? Learn how to control Now Playing on your Apple Watch running watchOS 9 and above
www.myhealthyapple.com www.myhealthyapple.com

My Now Playing App greets me with an AirPlay error when I open it. Also, it is always wrong where something is playing. Typically it assumes I am playing on my AW.
Click to expand...
Yes, when I manually open Now Playing, it defaults to the Watch as source even though I never play anything directly from the Watch. I have to manually choose the phone as the source and that takes multiple taps. Sometimes it does give an Airplay error when connecting to the phone now, though usually, if I just try again, it works.

I never used to use any status icon. Those icons at the top almost never do anything.

Something got broken in WatchOS 9.4
 
Tagbert said:
Yes, when I manually open Now Playing, it defaults to the Watch as source even though I never play anything directly from the Watch. I have to manually choose the phone as the source and that takes multiple taps. Sometimes it does give an Airplay error when connecting to the phone now, though usually, if I just try again, it works.

I never used to use any status icon. Those icons at the top almost never do anything.

Something got broken in WatchOS 9.4
Click to expand...

Yes, exactly same behavior here too. I use Overcast to play podcasts on my watch and mostly on my iPhone. Whenever I open "Now playing", it points to my watch pretending to be playing something I was listening to long time ago -> though I am playing something on my iPhone at the same moment.
Annoying.
 
Tagbert said:
What I used to use and what I want back is that, when I play audio on my iPhone that Now Playing appears on the connected Watch and the Watch can control the audio stream that is playing on the phone. That is how it worked until the most recent WatchOS / iOS update.
Click to expand...

Have you tried switching off this setting on the watch and switching it back? Also rebooting could help.

I have switched it off as it nerves me.
 
NME42 said:
Have you tried switching off this setting on the watch and switching it back? Also rebooting could help.

I have switched it off as it nerves me.
Click to expand...
What setting is that and where? I don’t see anything that pertains to Now Playing.
 
Tagbert said:
What setting is that and where? I don’t see anything that pertains to Now Playing.
Click to expand...

I mean this here:

www.igeeksblog.com

How to Disable Auto Playing Audio Apps on Apple Watch - iGeeksBlog

Apple Watch has a well-thought-out feature "auto-launch audio apps" that automatically launches music app or any other audio apps whenever you wake the screen while playing audio or listening to your favorite tracks on your Apple Watch or iPhone. It offers a seamless experience; allowing you to...
www.igeeksblog.com www.igeeksblog.com
 
NME42 said:
I mean this here:

www.igeeksblog.com

How to Disable Auto Playing Audio Apps on Apple Watch - iGeeksBlog

Apple Watch has a well-thought-out feature "auto-launch audio apps" that automatically launches music app or any other audio apps whenever you wake the screen while playing audio or listening to your favorite tracks on your Apple Watch or iPhone. It offers a seamless experience; allowing you to...
www.igeeksblog.com www.igeeksblog.com
Click to expand...
Thanks. I tried going in there and disabling/reenabling that but it doesn't seem to do anything. I think that behavior got broken in the recent Watch OS update. That seems to be exactly what I want.
 
Same here. It’s always defaulting to watch music app which i use when running. Only rebooting each time Apple Watch fixed it temporally
 
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