iOS 15.4 breaks 'gapless' playback in Apple Music

[andrewd3]

Anyone else noticed new problems with 'gapless' playback of tracks in Apple Music, apparently introduced with the iOS 15.4 update? I have music files synced to my iPhone (256 AAC) and iPad (Apple Lossless), and now when I play these using my AirPods Pro, I get an approximately one second gap of silence between tracks, which is very annoying if you're listening to live albums or others where one track is supposed to seamlessly blend into the next.

Bizarrely, this problem occurs if I start a track playing from the beginning, but if I jump to the middle of a track, it then DOES transition to the next track gaplessly as it should. So why would the transition to the next track be gapless if starting from the middle of a track, but not when starting from the beginning of the preceding track?

I have reported this issue via the official Apple Music feedback channel, but I would be interested to know whether others are replicating this problem after upgrading to iOS 15.4?

 

[Jayseph]

Yes and it is incredibly frustrating. It has been mentioned in other threads already, but it is probably good to have a dedicated thread.

I have also noticed the same issue with HomePods.

 

[Demonic16]

Same to me. Someone found any fix for that?
Guys on reddit posted that it could be fixed by uninstalling Apple Music app, removing all music & reinstalling app back.

 

[andrewd3]

Same to me. Someone found any fix for that?
Guys on reddit posted that it could be fixed by uninstalling Apple Music app, removing all music & reinstalling app back.

Interesting - might try that then. Can you provide a link to the Reddit post?

 

[Demonic16]

Interesting - might try that then. Can you provide a link to the Reddit post?

https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleMusic/comments/tfnl3k/_/i1g3bd4

 

[andrewd3]

https://www.reddit.com/r/AppleMusic/comments/tfnl3k/_/i1g3bd4

Sadly this did not work for me (deleting and reinstalling Apple Music on my iPhone, and re-syncing my music library). There are still gaps between tracks when listening on my AirPods Pro.

However I have a USB-C headphone adapter with built-in DAC for my iPad, and if I use this with wired headphones, I can confirm that playback is gapless. But when I listen to the same tracks from my iPad using my AirPods, there are gaps between the tracks.

Therefore this problem appears to be happening only with Bluetooth connections.

 

[Demonic16]

Sadly this did not work for me (deleting and reinstalling Apple Music on my iPhone, and re-syncing my music library). There are still gaps between tracks when listening on my AirPods Pro.

However I have a USB-C headphone adapter with built-in DAC for my iPad, and if I use this with wired headphones, I can confirm that playback is gapless. But when I listen to the same tracks from my iPad using my AirPods, there are gaps between the tracks.

Therefore this problem appears to be happening only with Bluetooth connections.

Yeah, I can confirm this didn't work for me as well.
Looks like its known issue because reports about this appearing more & more.

Hope it'll will be fixed in next release or beta.

 

[Nermal]

Just for another data point:

SE 3, OS 15.4, no Bluetooth, music added myself: Works fine.

 

[jonny]

I used to have issues related to bluetooth peripherals (AirPods, speakers) and usually a network settings reset worked. I just reset mine again now as I was also having the issue, and it seems to have resolved it.... Hopefully it's a long term solution.

 

[Jayseph]

I used to have issues related to bluetooth peripherals (AirPods, speakers) and usually a network settings reset worked. I just reset mine again now as I was also having the issue, and it seems to have resolved it.... Hopefully it's a long term solution.

When you say 'network settings reset' do you mean simply resetting bluetooth or something else? Can you go step by step at what you do? I would love to try this out to see if it works. I have noticed issues on both HomePods and bluetooth headphones (especially AirPods Max). Thanks!

 

[jonny]

When you say 'network settings reset' do you mean simply resetting bluetooth or something else? Can you go step by step at what you do? I would love to try this out to see if it works. I have noticed issues on both HomePods and bluetooth headphones (especially AirPods Max). Thanks!

Ugh. Never mind. It worked for about 10mins and is now back to pausing. So annoying! ? sorry if I got anyone’s hopes up.

 

[jonnyb098]

Add it to the list of things 15.4 breaks. Good ol’ Apple QA.

 

[eicca]

I’ve already given up on the myriad of bugs in Apple Music and refurb’d my own iPod Mini with RockBox.

It seems Apple isn’t at all interested in changing my mind.

 

[osolis]

You guys streaming Hi-Ref Lossless? I switched mine back to High Quality and helped some, now every other track gaps, but it’s still annoying since I like listening to continuous mixes, and that gap just kills the moment ?.

 

[stinkhorn9]

Kind of relevant - in principle at least: I like to listen to CDs while in the kitchen - which involves cheap CD players

I've found it impossible to get hold of a modern player that doesn't insert the ****ing gap between tracks

Thankfully, my mum has now donated a spectacularly-no-frills 15-yr-old cheap cheap player to the cause - which plays through seamlessly - as so many albums are designed to be heard!

Luddite-tastic

 

[Jayseph]

Well, this is an interesting wrinkle - I took a drive in my car a few hours ago for the first time since updating my devices and shockingly gapless playback WORKS in CarPlay! How is that possible considering that everything else seems to be broken where Bluetooth is concerned? I’ll take it, but it is absolutely crazy.

 

[vertex_corncob]

I've been frustrated with Apple Music for a while. I've moved all my music over to Doppler. It has a mobile and desktop app, not fully featured of course but the developer takes input and has already fixed a few issues I was seeing. Might be worth a look.

 

[jonny]

Well, this is an interesting wrinkle - I took a drive in my car a few hours ago for the first time since updating my devices and shockingly gapless playback WORKS in CarPlay! How is that possible considering that everything else seems to be broken where Bluetooth is concerned? I’ll take it, but it is absolutely crazy.

Mine seems to work sometimes and at others not. I’m convinced it’s a bug that has something to do with ram allocation and caching. Though, I could be wrong.

 

[jonny]

I think 15.4.1 fixed it 🤯

 

[jonny]

Nope. 😔

 

[jonny]

Nope. 😔

I had a call with support today, submitted video of the behaviour and it’s being escalated. Expecting another callback tomorrow. It’s infuriating trying to listen back to mixes of my work with the flow broken up by this bug. 🤬

 

[Jayseph]

I had a call with support today, submitted video of the behaviour and it’s being escalated. Expecting another callback tomorrow. It’s infuriating trying to listen back to mixes of my work with the flow broken up by this bug. ?

I feel your pain. I installed foobar2000 on my iPad Pro to listen to music as there is no gapless issue with that app. I was hoping against hope that they actually squashed this bug with 15.4.1, but it doesn’t look like it. Foobar works great. I am not sure how much I will be opening the Music app from now on.

 

[Vlad Soare]

This may be a stupid question, but how do you (or did you, before this bug) listen gaplessly to the iOS Music app? There is indeed an option for gapless playing (and even a crossfade option for that matter) on macOS, but I can't find it in iOS to save my life. ?
What am I missing?

 

[Demonic16]

This may be a stupid question, but how do you (or did you, before this bug) listen gaplessly to the iOS Music app? There is indeed an option for gapless playing (and even a crossfade option for that matter) on macOS, but I can't find it in iOS to save my life. ?
What am I missing?

It's feature that is built in iOS & have no settings.
If you play music in Music app, it plays all track without gap.
It was feature that made me love my first iPod nano 4th generation.

It always worked perfectly in iOS since original iPhone.
But after 15 years they broke it.
Hope they'll fix it in iOS 15.4.2 or 15.5.

 

[Loge]

Is this just a problem with Apple Music only, or does it also affect third party music players such as Cs music player, anyone know?