Music in lock screen shows albums but no play button

[Diskutant]

Sometimes when I listen to music through AirPods, I take them out and a few minutes later I put them back in the ears I get a music widget in the lock screen that's different from the usual one with the play button.
It shows the last albums I listened to, and the track name of the song that should be playing now. But there is no play button, so I need to open either the app or the control center to get the music playing again.
What is the logic behind this? Why does this widget show up sometimes, and why is there no play button?

 

[Puonti]

This is purely a guess, and not necessarily a validation of the user experience, but could it be because you can play / pause through Airpod gestures and the widget knows this?

 

[Diskutant]

That doesn't seem to be it
1. I only have Siri and next title set as AirPod gestures.
2. if that were the reason, it would show always not just sometimes

 

[Puonti]

Based on some quick testing the logic appears to pretty simple. If you're not wearing the Airpods and not playing music for four to five minutes, the lockscreen widget considers the "session" over and returns with a media list and no playback controls when you put the Airpods on again.

Perhaps the on-again-off-again playback control behavior you're observing is happening because sometimes you put the Airpods back on under four minutes from taking them off, and other times they're off longer?

The Control Center widget is its own thing with a different logic.

 

[Diskutant]

Thank you for testing.
I could swear I had the AirPods for a longer time in their case, like for charging when they are empty, without this happening. But of course I can't "prove" that and memory can be wrong. I will pay attention to it and see if that's really it.
Thanks again.

 

[Puonti]

You're welcome! Perhaps with extended observation you'll find details I missed with my quick test.