How to Stop Apple Music from Automatically Playing [Updated Recently]

By Adam Gorden Updated on April 6, 2023

apple music automatically playing

Have you come across an Apple Music auto-play problem? Some Apple Music users report that their Apple Music will play music automatically when they get into the car. Some others found this problem happened to their iPhone, iPad, AirPods, or headphones. If you are looking for a method to stop Apple Music from automatically playing, you can follow this tutorial which contains several methods to fix Apple Music playing automatically on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, as well as, the solutions to Apple Music playing automatically in car.

I have an iPhone 13. Ever since I upgraded to iOS 16, my iPhone always starts playing Apple Music via Bluetooth in the car automatically, even if the Apple Music app is closed. This happens even when I am listening to other audio such as Audible books in the car. So, how to stop Apple Music from automatically playing in car?

The problem that Apple Music plays automatically happens when lots of users use Apple Music on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Fortunately, there are several methods to stop Apple Music from playing automatically. Let's see how to get Apple Music to stop playing automatically.

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Part 1. Adjust App Settings to Stop Apple Music from Automatically Playing

Apple Music has an Autoplay feature, which will play music in your library or a random song automatically when Apple Music finishes all the songs in an album or a playlist. Indeed, with this feature, you can discover new music in Apple Music. But sometimes, you just want to stop when finishing your songs. When you find Apple Music automatically plays on any device, you can try to disable this feature to fix it. Here is a full guide for how to turn off Autoplay in Apple Music.

1.1 On iPhone, iPad, or iPod:

How to turn off Autoplay in the Music app:

iphone apple music autoplay off

  1. From the home screen of iOS device, open the Music app.
  2. Tap the song's Now Playing bar at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Tap the autoplay icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
  4. If the Autoplay feature is enabled, you should be able to see the music coming next in the Playing Next playlist and the Autoplay icon is highlighted at this moment. To turn off Autoplay, tap the Autoplay icon on the right of Playing Next to dim it.

1.2 On Mac:

  1. On your Mac, open the Music app.
  2. From the Playing Now drop-down, click the Up Next icon to load the Playing Next playlist.
  3. When the Autoplay feature is enabled, tap the Autoplay icon to dim it.

Part 2. Adjust Device Settings to Stop Apple Music from Automatically Playing

The problem that Apple Music plays automatically happens when lots of users use Apple Music on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Fortunately, there are several methods to stop Apple Music from playing automatically. All you can try is adjusting some associated settings on your devices.

2.1 On iPhone, iPad, or iPod:

How to turn off 'Handoff' on iOS's Settings:

disable handoff

  1. On your iOS device, open the Settings app > General.
  2. Scroll to AirPlay & Handoff, then turn off the "AirPlay & Handoff" option.

How to set cellular data use for Apple Music on iPhone:

disable apple music to use data

  1. From the home screen of iOS device, open the Settings app > Cellular.
  2. Then, turn off the "Cellular Data" option for the Music app.
  3. If a setting is off, iPhone uses only Wi-Fi for the Music app.

2.2 On Android phone:

How to turn off Battery on Android's Settings:

  1. On Android phone, open the Settings app > Apps > Apple Music.
  2. Select Battery > Allow Background Activity, then turn off the "Allow Background Activity" option.

Part 3. Workarounds to Prevent Apple Music from Automatically Playing on iOS/Android

If the settings above won't help, here are some workarounds for iOS, Androids users or both to make a difference.

3.1 For iPhone, iPad or iPod:

How to create a shortcut to stop Apple Music from automatically playing on iPhone:

iphone shortcuts apple music play pause

  1. From the home screen of iOS device, open the Shortcuts app.
  2. Tap Automation, then tap the Plus icon at the top-right.
  3. Select Create Personal Automation.
  4. Select App > Music app.
  5. On the next page, tap Add Action, then tap the Search field at the top.
  6. Type "Play/Pause" to search for the exact option under Media. Now the Actions field will be "Play/Pause on iPhone".
  7. Tap "Play/Pause" to limit the option to Pause only. Now the Actions field will be "Pause on iPhone", and the full action is "When Music is opened, Pause".
  8. Back to the home screen of iOS device, open the Music app and check the notification bar prompt.

How to use Timer to stop Apple Music from automatically playing on iPhone:

clock app iphone

Another way you can try is to use the Timer to stop Apple Music from playing automatically. The Timer feature can stop music from playing a period of time, which can be decided by you. Follow the below steps to fix this problem.

  1. From the home screen of iOS device, open the Clock app > Timer.
  2. Use the time picker to pick the interval time.
  3. Tap the current option on the next to "When Timer Ends" to choose "Stop Playing" instead.

Part 4. Workarounds to Prevent Apple Music from Automatically Playing with Bluetooth

If you find Apple Music automatically plays when Bluetooth is turned on in Settings, you may want to fix it.

4.1 For any Bluetooth device:

How to create a shortcut to stop Apple Music from automatically playing via Bluetooth?

iphone shortcuts bluetooth play pause

Still, you can use the iPhone shortcut to stop Apple Music from automatically playing when a Bluetooth is paired with your iPhone.

  1. On your iPhone, open the Shortcuts app.
  2. Tap Automation, then create a personal automation.
  3. Select Bluetooth.
  4. Tap Choose next to Devices, then choose your Bluetooth device such as your car under MY DEVICES section. If you can't play the specific Bluetooth device, please make sure the Bluetooth is turned in your iPhone's Settings app.
  5. Once selected, tap Done > Next.
  6. Tap Add Action, then tap the Search field to search for "Play/Pause" action.
  7. Tap "Play/Pause" at the top to choose Pause. The action should be "Pause on iPhone" now.
  8. Tap Next > Done, now when your iPhone connects to your selected Bluetooth device, this shortcut will pause the Apple Music playback on your iPhone.

4.2 For AirPods:

To disable Autoplay in Apple Music, you can successfully stop Apple Music from playing automatically on your iPhone or other devices. However, some users complained that Apple Music starts playing automatically when they pair their headphones like AirPods. Here you can make some settings to your AirPods. Then it will prevent Apple Music from playing automatically.

Be default, AirPods sense when they're in your ear and receive the audio from your device. For example, if you are listening to Apple Music with your AirPods, they will sense it and will pause and resume playback when you remove one of them, or stop playback and won't resume when you remove both. With these features enabled, you may find the Apple Music playback with your AirPods is out of control. But you can adjust a setting called "Automatic Ear Detection" to make your AirPods work with the Apple Music playback as expected.

When you turn off "Automatic Ear Detection", the features bove are off and all audios plays to your AirPods whether or not you're wearing them. However, if you identify that Apple Music plays to your AirPods not matter how, you may need to turn on "Automatic Ear Detection" instead to make a difference.

How to turn on/off 'Automatic Ear Detection' for AirPods/AirPods Pro:

set airpods in setting

  1. Pair your AirPods with the iOS device that runs the Music app.
  2. On the iOS device, open the Settings app > Bluetooth (or Settings > AirPods), then find your AirPods in the list of devices.
  3. Tap the More Info button next to your AirPods, from here you should access more settings such as "Automatic Ear Detection".
  4. From here you can choose to turn "Automatic Ear Detection" on or off to make a difference.

Part 5. Workarounds to Stop Apple Music from Automatically Playing in Car

When you want to stop Apple Music from automatically playing in the car, there are two methods for you. If you are using an iPhone, you can try to close the CarPlay feature first. For Android users, you can disable the Auto feature. Here's how to.

5.1 For iPhone:

If you use CarPlay to play Apple Music when you're driving, for starters you can choose to turn it off and check if the issue is with the CarPlay setting.

How to turn off Screen time for CarPlay in iPhone's Settings?

ios screen time content and privacy restrictions off

  1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app > Screen Time.
  2. Scroll to Content & Privacy Restrictions.
  3. Tap Allowed Apps > CarPlay, then turn off the "CarPlay" option.

How to create a shortcut to stop Apple Music from automatically playing with CarPlay?

iphone shortcuts carplay play pause

You can also choose to create a shortcut on your iPhone to stop Apple Music from automatically playing when CarPlay is enabled on your devices.

  1. From the home screen of iOS device, open the Shortcuts app.
  2. Tap Automation, then choose to create a personal automation.
  3. Select CarPlay if you encounter with the issues when CarPlay is enabled to play Apple Music in your car.
  4. Choose Connects.
  5. On the next page, tap Add Action, then tap the Search field to search for "Play/Pause" action under Media. Now the Actions field will be "Play/Pause on iPhone".
  6. Tap "Play/Pause" to limit the option to Pause only.
  7. Tap Next, and the full action is "When CarPlay connects, Pause".

5.2 For Android:

If you use Android Auto to play Apple Music in a car and it starts automatically playing, you're suggested to turn off the setting for Android Auto called "Start music automatically" to fix this issue.

How to turn off 'Start music automatically' in Android's Settings:

  1. On your Android phone, open the Settings app > Screen Time.
  2. Tap Connection preferences.
  3. Tap Android Auto > Start music automatically, then turn off the "Start music automatically" option.

Bonus Tip: How to Download Apple Music for Offline Play on Any Devices

With the above methods, you are able to disable Apple Music from playing automatically. However, to fix this issue on Apple Music once and for all, the direct way is to transfer Apple Music playlists to other music player for playing. Then you can listen to Apple Music normally. And you don't need to pay a lot to start a new subscription on other music apps. You can still enjoy your favorite Apple Music songs with high quality.

But before transferring Apple Music playlists to other music player, there is a significant step - convert Apple Music to MP3. MP3 is a common audio format that is acceptable for most media players. So, you can download and convert Apple Music to MP3 for playing on any media player. For the conversion, ViWizard Apple Music Converter is a highly suggested converter for Apple Music. It will convert Apple Music to 6 popular formats like MP3 at 30× faster speed and with the original sound quality kept.

audio converter

Key Features of ViWizard Audio Converter

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* Security verified. 5, 481,347 people have downloaded it.

  • Convert songs, albums, and playlists from Apple Music to MP3
  • Remove DRM protection from Apple Music, iTunes, and Audible
  • Save the converted audios with the original quality and ID3 tags
  • Support the conversion of up to 100 audio formats to others

Guide: How to Download and Convert Apple Music to MP3

Before we start, click the above Download button to install ViWizard Audio Converter on your computer. Now, let's see how to download Apple Music to MP3 with lossless quality by using ViWizard software. Make sure that iTunes or Music has been installed on your computer.

Step 1 Load Apple Music You Need to the Converter

Launch ViWizard Audio Converter on your computer. The iTunes app will be opened as well. When you click the Load iTunes Library button, a pop-up window with your iTunes library will appear, from which you can pick Apple Music you like. You may also add music by dragging and dropping it from local folder.

add apple music songs

Step 2 Choose MP3 as Output Format and Set Parameters

Next, in the left corner, click the Format button. Then, choose MP3 as your desired output format. You may also tune the audio parameters as your needs by altering the codec, channel, bit rate, and sample rate, and so on. Finally, press OK to save your changes.

set output settings

Step 3 Start to Download Apple Music for Offline Playing

Then, on the bottom right corner, click the Convert button to begin downloading and converting Apple Music to MP3 for offline playing. Following the downloaded Apple Music files, click the Converted button and then you are able to transfer them to any device and player.

convert apple music to mp3

Conclusion

It's easy to stop Apple Music from automatically playing through the above solutions. You can try them one by one to fix the error. The best method to avoid this error is to use ViWizard Audio Converter to download Apple Music playlists for playing. When the conversion is over, you can transfer those converted Apple Music songs to any media player you like. Just click the download button to learn more about ViWizard at once and you won't be disappointed.

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