How to Stop Apple Music from Automatically Playing

With over 80 million subscribers, Apple Music is one of the most popular music streaming services. Automatically playing your favorite songs is handy, but you might occasionally want to turn off Apple Music autoplay. Doing so is helpful for battery preservation and can also allow you to focus on an intense task.

 

Sometimes, however, knowing how to disable autoplay on Apple Music is difficult. The process also differs depending on your device, and you might waste valuable time trying to figure out how to fix this problem.

 

If you’re stuck and don’t know how to stop Apple Music from automatically playing, I’m here to help. You can adjust your headphone settings, set up shortcuts, and do much more—and you’ll learn how to implement each of these today.

 

Before we begin

 

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Turn off auto-play in Apple Music

When you stop Apple Music auto-play, any songs that you were playing will no longer do so. Here’s how to disable autoplay on Apple Music for your iPhone and iPad after opening the app:

  1. Expand the current song playing
  2. Select the icon with three bullet points and three lines
  3. Click on the icon that looks like a figure of eight. Your changes shall take immediate effect.
Selecting the icon with three lines in Apple Music on iPhone as a preparation step to turn off auto-play in the app

Unfortunately, you can’t turn off Apple Music autoplay on your Mac. However, you can achieve the same result by clearing your Playing Next list.

  1. Select the icon with three bullet points and lines in the top right
  2. Near Playing Next, hit the Clear button. Your Mac’ll then remove all upcoming songs from your list.
On Mac's Apple Music, you should take another path—to clear the Playing Next list. Start by choosing the icon with three bullet points and lines
Step 1. Click on the icon with three bullet points and lines
Another step to do is to find the Playing Next menu in the upper right corner of your Apple Music app and click on Clear to confirm deleting the playlist
Step 2. Playing Next > Clear

Considering that Apple Music replaced iTunes, you might also want to figure out how to remove iTunes from Mac.

Use Apple Shortcuts

Using Shortcuts on your iPhone and iPad can help stop Apple Music from playing with a simple command.

  1. Open the Shortcuts app and go to the + icon
  2. Click on Add Action and search for Music
  3. Scroll down to and tap Clear Playing Next
  4. Hit Done, and you’ll create your Shortcut.
To manage your music playing on iPad or iPhone, go to the Shortcuts app and click on Add Action as it's shown by the red arrow
Step 1. Add Action
To confirm the auto play turned off in the Shortcuts app, move to the Clear Playing Next option and hit Done in the end
Step 2. Clear Playing Next

You can gain easier access to your Shortcut by adding a widget.

  1. Swipe left on your home screen and go to Edit > + > Search Widgets
  2. Search for Shortcuts
  3. When you see Clear Playing Next, hit Add Widget. Then, select Done.
You can also clear your playlist in the Shortcuts app on iOS in an alternative way—with the help of adding a widget

Disable Handoff in settings

Disabling the Handoff feature in your iPhone and iPad settings will stop actions from automatically continuing on other devices you’re signed into with the same Apple ID.

  1. Go to Settings > General and click on AirPlay & Handoff
  2. Switch the Handoff toggle off.
One more method of canceling the automatic music autoplay on your iPhone and iPad can be found in Settings > General > AirPlay & Handoff
Step 1. Settings > General > Airplay & Handoff
After the AirPlay & Handoff tab is found and clicked, you'll need to find and toggle the Handoff feature off, the one highlighted with a red box
Step 2. Turn Handoff off

If you’re interested in producing music and not just listening to your favorite track, you might want to learn more about the best Mac for music production.

Turn off the CarPlay feature

Turning off CarPlay can stop your car from playing music from your iPhone or iPad when you’re close by. As a result, you’ll prevent Apple Music from playing automatically in situations where you’d prefer that it didn’t.

  1. Go to Settings > General > CarPlay
  2. When you see your car listed, hit Forget This Car.

Disable Apple Music to use data

Stopping Apple Music from using your cellular data will restrict playback to only occurring when on Wi-Fi or for downloaded files. You can switch off the feature on all iPhones, along with selected iPads that use cellular data plans:

  1. Open the Settings app and go to Music
  2. Look for Allow Music to Access, which should be at the top of your screen
  3. Toggle the Cellular Data option off.
The Music option selected in the Settings app on your iPhone as the primary step on your way to prevent Apple Music from using data
Step 1. Settings > Music
The music window opened in the Settings app on the iPhone to show the next step for users—toggle the Cellular Data option off
Step 2. Allow Music to Access > Cellular Data

Change AirPods settings

Adjusting the settings on your AirPods can help to stop Apple Music from playing when you don’t want it to. For example, you can change whether your headphones automatically detect when they’re in your ears.

 

Here’s how to alter this setting on your iPhone and iPad:

  1. Go to Settings > Bluetooth
  2. Look for your AirPods under My Devices
  3. Select the information button next to your headphones
  4. Look for the Automatic Ear Detection option. Then, switch the feature off.

You can also alter Automatic Ear Detection when using AirPods on your Mac:

  1. Select the Apple icon in the top left-hand toolbar
  2. Hit System Settings when the dropdown menu appears
  3. Look for your AirPods in the toolbar on the left
  4. When you see Automatic Ear Detection, you can—like on your iPhone and iPad—turn the feature off.
To change AirPods connected to your Mac, start with the Apple logo > System Settings to proceed with altering Automatic Ear Detection

Ready to handle Apple Music autoplay like a pro?

As useful as Apple Music autoplay is, the feature can become a nuisance if you’re unable to turn it off. You might find that music starts playing during situations where you’d prefer that it didn’t, and you could also become distracted from completing important tasks.

 

You’ll know aware of a few solutions for stopping Apple Music autoplay on your device, though I must admit that it’s slightly harder to do so on a Mac rather than on iPhone or iPad. For this and other difficulties you may encounter, you can always contact MacKeeper’s Premium Services team to come to a quicker solution.

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