In short: If your Apple Music is glitching and cutting out, it helps to toggle between the audio quality by downgrading from Hi-Res Lossless to Lossless, then upgrading it again.
Is your Apple Music glitching and you’re not sure how to fix it? Sometimes it will play songs, other times it will just shuffle through them. Here are seven reasons why Apple Music glitches:
1. Your device needs a simple restart
Before you do anything, try quitting and then reopening the Apple Music app. If Apple Music is still glitching and cutting out after this step, you may need to restart your device.
As simple as it is, sometimes all you need is a simple restart. While restarting may sound like a no-brainer, it can often help with resolving some unexpected issues like this.
If your iPhone or Mac isn’t working as expected, you can try restarting it by turning it off, then turning it back on. If turning it off and on doesn’t fix the issue, try forcing it to restart.
Fortunately, many Apple Music users no longer experience glitching after restarting their device, whether it’s an iPhone or Mac. Give it a try, maybe all you need is a simple restart.
2. Your iOS version is not up to date
If a simple restart does not help, check whether your iOS version is up to date. Older iOS versions are often filled with bugs and glitches that cause problems for Apple Music.
Software updates provide all kinds of improvements, new features, and bug fixes. So, if Apple Music is glitching and cutting out due to a bug then updating your iOS version should help.
To check for updates on your device, open Settings and go to General. Then tap on Software Update. After updating your iOS version, give Apple Music another try.
3. Problems with your network provider
Sometimes, the issue does not stem from Apple Music itself, but from your network provider. Have you changed your network provider recently? If so, it could be the culprit.
I never had any Apple Music glitching issues when I was using Verizon. Now that I have switched to AT&T it started happening. I believe it has to do with the signal.
In all fairness, my Verizon wireless service was much better than what I have now. It is really frustrating especially since the music is downloaded so it should not be glitching and cutting out.
Try using another network provider and it may solve the glitching problem.
4. Audio quality bug
If you have restarted your device, your iOS version is up to date, and there are no problems with your network provider, then there must have been a glitch in streaming the Hi-Res audio.
One solution is to downgrade from Hi-Res Lossless (ALAC up to 24-bit/192 kHz) to Lossless (ALAC up to 24-bit/48 kHz), then upgrade again to Hi-Res Lossless.
- Go to Settings > Music
- Tap Audio Quality
- Tap Lossless Audio to turn it on or off
- From here, choose the audio quality
The change seems to be instant when you toggle between the two audio qualities, so if you are listening to a song, you will hear it cut off briefly while it switches between the 2 modes.
For some inexplicable reason, toggling the quality between Hi-Res Lossless and Lossless seemed to fix it for me straight away. I haven’t had the issue since.
However, please keep in mind that toggling between the two audio quality settings will probably delete all of your downloaded songs. You will need to redownload them again.
5. The “Lossless audio” option is not turned on
Many Apple Music users have been dealing with glitches and music cutting out simply because the “Lossless audio” option under Audio Quality is turned off. Please turn it on.
I’ve been dealing with Apple Music glitching for ages, and ticking the “Lossless Audio” checkbox under Audio Quality did the trick. There’s no need to switch between High and Lossless quality.
After turning on Lossless audio, just delete the music and redownload it from the Apple Music catalog to get the lossless version of the music that you already downloaded from Apple Music,
Unticking the checkbox often reintroduces the issue.
Most audio compression techniques lose some amount of data contained in the original source file. Lossless audio, according to Apple, preserves all of the original data.
However, keep in mind that streaming lossless audio over the internet consumes more data, and downloading lossless audio uses significantly more space on your device.
So, if you’ve been dealing with glitch Apply Music for some time, try turning on the “Lossless audio” checkbox. Nine times out of ten, the problem should be solved.
6. You have Sync Library turned off
Sync Library allows you to access your music library, including your playlists, on any device that has the Apple Music app and is signed in with the same Apple ID.
It could be that you don’t have Sync Library turned on, especially if you are using multiple devices with the same Apple ID. Turn it on and try playing Apple Music again.
If you already have Sync Library turned on, please turn off Sync Library, wait for a few minutes, then turn on Sync Library again with Apple Music. Give it time to sync across all your devices.
7. Download songs and listen offline
If you experience Apple Music glitching over mobile data or the internet, you might want to download songs to your device so you can listen to them offline.
By downloading songs to your device, Apple Music can play songs without relying on an internet connection. It does matter whether the data is reliable or not, the song will play nonetheless.
Many Apple Music users experience fewer glitching problems if they have already downloaded the music. Just make sure you have enough storage space on your device.
Related articles: