In short: Unlink Apple Music in Google Home then sign out. Next, uninstall Apple Music and restart your device. Reinstall Apple Music, but don’t log in yet. Link Apple Music to Google Home, then log back in to Apple Music. Casting should work now.
Apple Music has the option to cast to other devices, including Google Home devices. However, sometimes Apple Music is not casting to Google Home. Here are some things you can do.
Relink Apple Music on the Google Home app
I’ve set Apple Music up as my default music provider on my Google Home. Up until recently, everything worked fine but then I couldn’t get any music to play by casting.
What worked for me is to unlink Apple Music from the Google Home app. Then, relink Apple Music and set it as the default music provider again.
To unlink Apple Music, open the Google Home app and navigate to Settings > Music on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. Under Apple Music, simply tap on Unlink.
If Apple Music is set as your default music service, you can choose to select another music service as your default or select “No default.” Then, tap Unlink under Apple Music.
At this point, I would give it a minute or two before setting up Apple Music on your Google Home app. You can also restart your device for good measure.
To link Apple Music, open Google Home and navigate to Settings > Music on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. Under “More music services,” tap the link icon next to Apple Music.
Tap on Link Account and sign in with the Apple ID that you use with Apple Music and follow the onscreen steps to complete the setup. Now Apple Music should be casting to Google Home.
I suggest you do this troubleshooting step first when Apple Music is not casting to Google Home before you reinstall the Apple Music app because it would delete your downloaded songs.
Reinstall Apple Music
When I was having issues with Apple Music not casting to Google Home, many people on the Apple Support Community kept suggesting that I go to Google Help.
The thing is, I’ve been able to use Apple Music through the Google Home app. Also, I was able to successfully cast with different apps including Spotify and Google Podcasts.
This means that the issue stems from Apple Music, not Google Home.
The good news is, uninstalling and reinstalling the Apple Music app solved the issue. Whatever went wrong with the Apple Music app got fixed immediately after reinstallation.
I was hesitant to delete the Apple Music app because it would remove my downloads, but now casting to Google Home works again on any device after reinstallation.
My guess is that the Apple Music app gets corrupted over time, especially if you have a large number of downloaded songs, and the only way to fix it is to do a clean reinstall.
I just wish someone had suggested that to me sooner instead of blaming Google for what was clearly an issue with the Apple Music app. Now you don’t have to go through my troubles.
Keep your downloaded songs to a minimum
Although Apple Music users can download a maximum of 100,000 songs, I wouldn’t go anywhere near that number if I want to use the app with Google Home.
It seems like downloading too many songs from my library to my device (Samsung S23 Ultra) creates the issue of Apple Music not playing on Google Home.
And yes, I’ve had to remove and add songs too many times to count. Whenever Apple Music is not working on Google Home, I delete downloaded songs and clear the cache.
Personally, I would keep my downloaded songs nowhere near 1,000 songs. It’s also a good habit to redownload songs once in a while to keep the cached files “fresh” and clean.
Wait for the next app update
As with any other app, Apple Music can just randomly stop casting to Google Home for no reason. And yes, the best thing you can do is wait for the next update.
For example, I had this problem in February 2023, but after the Apple Music update (version 4.1.0) the problem was fixed for me. I hope this solves the issue for the foreseeable future.
All of the workarounds I’ve mentioned so far are short-term fixes, not long-term. However, I’m optimistic that both Apple and Google will address issues with each app update.
Use a Bluetooth connection instead
As much as I like the Apple Music app and the lossless audio thrown in for free, it’s just too much of a hassle to get it working properly with Google Home devices.
Yes, I can link the Apple Music app to Google Home, but casting is often broken because most of the time when I try on any device, I get a continuous buffering screen.
I can cast Apple Music to Google Chromecast devices, but only with my Android phone. My iPhone won’t do it, so the next best thing is to use a Bluetooth connection instead.
On your mobile device open Settings and then Bluetooth. After you turn on Bluetooth on your mobile device, tap the name of the speaker or display you’d like to pair.
Once your mobile device is paired and connected to your speaker or display, use basic and advanced music commands to listen to music and playlists, including from Apple Music.
In short, you can only cast from an Android device, but you can use Bluetooth with iOS devices. You can also just ask the speaker to play music from your Apple Music account.
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