In short: Apple Music is not playing the next song because you have the song on repeat. At the top of the Playing Next screen, tap on the Repeat button until it changes to Repeat Off (the icon is not highlighted).
When playing an album or playlist on Apple Music, it should keep playing the next song. Here’s what to look out for whenever Apple Music is not advancing to the next song automatically.
Make sure the song is not on repeat
Whenever Apple Music is not playing the next song (keeps playing over and over again), make sure the song is not on repeat. Check the Repeat status on Now Playing and turn it off.
To do this, open the Apple Music app on your device.
Play a song on Apple Music. Tap on the song that’s playing at the bottom of the screen. On the next screen, tap the Playing Next button (three-bulleted list icon) in the bottom right corner.
At the top of the Playing Next screen, you’ll see three icons: Shuffle, Repeat, and Autoplay. Tap on the Repeat button until it changes from Repeat One or Repeat All to Repeat Off.
You’ll need to make sure the icon isn’t highlighted, which means repeat is turned off. When the Repeat button is highlighted with a number 1, Repeat One is turned on.
According to Apple, If you’re playing a song on repeat, only that song will play. You won’t see your Autoplay queue and the Apple Music autoplay feature won’t work until you turn off repeat.
Remember, whenever Apple Music keeps playing the same song over and over again, and you have to manually advance to the next song, chances are the song is on repeat.
Restart the Apple Music app and your device
Whenever Apple Music is not advancing to the next song, even after the Repeat button is turned off, you should force close the Apple Music app, and then restart your device.
I know I sound like the customer service rep that you don’t want to hear, but hear me out. Force closing an app is a great way to solve common problems, and Apple definitely agrees.
To force close Apple Music on an iPhone X and later, swipe up from the bottom of the Home screen and pause in the middle of the screen. Swipe right or left to find the Apple Music app.
If you’re using the older iPhone SE, iPhone 8 and earlier, or iPod touch, double-click the Home button, swipe right or left to find the Apple Music app, and then swipe it up to close the app.
Once you’ve force-closed the Apple Music app, restart your device. After turning on your device, check whether Apple Music is able to play the next song automatically or not.
If you have a habit of leaving your device, either your mobile phone or computer, permanently on, or in sleep mode, rather than off, I definitely suggest restarting the device.
Experts advise that you should restart your phone and your computer at least once a week. Turn your device off, let it rest for a minute, and turn it back on.
It’s an Apple Music bug and you should accept it
Sometimes the next song is not automatically playing on a full album or playlist in Apple Music. This unfortunately happens on MacBook and iOS devices (iPhone or iPad).
The only solution is to double-click on the next song and it gets reproduced. Or, I just delete the Apple Music app and install it again on my iOS device and on my MacBook.
I had an issue a few weeks ago and I deleted the Music Library files on Finder, and Apple Music created new corrected files. After that, everything is working fine for me.
I’m sure that I’m not the only one experiencing this “Apple Music not playing the next song” issue. And yes, it’s frustrating but as with any software or app, we should learn to accept it.
Yes, it’s true that auto-playing songs from an album or playlist should be working since it’s a core functionality from Apple Music, but you should expect a problem from time to time.
The best thing you can do is to wait for the next software update. Often, an update will fix ongoing issues within the app. Some of my friends said the latest software fixed the issue.
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