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Why is Siri unable to play music from my Apple Music library?

When I updated my iPhone to iOS 17.5, Siri will not play music from my library that is on my phone. Previously all I had to say was "Play playlist New Stuff" and Siri would start playing the first song in the play list. I do not have an apple music subscription and shouldn't need one for Siri to play the music in my library. Now when I ask Siri to play music it says "Looks like Apple Music can't play that." I had this problem a year or two ago after a previous update. The solution was to add "from my library" to the request. After a later update I did not need to append with "from my library." The Music setting does have an option to "Show Apple Music" but I have it turned off. I toggled it on and off and still have the same problem. Why is this happening again? I've googled around but none of the solutions have helped. Does anyone know how to fix this?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 14 Pro, iOS 17

Posted on May 16, 2024 7:16 AM

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Posted on May 29, 2024 6:56 AM

Made another call to Apple Tech Support (5/29/2024). Evidently, many have this issue. Because of all the calls Apple is aware of this. My guess is that there will be another software update to fix this Siri (music) issue.

86 replies

Nov 22, 2024 12:07 PM in response to MacUser_2001

I got an email from this discussion this morning alerting me that daarza had offered a workaround to the problem and I tested it today and IT WORKED!


I have an Apple Watch and while sitting in my car with CarPlay going I raised the watch to my lips and softly spoke “hey Siri, play Favorites Three” and to my great surprise my playlist began playing through my car stereo. It was interesting that after asking for the playlist everything took about 5 seconds or more to get sorted out, but the music eventually began to play just as I had asked. I guess this isn’t much help to those who don’t wear an Apple Watch, but for me this is a great workaround solution. I wonder when Apple will get around to fixing this problem correctly?

Nov 22, 2024 4:15 PM in response to MacUser_2001

I have this problem. I turned ON the Cellular Data for Apple music, and instead of "Sorry, there was a network error with Apple Music" I now get "Sorry I can't find that/can't play that". But, if I asked for it to play a particular artist from whom I also recently purchased a track, it played all the songs by that artist, even ones I'm pretty sure were ripped from CDs years ago.

iOS 17.7.2 on an iPhone 12 Pro. I feel this problem won't ever be fixed now that iOS 18 is out. Someday I will update to that once it's stable.

Nov 24, 2024 5:07 AM in response to ClariceGrant

Hi Clarice,


The latest update, iOS 18.1.1, didn't help either. Has your issue with Siri been resolved since you posted in the thread?


Do you have an Apple Watch? Instructing Siri via the Apple Watch bypasses the interface between the iPhone and CarPlay, which is causing the problem. Bring the Apple Watch to your lips with the instruction for Siri to play any playlist works every time.


Or.


Like you, I have a form of online music subscription with Apple (iTunes Match). With this subscription, I got Siri to respond correctly by turning on "Sync Library" on my iMac and iPhone. When you turn on "Sync Library" on your iPhone, the existing on-device library will be deleted and replaced by that from the online library.


Do not connect your iPhone to the Mac/PC after turning on the Sync Library. You have to download the playlist on the Music App on the iPhone to play them without Siri responding with "Looks like Apple Music can't play that".


Hope this workaround solves your problem with Siri until Apple developers release a fix.


Good Luck.

Why is Siri unable to play music from my Apple Music library?

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