How to seamlessly switch Apple Music between devices?

When Apple announced Handoff, I was excited. Finally someone figured out how people want to use their phones and computers!

Since that years have passed and currently only handoff what seeming to be working is Safari and Notes, that's really impressive, how easy is to open on the phone and have it on my Mac (btw, vice versa would be also useful!)

Also the copy from iPhone and paste on Mac is lifesaver.

But where are the rest of Apple apps?

Why I can't do same with messages?

or Music???? And with music it's even more important to have two-way.

If you haven't figured out yourself, let me paint you simple scenario:

I plug my AirPods, push play on my playlist, move to another room, start using my computer and since all my work calls will be using Mac (Teams) now, I will play the same playlist from Mac from now on,

for a while I will walk away, and will play music on iPhone

Currently, as I am lazy, I will get different songs playing different places. It's annoying.

If you claim that people should by your devices because they are "best ecosystem" - I can have that experience with any android/windows system today.

Come on now Apple, please 🙏

You would literally rule the world 100% if you did this.

I have to airplay from my iPhone to my macbook and apple tv to get audio coming out of all the speakers in my house.

But if I start playing from my macbook, then want to switch to whole house playing, I can't shift the queue to my iphone to do that, and I can't airplay to apple tv and output from the mac natively :( have to airplay to mac and tv from an iphone which is odd ! 😂

His method definitely doesn't work, your own laptop won't appear as a 'tickbox' airplay device when opening the apple music app airplay section, only other devices appear for the tickbox functionality.

And this isn't handing off it's just airplaying to other devices

In my case I have a Mac, iPhone, and paired HomePods and for me it works perfect as I never even attempt to transfer music from iPhone to Mac when the HomePods are not in the mix. The HomePods are the center of my Music experience at home. I understand that those not using HomePods are not able to start Music on a Mac and pick it up on the iPhone.

• I can start playing music on Mac and transfer to HomePods.
• I can start playing music on iPhone and transfer to HomePods.
• Once music is transferred to HomePods, I can change the volume and change songs on either the iPhone or Mac.
• I can start playing music on HomePods and change the volume and songs on either iPhone or Mac.

To be clear, if you are using HomePods, you can transfer music across all devices and have complete control over any song and you will see those changes reflected on the other devices as well. For those that don't have HomePods, it is correct that you cannot transfer from Mac to iPhone, so send in the feedback. Nobody here can make that happen and simply complaining will not do it either.

Product Feedback - Apple

OK, it's not exactly Handoff, but works quite well with minimum effort.

If you've got Handoff turned on to share the clipboard with the phone when copying something on the Mac, you can

1. click the dots in the header of Apple Music, then select "Show in Apple Music"
2. this will select the currently playing song
3. scroll up to view the album art at the top and optionally click the musician's name.
4. find three dots next to either artist, album or song, then select Share -> Copy link
5. this will copy the deep link for Apple Music to the phone's clipboard
6. move over to the phone
7. open Safari
8. tap the address bar
9. long press or tap several times to reveal "Paste"
10. After the deep link from Apple Music has populated the address bar, tap the blue "go" button on the iPhone keyboard
11. That's it! You've arrived at the same display that you had on your Mac, and you can start playing on your iPhone

While not as smooth as a one-click on a button in Music on your Mac, it offers some capability with not too many steps.

Hope this helps somebody looking for a way to make Music work between Macs and iPhones.

I have a Mac, iPhone, and HomePods and Handoff works on all devices. Playing Apple Music on iPhone shows the song on my Mac in Apple Music and I can switch songs there and I can hold the iPhone next to the HomePods and the song will continue to play on the HomePods. When HomePods are playing, I can switch songs with my Mac or iPhone and holding iPhone next to HomePods will transfer the music back to playing on iPhone. My setup is as follows:

• Same Apple ID
• Bluetooth on
• Connected to same Wifi network
• Mac and iPhone have Handoff turned on
• AirPlay is also on

Not sure if all are required, that is just how mine is set up. Maybe others can chime in with their observations. I am aware of past reports of Apple Music not working correctly between devices, but that has not been my experience.

Wow. Still no solution to this?

Being asked to upgrade I want to stop listening on my computer and start listening on my phone? It's the same account! Come on Apple you are so good at having one ecosystem, how can Spotify have had this feature for absolute ages, and you aren't able to do it?

Makes me feel like going back to Spotify. Their shuffle play is horrible, but at least I can continue to listen to music or podcasts from one device to the other.

I can only assume there is an underlying technical hurdle that is not evidently clear to an outside observer; this feature seems like an absolute no brainer for anyone who has ever walked away from their desk while listening to music on their computer.

I'm no expert but couldn't something like this work? Where you check the RSSI of the bluetooth connection to determine if you're walking away from a computer while music is playing?

def is_airpods_in_use():
    # Query connected Bluetooth devices
    airpods_connected = check_bluetooth_connection("AirPods")
    # Check if AirPods are active audio output
    active_device = get_active_audio_output_device()
    return airpods_connected and active_device == "AirPods"

def is_user_nearby():
    # Use Bluetooth RSSI to estimate proximity
    rssi = get_device_rssi("User's iPhone")
    # RSSI threshold for "nearby" vs "away" (e.g., -70 dBm is far)
    return rssi > -70

def is_music_playing():
    # Query media playback status
    return get_music_playback_status() == "playing"

def prompt_user_for_transfer():
    # Prompt the user for confirmation
    response = input("You are walking away from your computer. Transfer music to iPhone? (yes/no): ")
    return response.lower() == "yes"

def transfer_music_to_iphone():
    if is_music_playing():
        # Pause music on the computer
        pause_music_on_computer()
        # Use AirPlay or Handoff to play music on iPhone
        start_playback_on_iphone()
        print("Music playback transferred to iPhone.")

def main():
    while True:
        # Periodically check conditions
        if is_airpods_in_use() and not is_user_nearby():
            if prompt_user_for_transfer():
                transfer_music_to_iphone()
                break
        else:
            print("Conditions not met. Monitoring...")
        # Wait a bit before checking again
        time.sleep(5)

# Run the program
main()

I'm very curious why it doesn't exist when it's a functionality I need on a daily basis as well, most notably:

• When I'm studying, I listen to music on my computer, and I would gladly be able to handoff to my phone when I leave for a pause.

Is it because of a technical challenge between the Handoff API and Apple Music? Or was it simply overseen up until now?

you can't do this even with a homepod, which only enables handoff to/from iphone (and i'm assuming ipad). macbook can't interact with either unfortunately

No.

They really should implement this.

But can this happen between iPhone and Mac. When I go to Airplay in Music on Mac, iPhone doesn't show.

Yes, this is exactly the answer. Thank you!!!!!!

iPhones are not on that list. Why? I want to jump from my Mac to my iPhone, seamlessly LIKE SPOTIFY HAS BEEN DOING FOR YEARS!