Apple Music Not Playing In Airplane Mode? This Might Be Why

Are you stuck trying to play your Apple Music library in airplane mode?

Believe it or not, many people struggle with this issue daily. It has even caused some users to cancel their subscription.

Not being able to listen to your favorite Apple Music songs while your phone is in airplane mode can be really frustrating, especially when you’re travelling or trying to focus.

Luckily, addressing the causes behind this annoying issue is really simple.

Below, you’ll find a list of the 6 most common reasons why Apple Music is not playing in airplane mode.

1. Your songs are not downloaded.
2. Apple Music needs to be relaunched.
3. Songs need to be re-downloaded.
4. “Sync Library” is turned off.
5. Apple Music and your phone need to be updated.
6. A corrupted cache.

Keep reading to leave this problem in the past.

#1 Your Songs Are Not Downloaded

Putting your phone in airplane mode has fantastic benefits. It reduces interruptions, saves battery life, speeds up charging, and much more.

But, if your phone is in airplane mode and your Apple Music songs are not downloaded, you won’t be able to listen to them.

Luckily, you can easily avoid this situation by downloading your favorite tracks before turning on the airplane mode.

But before doing this, please make sure there’s enough storage space available on your phone. You can easily check this by following these steps:

For Android devices:

1. Open Google One.
2. Tap on “Storage” at the bottom of your screen.
3. Check how much space you have left.

Please note that this process may vary depending on your phone’s model.

For iPhone:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select “General”
3. Tap on “iPhone Storage”.
4. Check the color-coded bar that shows how much space you have left on your phone. Below, you can see how much space your apps are using.

Your device will need to have enough storage space if you want to download your Apple Music songs.

Is your phone storage space full? Don’t worry! Follow these tips to clear some GB.

• Clean your photo library. Erase all duplicated pictures and any screenshots you won’t be using.
• Delete attachments in messages, such as documents, videos, and photos.
• Delete unused apps and old conversations.

Once your phone has enough storage space, you can easily download your favorite songs. You’ll just need to:

1. Connect to a stable Wi-Fi network or turn on your mobile data.
2. Launch Apple Music.
3. Go to “Library” at the bottom of your screen.
4. Press and hold the song, album, or playlist you’d like to download.
5. Tap on “Download”

Tip: If you can’t download certain songs, try enabling automatic downloads, checking your internet connection, and clearing your storage space and cache.

#2 Apple Music Needs to Be Relaunched

If you’ve downloaded your music library and the issue persists, try relaunching Apple Music.

Sometimes an app that isn’t working at its best just needs to be fully closed and re-opened. This simple action may solve different technical issues Apple Music might’ve run into while running background processes.

The process of relaunching Apple Music may vary depending on the phone you have, but generally, you can do it by simply swiping upwards at the bottom of your screen and the swiping up again on the app.

Once you’ve done that, I recommend restarting your phone, so it can clear some RAM and fix any bugs or glitches that may be causing the issue.

Follow these simple steps to restart your device:

iPhone:

1. Press and hold either volume button and the side button until the power-off slider pops up (Please note that if you have an iPhone SE, 8, or earlier, you’ll need to press and hold the right-hand side button).
2. Drag the slider and wait 30 seconds to turn off your device.
3. Press and hold the right-hand side button of your iPhone to turn your device back on.

For Android phones:

1. Press and hold the power button for 5-10 seconds.
2. Select “Restart” to turn off your device.
3. If you don’t see the “Restart” option, tap “Power off”. Once your device is off, press the power button to turn it on again.

#3 Songs Need to Be Re-Downloaded

Although it’s unusual, sometimes the songs you’re trying to listen to were not downloaded correctly.

You can quickly solve this issue by re-downloading them. I know, the whole point of downloading your favorite songs for the first time is not having to repeat the process countless times; but this simple action may solve the issue.

To do it, you’ll just need to:

1. Launch Apple Music and select the album, song, or playlist you want to re-download.
2. Press and hold the item for two seconds, then tap on “Remove”.
3. Select “Remove Download”.

Once you’ve completed the steps above, please make sure to download your songs again and try playing them while your phone is in airplane mode.

#4 “Sync Library” is turned off

Apple Music is one of the best music streaming platforms out there. It allows us to add hundreds of songs to our library and listen to them on all our devices, share playlists with friends, and even listen to the radio.

But sometimes using the app and understanding all its features may be tricky.

Hundreds of iOS users have reported not being able to listen to their beloved music collection while their phone is in airplane mode because their library isn’t synced across all their devices.

If you’re you’re struggling with this too, your sync library might be disabled.

You can easily sync your music library across all your devices by following this quick guide:

For iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select “Music”
3. Turn on “Sync Library”

For Windows PC:

1. Launch iTunes.
2. Connect your phone to the computer.
3. Click on the phone icon at the top of the screen and go to “Summary”.
4. Check the “Manually manage videos and songs” box.
5. Go to “Music” and check the “Sync Music” box.
6. Click on “Apply” and then “Done” at the bottom of your screen.

For Mac:

1. Open Apple Music.
2. Click on “Music” at the top of your screen, then select “preferences”.
3. Go to the General tab.
4. Select “Sync Library” to turn it on.
5. Click “OK” to confirm the process.

Once you’ve done this, make sure to download your songs again and try playing them while your phone is in airplane mode.

#5 Apple Music and Your Phone Need to Be Updated

Companies often release new updates to fix some bugs, glitches and other elements that may be causing performance issues.

If you’re not running the latest software version on your phone, you might want to update it. This may solve not being able to play your downloaded songs while your phone is in airplane mode.

Please follow this quick guide to update your phone:

For Android:

The process of updating the software will vary depending on the model of phone you have. But most devices can be updated in this way:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on “System”
3. Select “System Update”
4. Follow the prompted instructions to install the latest version.

iPhone, iPad or iPod:

1. Go to Settings an tap on “General”
2. Select “Software Update” to know if there are any updates you might have missed.

Please note that if you have an iOS device, downloading the latest software version will automatically update Apple Music too.

Do you have an Android device? Great! You can update Apple Music by following these steps:

1. Open Google Play Store and tap on the profile icon located at the top right of your screen.
2. Select “Manage apps & device”.
3. Tap on “Manage”, then search for Apple Music. Then choose “Update”.

#6 A Corrupted Cache

If none of the fixes above have solved the issue, a corrupted cache might be to blame!

If you’re wondering what “cache” means, I got you! The easiest way to understand it is to think of the cache as a scrapbook. This is where an app stores tons of information like fonts, lyrics, images, videos, etc.

Your cache avoids re-downloading this data every time you launch an app, which can make it load faster and improve your overall experience.

But, if there’s a problem with a file stored in your cache, Apple Music can glitch, display data incorrectly, and cause some performance issues, such as not being able to play your library while your phone is in airplane mode.

Clearing your cache every once in a while can help you solve this issue. To do it, you’ll just need to:

For Android devices:

1. Go to Settings
2. Click on “Apps”
3. Choose “Installed applications”
4. Find Apple Music
5. Look for the “Storage” tab
6. Press “Clear app cache”

For iPhone, iPad, or iPod:

1. Click on the Settings gear icon
2. Go to “Music”
3. Toggle off “Sync Library”
4. Wait a couple of minutes and then turn “Sync Library” on again.

Conclusion

It can be really frustrating not being able to listen to your favorite tracks while you’re travelling or trying to stay away from distractions.

Hopefully, with the help of the fixes above, you’ll be able to listen to your beloved music library while your phone is in airplane mode in no time.

Remember, quick actions like making sure your songs are downloaded to your phone, syncing your library, clearing your cache, and updating the app, should fix the issue.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this article. If you found it helpful, please make sure to check our other related content below!