Hi, I believe I have found a Core Audio regression in macOS 27. This exact hardware configuration worked correctly on macOS 26, and the issue started immediately after upgrading to macOS 27. Hardware: Mac mini M2 2 × MSI MP243X monitors Monitor 1 connected via HDMI Monitor 2 connected via DisplayPort Both monitors expose a 2-channel audio output to macOS On macOS 26: I used Audio MIDI Setup to create a Multi-Output Device containing both MSI MP243X audio outputs. Audio played simultaneously through both monitors without any issues. On macOS 27: Both audio devices are still detected correctly and both work perfectly when selected individually: HDMI only: WORKS DisplayPort only: WORKS HDMI + DisplayPort simultaneously: FAILS This is reproducible even immediately after a full reboot. When I create a new Multi-Output Device containing both MSI outputs and select it as the system output, audio playback cannot start. For example: afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Glass.aiff returns: Error: AudioQueueStart failed ('stop') I captured Core Audio debug logs while reproducing the problem. Core Audio initially reports that StartIO succeeded, but the physical display audio device then fails to establish a timeline. Relevant log messages include: HALS_IOEngine2::_StartIO succeeded Device 3669B540-0000-0000-2623-0104A5351D78 is not running. could not establish a timeline after waiting 10000000 microseconds stopping with error 1937010544 StartIOThread: the IO thread failed to start, Error: 1937010544 I have already tested the following: Both devices at 44.1 kHz / 24-bit Both devices at 48 kHz / 16-bit Recreating the Multi-Output Device from scratch Using the HDMI device as clock source Using the DisplayPort device as clock source Different drift correction configurations Restarting coreaudiod Full macOS reboot Testing both outputs individually immediately after reboot Alternative multi-device audio routing software The behavior is always reproducible. Each MSI MP243X audio endpoint works correctly by itself. The failure only occurs when both HDMI and DisplayPort audio endpoints are opened simultaneously. system_profiler correctly detects both devices at 48 kHz: MSI MP243X Output Channels: 2 Current Sample Rate: 48000 Transport: HDMI MSI MP243X Output Channels: 2 Current Sample Rate: 48000 Transport: DisplayPort This does not appear to be a problem with either monitor or connection individually, because both outputs continue to work independently. The important difference is the macOS version: macOS 26: HDMI + DisplayPort Multi-Output = WORKING macOS 27: HDMI only = WORKING DisplayPort only = WORKING HDMI + DisplayPort Multi-Output = FAILS with AudioQueueStart 'stop' / Core Audio error 1937010544 No hardware, monitor, cable, or connection changes were made between the working macOS 26 configuration and the macOS 27 configuration. This therefore appears to be a regression in the Core Audio/display-audio path introduced with macOS 27 when two display audio endpoints (HDMI + DisplayPort) are opened simultaneously. Has anyone else been able to reproduce this on macOS 27, particularly on Apple Silicon? I can provide the complete coreaudiod logs and run additional Core Audio diagnostics if needed. Additional isolation tests: Both monitors can remain physically connected to the Mac at the same time. With both HDMI and DisplayPort connected: Selecting the HDMI MSI MP243X as the only output works correctly. Selecting the DisplayPort MSI MP243X as the only output works correctly. Opening both audio endpoints simultaneously causes the failure. Therefore, simply having both displays connected does not trigger the issue. The failure appears specifically when Core Audio attempts to run both display-audio endpoints at the same time. I also tested this using third-party multi-device audio routing implementations instead of relying only on Audio MIDI Setup. The same behavior occurs: either MSI MP243X can be opened and used independently, but attempting to route audio to both devices simultaneously fails. This suggests that the issue is below the Multi-Output Device configuration itself and may be related to starting/synchronizing two display-audio IO engines simultaneously. During the failure, the Core Audio log sequence is particularly interesting: The physical device is detected normally. The audio format is configured successfully. Core Audio reports that StartIO succeeded. The device subsequently reports that it is not running. Core Audio waits 10 seconds for a timeline. Timeline establishment fails. The IO thread terminates with error 1937010544 ('stop'). One captured conversion path was: 2 ch, 48000 Hz, Float32, interleaved -> 2 ch, 48000 Hz, Int16, interleaved so both sides were operating at 48 kHz during this test. Another important observation is that restarting coreaudiod does not resolve the simultaneous-output problem. A complete reboot also does not resolve it: immediately after a fresh boot, before launching any third-party audio-routing software, both physical outputs work individually but a newly created Multi-Output Device still reproduces the failure. This makes the issue highly reproducible on this machine. Minimal reproduction: Boot macOS 27 with both MSI MP243X monitors connected. Open Audio MIDI Setup. Verify both MSI MP243X devices work independently. Set both devices to 48,000 Hz. Create a new Multi-Output Device. Select both MSI MP243X devices. Select the new Multi-Output Device as the system audio output. Run: afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Glass.aiff Expected result: The sound is reproduced simultaneously through both monitors, as it was on macOS 26. Actual result: Error: AudioQueueStart failed ('stop') Switching the system output back to either individual MSI MP243X restores audio playback. The problem can then be reproduced again by selecting the Multi-Output Device.

Summary On an iPhone 17 running iOS 27 Public Beta 6, the system CallKit UI remains visible after ending two outgoing calls individually. This is reproducible using Apple's “Making and Receiving VoIP Calls with CallKit” sample (Speakerbox), with only two minimal changes to support multiple simultaneous calls. After both calls end, Speakerbox displays “No Calls”, but the system CallKit UI still shows 111, and the Dynamic Island retains a call-related status. Environment Device: iPhone 17 (physical device) OS: iOS 27 Public Beta 6 App: Apple's Speakerbox sample with the modifications below Backend: None. The sample's original simulated calls are used; no external VoIP SDK is involved. Changes to the original sample Only two files were modified. 1. ProviderDelegate.swift Added: providerConfiguration.maximumCallGroups = 3 The original setting remains unchanged: providerConfiguration.maximumCallsPerCallGroup = 1 2. SpeakerboxCallManager.swift Before starting a new outgoing call, hold existing calls that are not already on hold. The hold actions and new start action are submitted in the same transaction: let transaction = CXTransaction() for call in calls where !call.isOnHold { transaction.addAction( CXSetHeldCallAction(call: call.uuid, onHold: true) ) } transaction.addAction(startCallAction) requestTransaction(transaction) No changes were made to the simulated connection timing, startedConnectingAt/connectedAt reporting, CXEndCallAction handling, call removal, or audio handling. The original end-call handler finds the call by UUID, calls endSpeakerboxCall(), fulfills the end action, and removes the call from the app's list. Steps to reproduce Launch the modified Speakerbox sample. Create an outgoing call to 111. Create a second outgoing call to 222. The first call is placed on hold. Wait until Speakerbox shows 111 — On Hold and 222 — Active, with call durations displayed. In Speakerbox, select 222 - End Call. Select 111 - End Call. Confirm that Speakerbox displays “No Calls”. Open the app switcher and inspect the system CallKit UI. Also inspect the Dynamic Island. Open the remaining system call UI and tap End. Expected result After both calls end, the system should no longer display an ongoing call in the CallKit UI or Dynamic Island. Actual result Speakerbox displays “No Calls”. The system CallKit UI continues to display the first call, 111. The Dynamic Island continues to show a call-related “Hold” status. Tapping End in the remaining system call UI does not clear the residual state during the recording. The issue occurs even after waiting for both simulated calls to connect before ending them. This is the system-provided CallKit UI, not an active-call view implemented by the sample app. Reproduction video Recording: 4b03d30e507b874d9c19c0523632e9d6.mp4 00:24–00:26 (approximately): Both calls are present; 111 is on hold and 222 is active. 00:26–00:31 (approximately): End 222, then end 111. Speakerbox displays “No Calls”. 00:31–01:03 (approximately): The system CallKit UI and Dynamic Island retain the call state despite further attempts to end it. Questions Is this an iOS 27 regression, or is additional lifecycle handling required when extending Speakerbox to support multiple calls? Please advise what additional diagnostics would help investigate why the system UI retains an ongoing-call state after both calls have been ended using the sample's original end-call handling. Source and video downloads https://github.com/willbin/callkit-ios27-repro/releases/tag/repro-v1

I filed FB24725256 with a live macOS Bluetooth diagnostic, Sysdiagnose, and System Information Report. Environment: MacBook Pro (Mac17,6), Apple M5 Max, 128 GB RAM macOS 26.5 (25F71) AirPods Pro 3, firmware 8B41 AirPods selected for both input and output because microphone input is required for dictation and voice typing Problem: Bluetooth playback repeatedly stutters and cuts out during sustained local development and AI-agent workloads. The AirPods signal is strong (roughly -46 to -52 RSSI), and the Mac remains otherwise usable. Unified logs recorded repeated AudioSkywalkReadLoop overwait events in bluetoothd, commonly 50–69 ms and previously up to 795 ms. CoreAudio also reported HALS_OverloadMessage failures because a client exceeded its I/O-cycle budget and a safety violation occurred. Steps to reproduce: Connect AirPods Pro and keep them selected for input and output. Stream audio. Run sustained CPU- and memory-intensive development work, such as multiple builds, browser workloads, simulators, or local AI agents. Observe repeated playback interruptions as CPU load and memory compression increase. Expected: macOS should protect real-time CoreAudio and Bluetooth transport deadlines on this hardware without requiring productive work to be paused or throttled. The same AirPods stream reliably from much smaller Apple devices; Apple's highest-end Mac should maintain audio continuity too. This is a platform-quality failure on a high-end Mac. This appears related to longstanding reports: Simulator/Xcode causing AirPods distortion: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/668170 CoreAudio overloads and dropouts associated with memory pressure: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/677383 Bluetooth headset interruptions on newer macOS releases: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/763848 If you can reproduce this, please boost this thread and file your own Feedback Assistant report with fresh Bluetooth logs and a Sysdiagnose. Include the exact occurrence time and reference FB24725256 so Apple can connect the reports.I filed FB24725256 with a live macOS Bluetooth diagnostic, Sysdiagnose, and System Information Report. Environment: MacBook Pro (Mac17,6), Apple M5 Max, 128 GB RAM macOS 26.5 (25F71) AirPods Pro 3, firmware 8B41 AirPods selected for both input and output because microphone input is required for dictation and voice typing Problem: Bluetooth playback repeatedly stutters and cuts out during sustained local development and AI-agent workloads. The AirPods signal is strong (roughly -46 to -52 RSSI), and the Mac remains otherwise usable. Unified logs recorded repeated AudioSkywalkReadLoop overwait events in bluetoothd, commonly 50–69 ms and previously up to 795 ms. CoreAudio also reported HALS_OverloadMessage failures because a client exceeded its I/O-cycle budget and a safety violation occurred. Steps to reproduce: Connect AirPods Pro and keep them selected for input and output. Stream audio. Run sustained CPU- and memory-intensive development work, such as multiple builds, browser workloads, simulators, or local AI agents. Observe repeated playback interruptions as CPU load and memory compression increase. Expected: macOS should protect real-time CoreAudio and Bluetooth transport deadlines on this hardware without requiring productive work to be paused or throttled. The same AirPods stream reliably from much smaller Apple devices; Apple's highest-end Mac should maintain audio continuity too. This is a platform-quality failure on a high-end Mac. This appears related to longstanding reports: Simulator/Xcode causing AirPods distortion: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/668170 CoreAudio overloads and dropouts associated with memory pressure: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/677383 Bluetooth headset interruptions on newer macOS releases: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/763848 If you can reproduce this, please boost this thread and file your own Feedback Assistant report with fresh Bluetooth logs and a Sysdiagnose. Include the exact occurrence time and reference FB24725256 so Apple can connect the reports.

AirPlay fails when Mac is connected to iPhone Personal Hotspot I’m using AVRoutePickerView to route audio from an iPhone app to a Mac with AirPlay Receiver enabled. What works When the iPhone and Mac are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, AirPlay routing works normally. Routing audio back to the iPhone speaker or to connected AirPods over Bluetooth also works correctly. What fails When the iPhone provides a Personal Hotspot and the Mac connects to that iPhone’s hotspot, the Mac still appears as an available destination in AVRoutePickerView. However, selecting the Mac fails with: Unable to connect to “[Mac Name]” Questions Is AirPlay routing from an iPhone hosting a Personal Hotspot to a Mac connected to that hotspot a supported network topology? If it is supported, are there any additional AVAudioSession, networking, entitlement, or AirPlay configuration requirements for this scenario? The fact that the Mac is successfully discovered and displayed by AVRoutePickerView, but the connection itself fails, is the part I’m particularly trying to understand. Thank you for any guidance on the expected behavior here.

I have a product that relies on the Apple Music API's "recently played tracks" endpoint. Recently, a few users are reporting that there are songs missing from their history. I was able to observe this myself—the issue corrected itself after re-authenticating with Apple Music, but unfortunately for at least one user this is not helping in their case. What's odd is that there is some inconsistency about what shows in the recently played tracks endpoint. Some examples My own account: ✅ Music from my playlists ✅ Albums and singles ✅ Apple editorial playlists ❌ Playlists created by other users User 1: ❌ Music from their playlists ✅ Albums and singles ❌ Apple editorial playlists ❌ Playlists created by other users In most cases, all four of these would appear in the recent tracks API. What could cause these tracks to be missing from the listening history endpoint? Listening history is already enabled for the devices they're using, but the songs are appearing inconsistently.

My app publishes a NowPlaying.RemoteMediaSession for music playing on speakers on the local network. While the app is in the background and someone taps play on my widget, that intent runs in my app process and wakes the app in the background — it can fetch the speaker state and start and update the remote session without any trouble. As of Beta 6, the session is created successfully but never shows up in Control Center or on the Lock Screen. It only appears the moment I bring my app to the foreground. In earlier betas the same code showed the session in control center, without needing to open the app. I don't call requestToBecomeSystemPrimary() and I don’t expect it to be set as primary, only when my app is in the foreground but at least the session should appear in control center or the lock screen as an option for the user to set it to system primary. FB24439526 has been submitted with Sysdiagnose attached.

I am building a personal iPhone prototype with an on-screen record platter. Before enrolling in the Apple Developer Program or developing the Apple Music integration further, I would like to establish whether the core interaction is supported by public APIs. The intended interaction is: Tap the platter to play or pause an Apple Music subscription song. Hold the platter to stop playback at its current position. Move the platter forward or backward to control the direction and speed of audible playback continuously. Change pitch together with speed, like a physical record, rather than preserving the original pitch. Release the platter to smoothly return to normal playback. Hold a separate control to listen continuously at a faster speed. A prototype using an AVAudioEngine-based renderer works with unprotected local audio. I have NOT verified these behaviors with Apple Music subscription content. I understand that this local renderer does not establish feasibility for MusicKit, and I am not seeking to extract protected audio or bypass content protection. MusicPlayer.State.playbackRate is documented as settable, with positive values for forward playback and negative values for reverse playback: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/musickit/musicplayer/state-swift.class/playbackrate For ApplicationMusicPlayer on iOS, is this vinyl-style interaction supported for full Apple Music subscription songs, rather than previews or user-owned unprotected files? In particular: What playback-rate range is supported for subscription songs? Do negative rates produce audible reverse playback, and how should zero-speed holding be implemented? Is there a documented public API to make pitch follow playback speed, or to disable pitch preservation? Are frequent rate and direction changes supported for interactive scratching? Are there documented limitations on update frequency, buffering, seeking precision or responsiveness? If this interaction is outside public MusicKit capabilities, is there an official channel where an individual developer can ask about eligibility for an approved Apple Music DJ integration? I am asking for the supported API path and its limitations, not implementation details of another app. If only ordinary variable-speed playback or seeking is supported, a clear distinction from continuous vinyl-style scratching would be very helpful. The initial goal is personal use; possible App Store distribution is undecided. I have an active Apple Music subscription but am not currently enrolled in the paid Apple Developer Program. Thank you.

Our sandboxed macOS app digitises audio cassettes and builds one playlist per cassette in the user's Apple Music library that follows the tape's order: catalog songs where a title was recognised, and the user's own recordings (AAC files the app exported from the tape) where it was not. The user has an Apple Music subscription and Sync Library on. On macOS every write on MusicLibrary is marked @available(macOS, unavailable) in the 26.5 SDK – add, add(_:to:), createPlaylist and edit (see thread 844114, which got no answer). So we build the playlist through Music.app's scripting interface: make new user playlist, duplicate <library track> to <playlist> for catalog songs, add <file> to <playlist> for own recordings. That works, with one exception that leads to our questions. What we observe Reproducible on macOS 26.6.2 / Music 26; a standalone AppleScript is at the end. A playlist built in one go from 14 subscription tracks keeps all 14. The same playlist with one local file added after the second track: all 15 entries are there right after the build and one second later. About 15 s later the playlist has 3 entries – the two catalog entries before the file, the file, and nothing that was added after it. No error anywhere. If the file has been in the library for several minutes before the playlist is built, everything stays. Adding it to the library and waiting 45 s is not enough. Meanwhile the track's cloud status stays unknown, and GET /v1/me/library/search?types=library-songs does not list it (checked for 10 minutes). Emptying the playlist and building it again ~30 s after the entries were removed keeps everything, every time. That is what we do today; it costs 30–40 s per import, and we have to tell the user that entries were removed and put back. Our reading: while the freshly added file is not yet registered in iCloud Music Library, the playlist as pushed to the server is cut at the first item the server cannot reference, and the next sync adopts the shorter list for cloud items while keeping the local-only item in place. Questions Is there a supported way for a macOS app to create a library playlist and add tracks to it? Specifically: is the Apple Music API (POST /v1/me/library/playlists with relationships.tracks, and POST /v1/me/library/playlists/{id}/tracks) the intended route from a macOS app holding a MusicKit user token, and can such a playlist reference the user's own uploaded songs by their library id (i.…)? After a local file has been added to the library (via Music.app's add, or any other supported way), how can an app learn that iCloud Music Library has registered it, and what its library song id is? A notification, a MusicKit property, an Apple Music API endpoint? We would wait on that signal instead of rebuilding. Is the removal described above expected behaviour? Catalog ids are re-resolved at import time via id, ISRC and search as recommended in thread 122110, so stale catalog ids are not the cause. Reproduction Needs Sync Library on, at least 14 subscription tracks in the library, and a local audio file the library does not know yet. Prints the counts after 1 s, 21 s and 41 s, then cleans up. on run argv set localFile to POSIX file (item 1 of argv) tell application "Music" set cloudTracks to (every track of library playlist 1 whose cloud status is subscription) set idsBefore to persistent ID of every track of library playlist 1 set pl to make new user playlist with properties {name:"Reconciliation repro"} repeat with i from 1 to 2 duplicate (item i of cloudTracks) to pl end repeat set fileTrack to add localFile to pl set fileID to persistent ID of fileTrack repeat with i from 3 to 14 duplicate (item i of cloudTracks) to pl end repeat set n0 to count of tracks of pl delay 1 set n1 to count of tracks of pl delay 20 set n2 to count of tracks of pl delay 20 set n3 to count of tracks of pl delete pl if fileID is not in idsBefore then delete (first track of library playlist 1 whose persistent ID is fileID) return "after build: " & n0 & ", after 1 s: " & n1 & ", after 21 s: " & n2 & ", after 41 s: " & n3 end tell end run Output here: after build: 15, after 1 s: 15, after 21 s: 3, after 41 s: 3.

I’m developing a native visionOS application that uses an external HDMI capture device connected to Apple Vision Pro through the Developer Strap. The goal is to use Apple Vision Pro as a low-latency display for external HDMI sources such as an Xbox Series X, including both the HDMI video and the original digital game audio. My current hardware path is: Xbox Series X → HDMI → Elgato 4K X → USB-C → Apple Vision Pro Developer Strap The Elgato 4K X receives both video and audio from the Xbox over HDMI. What is working UVC video capture is working successfully on visionOS. The external Elgato capture device can be used as the video source and the Xbox video is displayed correctly inside the Vision Pro application. I have also verified the Elgato 4K X independently on macOS, where the device is recognized correctly. The problem I cannot find a supported way on visionOS to access the USB Audio Class (UAC) audio interface associated with the capture device. I specifically need the digital game audio originating from: Xbox HDMI → Elgato 4K X → USB/UAC → visionOS I do not want to use the Apple Vision Pro’s built-in microphone. Selecting/capturing the Vision Pro microphone would only record environmental sound and is not a substitute for the digital HDMI audio stream. Apple’s visionOS documentation for external devices through the Developer Strap appears to focus on UVC video capture. I haven’t been able to determine whether the accompanying UAC interface of a UVC/UAC composite capture device is exposed to visionOS applications. What I’ve tried / verified Connected an Xbox Series X to the HDMI input of an Elgato 4K X. Connected the 4K X to Apple Vision Pro through the Developer Strap. Successfully discovered and received the external UVC video stream. Successfully displayed the Xbox video feed in visionOS. Confirmed that the 4K X itself is recognized and functional on macOS. Attempted to obtain audio corresponding to the external capture source. The Vision Pro microphone is available as an audio source, but this is not the audio source required. I have not found a documented visionOS API that exposes the 4K X’s USB/UAC audio endpoint through the Developer Strap. Questions Does visionOS currently support USB Audio Class input devices connected through the Apple Vision Pro Developer Strap? If a device exposes both UVC video and UAC audio interfaces, is there a supported way to associate/access both interfaces from a visionOS application? If UAC is supported, which framework/API should be used to discover the external audio endpoint — AVFoundation, Core Audio, or another API? Does accessing the UAC interface require an entitlement in addition to UVC device access? If generic UAC access through the Developer Strap is currently unavailable to third-party visionOS applications, is there a restricted/managed entitlement that developers can request? If this isn’t currently supported, what is Apple’s recommended architecture for receiving synchronized video and audio from an HDMI capture device on Apple Vision Pro? Ultimately, I’m trying to achieve: HDMI source → UVC video + UAC audio → visionOS application → video displayed in Vision Pro + audio played through Vision Pro speakers/AirPods Since UVC video from this exact hardware is already working, I’m primarily trying to determine whether access to the accompanying USB audio interface is possible with the current visionOS SDK, requires another entitlement/API, or is currently unsupported. Any guidance from Apple or developers who have worked with composite UVC/UAC devices on Vision Pro would be greatly appreciated.

My volume will randomly go all the way down to mute or all the way up to full blast while I’m listen to music, watching a video, playing a game. I have all the volume safety features turned off. Does anyone else have this issue?

TN3135 describes the exception that lets a watchOS app use low-level networking while it holds an active audio session. I have that working, and the app functions — but the network path is withdrawn and restored on a strikingly regular cycle, and I would like to know whether that is expected behaviour rather than something I am doing wrong. Setup Apple Watch Series 10 (Watch7,9), watchOS 26.5. Reproduced on a Series 6 (Watch6,2). UIBackgroundModes: [audio]; AVAudioSession category .playAndRecord, mode .spokenAudio; activated with the async activate(options:completionHandler:). NWConnection with NWProtocolWebSocket to a WebSocket relay over TLS. The app streams 16 kHz mono PCM continuously while transmitting and holds the socket open otherwise. Symptom NWPathMonitor reports .unsatisfied, then .satisfied about two seconds later, over and over. Measured with the iPhone powered off, so the watch was on its own Wi-Fi: Uptime between drops Outage 36.4 s 2.1 s 36.7 s 1.9 s 36.9 s 2.1 s The regularity is what prompts the question — uptime varies by ±0.3 s and the outage is consistently 2.0 s. That reads as a timeout expiring rather than radio behaviour. What I have ruled out Not the network or the server. A browser client on the same relay, same TLS, same wire protocol, holds a WebSocket indefinitely. Not the interface. Identical cadence over the companion ipsec1 tunnel with the iPhone present, and over the watch's own en0 with the iPhone powered off. Pinning requiredInterfaceType = .wifi while the iPhone is reachable fails outright — the path offers only ipsec1. Not audio-session interruption. I observe interruptionNotification, routeChangeNotification, mediaServicesWereResetNotification and silenceSecondaryAudioHintNotification. None fire at a drop. At the moment the path goes .unsatisfied, the engine is running and the player node is actively playing. Not session idleness. Playing continuous silence for the whole session, rather than only while reconnecting, made no difference — still 36.4 s. The control that surprised me To test whether this affects any long-lived watch socket or only audio-unlocked ones, I built a second app with no AVAudioSession at all, no audio background mode, holding a URLSessionWebSocketTask and kept alive by a WKExtendedRuntimeSession so screen sleep was not a factor. It never connected. NWPathMonitor reported .unsatisfied once and never changed, across a 30 s run, and every request failed with "The Internet connection appears to be offline." I had expected URLSession to be permitted regardless. Questions Does the audio-session networking exception in TN3135 have a defined lifetime, and is a periodic revoke/re-grant cycle expected? If so, is there a supported way to hold it continuously — or is the correct design simply to expect the interruption and reconnect through it? Is it expected that an app with no audio session gets no network path at all on watchOS, including via URLSession, even in the foreground with an extended runtime session?

Good morning! I work on a meditation app, and since Sleep Detection was introduced for AirPods in iOS 26, we've been receiving complaints from users reporting that their meditation sessions unexpectedly stop after approximately 15–20 minutes when Sleep Detection is enabled. This seems to happen particularly during deep meditation sessions, where the user may remain still and exhibit behavior that could potentially be interpreted as falling asleep. I've also tested this on iOS 27 with the latest beta firmware available for AirPods Pro, and the same behavior still occurs. While investigating and debugging the issue, I found that there doesn't appear to be any public API that allows an app to determine that playback was paused specifically because of AirPods Sleep Detection. From the application's perspective, the AirPods appear to simply send a standard pause command to the AVPlayer, without providing any additional context or reason. There also doesn't seem to be an API that allows us to determine whether the user has Sleep Detection enabled. Even having access to that information would allow us to warn users that their meditation session could potentially be interrupted. AVAudioSession.InterruptionReason does not seem to help in this case either: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfaudio/avaudiosession/interruptionreason Is there currently any supported way for an app to: Detect that playback was paused specifically because of AirPods Sleep Detection? Determine whether Sleep Detection is enabled for the connected AirPods? Prevent Sleep Detection from pausing playback for specific apps or specific types of audio sessions? If none of these are currently possible, could Apple consider providing either a notification/callback indicating that Sleep Detection triggered the pause, or an option for users to exclude specific apps from Sleep Detection? This behavior is particularly problematic for meditation apps, since a user in a deep meditation session can easily be mistaken for someone who has fallen asleep. Other meditation apps appear to be affected by the same behavior as well. Best regards, Carlos Antunes

Hello Apple Developer community, I'm building an Apple Music client for HarmonyOS (Huawei's operating system) and would like to clarify the licensing and technical approach before submitting to a third-party app store (Huawei AppGallery). I've read the Apple Developer Program License Agreement and App Store Review Guideline 4.5.2, but there are platform-specific constraints I'd like to discuss. Background Apple currently does not provide a MusicKit SDK for HarmonyOS. The available options are: MusicKit for iOS/macOS — not applicable (different OS) MusicKit for Android — ships as proprietary .aar binaries that cannot be redistributed and are not compatible with HarmonyOS's runtime MusicKit JS — available, but HarmonyOS WebView does not support FairPlay or Widevine EME, so full-song DRM playback through MusicKit JS does not work on this platform The only Apple Music API access path available to a HarmonyOS app is the REST API (api.music.apple.com) with a Developer Token (JWT, ES256) and a Music User Token obtained through the MusicKit JS authorization flow running inside a WebView. The technical constraint To deliver full-song playback for subscribed Apple Music users on HarmonyOS, our app retrieves the HLS playback URL via the Apple Music API, downloads the encrypted media segments, and decrypts them using HarmonyOS's native DRM system (WisePlay, the only CDM available on the platform). MusicKit JS's FairPlay/Widevine CDM is not compatible with HarmonyOS — WisePlay is the sole DRM implementation the OS exposes. We are aware that Section 4.5.2 states: "You may not, and You may not permit Your end users to, download, upload, or modify any MusicKit Content" and "You may play MusicKit Content only as rendered by the MusicKit APIs or MusicKit JS" What we want to clarify Our playback implementation works as follows, and we want to confirm whether it is acceptable under the license terms: No download service is offered to users. The download is purely an internal playback mechanism — the app fetches encrypted segments, decrypts them in memory / a protected sandbox, and plays them via the system AVPlayer. There is no "download button," no offline library, no user-facing download feature. Decrypted files are ephemeral and protected. Decrypted media is written to the app's private sandbox (not accessible to users or other apps), played immediately, and deleted as soon as playback ends or the song is skipped. The decrypted file never persists beyond the current playback session. No file leakage. The decrypted content is never exposed via any sharing mechanism, file picker, or external storage. It exists only within the app's protected data directory for the duration of playback. Standard playback controls are preserved. Users initiate playback and can use play / pause / skip / seek — the same controls required by 4.5.2(i). No monetization of Apple Music access. The app does not charge for Apple Music playback, does not show ads around it, and does not collect or share user data. Our question Given that: Apple has no SDK presence on HarmonyOS, MusicKit JS DRM is technically non-functional on HarmonyOS WebView, the only way to deliver full-song playback to Apple Music subscribers on this platform is to decrypt the stream using the OS's native DRM (WisePlay) with strict ephemeral handling, is this playback approach acceptable under the Apple Developer Program License Agreement, provided that: decrypted content is never persisted, shared, or exposed to users, the app only serves subscribed Apple Music users with valid Music User Tokens, all usage remains within the scope of facilitating access to the user's own Apple Music subscription? We fully respect Apple's content protection requirements and are happy to adjust the implementation (e.g., stricter deletion timing, additional sandboxing, attestation) to comply. We just want to understand whether the fundamental approach — decrypting via the host OS's DRM because Apple's own CDMs are unavailable on this platform — is permissible, or whether Apple considers HarmonyOS out of scope for full-song playback entirely. Any guidance from the MusicKit team or community members who have dealt with non-Apple-platform constraints would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi, I’m developing an iOS app that captures the user’s voice and sends the microphone input to an AI model for speech processing. For this use case, Voice Isolation provides a significantly better input signal in noisy environments. However, I’m currently unable to enable Voice Isolation programmatically when the app starts recording. As I understand it, microphone modes such as Automatic, Standard, Voice Isolation, and Wide Spectrum are controlled by the user through the system UI. My app can detect/observe the current microphone mode, but I have not found a public API that allows the app to select Voice Isolation itself. My questions are: Is there currently a supported public API to programmatically switch the microphone mode from Automatic/Standard → Voice Isolation? If direct selection is not supported, is there a recommended way for an app that primarily processes speech/voice input for an AI model to request or prefer Voice Isolation? Would using AVAudioSession with an appropriate voice-processing configuration, such as .voiceChat, or enabling voice processing through AVAudioEngine, provide equivalent Voice Isolation processing? Is AVCaptureDevice.showSystemUserInterface(.microphoneModes) the intended approach when an app needs the user to change the microphone mode? I understand that Apple may intentionally keep microphone-mode selection under user control. I’m mainly trying to determine whether there is a supported programmatic approach that I may have overlooked, rather than relying on a custom noise-suppression implementation. Any guidance on the recommended architecture for this use case would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I have both apple devices, AirPods Pro 3 is up to date and Ultra 3 is on watch os 26.1 latest public beta. Each morning when I would go on my mindfulness app and start a meditation or listen to Apple Music on my watch and AirPods Pro 3, it will play for a few seconds then disconnects. My bluetooth settings on my watch says my AirPods is connected to my watch. I also have removed the tick about connecting automatically to iPhone on the AirPods setting in my iPhone. To fix this I invariably turn off my Apple Watch Ultra 3 and turn it on again. Then the connection becomes stable. I am not sure why I have to do this each morning. It is frustrating. I am not sure why this fix does not last long? Is there something wrong with my AirPods? Has anyone encountered this before?

Connected my iphone 16 pro to my wireless carplay infotainment system, everything is okay but once a phonecall comes in, the audio just comes from one side of the car (passenger side). I've tried to connect my girlfriend's phone (non-apple) and it sounds fine with phone calls. I've tried resetting the systems on both the car and the phone. Music plays fine. Just the phone call situation is what is bothering at the moment.

Our macOS app uses MusicKit to search the Apple Music catalog and browse the customer's library. We are not using ApplicationMusicPlayer for playback. The customer's own Music app is the player, and our app is acting as a browser and remote for it. When the customer picks a catalog search result that is not already in their library, we would like to add it to their library, or to a playlist we create and clearly label as belonging to our app, so that it becomes playable from their library. Is using MusicLibrary to add a catalog item to the user's library a supported use of MusicKit in an app that does not itself play the content? Is creating and writing to a clearly labelled playlist of our own preferable to adding to the top-level library, or is either fine? Is there any supported way to hand a catalog item to the Music app for playback without adding it to the library first? We have tried open location with a music.apple.com URL, which opens the item's page but does not begin playback.

We are building a macOS application that we distribute directly from our website, signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized. It is not on the Mac App Store and we do not plan to put it there. We want to add MusicKit so a customer can browse and play their own Apple Music library inside our app. We have the MusicKit App Service available to enable on an explicit App ID matching the app's bundle identifier, and we understand that MusicKit is not gated by an entitlement and that no private key is needed on Apple platforms. What we cannot find addressed anywhere is the distribution channel itself. Will MusicAuthorization.request and MusicLibraryRequest work in a Developer ID signed and notarized app distributed outside the Mac App Store, or does MusicKit require Mac App Store distribution?

Hello, I am developing an iOS app that uses MusicKit and ApplicationMusicPlayer to create automatic transitions between songs from Apple Music. The app already analyzes tracks using BPM, musical key and danceability, orders them for compatible transitions, and uses MusicPlayer.Transition.crossfade for playback. With the public MusicKit APIs, however, I have reached a limitation. ApplicationMusicPlayer manages the playback queue and crossfade internally. I cannot independently control the outgoing and incoming Apple Music tracks as two decks, which would be required for DJ-style transitions (for example, starting the incoming track while independently controlling the outgoing track, choosing precise mix points, and managing the two playback positions during the overlap). I experimented with MusicPlayer.Queue.Entry startTime and endTime, but changing the end point is not equivalent to having independent deck control and can result in the current track ending before the desired transition. I understand that Apple Music content is protected and that direct access to decoded audio samples may intentionally not be available through the public MusicKit APIs. I am not looking to download, extract, record, or export Apple Music audio. My use case is real-time playback only, for authenticated Apple Music subscribers. My questions are: Is there a public API that allows two Apple Music tracks to be independently controlled and mixed in real time? If not, is there a restricted entitlement, API, or developer program available for DJ/mixing applications? If this capability requires a commercial or technical partnership with Apple Music rather than a public API, is there an official channel through which a developer can request or discuss such access? I am aware that some third-party DJ applications provide real-time mixing with Apple Music, so I would like to understand whether there is an officially supported integration path for other developers, rather than trying to work around the limitations of ApplicationMusicPlayer. Thank you.

I have not seen any issues with didActivateAudioSession not getting called by iOS in many many years with many thousands of devices. However with iOS27 beta code I have seen a few times that when making an outgoing call it never gets called. All subsequent outgoing calls fail until I dismiss and relaunch the App.