As an iOS user, you might have experienced the conundrum of having Apple Music taking over your iPhone’s play button. This is a common issue faced by many users, where the default music streaming service takes precedence over other media players like Spotify, YouTube, or even the offline music library.
If you’re frustrated with Apple Music hijacking your iPhone’s play button, there are a few ways to stop it from happening. In this article, we’ll explore some tips and tricks to reclaim your control over the play button.

1. Disable Apple Music in Control Center:

One of the easiest ways to prevent Apple Music from taking over the play button is by disabling it in your iPhone’s Control Center. Open the Settings app on your iPhone, go to Control Center, and select Customize Controls. Here, you’ll see a list of all the available toggles that can be added or removed from Control Center. Scroll down and find the Music option, and click on the red minus button to remove it from the list.

By doing this, you’re removing the shortcut to Apple Music from Control Center. This won’t disable the app entirely, but it will prevent it from taking over the play button automatically.

2. Change music streaming settings:

If you use multiple music streaming services on your iPhone, you can specify which service you prefer to use for audio playback. Go to Settings > Music, and under the Playback section, you’ll see an option called “Preferred Service.” Here, you can choose the music streaming app you want to use by default when playing audio files from other apps.

For example, if you prefer to use Spotify for audio playback, select it as the preferred service. This will ensure that the play button is associated with Spotify, and not Apple Music, whenever you’re listening to audio files from other apps.

3. Switch off Apple Music:

If you’re not an Apple Music subscriber or don’t use the app frequently, you can turn off the service to prevent it from taking over the play button. Go to Settings > Music, and toggle off the “Show Apple Music” option. This will hide Apple Music from your iPhone’s Music app and prevent it from launching automatically or taking over the play button.

4. Use Siri to play music:

If you’re tired of looking at the play button altogether, you can use Siri to play music for you. Just activate Siri by holding the Side button or saying “Hey, Siri,” and give a command like “Play some music.” Siri will launch the default music streaming app or the one you’ve specified in the preferred service settings.

Final thoughts:

Apple Music taking over the play button may seem like a small issue, but it can be annoying for users who prefer other music streaming apps. By using the above tips and tricks, you can stop Apple Music from taking control of your iPhone’s play button and regain control over your media playback.