Like many others, if you too are curious to know why does Apple Music shuffle play the same songs, this guide talks about some common reasons. In addition, here you will also learn about a couple of working solutions to fix the issue, regardless of the device type you are streaming your favorite songs on, i.e., iPhone, iPad, Windows, or Mac.
Why Does Apple Music Play the Same Songs on Shuffle?
While the shuffle system mainly relies on algorithms functioning in the background, even their randomness has a sequence. Sparing a few streaming portals, shuffling in all of them functions almost identically.
The glitch becomes more prominent when you listen to a playlist offline, as the algorithms cannot fetch updated information. As a result, Apple Music shuffle plays the same songs, except for the first time after creating the playlist.
Now that you’re roughly aware of the issue, it’s time to learn about a few effective solutions that have helped millions of Apple Music subscribers across the globe. Continue reading to find the troubleshooting method that works best for you.
Note: For most solutions, an iPhone 13 Pro Max running iOS 17 is used as a reference.
Reason 1: Enabled Repeat Mode
If you enabled the Repeat feature along with Shuffle, the algorithms working in the background may malfunction and start considering the last played sequence a regular, unshuffled playlist.
Suggested Solution: Disable Repeat Mode
The process is given below:
- Launch the Apple Music app on your iOS device
- Tap Library from the bottom
- Tap Playlists
- Go to the playlist in question
- Tap to play any track
- Tap the song from the playback bar at the bottom
- Tap the Playlist icon from the bottom-right
- Tap the Repeat icon to turn off Repeat Mode
Reason 2: Shuffling an Album or Playlist Instead of the Library
As mentioned earlier, if there’s a glitch, the Shuffle feature works correctly only the first time after you create a playlist. In the case of a glitch where the shuffle feature becomes ineffective, you may need to try something else.
Before proceeding, it’s essential to know that the right way of creating Apple Music playlists is a three-step process, and you must follow it in the correct sequence. The procedure includes:
- Adding songs to the library
- Creating playlists
- Adding songs from your library to playlists
With this approach, you can access almost all the features Apple Music offers.
As for the shuffling issue, you can resolve it through either of the two solutions given below:
Solution 1: Add More Music to the Playlist
When you add more tracks to an existing playlist, the algorithms working in the background modify to accommodate the newcomers. When this happens, the junk information causing stagnancy in the playlist is flushed, allowing the algorithms to re-randomize the track selection while streaming.
Solution 2: Re-tap the Shuffle Button in the Library
The process is given below:
- Launch Apple Music
- Go to Library
- Tap Songs from the Library screen
- Tap Shuffle from the top
Reason 3: Apple Music Algorithms are Not Random Enough
If you’re following along, you already know that shuffle algorithms may malfunction due to incorrect customizations. To fix this, you can try the following solutions:
Solution 1: Change the Playback Order
The process is given below:
- Go to Library > Songs in Apple Music, as explained earlier
- Tap the Sort icon from the top right corner
- Tap a different option from the menu to change the playback order
- Tap the Shuffle button to start playing
- Check if Apple Music shuffle plays the same songs again
Solution 2: Remove Unwanted Songs
You can get rid of the songs you no longer listen to. The process is given below:
- Go to Library > Songs
- Tap the More Options icon from the right of an unwanted track
- Tap Delete from Library from the menu
- Tap Delete Song on the confirmation box
- Repeat this process for all the songs you no longer want in your library
Solution 3: Retrain Shuffle Algorithms
In this method, you skip the songs the app repeats frequently. This retrains the shuffle algorithms to pull rarely used tracks from the playlist for streaming. The correct process is:
- Go to the problematic playlist
- Tap Shuffle and continue listening
- As soon as you hear a repeated song, skip to the next one without letting it finish
- Follow this procedure till the end of the playlist
Although this method may take a couple of days to show its effect, you can expect a promising result.
Solution 4: Create a Smart Playlist
Smart Playlist offers more options to choose from rather than enabling the regular, vanilla shuffle mode. However, the downside is that you can create Smart Playlists only on a Windows or Mac computer. While the former requires iTunes, the latter already has the Apple Music app, which you can use. Once created, the Smart Playlist automatically syncs across all the devices using the same Apple ID.
Regardless of the platform type, the method of creating a Smart Playlist is identical and is given below:
Note: macOS Monterey is used here as a reference.
- Launch Apple Music
- Go to File > New and click Smart Playlist
- In the top three fields, choose Playlist, Is, and <name of the playlist>
- Check the Limit to box and define a number (default is 25)
- Leave the items option selected in the adjacent field
- Choose the least often played option from the selected by menu
- Click OK
- Restart the app
After this, you can launch and see whether Apple Music shuffle plays the same songs on your iOS device or if the issue is resolved.
Reason 4: Other Unknown Reasons
Apart from the known causes that make Apple Music shuffle play the same songs as described above, many other reasons could be responsible for the app’s such behavior, too. This section suggests remedies for some of those, and are as follows:
Solution 1: Disable Listening History
Your listening history may influence the behavior of the algorithms responsible for shuffling the playlists, and turning it off may help. The process is given below:
- Go to Settings
- Scroll down and tap Music
- Scroll down the Music screen and tap to turn off the Use Listening History switch
- See if the issue is resolved
Because listening history is machine-specific, you must follow the above procedure on all your Apple devices individually.
Solution 2: Restart the Apple Music App
For this method, you must use the app switcher. The method is given below:
For Devices with the Home Button
- Double-press the Home button to enter the app switcher mode
- Swipe the screen left or right to bring the Apple Music app to the top
- Swipe the Music app tile up and off the screen to close it
- Press the Home button once to come out of the app switcher mode
For Devices without the Home Button
- Swipe the screen from the bottom and hold your finger at the center for a while to enter the app switcher mode
- Swipe left or right to bring the Music app to the top
- Swipe the Music app tile up and off the screen to close it
- Swipe up the screen from the bottom to close the app switcher
- Once done, relaunch the Apple Music app and see if the issue is fixed
Solution 3: Restart Your Device
This is one of the best and most effective solutions to many iOS-related issues. Here’s how you can restart your iPhone or any other iOS device:
- Go to Settings
- Tap General
- Scroll down to the bottom
- Tap Shut Down
- Swipe the slide to power off bar to the right
- Once the iPhone is off, wait for a minute or two and power it back on
- See if the issue is resolved
Solution 4: Create a Radio Station in Apple Music
While Apple Music has a wide range of radio stations, you can create one or more of your own. After creating, the instance auto-randomizes the list for you.
The process is given below:
WARNING: Before proceeding, you must be aware that once you create a radio station, Apple doesn’t allow deleting it, not at least at the time of this writing.
To Create a Custom Radio Station:
- Go to the playlist with the weird behavior
- Start streaming any song
- Tap the More Options icon from the right of the song you’re streaming
- Tap Create Station from the menu
To Play Songs Through Your Custom Radio Station
- Tap Radio from the bottom of the Apple Music app
- Scroll down the Radio screen and tap your station from the Recently Played section
Note: The name of the radio station will be the same as the name of the song you played while creating it
- Continue playing the song that randomly streams
- To add the one you like, tap the More Options icon from the upper-right
- Tap Add to Library
Optionally, you can continue listening to the radio station for the more randomized list and to check if Apple Music shuffle plays the same songs anymore.
Solution 5: Shuffle Play Apple Music on Other Platforms
If none of the above methods works, and your instance of Apple Music shuffle plays the same songs again, you can use an efficient third-party tool called HitPaw Apple Music Converter. The program has an integrated Apple Music interface, where you can sign in to your Apple account and access your existing playlists.
From here, you can go to the culprit Apple Music playlist, download all the tracks to your local computer in your preferred audio format (MP3, W4A, or WAV), and listen to the songs on the media player with more efficient shuffling algorithms.
FAQs About Apple Music Shuffle Play the Same Songs
Can removing and reinstalling the Apple Music app from my iPhone fix the issue?
It can if the listening history is influencing the algorithms, as it is unique for each iOS device. On the other hand, if there is some other reason, all your efforts in this direction will go in vain. Therefore, you can try this method only if nothing else works.
How can HitPaw Apple Music Converter rectify the problem?
HitPaw Apple Music Converter allows you to download tracks in the culprit playlist to your computer and convert them to the format compatible with the media player you wish to play them on. However, while choosing a player, you must ensure that it has an efficient shuffling system to avoid facing the same problem while listening to music offline.
Why can’t I add songs to my custom radio station in Apple Music?
This is because Apple Music Radio Stations fetch data from Apple’s servers. While the Radio Station approach significantly helps shuffle the tracks, it prohibits you from adding more songs. The maximum you can do is add the songs playing on your custom Radio Stations to your music library and then to the local playlists, which then propagate their data across all the devices using the same Apple ID.
Conclusion
When your Apple Music shuffle plays the same songs, you can easily predict what’s come up next while listening to the playlist. Logically, this defies the sole purpose of enabling the shuffle feature altogether. This guide tries to explain why does Apple Music shuffle play the same songs, and attempts to help you fix the issue with the least effort.
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