iPhone Plays Radio Spontaneously

TidBITS Talk
1

Since I got a new M1 MacBook Pro in November, the Music app has opened spontaneously a number of times (even though I’ve never used Music on this machine). There’s a little about this problem on the web; I finally ended up downloading a program that disables Music entirely:

Last night I heard what sounded like a radio station coming from another part of the house; I discovered my iPhone 13 Mini (iOS 16.3) playing 92.7 The Rock. Believe me that I have never ever in my life listened to 92.7 The Rock, and for that matter, I really haven’t used the Music app on this iPhone that much. I am not currently subscribed to Apple Music.

I don’t have “Hey Siri” enabled; I don’t think it’s a Continuity/Handoff issue, since I haven’t been using Apple Music on any other device (and certainly not to listen to a radio station). My AirPods are in their case. I’ve tried cleaning out the Lightning port, but it wasn’t particularly dirty.

Obviously I can’t run an app to disable Music on an iPhone; the only other option I’ve seen is to use Parental Controls to disable Music in Screen Time (which I don’t have turned on at the moment).

Anyone else seen this? Any ideas?

2

I have a similar experience. I frequently listen to podcasts and audio books via AirPods on my iPhone. Occaisonally when I put them back in my ears I don’t get a continuation of where I left off, but get a radiostation or a song from my library starts playing. I never want listen to music that way so I have to reselect the podcast or audio book again to continue. Very irritating!

3

I’ve had that happen when I take my APP out of my ears and attempt to put them back into their case. I have auto switching turned off, so at least that way the Music app starts on the device I’m using and I can shut it off again.

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4

This is happening when I haven’t been using AirPods, haven’t been listening to anything, and am nowhere near the phone.

5

On the iPhone you can delete the Music.app like any other app.

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