How to Turn On/Off Apple Music Shuffle [Fixes Included]

Part 1. How to Turn on Apple Music Shuffle

Whether you want to mix up your favorite playlist, enjoy a shuffled selection of songs, or explore an artist's discography in a new order, Apple Music makes it easy to toggle the shuffle feature. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to turn on shuffle for songs, playlists, or albums using the Apple Music app on various platforms.

1.1 iPhone and Android:

On mobile, you can access shuffle options by entering the contents‘ screen, or tapping the currently playing song at the bottom of the screen, which expands the player interface.

• For Songs:

  1. Open the Apple Music app on your iPhone or Android device.
  2. Tap "Library."
  3. Navigate to "Songs" and tap the Shuffle button to shuffle all songs.
  4. Alternatively, for a specific song, play it and tap the Now Playing bar. Access the hamburger icon and select the Shuffle icon within various Play modes.

• For Playlists or Albums:

  

  1. Open the Apple Music app and go to the desired playlist or album.
  2. Tap the first song.
  3. Tap the hamburger icon and select the shuffle icon to activate shuffle mode for the entire playlist or album.

• For Artists:

  

  1. Open the Apple Music app and visit the artist's page.
  2. Explore the artist's top songs or discography.
  3. Tap any song, and within the Now Playing screen, locate and tap the shuffle icon to shuffle the entire artist's catalog.

1.2 Windows/Mac:

If using Apple Music on a computer, you can often find shuffle options in the playback controls at the top or bottom of the iTunes or Apple Music window.

• For Songs, Playlists, or Albums:

  1. Launch iTunes on your Windows PC or Mac computer.
  2. Navigate to "Songs," "Playlists," or "Albums" and find your desired item.
  • For all songs: Play any song, locate the shuffle icon on the left side of the playback controls, and click it.

  

  • For a playlist: Play any song within the playlist and click the shuffle icon.

  

  • For an entire album: In the "Albums" section, navigate to the album, open it, and click the "Shuffle" button.

  

Alternatively, you can access the shuffle options by selecting "Controls" on the top menu bar. Look for the "Shuffle" option, and choose to turn it on or off, or enable the Shuffle mode for your preferred content on Apple Music, including songs, albums, groupings, and more.

Part 2. How to Turn off Apple Music Shuffle

After relishing a random assortment of tunes, you might crave a more deliberate listening experience. Here's how to turn off shuffle on Apple Music, offering you greater control over your music selection.

• On Android/iPhone:

  1. While a song is playing, tap the Now Playing bar to access the player interface.
  2. Tap the hamburger icon.
  3. Locate the shuffle icon (two intersecting arrows) and tap it while it's highlighted to deactivate shuffle mode.
Note

If you prefer using Siri, simply say, "Hey Siri, turn off shuffle" to deactivate shuffle mode.

• On Windows/Mac:

  1. In iTunes or the Music app on your Windows PC or Mac computer, navigate the playback controls at the top of the window.
  2. Locate the shuffle icon in the playback controls.
  3. Click the shuffle icon to toggle off shuffle mode.
  4. Ensure you are playing a song from the specific list before turning off shuffle.

  Alternatively, locate the "Shuffle" option from the drop-down menu of "Controls." You can select "off" and shuffle mode should be deactivated.

By tapping the shuffle icon on the player screen (mobile) or playback controls (computers), you can seamlessly turn off shuffle entirely on Apple Music.

Part 3. How to Fix Apple Music Shuffle Issues

In our exploration, we know Apple Music's shuffle well and how it can benefit or frustrate Apple Music users. Here're some issues we've identified and some fixes to them.

3.1 Apple Music Not Shuffling

If these steps are performed accordingly as you did previously, there shouldn't be any issue with the shuffle mode. However, if Apple Music still won't work, follow these steps to make it work for you again.

1. Verify your steps to start Apple Music Shuffle on your device. You can follow the guide in this post to enable Apple Music Shuffle.
2. Press on the power button to restart your current device.
3. Remove the Music App (iTunes) from your devices. On your iPhone or iPad: Start from the Home screen to touch and hold the Music app > Delete App.
4. Make sure your iOS or Android device is selected to play the current content. Or from here to tap your device to access Spotify Equalizer.

On your MacBook: Choose Go > Utilities > Activity Monitor, then select Music processes > Quit Process to full close the Music app. After that, click the black arrow icon > Application Support, then delete the Music app.

On your Windows PC: Start from the Start menu > Control Panel > Uninstall a program, then uninstall "iTunes".

3.2 Apple Music Shuffle Not Random

Apple Music Shuffle is not random for some particular reasons - low number in music library, Apple Music recommendation, Apple Music Shuffle algorithm and Apple Music cache.

1. Low Number in Music Library

If you are shuffling an Apple Music (or iTunes) content, such as an artist or album that has a low number of songs, chances are that Apple Music Shuffle turns out to stream some specific songs more often than a content that has a larger number of songs.

The best method is to create your own playlist to cover more songs instead. You can always find your loved songs on Apple Music, your top songs and the most-streamed Apple Music songs to add to your playlist.

2. Apple Music Shuffle Algorithm

Just like other music services, such as Spotify, Apple Music has its own shuffle algorithm. However, it's impossible to tell anything about the algorithm but Apple Music Shuffle is an incomplete mode and does care of another important on Apple Music - Apple Music recommendations.

3. Apple Music Recommendations

Apple Music offers its music recommendations for you based on your listening habits. A simple skip can make Apple Music stream this song less and stream others more often, especially in its shuffle mode.

4. Apple Music Cache

Apple Music cache will make it easier for Apple Music to load and stream some songs for you - even in the shuffle mode. So, if you find Apple Music is not random with this content, try to turn off the iCloud Music Library and back on to rebuild your Apple Music library. See how to turn off the iCloud Music Library>>

We've set out to find out some alternative ways to fix Apple Music Shuffle not random. See how to fix Apple Music shuffle play same songs.

3.3 Apple Music Shuffling Automatically

1. Verify the steps to turn off Apple Music Shuffle. You can follow the guide in this post to disable Apple Music Shuffle.
2. If you are sure the issues are with Apple Music's ends, the automatic issue might be with Apple Music itself but not its shuffle mode. Please identify the problems with Apple Music further either on Apple devices, e.g., iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods or in a car. See how to stop Apple Music from automatically>>

If you want to have more flexibility to free up space and curate your offline music experience, you may need to remove your downloads from your Apple Music library or even your device entirely. You can efficiently manage your downloaded songs, making room for fresh content and tailoring your offline music library to suit your ever-evolving tastes.

Part 4. How to Better Control Apple Music Playback

If you still cannot let Apple Music turn off shuffle or turn it on, here is another method. Try to use an Apple Music alternative player such as Spotify to play Apple Music songs. But Apple Music songs or playlists are protected in M4P format. So you need an Apple audio converter to convert Apple Music to MP3 or other audios to upload to Spotify or other music players.

ViWizard Apple Music Converter is what you need for Apple Music songs converting. It will convert Apple Music to MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, or others with 30X faster speed. After the conversion, you can transfer and play Apple Music on any audio player that can upload local files including Spotify and Amazon Music. This converter also supports the conversion of iTunes audiobooks, Audible books, audios that are not protected like Apple Music. After the conversion, you are also able to play Apple Music even without the subscription. If you are interested in converting Apple Music songs to MP3, you can follow this tutorial: How to Convert Apple Music to MP3.

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