(This is one of a series of articles looking at elements of iTunes that I think need fixing. I’ll choose one element for each article, and offer a solution. See all articles in this series. If you have any particular gripes about what needs to be fixed in iTunes, drop me a line.)
Update: this has been fixed.
I work at home. In my office, I have an ergonomic Steelcase Leap chair at my desk, and a comfortable Stressless recliner at the opposite end of my office, about ten feet away. It faces my desk, so, when I sit in that chair and work on my laptop – as I often do – I can listen to music. I generally do this by controlling my iTunes library from my iPhone with the iOS Remote app. But this app is broken, and needs fixing.
First, the Remote app has not displayed album artwork since the release of iOS 8. Apple is aware of this bug (which only affects certain devices, curiously), but hasn’t gotten around to fixing it.
The other problem is the responsiveness of the Remote app. If, for example, the phone rings, and I need to pause the playback, I have to grab my iPhone, unlock it (this is pretty quick with Touch ID), tap the Remote app icon, and then wait.
Sometimes, this is quick. Other times, it takes ten seconds, twenty seconds, or even more. Sometimes it cannot find my Mac – which is just across the room, connected to the same router – and I have to force quit the app and reload my devices. It seems that the longer the time between the last time I accessed the app, the more delay there is in establishing a connection to iTunes.
Apple could fix this easily. My guess is that the connection only stays open for a certain length of time, and goes into standby mode after a while to save power on the iOS device. This is logical; if you only use the Remote app once to play or pause music, you don’t want a lot of power being drained. There is a Stay Connected option in the Remote app’s settings. I have it turned on, but it has no effect on the connection for me.
This app is a great way to control iTunes, but it’s not reliable enough. Apple could probably fix this easily, but the fact that album artwork still doesn’t display, some six months after the release of iOS 8, suggests that they’re simply ignoring this app.
Under Settings in the Remote App there is a stay connected radio button. With that clicked on I do not have the reconnection problem. But I get no album art on my or my wife’s 5S or very late model iPads.
I have that checked too. I will amend the article to mention that, in spite of turning that option on, it does not stay connected for me.
Under Settings in the Remote App there is a stay connected radio button. With that clicked on I do not have the reconnection problem. But I get no album art on my or my wife’s 5S or very late model iPads.
I have that checked too. I will amend the article to mention that, in spite of turning that option on, it does not stay connected for me.
I want to agree with you on the Remote app, and mostly I do. I find it fiddly to use, especially with my Apple TV library and typing, to say, YouTube to search can be a real pain. But, and you knew there was going to be a ‘but’, it connects quickly to my Mac or Apple TV libraries and I have a 100% display of Album art on either iPhone or iPad. I’ve just checked all that once again before I commented here.
I’m running the latest iOS 8.2 and my Mac and Apple TV’s are also up to date. My lounge flows into a kitchen and dining room and is about 10 metres + long. My office is in a niche off of these rooms. My Airport Extrenme router is in the 1st garage some 3 rooms away, though I do have a second Airport Express in the lounge set up I’ve described above.
Yep, the app need some serious love from Apple and I hope it gets it, along with the much awaited Apple TV hardware refresh. It simply that in my case ithe Remote app does connect quickly and displays my library art and details fine.
Which models are your iPhone and iPad? It works for me on my iPad touch and my non-retina iPad mini, but not on any other devices.
I want to agree with you on the Remote app, and mostly I do. I find it fiddly to use, especially with my Apple TV library and typing, to say, YouTube to search can be a real pain. But, and you knew there was going to be a ‘but’, it connects quickly to my Mac or Apple TV libraries and I have a 100% display of Album art on either iPhone or iPad. I’ve just checked all that once again before I commented here.
I’m running the latest iOS 8.2 and my Mac and Apple TV’s are also up to date. My lounge flows into a kitchen and dining room and is about 10 metres + long. My office is in a niche off of these rooms. My Airport Extrenme router is in the 1st garage some 3 rooms away, though I do have a second Airport Express in the lounge set up I’ve described above.
Yep, the app need some serious love from Apple and I hope it gets it, along with the much awaited Apple TV hardware refresh. It simply that in my case ithe Remote app does connect quickly and displays my library art and details fine.
Which models are your iPhone and iPad? It works for me on my iPad touch and my non-retina iPad mini, but not on any other devices.
I find it frustrating that Remote app cannot launch iTunes on my Mac. I have to leave iTunes running _in case_ I want to listen via AirPlay.
I find it frustrating that Remote app cannot launch iTunes on my Mac. I have to leave iTunes running _in case_ I want to listen via AirPlay.
In regards to my comment and your question, I’m using an iPhone 5S and an iPad Air. I’ve 1x Apple TV 3 and 1x Apple TV 2. My main computer is a MacBook Pro 15″ with 1TB SSD, bought in August 2014, the last refresh of this model .
In regards to my comment and your question, I’m using an iPhone 5S and an iPad Air. I’ve 1x Apple TV 3 and 1x Apple TV 2. My main computer is a MacBook Pro 15″ with 1TB SSD, bought in August 2014, the last refresh of this model .
I wish Remote replicated the display in iTunes, namely the Recently Added albums in Albums view, and the ability to sort (I use albums by year, alphabetical is a pain).
I wish Remote replicated the display in iTunes, namely the Recently Added albums in Albums view, and the ability to sort (I use albums by year, alphabetical is a pain).