MusicPlayer on watchOS?

Question

snuff4 OP

Created Feb ’22

Replies 1

Boosts 1

Views 1.3k

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Hi there!

I am curious if the MusicPlayer from MusicKit is supported on watchOS.

I have not tried it yet, and the documentation says it is only available on iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and Catalyst.

Can you please confirm?

Is there a way to play it through the NowPlayingView?

Thank you!

Answered by Frameworks Engineer in 704479022

Hello @snuff4,

The availability annotations of MusicPlayer for watchOS are correct. This API is not supported on watchOS 8.x.

I don't believe you can use WatchKit's NowPlayingView to programmatically initiate or control playback. The user would have to go to the Music app to start playback, then return to your app, where the NowPlayingView could allow the user to control playback using button presses or the digital crown.

To be honest, this is the first time since the release of MusicKit framework last summer that we hear from an external developer wanting to use it to control playback programmatically on watchOS. It makes perfect sense, but, as you might expect, we have to prioritize feature work according to the value it provides to the broad developer community. So in this case, I would urge you to file a ticket on Feedback Assistant outlining your use-case for this API on watchOS, which will help us to figure out where this might fit in the roadmap.

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Best regards,

Boost

Answer 1

Frameworks Engineer OP

Apple

Feb ’22

Accepted Answer

Hello @snuff4,

The availability annotations of MusicPlayer for watchOS are correct. This API is not supported on watchOS 8.x.

I don't believe you can use WatchKit's NowPlayingView to programmatically initiate or control playback. The user would have to go to the Music app to start playback, then return to your app, where the NowPlayingView could allow the user to control playback using button presses or the digital crown.

To be honest, this is the first time since the release of MusicKit framework last summer that we hear from an external developer wanting to use it to control playback programmatically on watchOS. It makes perfect sense, but, as you might expect, we have to prioritize feature work according to the value it provides to the broad developer community. So in this case, I would urge you to file a ticket on Feedback Assistant outlining your use-case for this API on watchOS, which will help us to figure out where this might fit in the roadmap.

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Best regards,

2