Media Keys Do Not Work For iTunes

Since updating to the High Sierra beta, the media keys (skip backward, play/pause, skip forward) do not seem to be working with iTunes anymore. They do however work in Safari to control the playing and pausing of video content (e.g. YouTube).


iTunes Version: 12.6.2.20

macOS: 10.13 Beta (17A358a)


Any ideas would be helpful!

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  • I'm having the same problem, too frustrating.

  • This is a great solution in October 2022

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Replies

I'm having the same issue. Very frustrating...

Yes, I have the same issue. I thought my mac is broken but no. I'm really annoyed. Apple should fix this ASAP. I just want my media keys to work as usual.

Yes, I'm having the same problem.

macOS ver: 10.13 Beta (17A362a)

Same problem, very annoying.

File a bug report.

I managed to fix this issue by

1. Restarting to Safe Mode

2. Test Media keys Safe Mode with Itunes (They Will work as expected)

3. Restart to normal mode.

This issue seems to be fixed in macOS 10.13.1 (17B48) 🙂

I don't think this is fixed just yet. It seems to work for a while after a reset but then the keys just stop working at some point and don't start working again until the next reset.

Seems some ***** at Apple decided that "let's make the media keys only work with the *active* window rather than just iTunes"


It's super annoying when you press Play to listen to music and then some random YouTube video in one of your Safari tabs just starts playing instead.

Same problem here. This is so annoying. Why doesn't control ever return to iTunes? I've had to restart my laptop to get control back, but then a few hours later, it's lost again and I have to do another restart. Seriously? Hello @Apple??

I'm on macOS 10.13.1 and this problem exists for me too. I use Apple Music throughout the day and not being able to start and stop my music without having to go to the iTunes App is debilitating. I’ve filed a bug report about this.

I had the same problem.


This morning I updated to 10.13.2 and it appears to be fixed.

I had the same problem :(

It seems there should be a way of making a change to the plist—I am just not clear on the exact verbiage needed.

(of course SIP needs to be disabled first)


/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.rcd.plist