Fixes to remove the iPhone Music widget on lock screen on iOS 11

Facing trouble removing the iPhone Music widget? Here's what you should do.

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Apple Music, Spotify or Pandora, regardless of the app you prefer to use when you decide to enjoy your music, the iOS 11 lock screen allows you to control your playback without unlocking your phone. The playback controls are quite intuitive and easy to get the hang of. When the music is stopped or paused, under normal circumstances, the widget disappears from the lock screen, but if it doesn’t, it is a major hindrance often blocking your notifications.

 
Fixes to remove the iPhone Music widget on lock screen on iOS 11

Fortunately, despite the delay in updates designed to fix the issue, the information from a large community of users and chatter in the developer forums has information about steps can be taken to resolve this issue:

Play-Pause-Lock-Unlock

Play-Pause-Lock-Unlock

The music widget despite appearances indicating the contrary is not actually frozen, the controls still function the same.

Before attempting any of the other fixes, this simple fix must be tried.

Tap the play button on the music widget, wait for a few seconds and then tap Pause. Unlock the screen and then lock it again, opening the device again will show you that it has disappeared,

Force-quitting the app

Force-quitting the app

A one-off glitch can quite often be the reason your device has a non-responsive music widget, in this case force-quitting the app from memory by accessing the app-switcher is the easiest way to go to resolve the issue.

Restarting the device
 

Restarting the device

Completely restarting your device and providing your device with a clean slate to work on is also an efficient way to get rid of the music widget. To turn off your device, hold the power button down for a couple of seconds. On the iPhone X, the Volume Up and Volume Down button has to be pressed in quick succession before you hold the power button down after which you will receive a prompt to swipe across in order to turn off the device.

After restarting your device, if the problem still persists, other methods will have to be adopted.

Turning the notifications off

Turning the notifications off

The notification settings of the music app can conflict with the music widget, this is another reason the widget might get stuck on the lock screen.

The below mentioned is not a perfect fix as it sacrifices useful alerts and badge icons.

Step 1: Access Notifications from the Settings screen of your iPad or iPhone and tap on the music player icon that you are using.

Step 2: Find the tab which says Allow Notifications and slide it to Off.

Restart your phone and if the issue still persists, follow the different steps given below.

Turning Apple Music off

Turning Apple Music off

Disabling the Apple Music service is another way to fix this according to information available on various forums. You will only be unable to stream music, you will still be able to store music that is stored locally.

Access Settings screen and tap Music. Tap on the switch next to Apple Music.

Turning off Today View

Turning off Today View

In order to disable the Today View, tap on Touch ID and Passcode option on the Setting screen, tap on the switch next to Today View in order to turn the feature off.

Reinstalling concerned app

Reinstalling concerned app

While deleting the app and reinstalling it might fix the issue, this could mean you have to sacrifice the contents of your music library. You might want to consider using iOS 11's Offload feature to delete app-related data and keep your files out of harm's way.

Step 1: Select General in the Settings screen and then choose iPhone/iPad storage.

Step 2: Choose your music player from the list that is available to you.

Step 3: Tap on the Offload app to get rid of your app while keeping your music library intact.

Step 4: Restart your device and you will find the icon of the app you just offloaded on the Home screen, tap it to re-download the app to your device.

Un-pairing Bluetooth devices

Un-pairing Bluetooth devices

Pairing your iPhone or iPad to Bluetooth devices is known to create a glitch that often results in the music widget being stuck even after you disconnect from it. To unpair your device from the Bluetooth device, do the following:

Step 1: Access Bluetooth and tap on the device in question under My Devices.

Step 2: Select Forget This Device from the list of remembered devices to remove it from the list.

Reset settings.

Reset settings.

This need not be resorted to unless none of the above methods work, as this will reset all of your iOS preferences and settings. However, this will probably fix the issue with your music widget.

Step 1: Go to Settings, select General and tap on Reset.

Step 2: Select Reset All Settings.

Step 3: Affirm your choice in the prompt box that appears. Your device will reset but you will have to sign in to your Apple account and other accounts all over again.

Despite the fixes available, the best course of action is to keep your device updated as soon as the updates are available.

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