Control Music Playback for all media apps, not just Apple Music

Please note that this is only possible in Scenic version 2.2.9 (released July 2020) and up.

By default the Previous, Play/Pause and Next buttons in the navigation menu can only control Apple Music.

You can change this so that these buttons control playback for whatever App is currently playing audio, like Spotify, Podcasts, Overcast, Deezer, Pandora, Google Play Music, Youtube Music, Amazon Music, etc. In essence you’ll be able to control playback for any app that can be controlled through control centre.

This requires a bit of setup from you. You’ll need the Apple Shortcuts App with three shortcuts installed. Please follow the steps below (it’s easiest if you open this page on your iPhone/iPad):

1 – Install the Apple Shortcuts App

Follow this link to the Shortcuts App on the App Store and download the app.

Tap the ‘download’ button to download the app to your device

2 – Turn on ‘Allow Untrusted Shortcuts’

Go to the iOS Settings App > Shortcuts and turn on ‘Allow Untrusted Shortcuts’:

Don’t worry, you’ll still be asked for permission to install an untrusted shortcut.

If you’ve never used the Shortcuts app before it’s possible that it won’t let you turn on untrusted shortcuts immediately. If that’s the case please open the shortcuts app and run any shortcut, and then go back to settings to turn ‘Allow Untrusted Shortcuts’ on.

3 – Install the ‘Skip Back’ shortcut

Tap following link to open the ‘Skip Back’ shortcut in the shortcuts app:
scenicSkipBack Shortcut

This will open another safari tab or open the Shortcuts App immediately, depending on your previous choices.

Tap either one of these buttons to open this shortcut in the shortcuts app.

Tap the red ‘Add Untrusted Shortcut’ button. DO NOT change the name of the shortcut. This is ESSENTIAL. If you change the name the buttons in the navigation menu won’t work!!!

Now this shortcut has been added to your shortcuts. You should see it in the ‘My Shortcuts’ tab.

4 – Install the ‘Play / Pause’ shortcut

Repeat step 3 for the scenicPlayPause shortcut

5 – Install the ‘Skip Forward’ shortcut

Repeat step 3 for the scenicSkipForward shortcut

6 – Select ‘All Media Apps’ in Scenic

In Scenic go to Settings > Navigation Menu > Playback Control and select ‘All Media Apps’

And that’s it. You’re done!

P.S. – The buttons have different behaviour for different media apps!!!

In essence, what this approach does, is connect the functionality of the control centre media buttons to the navigation menu buttons in Scenic. What these buttons do is determined by the app that’s currently playing. For example, the Skip Back button does not always work for Spotify. And with Podcasts the skip back and skip forward buttons do not skip to the previous or next episode, but in stead they skip a number of seconds backward/forward in the currently playing episode.

This behaviour can not be changed by Scenic. It is determined by the app that’s playing the audio!!!