If you listen to music on your iPhone or iPad then you’re fully aware that iOS pops up a widget display on your Lock screen, allowing you to control your music app even though your screen is locked. You’re able to play, skip, pause and stop music – basic commands – from your widget. If you’ve stopped playing music, the widget will then disappear from your locked screen after a couple minutes, however, there are some moments when you stopped listening to music but your widget is still on your locked screen.
Now, if your music widget is stuck on your iPhone or iPad’s locked screen, you want to be able to fix this in order to have proper control over your locked screen. Though, before we tell you the ways to fix this, you first need to know that there are no ways to remove the music widget from your iPhone entirely, all you can do is get the widget unstuck from your screen. Let’s show you how.
Stop the music
Before you try the other options out, make sure that you actually stopped playing the music. Yes, this seems like an obvious solution but this is highly common. To make sure that your music widget is indeed stuck, double check that the music has stopped playing. If so, wait a couple minutes, as it takes a couple minutes for it to go away. If it’s still there after a couple minutes, try these other options.
Force-quit the music app
This is also a highly likely situation – your app is causing the widget to freeze on your locked screen. Whether you’re using Spotify, Apple Music or Pandora, you want to force-quit the app. If you’re using an iPhone X, you’ll need to swipe-up from the bottom of the display screen and pause it to show the app switcher. Select the app you want to force-quit, tap and hold your finger on it. A red minus icon will appear – tap on it.
If you’re using older Apple devices, you’ll want to double-press the home button and then find the app you want to force-quit, swiping up on it. Once you force-quit the app, check your locked screen and see if the widget is gone.
Reboot your device
If you’re still having problems, reboot your device completely. It could just be a temporary hiccup that your device has and the easiest thing to do in order to see is to reboot it. To reboot your device, you’ll want to shut down your iPhone or iPad and then turn it back on. In most cases, this will do the trick. But if not, continue reading.
Delete the app that you think is causing this
If you think that the app is causing the problem, then try to delete it. Don’t worry, just because you delete the app doesn’t mean you’ll lose all your data. Plus, if it’s a paid app, you won’t have to pay to redownload it – you’ve already paid, so you’re able to access it for free.
Delete the app and then reboot your device. Once you’ve done that, check to see if the widget is gone.
Check your Bluetooth
Sometimes it’s actually Bluetooth that can be causing all the problems. Go to your home screen and go to settings → Bluetooth and tap on the “i” icon. Then, you’ll want to tap on forget this device. Go to your car, open settings and then delete/unpair your device from your car. Make sure you reboot your device. Then, check your locked screen, hopefully, this worked.
If nothing has worked and you’re still wondering why your music widget is on your locked screen, try to update your iOS system to the latest update. If that also doesn’t work, then the last thing you’ll want to try is to restore your device completely. In order to do this go to settings → General → Reset → Reset All Content & Settings. But do leave this option as a last resort as it’s the most drastic.