Audio stops playing when iPhone sleeps

I have an iPhone 7 Plus and AirPods. When the phone sleeps audio playback stops and won’t work unless the phone is awake. Is this the way it is supposed to work? My wife has an iPhone 7 and her’s keeps playing.

That's not how it's supposed to work. Is anything in how you listen different from your wife?
– Is Continuous Play on (three-dots menu on the audio player brings up audio settings)?
– Do you usually listen on Wi-Fi, or on a cellular network?
– Do you pre-download audio, or do you stream it?
– Do you connect to Bluetooth speakers or a car Bluetooth system while listening? (EDIT: AirPods are Bluetooth. So, do you have the same problem if you're listening using wired headphones or just using the phone speakers?)
– Do you have any restrictive battery-saving or background refresh settings on, in iOS settings, that your wife doesn't have?

audio stops and doesn't start again after a phone call, siri, etc.

Is there an answer for this? This happens to me without any Bluetooth connectivity. I can be playing audio and it stops once the screen locks. I used to be able to control playback from the lock screen, but that is not even available anymore.

faithy wrote:Is there an answer for this? This happens to me without any Bluetooth connectivity. I can be playing audio and it stops once the screen locks. I used to be able to control playback from the lock screen, but that is not even available anymore.

Are you on the latest version of iOS and Gospel Library? If you recently updated iOS, have you tried restarting your device? Do you have any settings that would prevent the app from being active in the background (background refresh, battery saving settings)? Does audio also pause if you go to the home screen, or switch apps? Are you listening to a regular audio recording, or text-to-speech (on content without a recording)? Or is it a video you're playing?

I am having the same issue. iPhone 11, latest version of iOS and gospel library app.

Hi

This has now started happening for me since the last update.of Gospel Library?
I have iOS 13.5.1 iPhone 7. Very annoying can’t even listen to a chapter.

John

Update...... turned the continuous play option off and on and switched phone off and back on and this appears to have resolved issue, but has highlighted another issue,... while playing and with Gospel library active on screen the phone will not go into standby anymore? But if you come out of gospel library it continues to play even if the screen sleeps.

If you have the continuous play off it will finish chapter and stop. If continuous play is on it will play next chapter, (this is what is expected I just mention it for clarification)

johnkwebb wrote:Update...... turned the continuous play option off and on and switched phone off and back on and this appears to have resolved issue, but has highlighted another issue,... while playing and with Gospel library active on screen the phone will not go into standby anymore? But if you come out of gospel library it continues to play even if the screen sleeps.

By standby, do you mean the screen darkening, then locking? I tested going to a chapter and listening to audio, and left my screen on that chapter with audio playing, and my phone locked as expected after waiting a bit. What's your auto-lock timeout set to under Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock?

I had this same problem. A couple months ago text to voice worked normally when the phone screen locked.
I set the option to off, then reboot the phone. I turned continue on again and now when the screen locks, gospel library continues playing.

Thanks for the tip!

This trick worked for me. I turned off continuous play in the church app, then reset my iPhone and turned continuous play back on. Then my iPhone played continuously as it should. I am on an iPhone 15

Toggling continuous playback did not work for me. I’m using an iPhone 14 and my system and app software are up to date. Used to be able to listen to scriptures while walking and driving but I’ve basically given up now.