AirPods and Headphone Controls in Macdio, Press by Press

In Macdio a single press on AirPods or a headphone button pauses and plays. On live radio a double press plays the next station and a triple press the previous one. During a podcast episode a double press skips forward 30 seconds and a triple press skips back 15 seconds, unless you turn off “Headphone Presses Skip”. This works on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and the same commands drive the Lock Screen, Control Center, CarPlay and the Mac’s media keys.

To choose what AirPods do during a podcast episode on iPhone or iPad:

1. Open Settings in Macdio. On iPhone it sits under More unless you moved it into the tab bar.
2. Scroll to the “Podcasts” section.
3. Leave “Headphone Presses Skip” on to skip inside the episode, or turn it off to move between episodes.
4. Set “Skip Back” and “Skip Forward” to the jumps you want.

The change applies at once, even to the episode that is playing.

Press	Live radio	Episode, “Headphone Presses Skip” on	Episode, setting off
Single	Pause or play	Pause or play	Pause or play
Double	Next station in your list	Skip forward (30 s by default)	Next episode, from Up Next first, then the show’s list
Triple	Previous station in your list	Skip back (15 s by default)	Restart the episode, or the previous episode if you are in its first 3 seconds

“Headphone Presses Skip” is on by default. It only changes podcast episodes, never live radio.

When you play a recording, a double or triple press moves to the next or previous recording. Inside a continuous recording it jumps to the next or previous song Macdio detected. Recording in Macdio explains both kinds.

Next and previous move through the list you started the station from: Favorites, one of your lists, or search results, for example. They stop at the ends of that list and do not wrap around to the first station. If there is no list, a double press does nothing.

The simplest way to get a useful list is to start a station from Favorites. Saying “Play my favorites on Macdio” to Siri does the same, see the Siri guide. How favorites and lists are kept in order is in favorites, lists and sync.

By default, pausing a station mutes it and keeps the stream open for 60 seconds. Press play within that minute and the sound comes back at once, at the live point. After 60 seconds Macdio closes the stream, and play connects to the station again.

Turn on “Live Pause” if you want a real pause instead. Pause then holds your place, play continues where you stopped, and tapping the time in the LIVE badge takes you back live. It is off by default.

Platform	Where to find it
iPhone and iPad	Settings, “Playback” section, “Live Pause”
Mac	Settings window, “General” tab, “Playback” section, “Live Pause”
Apple TV	Settings, “Audio” card, “Live Pause”

A pause that comes from a phone call or Siri does not count as your pause, so the radio can come back after the call. A play press while a station is still connecting is ignored, and the connection carries on. And while a game controller is connected, pause always mutes for up to 60 seconds, even with Live Pause on; the game controller guide has the reason.

On the Mac the same options sit in the Settings window, “Podcasts” tab, “Playback” section, with sentence case labels:

Setting	iPhone and iPad	Mac	Choices	Default
Presses skip	“Headphone Presses Skip”	“Headphone presses skip”	On or off	On
Back jump	“Skip Back”	“Skip back”	5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60 s	15 s
Forward jump	“Skip Forward”	“Skip forward”	10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 s	30 s

The skip intervals are also the ones the Lock Screen and CarPlay skip buttons use. Apple TV and Apple Watch have no switch for this, and the default (on) applies there.

For a live station you get previous and next station arrows and no scrubber. The top line shows the song, or the station name when the station sends no title, and the second line shows the station. While a station connects, the second line reads “Connecting…”.

For a podcast episode the arrows are replaced by skip back and skip forward buttons with your intervals, and a scrubber appears. Macdio also offers the system a speed control from 0.8x to 3.0x. A speed change made from the Lock Screen, CarPlay or Siri applies to the episode.

Yes. The play/pause key and the next and previous keys on a Mac keyboard send the same commands as headphones, so everything in the table above applies: next station on the radio, skips or next episode during a podcast.

Yes. The Now Playing buttons in CarPlay and the skip buttons on a steering wheel use the same commands. The CarPlay guide covers the rest of the car screen.

• Next and previous station stop at the end of the list instead of starting over. A game controller cycles round instead.
• “Headphone Presses Skip” has no effect on live radio.
• Which gesture on your AirPods sends which command is set in the AirPods settings of iOS, not in Macdio.
• On Apple TV the Siri Remote controls playback, and there is no headphone setting in the TV app.

On live radio it plays the next station in the list you started from. During a podcast episode it skips forward, 30 seconds by default.

Turn off “Headphone Presses Skip” in Macdio’s Settings, in the “Podcasts” section. On the Mac it is “Headphone presses skip” in the “Podcasts” tab of the Settings window.

Next and previous move only inside the list you started the station from, and they stop at the end of that list. Start the station from Favorites or one of your lists first.

Only with “Live Pause” on. By default a pause mutes the stream, and pressing play within 60 seconds brings you back at the live point.

Yes. Play/pause and the next and previous keys use the same commands as headphones, so they behave the same way.

During a podcast episode Macdio shows skip back and skip forward buttons with your own intervals, plus a scrubber. Live radio shows previous and next station instead.

Get Macdio on the App Store, start a station from your favorites and double press your AirPods. Podcasts work the same way, see podcasts in Macdio.