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In iTunes and on iPods (excluding the most recent Nano) there is an option to playback a playlist shuffled by album. This option does not exist in "Music.app" on iOS-devices. However, since you can play a playlist in order I was thinking that it would be possible to emulate the shuffle by album-behaviour if you somehow managed to sort the playlist in a random by album order and then just play it from the first track with shuffle disabled. This raises two questions:

  1. What determines the sorting order for a playlist on an iOS-device?
  2. Can you somehow (maybe with an Applescript) sort a playlist in iTunes in a shuffle by album order?
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  • Still no "Shuffle albums" on iPhone, iOS 11.4.
    – Jonny
    Commented Jul 11, 2018 at 6:29

3 Answers 3

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This is not possible in music.app.

From this Apple Discussion:

The Foobar2000 music player app available in the App Store respects albums and supports 'Shuffle Albums'. It is a competent, comfortable and convenient music player with full Gain Management and many other useful features. It will work with your iTunes library as well as many other music file formats (via iTunes App File Folders). At time of writing it is free.

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  • Hopefully they will, in the future, add it for playlists too.
    – d-b
    Commented Jan 5, 2019 at 16:34
  • @d-b yeah, i hope. Did my answer help you?
    – user310476
    Commented Jan 5, 2019 at 16:34
  • Yes, and I upvoted it. But it was not a complete solution.
    – d-b
    Commented Jan 5, 2019 at 20:55
  • @d-b what else do you want? I said it is not possible
    – user310476
    Commented Jan 5, 2019 at 20:56
  • Your answer means that I don't have to look further but it isn't a solution to my need.
    – d-b
    Commented Jan 5, 2019 at 21:01
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There are a few apps that can achieve this like Cs Music.

Personally I prefer to use the Shortcuts app (previously Workflow) to queue up random albums and play them back in order. With a lock screen widget or home screen shortcut this can be done with a single tap.

Links to some Shortcuts can be found here, they are quite straightforward to customise if you want to limit to albums within a specific playlist or genre.

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  • I use ecoute for this purpose.
    – Calion
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 18:20
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Yet another app that does album shuffling: https://apps.apple.com/app/album-time/id6448590718

Highlights

  • automatically skips the current album when you skip consecutive songs (useful especially when you're driving)
  • user interface similar to built-in app
  • tap an album and start playing right away

Disclosure: I'm the developer (who wasn't satisfied with the few other apps I'd tried)

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