MPMusicPlayerController.systemMusicPlayer.nowPlayingItem returns nil on MacCatalyst while playbackState is .playing

Question

I'm encountering an issue with MPMusicPlayerController.systemMusicPlayer.nowPlayingItem on MacCatalyst, where it returns nil even though playbackState reports .playing.

This behavior differs from iOS, where the expected music item is returned.

Here's a summary of the problem:

• I'm using MPMusicPlayerController.systemMusicPlayer to access information about the currently playing music item on the Music.app.

• On iOS devices, nowPlayingItem correctly returns the metadata of the currently playing music item.

• However, when running the same code on MacCatalyst, nowPlayingItem consistently returns nil, even though playbackState indicates that music is playing (playbackState == .playing).

• I've verified that my app has the necessary authorization to access the user's media library, and there are no errors reported during authorization.

• This issue occurs consistently across different MacCatalyst environments and OS versions.

Here's the relevant code snippet:

import MediaPlayer

MPMediaLibrary.requestAuthorization { status in
    if status == .authorized {
        if let nowPlayingItem = MPMusicPlayerController.systemMusicPlayer.nowPlayingItem {
            // This block is never executed on MacCatalyst
            let title = nowPlayingItem.title ?? "Unknown Title"
            let artist = nowPlayingItem.artist ?? "Unknown Artist"
            print("Currently Playing: \(title) by \(artist)")
        } else {
            // This block is always executed on MacCatalyst
            print("No music is currently playing.")
        }
    } else {
        print("Authorization denied.")
    }
}

I've searched through Apple's documentation and developer forums, but I haven't found any specific information about this issue or any known workarounds.

Any insights or suggestions on why nowPlayingItem returns nil on MacCatalyst while the playback state is .playing, and how to resolve or work around this issue, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!