Here is some background information, otherwise skip ahead to the question in bold. I am building an app and I would like it to have access to the remote control/lock screen events. The tricky part is that this app does not play audio itself, it controls the audio of another device nearby. The communication between devices is not a problem when the app is in the foreground. As I just found out, an app does not assume control of the remote controls until it has played audio with a playback audio session, and was the last do so. This presents a problem because like I said, the app controls ANOTHER device's audio and has no need to play its own. Here is some background information, otherwise