ArcGIS StoryMaps- Audio not playing/broken on iOS devices

[Amanda__Huber]

Hey StoryMaps team and @OwenGeo , 

We recently found an issue where a core of our Audio files in our StoryMaps are no longer playing and are greyed out when viewing on an iPhone/iOS device across Safari and Chrome browsers. I tested on Android and have not seen any issues. I am currently using iOS 17.5.1 and is reproducable across iPhones and iPads. My colleagues have tested on their iOS devices as well and also are encountering issues. 

When viewing in the browser there are no issues playing the audio, and when previewing the StoryMap in "mobile mode" we don't see issues, but when opening the published story on iOS it's broken: 

This issue is affecting three of our public facing StoryMaps. We have opened an Esri support cases,  #03679820. 

Here's a copy of one of the StoryMaps affected (we created a copy so we can fix the production ones: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9340027d0b594910af3a9e89e548a021)

Hopefully if anyone else is seeing this issue they'll also come across this thread. 

Thanks, 

Amanda Huber

[OwenGeo]

@Amanda__Huber - Thank you for reporting this issue. We will look into it and share an update here when we have one.

[AravindStoryMaps · Accepted solution]

Summary of the issue:

We observed that the audio files added in the storymap in question were actually of mime type: video/mp4 and not audio/m4a even though the file formats were defined as so. The mime type (video/mp4) was not supported on iOS device. After converting one of these files to a mp3 file, we confirmed that adding this new converted file in the storymap works correctly.

We're happy to take a look into this further if you're still seeing any issues, @Amanda__Huber.

[FionaS]

Hi. I have the same issue as above: mp3 audio files are not playing in my storymap on iOS phone and iPad (though strangely one file does play). It affects six out of seven files. I have checked and all files are saved as mp3.

Storymap is here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/f1a0e98ef80b4d7ba715396b6bcc03dd

Appreciate any advice you or anyone else can give me. Thanks.

[OwenGeo]

@FionaS -- I'm sorry you are having trouble playing audio in your story. 

I just scrolled through your entire story (very cool story, nice work!) and was able to play every audio file. I also heard audio in the video as well. I was viewing the story on an iPhone 15 with iOS 26.1. 

If you are seeing an issue, it may be related to network issues, a specific piece of hardware, or your operating system version. Can you make sure you are upgraded to the latest iOS and test again. If you are already on the latest, I would recommend please contacting Esri Support and they can help you troubleshoot further.

[FionaS · Accepted solution]

Wow! Impressed that you wandered through our storymap. It's pretty niche!

I thought I had responded to my own post last night. I fixed it following – more or less – the advice re mp3 files. Even though all the files looked like they were mp3 (extension), I converted them using conversion software to mp3 format and uploaded each again. And, hey presto, it worked! Thanks a million for taking the time to look and respond. Fiona