# Cartridge — Music Player — Music Player for your NAS > Music Player for your NAS (iPhone/iPad app by Jeroen Smits.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cartridge-music-player/id6761918616 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Jeroen Smits](https://appshunter.io/developer/1891344116) - Category: Music, Entertainment - Price: Free - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 17.5 · 9 MB - Released: 2026-04-10 - Data updated: 2026-08-11 - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cartridge-music-player/id6761918616/reviews.md ## What is Cartridge? Cartridge is a beautiful, modern music player for your Synology NAS. Stream your entire music library over Wi-Fi, DDNS, or QuickConnect — from home or anywhere in the world — with the speed and polish of a native iOS app. Cartridge connects directly to your Synology DiskStation running the Audio Station package. There are no subscriptions, no ads, no accounts, and no data collection. Your music stays on your NAS. Your listening history stays on your iPhone. *** KEY FEATURES *** STREAM YOUR LIBRARY - Browse and play your entire Synology music collection. Home, Artists, Albums, Genres, Composers, Folders, and Search. GAPLESS PLAYBACK - Seamless transitions between tracks — essential for live albums, classical works, DJ mixes, and concept albums. OFFLINE DOWNLOADS - Save songs, albums, and playlists to your iPhone for listening on the go. Wi-Fi-only by default to protect your data plan. AIRPLAY 2 - Cast to HomePod, Apple TV, or any AirPlay receiver. Full lock-screen metadata handoff, full-screen receiver UI, and Spatial Audio support on AirPods and multichannel on your Apple TV CARPLAY - Drive with your own music. Dedicated CarPlay interface with Home, Playlists, and Library tabs — recently played, pinned favourites, top artists, smart playlists, and full album / artist drill-downs. Now Playing with heart, shuffle, repeat, and jump-to-album / jump-to-artist. Ask Siri to play your music, hands-free. SIRI VOICE CONTROL - Ask Siri to play your library by album, song, or artist. On iPhone, end the request with "on Cartridge" — for example, "Hey Siri, play Nevermind by Nirvana on Cartridge". In CarPlay, just say the album, song, or artist. AUDIOPHILE-GRADE PLAYBACK - Native support for FLAC, ALAC, AAC, MP3, AIFF, and WAV — including high-resolution PCM up to 192 kHz. DSD SUPPORT - Play DSD64 stereo and multichannel files (.dsf / .dff) directly from your NAS using a custom software decoder. ARTIST IMAGES FROM APPLE MUSIC - Artist pages feature full-width photos from the Apple Music catalog. Album artwork is also fetched from Apple Music when your NAS doesn't have cover art embedded. SMART HOME SCREEN - Recently played, recently added, liked songs, top artists, and pinned favorites — all on a single scrollable page. PLAYLISTS - Create, edit, and sync playlists stored on your NAS. Or build local iPhone-only playlists for offline use. INTERNET RADIO - Add and play Shoutcast, Icecast, and HLS streams alongside your NAS music. FULL-SCREEN NOW PLAYING - Animated album art, gradient background colors that shift with each song, swipeable queue, and one-tap navigation to artist or album. LOCK SCREEN CONTROLS - Standard iOS media controls with full metadata handoff and background playback. *** PRIVACY BY DESIGN *** Cartridge does not collect, transmit, or share any personal data with the developer or any third party. There is no developer backend — the app talks directly to your NAS. Your credentials are stored in the iOS Keychain, and your listening history lives only on your device. No analytics, no tracking, no SDKs, no ads. *** REQUIREMENTS *** - A Synology NAS running DSM 6 or DSM 7 - The Audio Station package installed on your NAS with your music library indexed - Network access from your iPhone to your NAS (Wi-Fi, Local LAN, DDNS, or Synology QuickConnect) *** ABOUT *** Cartridge is an independent, unofficial third-party app. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Synology Inc. "Synology", "DiskStation", and "Audio Station" are trademarks of Synology Inc., referenced only to describe compatibility. Support: https://mbjprod-netizen.github.io/cartridge-app/support.html Privacy: https://mbjprod-netizen.github.io/cartridge-app/privacy.html ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.2.1 — 2026-08-06 New: Widget for your iPhone and CarPlay dashboard , Transcoding option for data-saving playback and a smoother, richer CarPlay experience throughout. NOW PLAYING WIDGET (NEW) - Add the Cartridge widget to your iPhone Home Screen, StandBy, or CarPlay dashboard to see what's playing at a glance — cover art, title, artist, and a live progress bar. - Play, pause, and skip right from the widget. - When nothing's playing, it shows your most recent song, ready to go — one tap starts your recently played music, without even opening the app. SAVE DATA ON THE GO (NEW) - New Streaming Transcoding let your NAS shrink your music on the fly, so you use less mobile data away from home (Settings → Streaming Transcoding). - Pick your quality — 128, 192, or 320 kbps — or convert on cellular only and keep full quality on Wi-Fi. - Off by default: your music streams exactly as before unless you turn it on. CARPLAY - Artist screens now show large album-art cards for Albums and Appears On, with cleaner playlist and genre artwork. - A new animated indicator shows which track is playing in your lists. - Faster, smoother startup — and music you start from CarPlay now appears correctly in Recently Played. FIXES & POLISH - Performance, memory, and stability improvements across the app and in CarPlay. Thank you for using Cartridge - music player! Independent / unofficial app — not affiliated with Synology, Apple, or Spotify. ``` ### 1.2.0 — 2026-07-17 New: More expressive Album view, tappable Genres and Casting (Beta) — play your library on UPnP amplifiers, receivers and network speakers streamed straight from your NAS at full quality. CAST TO YOUR SPEAKERS (BETA) - Send playback to Sonos and other UPnP network speakers on your Wi-Fi — long press the output button in Now Playing, or the cast button on Home screen. - Your speaker plays directly from your NAS at full fidelity, and hi-res and DSD are handled for you — your phone is just the remote. - Full control from the app: play and pause, next and previous, shuffle and repeat, volume, and a live queue with add-to-queue and play-next. - iPhone Speaker is always one tap away to switch playback back. LIBRARY & NOW PLAYING - Richer artwork-matched colours across the album and Now Playing screens, and a clearer progress bar. - Genres are now tappable everywhere — on the album screen and in the "…" menu on albums, songs, and Now Playing — to jump straight into a genre. - Tap the album artwork while something's playing to open the full player. AUDIO - Improved metadata handling for Opus codec in Ogg containers CARPLAY - "Recently Added" now shows large album-art cards, and album track lists are cleaner and easier to scan at a glance. - More reliable "Popular" on the artist screen. FIXES & POLISH - Performance, memory, and stability improvements throughout the app and in CarPlay. Thank you for using Cartridge - music player! Independent / unofficial app — not affiliated with Synology, Apple, or Spotify. ``` ### 1.1.0 — 2026-06-23 New: Siri support on iPhone and CarPlay - ask Siri to play any album, song, or artist from your library + Refreshed CarPlay experience + Faster, more reliable connections. SIRI VOICE CONTROL - Ask Siri to play your music by album, song, or artist — "[album] by [artist]", "[artist]", or "[song]". - On iPhone, finish the request with "on Cartridge" — for example, "Hey Siri, play Nevermind by Nirvana on Cartridge". In CarPlay you don't need it — just say the album, song, or artist. - Siri can also play your saved radio stations and quick picks like Liked, Most Played, and Recently Played. CARPLAY - New Artist and Album views - Library and Playlists as clean, easy-to-scan tiles - Quick A-Z scrolling to jump through long Artists, Albums, and Folders lists. - The track that's playing is clearly marked in every list, so you always know what's on. - Recommended genres as tappable cards. ARTIST SCREEN - "Popular" now picks the album version a song actually belongs to, and includes tracks where the artist is featured. - Albums with multiple artists show each track's length next to the performer. CONNECTION - Faster, more reliable reconnection when you arrive home or move between Wi-Fi and cellular. FIXES & POLISH - Performance and stability improvements throughout the app and in CarPlay. Thank you for using Cartridge - music player! Independent / unofficial app — not affiliated with Synology, Apple, or Spotify. ### 1.0.6 — 2026-06-06 This update sharpens high-resolution audio playback and brings a richer artist experience — on your phone and in the car. New: Artist screen now includes "Songs" section (Liked, Most/Recently Played and Popular) and 'Similar Artists' section, Gapless DSD playback ARTIST SCREEN - New "Songs" section on every artist page — jump straight to your Liked, Most Played, and Recently Played tracks for that artist, plus their most popular songs from Apple Music. - Tap "See All" for the full, filterable song and album list. - Similar Artists shown at bottom of Artist screen CARPLAY - Redesigned artist screen: Smart Play, your Albums and Appears On (now sorted newest first), your top Songs, and Similar Artists — all as easy-to-browse rows. - Tapping an artist now opens their page instead of playing immediately, so you can choose what to hear. - Album track lists show disc numbers only when an album actually has multiple discs. AUDIO - Gapless DSD playback — DSD tracks now flow seamlessly into one another, perfect for live concert albums and continuous mixes. - Fixed a crackle that could occur at the very end of some DSD tracks. - Fixed long DSD tracks (large multichannel files) that could stop just before the end. - Now Playing shows standard format labels — DSD64 / DSD128 / DSD256 — and tidier bitrate display for hi-res files. FIXES & POLISH - Radio: the "…" (more) button on the Now Playing screen is reliably tappable again while track info updates. - Fixed a hang when opening "Appears On" or "Similar Artists" from an artist. - Smoother, more reliable artwork throughout CarPlay, plus performance and stability improvements. Thank you for using Cartridge - music player! Independent / unofficial app — not affiliated with Synology, Apple, or Spotify. ``` ### 1.0.5 — 2026-05-12 New: Streaming-service integration to add the song you're playing or hearing on a radio station to Apple Music or Spotify (*) ...and various performance, reliability, and polish updates NEW: ADD CURRENT TRACK TO APPLE MUSIC OR SPOTIFY (*) From the Now Playing screen's ⋯ menu, tap "Add to Apple Music" or "Add to Spotify" to add the current song to your library or playlists. Pre-configure your destination once in Settings — Apple Music: Library / Favourite / a chosen playlist; Spotify: Liked Songs or any of your editable playlists. Works on radio too when the station provides "Artist – Track" metadata, and on CarPlay's Now Playing screen via a new ⋯ button. (*) Requires an active Apple Music and/or Spotify Premium subscription. - Spotify uses a bring-your-own-clientId model — each user creates their own Spotify Developer App at developer.spotify.com (free) and pastes the clientId into Cartridge's Settings. - Apple Music integration is opt-in — toggle on in Settings → Streaming Services. PERFORMANCE - Search-field tap on cold launch drops from seconds to milliseconds. - Genre-shuffle top-up is smoother. When you tap a recommended-genre tile, the queue extension publishes once instead of per-song — no more stutter as the next songs queue. - Smart-sort on artist menus is faster on large libraries. Visible on Artist Detail open and "Add to Playlist" menus. CARPLAY - "Add to streaming service" ⋯ menu on the Now Playing screen for both song and radio modes (radio mode requires the station to provide track metadata). - Tile family unified with iPhone — Pinned Songs / Smart Playlists / Recommended Genres all show the same disc + icon design across iPhone and CarPlay. - Pin badge on Pinned Songs in CarPlay's Recent row, Home pinned section, and drill-in list. POLISH - New Settings → Streaming Services section with Apple Music + Spotify status rows and per-service "Configure" navigation. - Add Radio Station search uses the system search field and a per-row + button to add (Apple Music's pattern). - Library tab opens to the landing page faster Independent / unofficial app — not affiliated with Synology, Apple, or Spotify. ``` ## Apps similar to Cartridge | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Tromme](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tromme/id6762415193) | 5.0 (3) | $0.99 | Music | | [Lumiya Music](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lumiya-music/id6768666953) | 5.0 (2) | Free | Music | | [HIFI MP3 Player: Offline Audio](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hifi-mp3-player-offline-audio/id6756431958) | — | Free | Music | | [Offline Music Player: Ad-Free](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/offline-music-player-ad-free/id6761449388) | — | Free | Music | | [Muse Amp](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/muse-amp/id6762260116) | — | Free | Music | | [iMusify](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/imusify/id6762534150) | — | Free | Music | --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-11.*