# Lightning DS — user reviews > 64 indexed App Store user reviews of Lightning DS by AURALIC LIMITED, rated 2.30/5 from 12 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lightning-ds/id887436741/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lightning-ds/id887436741.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 3 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 1 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 7 ## Newest reviews (13 of 64) ### 2/5 — Aries G2.1 *2024-01-20, version 8.0* Working fine for last couple years. Did not change anything with my home network or equipment. Latest update has caused the streamer to constantly drop connection. Support not helpful. Hopefully this gets resolved as I previously enjoyed the app. ### 3/5 — DS not fully functioning *2023-10-03* Since updating to iOS 17, DS had not worked properly. Oh I can still get music to play but something clearly is wrong ### 3/5 — Auralic *2023-06-26, version 7.7* Can you go folderview on the app ### 2/5 — Problem in Design *2022-11-06, version 7.6* 2 stars because when the app works, it seems good, but because an Auralic Aries is completely unusable without this app. And, like today, when the app has refused to connect to my Aries G2.1 from my iPhone ios 16.1….its dead. There is absolutely nothing you can do. Zero. Basically, a very very expensive piece of audio gear is 100% dependent on the code quality of this app alone. That’s a pretty big flaw. If the app fails because of an ios upgrade, etc your audio system is useless. FUN. ### 4/5 — Works for me *2022-05-19, version 7.3* I run this on my iPad mini (6th gen) and my iPhone XS for listening to Qobuz via my Auralic Vega G1 and it is great to use. I wish Qobuz would provide the ability for album sorting (hence lose a star), but especially on the iPad it’s a great interface. I think it has suddenly closed once on me but never twice in a week or anything. ### 1/5 — Not fit for purpose *2022-01-20, version 7.0* Similar to other reviewers I found this app to be not fit for purpose. Fortunately I did not purchase the hardware but received it for trial purposes. The app continuously crashed which meant setting up from start a slow and laborious process and very annoying. I would earnestly implore potential Auralic customers to seriously rethink their choice of hardware before purchasing this dud of an app. Also I can’t for the life of me understand why a product costing many thousands of dollars comes with a user manual with a one dollar translation into English. At least employ a native English speaker to proof read. ### 2/5 — Lightning DS *2021-12-17* The app used to be good but recently it has been throwing errors “unable to play selected track” then stops working. I’ve rebooted all my devices, reinstalled the app and still haven’t been able to get it working properly. ### 4/5 — It’s pretty ok *2021-10-18, version 6.9* I’ve been a Auralic user for over a year and o wanted to balance out the 1* review left here. The app isn’t terrible, it’s actually pretty good but not perfect. It does crash now and again and sometimes your Auralic cannot be seen and you need to reboot it. I find this is occasional rather than all the time. Sonically the Auralic sounds great and the app gives you control. I use Qobuz. Roon is way better but this is free and seems to be better or on par with other streamer control apps. ### 1/5 — Great sounding player but this app is garbage *2021-10-09, version 6.9* App is slow, often fails to find my player when opening the app for the first time even when I’m right next to it and most irritating of all it continually expires my Tidal account and logs me out meaning I have to set it up almost every time I use the app. ### 1/5 — Sounds good but always drops *2021-06-25, version 6.8* Periodically drops connection and I have to re- index everything. Nice hardware. Terrible software ### 3/5 — Frequent crashes *2021-06-09* App is frequently crashes on my 2 different iPhones. Not sure is it’s recent iOS upgrade. Please fix it . Otherwise app is great. ### 2/5 — Tidal problems *2021-03-09, version 6.6.1* Auralic Aries mini, WiFi not Ethernet, as recommended by Auralic, Lightning DS app on iPhone, SE iOS 14.4: Very unreliable when streaming Tidal to Auralic, app quits, buffering and glitches when playing. Now I streamTidal direct from iPad running Tidal’s app to external DAC via lightning / usb connector, works perfectly. I only use Lightning ds to control Auralic playing my music stored on internal SSD or from NAS. ### 1/5 — iPad version doesn’t work *2021-02-28* Now the iPad version doesn’t work but the iPhone version does. It very weird it can’t find my lightning device but it’s easily found on my iPhone. Doesn’t make sense ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Big disappointment!!! *2024-06-09* For a $6K streamer I would expect much much more! It keeps dropping wifi connection. The app is not connecting with the streamer so 90 % of itme I see a message „searching for streamer” The whole system, app including, is a big disfunctional piece of junk. Feels like a cheap Chinase piece of work ### 1/5 — Awful *2024-04-15, version 8.0* I’ve been using the app to try and reconnect and it just doesn’t work ### 1/5 — V *2024-03-18* No album cover shows up on my cd’s I downloaded,all of them. Terrible ### 1/5 — AirPlay broken *2024-03-13* Have to use old iPhone using 17.3 iOS version in order to stream Apple Music or anything via airplay! Streaming from NAS is fine streaming from USB is fine just not AirPlay! This company really needs to up its game regarding coding principal! Using Aries G1! AirPlay Support broken on iOS 17.4 ### 1/5 — Stopped working..Can’t find Server *2024-02-10, version 8.0* I loved this unit & app until the last update. Now, it doesn’t work at all. ### 1/5 — Aurilic Lightening DS *2024-02-09* Terrible,the app won’t load on my apple iPhone device. Tried everything possible rebooting,etc. but to no avail. ### 1/5 — Needs updating *2023-12-29* Like the other review says, this app does not work properly with the newest iOS. Please fix asap!!! ### 1/5 — Dreadful *2023-12-23, version 7.9.2* Latest version of this app is just dreadful, lightning ds won’t scan my library properly, 5 mins into scanning and the streamer freezes and goes offline, never did this in the past, lightning ds has always been a bit buggy but this is ridiculous I can’t even use my streamer to play my music anymore, I bought the streamer (Auralic Aries G1)new awhile ago, I paid what is a lot of money for me and now I can’t even play my own music, what’s the point, might as well sell the Auralic and buy Lumin or Innuos.. ### 1/5 — Bad to Worse *2023-11-21, version 7.9.2* The app has always been buggy and unreliable, losing access to the streamer and the music library regularly and freezing. However, in the last two weeks it’s got even worse; it now freezes totally and won’t control the streamer. Auralic … this is dreadful … it needs fixing properly and that clearly means a fundamental rewrite not a tinker at the edges. Other providers are able to deliver solid control apps … your hardware is great but the software is just not good enough. ### 1/5 — App crashes *2023-10-07, version 7.9.1* Since the last update the app seems to crash and does not see the library or the device. People pay a lot for the equipment. For those who want to buy there product, look at the app reviews first. I had a Cambridge audio streamer and never had problems with the app. Aurilac sort this problem out. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Intuitive! *2024-06-19* Came to this app from others as a result of ongoing frustrations. Glitchyness! (Word?) Simple, straightforward, stable. Apparently this app initially had issues which they all do. Ironed out clearly. ### 5/5 — Excellent app! *2022-04-29, version 7.3* Very few issues with the app, very easy to use and laid out nicely. ### 5/5 — Solid App now *2022-04-01* When I first downloaded Lightning a few years ago, it was pretty buggy, but it has really matured into a stable platform. ### 5/5 — Excellent User Interface *2022-01-24, version 7.1* I have been running x2 Auralic streaming devices in 2 systems now for a couple of years & I can honestly say that the Lightning DS App is 1 of the best if not the best Streaming Solution software programme for a device there is. I previously tried a few other Streamer's & without Fail their Control Software always let them down big time... I shall not mention names but a couple of those companies were so called high end audiophile type companies but their Apps were just terrible & even unusable. Lightning DS is slick, smooth, nice to look at graphically & quite quick + snappy when navigating around in the GUI. It's not perfect & will lock up or crash rarely on you but because of the nature of what the App is doing I honestly that's unavoidable sometimes since it's interacting with lots of different other things while streaming your music be it distant Internet music services servers, your local music library & various routers switches backbones & so on. So to sum up : I've used it for a couple of years & I would highly recommend it over any other manufacturers so called app streaming solutions that's for sure. ### 5/5 — Auralic app. Highly recommended *2022-01-09, version 7.0* I’m really pleased with this app. Like a few other reviews have said it does crash but TBH only a few times in the 12 months I have owned it, so far better than many of the competitors. The flexibility and ease of use is fantastic. Sound quality is excellent using Tidal. I have messaged Tech support and had a response in 24 hours so again excellent service. ### 5/5 — Auralic lds *2021-12-01, version 6.10* This app is one of the best control apps out there whether you are streaming from various sources, or playing from a nas drive etc. Believe me I’ve tried a lot of them ### 5/5 — The Best *2021-03-01, version 6.6.1* Streaming hardware is very sophisticated and works well. The human interface makes or breaks the user experience. Auralic have simply the best, intuitive, beautiful to use, interface in Lightning DS. ### 5/5 — Excellent troubleshooting support from the Auralic forum *2021-02-15, version 6.6.1* This is by far the best music streamer control software I have ever used, and I have used several over the last few years. ### 5/5 — Works great on iPhone XR *2020-06-10, version 6.0* Great app, can’t fault it ### 5/5 — Great App as it Serves its Purpose *2018-07-28* In my opinion, Lightning DS is a great app from an audio company that actually listens to its users. Every time I contacted Auralic with questions/issues/suggestions. I was always cordially greeted back by the company’s CEO who is always making an effort to improve the application. For example, I pointed out that the Tidal desktop app displayed a small “M” on the album covers that were offered in Masters/MQA format, and that it would be a nice touch doing the same on the Lightning DS’ Tidal interface. Auralic listened and did just that! On their next update, they added “MQA” at the bottom of the Tidal albums that offered the format. That feature alone made me want to use the app more! The WiFi connection also improved greatly! I think Auralic nails is with the Lightning DS, when it could simply just tell users to pay $500 for a Roon license. Even then, I would still invest in their great products. --- *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 2026-06-10.*