PhaseShift vs CX Music Player

PhaseShift is a private, high-fidelity music player built for the music you own. Import your collection, organize it your way, and enjoy detailed playback without accounts, ads, tracking, or reliance on streaming services. PLAY YOUR COLLECTION Import music from Files, iCloud Drive, USB storage, your computer over Wi-Fi, or folders on WebDAV and SMB network shares. Use folders in place or copy tracks into PhaseShift. Browse songs, albums, artists, genres, playlists, recently added music, and pinned favorites. Customize your library shelves and artwork sizes to suit your collection. HIGH-FIDELITY AUDIO Play MP3, AAC, M4A, ALAC, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, DSF, and DFF files. See the active signal path, sample rate, bit depth, and output route while listening. Native DSD decoding and optional DSD over PCM support help you get more from compatible audio hardware. MAKE PLAYBACK YOURS Build and edit the queue, enjoy gapless playback, view synced or plain lyrics, set a sleep timer, and use A-B repeat or track bookmarks. Choose from customizable themes and visualizers, scrub with a real waveform, and fine-tune sound with a 10-band equalizer, ReplayGain, crossfade, headphone crossfeed, and correction profiles. ORGANIZE AND EDIT Create regular and smart playlists, sort and filter your library, edit tags and artwork, apply batch changes, and import CUE sheets as individual tracks. PhaseShift can write supported ratings and play counts back to your audio files, helping your collection remain portable. YOUR LIBRARY ACROSS YOUR DEVICES Pair your own devices with a QR code or pairing code, then sync music, playlists, artwork, ratings, play history, and tag changes over your local network. Sync your whole library or selected artists and playlists, and choose the audio quality stored on each sub device while keeping the primary library in control. Back up and restore library data whenever you choose. MORE WAYS TO LISTEN Control playback from Apple Watch, use Now Playing and Recently Added widgets, follow playback with a Live Activity, and start common actions with Siri and Shortcuts. On Mac, choose an audio output device directly in PhaseShift. PRIVATE BY DESIGN PhaseShift is designed to work offline. Your listening history and library stay under your control, and local transfer and device sync do not require an internet account. PhaseShift includes a capable free experience. PhaseShift Pro is available as a one-time in-app purchase and unlocks advanced features including the equalizer, ReplayGain, crossfade, waveform overview, A-B repeat, bookmarks, listening statistics, premium themes and visualizers, Apple Watch control, CUE import, batch find and replace, backups, and multi-device sync.

CX Music Player is a simple, free music player for audio files you already keep in Files. Choose a folder, review the music found inside it, skip subfolders that contain podcasts or sound effects, and import only the tracks you want. After import, it reads common MP3 ID3, M4A/MP4 atoms, and FLAC/Vorbis tags locally on your device. Compatible local M3U8 playlists can keep your chosen order. YOUR FOLDERS, YOUR CHOICE • Choose a directory through Apple's Files picker • Find supported audio in nested subfolders • Exclude any folder before importing • Keep an organized local library on your iPhone BROWSE YOUR LIBRARY • Browse Songs, Artists, Albums, and Genres when available • Import ordered local M3U8 playlists • Keep the Folders view for your original organization • Play albums in disc and track order • Display compatible embedded JPEG or PNG cover art COMPLETE PLAYBACK • Play one folder alone or include its enabled subfolders • Play, pause, seek, skip, and go back • Remove individual songs from Up Next without deleting Library music • Shuffle and repeat your music • Continue listening in the background • Use lock-screen and Control Center playback controls PLAN MUSIC FOR LATER • Keep non-playable song ideas in Finds and Planned Playlists • Search your imported Library and saved plans locally • Add a title or save a public music link without downloading it • Share or import a metadata-only CX Music Player JSON file • Keep playable Library playlists separate from planning lists LOW-DISTRACTION CONTROLS • Manually switch to large Previous, Play/Pause, and Next controls • Reach Up Next or your Folders without scrolling • Set up music while parked and prefer car controls or Siri when available PARKED CAR-AUDIO HELP • See the current playback output reported by iOS • Run a silent connection check • Open Apple's system playback-route picker • Review pairing and auto-connect checks for your radio PRIVATE BY DESIGN CX Music Player has no account, ads, subscriptions, in-app purchases, analytics, or backend. Audio, filenames, embedded tags, cover art, imported M3U8 data, Library data, Finds, and Plans are processed locally. A shared planning JSON contains metadata, notes, public source links, and portable IDs—not audio, local file paths, or API keys—and goes only to the iOS destination you choose. Current output names and types are displayed only in memory. Imported audio and its cover art are marked excluded from device backups; iOS may back up small non-audio app data. GOOD TO KNOW iOS does not let apps silently scan the whole phone. CX Music Player scans only the Files folder you explicitly choose. M3U8 playlists may reference only relative files inside that folder; web addresses and other arbitrary URIs are not loaded. The app does not access Apple Music or MusicKit, stream music, download from media services, or share your audio files. Importing creates a local copy and therefore uses device storage. Direct MusicBrainz and Last.fm search is disabled in this release pending terms and privacy review. Optional Google and YouTube actions open a fixed search in Safari; CX Music Player does not scrape results, embed those sites, or download media. Driving Mode is an in-app screen, not a CarPlay app. CX Music Player cannot pair a radio, force a Bluetooth connection, change the radio source or priority, or configure automatic reconnection. Pair and configure your car through iPhone Settings and the radio while parked. Supported file extensions: MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV, AIFF, AIF, CAF, and FLAC. Playback depends on the file's codec and integrity. Playlist format: UTF-8 M3U8 with local relative paths. Choose your folder and press play. That's it.