Start Playing vs RoadSonic

Apple Music is an incredible app - lyrics, discovery, radio, playlists, and more. But when all you want to do is pick a few playlists and press play, things can feel more complicated than they need to be. Start Playing focuses on that one simple idea. Select multiple playlists, then just play them: cleanly and intentionally. Shuffle intelligently, play songs in their original playlist order, or avoid back-to-back artists when possible for a smoother flow. Whether you’re heading to the gym, getting in the car, or letting music run in the background, Start Playing stays out of the way and lets your music take center stage.

Your music server, made for the road. RoadSonic plays the music you already own — on your Navidrome or Subsonic server, in the Files app, and in Apple Music — from one library that keeps playing when the network doesn't. BUILT FOR THE CAR A tunnel or a dead zone should never cut the music. RoadSonic keeps a verified reserve of complete tracks on your iPhone (20, 30 or 60 minutes, your choice), downloads the next tracks ahead while you listen, and falls back to what is already on the device before silence ever happens. When the reserve is ready, the app says so: "Ready for the road". CARPLAY DONE RIGHT Listen, Artists, Albums and Find directly on the car screen, with artwork and Now Playing. Large targets, no menus to dig through, and playback resumes where you left it. YOUR SERVERS, ONE LIBRARY Connect any OpenSubsonic server — Navidrome, Ampache, gonic, LMS, Airsonic, Nextcloud Music, Supysonic, Funkwhale or any Subsonic-compatible server. Plex, Jellyfin (with Quick Connect) and Emby are supported too, and you can import folders from the Files app. Artists, albums, favorites and search are merged across every source; exact duplicates are recognized by their MusicBrainz and ISRC identifiers, and you never have to pick a "server" to find a song. APPLE MUSIC, OPTIONAL Link your Apple Music subscription to search the catalog, play your Apple Music library and get recommendations next to your own files. Discovery mode adds a few Apple Music picks to your Radio. Apple Music playback stays managed by Apple. SEARCH THAT NEVER WAITS Your whole library is indexed on the device. Type two letters and results appear instantly — artists, albums, tracks — even offline, even on a slow server. Jump to a letter, sort by year or title, browse recently added. RADIO, ARTIST AND ALBUM Play an album in order or shuffled, start an artist's top tracks, or let Radio build an endless queue from your favorites, your play counts and community popularity — without repeating what you heard in the last three days. Say "Not for me" or "More like this" and the queue adapts. SMART PLAYLISTS Daily Mix, Favorites, Rediscover, Never played, Your essentials and Recently played, computed on the device from your listening across all your sources. OFFLINE ALBUMS Download any album for a road trip. Downloads are visible, resume after a lost connection, are verified and never silently deleted. Choose a cache budget of 2, 5, 10 or 20 GB; RoadSonic manages the rest. LYRICS AND KARAOKE Synchronized lyrics from your server or LRCLIB, with a karaoke view that follows the song line by line. SOUND 10-band equalizer with presets, loudness normalization per track or per album, gapless albums and crossfade — with a separate sound profile automatically recalled for the iPhone speaker, wired headphones, Bluetooth, CarPlay and AirPlay. AirPlay compatible, to any speaker or receiver. SIRI AND SHORTCUTS "Play Depeche Mode", "Play my favorites", "Start the radio", "Like this track": full voice control, plus Shortcuts actions for albums, artists, playlists and downloads. ARTISTS AND CONCERTS Artist pages with biography, artwork, top tracks, latest releases and upcoming concerts. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your credentials stay in the iOS Keychain. Passwords are never sent in the clear: Subsonic token authentication and HTTPS, with plain HTTP allowed only on your local network and only if you explicitly confirm it. No account, no analytics, no tracking. Delete everything in one tap. SIMPLE PRICING Free to download with a full 7-day trial that starts after your first library sync. Then a single one-time purchase unlocks RoadSonic for good. No subscription, no ads. Requires iOS 18 and your own music: a Subsonic-compatible, Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server, local audio files, or an Apple Music subscription. RoadSonic is independent and not affiliated with Navidrome, Plex, Jellyfin, Emby or Apple.