Icoustic

Docs/Adding a Library Folder

Adding a Library Folder

You pick folders; Icoustic indexes what’s inside.

Add a source

Every device needs at least one library folder — even one that mostly browses another device, because pinned playlists are saved there. On a fresh install a short setup sheet opens: pick a folder, choose how added music is handled, then a what-now summary. It stays until a folder is added, and comes back if you remove the last one. Reopen it any time from Run Setup Again… under Adding Music.

On iPhone and iPad the sheet offers a ready-made folder: On My iPhone → Icoustic → Music (On My iPad on iPad). It lives in the Files app, so you can drop music into it from there too. Pick your own folder instead if your music already lives somewhere else.

  1. Open library settings:

- Mac: toolbar Sources, or Settings → Library (Library Folders) - iPhone / iPad: Settings (the gear) → Library

  1. Choose Add Folder.
  2. Pick a folder through the system document picker (on-device storage, iCloud Drive, or another location you’ve connected).
  3. Icoustic saves a security-scoped bookmark so it can reopen that folder later.

Each folder has its own Share switch in Settings → Library. Shared folders are browsable by approved devices on this network while the app is open. See Devices & Networks.

Adding Music

Songs you drag in — and files picked with Import Files… — follow the Adding Music rules on the same pane:

  • Copy new songs into — which library folder receives copies. The first folder added gets this role (“New music lands here”).
  • Dropped folders — Copy into that folder (default) or Add as another library folder (watched in place, nothing copied). Loose files always copy.
  • Organize into Artist/Album folders — new copies only.
  • Move originals to Trash after copying — Mac only, and only after each copy succeeds.

Import Files… appears once a library folder exists and copies into the folder chosen under Copy new songs into. On iPhone and iPad, the one-tap Music folder is that folder.

On Mac, Organize Files… (below Adding Music) relocates songs already in a folder into Artist/Album directories from their tags. You preview every move; filenames stay the same. That is separate from the import toggle.

Also on Mac, Save Library Index… / Restore Library Index… write or replace the local index (playlists, play counts, sources, tag mirror). Music files and artwork are not in that file.

What gets scanned

Icoustic looks for DRM-free MP3, FLAC, and M4A/AAC files. DRM-protected subscription downloads are out of scope. Plain purchased M4A files work fine.

iCloud Drive

Files that live in iCloud but aren’t downloaded yet are indexed anyway — they show a download badge and fetch on first play. “Not downloaded yet” is a normal state, not an error.

Dropbox, Google Drive, NAS

Icoustic deliberately has no cloud-service or NAS integrations — it reads folders. If your music lives in one of those, bring it to a folder the system can see: on the Mac, the provider’s desktop app syncs to a normal folder that works as a source directly, and a mounted network share behaves like any other drive. For one-off copies, Import Files… on the same Sources / Library screen copies picked audio files into the folder chosen under Copy new songs into. Add a folder first.

On the Mac

External drives and desktop-synced folders work as sources. If a drive is unplugged, its source is skipped gracefully — your tracks and playlists remain, and everything comes back when the drive does.

Artwork

Artwork comes from embedded tags when present, or from cover.jpg / folder.jpg / front.png in the album folder.

Tips

  • Prefer one root folder (or a few) rather than dozens of tiny picks.
  • Removing a source from Icoustic does not delete your files.