Devices & Networks

Open Icoustic on two devices on the same Wi‑Fi and they appear in each other’s sidebar. There is nothing to create, join, or invite into. Approve once on each device and you can browse shared folders, send music to another device, or drive playback from your pocket.

The sidebar section is titled with the network’s name — editable under Settings → Connect → This network. Each network remembers its own devices.

Approve a device

A new device shows up immediately. Its row carries a green ✓ and a red ✗ until both sides approve: after you approve, a clock waits for the other side. Once mutual, the row gets a blue seal. Tap the seal to reject.

Rejected devices sit under Settings → Connect → Rejected. Approve sends an offer; they still have to approve this device.

Auto-join new devices (same pane, default off) skips the approval step for this network.

Do not confuse Settings → Connect with Settings → AI Assistants → Connect, which is for desktop AI apps on Mac.

Share a folder

Sharing is per folder. Settings → Library lists Library Folders with a Share toggle on each. Shared folders are browsable by approved devices on this network while Icoustic is open.

The sidebar is the system

Under Library, the network-named section lists every device — reachable or not — and what it’s playing. Click a device to select it as the destination and see its queue. Drag tracks onto a row to queue them there. The Live Queue is always that destination’s queue.

You can also pick a destination from the play bar: the Playing on… chip at the right of the now-playing chrome.

Play on another device

Point at another device and what you play goes there. While pointed there, you can still preview a track from a shared library locally — audition it in your headphones without interrupting what that player is playing.

This device keeps playing when you switch the window to another destination. Tracks from a shared library download on demand and cache, so repeat plays don’t re-fetch.

Limits

• Both apps need to be open. A device serving its library must be awake with Icoustic open — pinned playlists are the exception.
• iPhone and iPad need Local Network permission.
• Guest and hotel Wi‑Fi often isolate devices from each other; they won’t appear.
• On cellular, library sharing pauses and nothing persists.
• A network that looks like home is treated as durable — sharing stays on unless you turn it off. Switch sharing off, or reject devices, on Wi‑Fi you don’t control.
• Synchronized playback (the same song on every player at once) is deliberately out of scope.
• Ratings and play counts belong to the library that holds the files — peers send them over the network (ratings also write into file tags). Details in Playlists & Ratings.

What’s next

See Adding a Library Folder to put music on a device, then Playback & Queue to play it here or on another device.