FAQ

What makes Icoustic unique?

It is a contemporary platform for nurturing your personal music collection. It plays the files you own — it is not a subscription streaming service — and treats every Mac, iPad, and iPhone as one library you can play to any of them. Open it on the same Wi‑Fi and they find each other: no account, no cloud, no pairing. Pin a playlist and the tracks stay on this device when you leave. On the Mac you can connect the AI you already use to tidy the library; it proposes, you approve, nothing writes until you say so.

Which formats are supported?

DRM-free MP3, FLAC, and M4A/AAC. DRM-protected subscription downloads won’t work. Purchased files without DRM usually will.

Can I use music on Dropbox, Google Drive, or a NAS?

Not directly — Icoustic reads folders, by design, and has no per-service integrations. Make the files appear as a folder (the provider’s desktop app on the Mac, a mounted network share) or copy them in with Import Files….

Does it work offline?

Yes for local files. iCloud Drive tracks may need to download before first play.

Which platforms?

iPad, Mac, and iPhone.

What does it cost?

The App Store listing is a free download. After you add a folder and start playback, a Plans sheet may appear. Lifetime is a one-time US $14.99 purchase (Family Sharing). Monthly includes a 7-day introductory trial, then US $2.99; cancel anytime. App Store prices may vary by country. If you bought Icoustic when it was a paid download (before 1.4), that purchase still unlocks the app.

Restore Purchases and Redeem Code are under Settings → Plan. While locked you can browse the scanned library and open Settings; play, queue, pin, send to another device, and MCP wait until you unlock. Nothing deletes your files, playlists, tags, or index.

Do devices have fixed roles?

No. Any device can hold a library, play the sound, control another device, or do all three. You choose the setup — see Devices & Networks.

Do I need an account to share between devices?

No. No account, no code. Open Icoustic on the same Wi‑Fi and approve once on each device. Everything stays on your local network.

Does the device holding the library need to stay on?

Yes — a device serving its library needs to be awake with Icoustic open, on the same network. Playback caches tracks, so repeat plays don’t re-fetch — and a pinned playlist is copied into your own library folder, so it stays playable with the source device off entirely.

Can every player play the same thing in sync?

No — each player owns its own queue, by design. You can point any controller at any player, but synchronized playback — the same song on every player at once — is out of scope.

Can an AI help manage my library?

On the Mac, yes — Icoustic is not an AI product itself, but it includes a local MCP server once the app is unlocked, labeled AI Assistants in Settings, so you can connect Claude Desktop, Cursor, or ChatGPT Desktop to query your library. They can optionally stage metadata changes as proposals you review and approve in the app before anything touches your files. See MCP and the downloadable Icoustic skill.

Where do edits go?

Into the files themselves (tags), mirrored in the local database for speed. Rating a track from another device’s library updates that library’s files and index the same way.

Do ratings and play counts sync across my devices?

There is no Icoustic cloud sync. Ratings and play counts for a shared library belong to the library device — peers send updates over your network. Ratings also write into file tags. Playlists you create still stay on the device that made them. See Playlists & Ratings.

Someone on my Wi‑Fi has Icoustic — can they see my music?

They appear in your sidebar. They can browse shared folders only after you approve them. Reject to block. See Devices & Networks.

How do I get help?

See Support.