Release notes

Appearance and navigation

• App icon and Classic theme. CLAUDIO Pro adds ten app icon colors. The Classic theme can match its accent and tint to the icon, derive its tint from the current cover, or turn the tint off. With iCloud Sync enabled, each device applies the saved icon color.
• iPhone Duo. Unfolded layouts give albums, vinyl records, audiobooks and podcast episodes dedicated two-page views. The library keeps the overview and selection side by side, and podcast shows open in the right column. Episode notes and chapters scroll together. Nightstand has a redesigned timer ring, and the turntable view has a new shelf and platter layout.
• iPad and Mac. The app uses the system tab bar, with Search and More in the toolbar across library tabs. On Mac, you can choose folders as well as individual files. The Podcasts header blends into the background, and the iPad detail pane displays the full shadow around cover art.
• Home and background sounds. Home rotates through albums, audiobooks and unplayed podcast episodes, giving downloaded items priority. Background sounds have a continuous 0–100% volume control. At 0%, processing for the background sound stops.
• Usage data. Optional usage reporting is managed under Settings › System. Sync and backup restores apply incoming settings without recording them as new activity. Resetting the app clears the consent choice and prevents an older synced choice from restoring it.

Sources and library scanning

• Source access. Any plan can add, index and browse network shares and media servers. Playback and offline downloads from those sources require Ultra access. The player checks access at start, preload and queue advance. Autoplay skips locked items. Automatic favorite downloads require Pro for podcasts and Ultra with offline caching enabled for other eligible sources.
• Import and reconnect. Select multiple folders or audio files in one pass on iPhone and iPad. Unavailable folders stay visible under Settings › Sources, where you can reconnect them. Empty folders show a “No audio files” status.
• Library refresh. Local and iCloud folders refresh when CLAUDIO returns to the foreground, at most once every 15 minutes. Jellyfin, Navidrome/Subsonic and Audiobookshelf check for new content at launch. Pull-to-refresh finds new files and applies server edits to existing Audiobookshelf and Jellyfin entries.
• File identity and metadata. Scans recognize .aif files and reread tags when a file changes. SFTP and WebDAV identify files by server and path, so timestamp or ETag changes preserve listening progress. CLAUDIO migrates existing file IDs and cached library data automatically.
• NAS scanning. SMB, SFTP and WebDAV skip known system folders and continue past unreadable directories. Entries inside unreadable network folders may leave the index until a later scan can read them again.

Playback and offline listening

• Whole-book downloads. Download every part of an audiobook grouped in the library from the player and see progress for the whole book. If switching apps interrupts a batch, CLAUDIO saves unfinished items for retry and avoids downloading a file in two batches.
• iCloud storage. Scanning an iCloud folder indexes its files. Audio data downloads on demand or when you request an offline copy. CLAUDIO reads existing download status from disk at startup.
• Gapless playback and crossfade. Preloading opens local and already-downloaded iCloud files directly, avoiding an extra cache copy. The player keeps access to the next file open while it prepares the transition. Streams with lower sample rates play at the correct speed.
• Cross-device resume. When you resume a paused title, CLAUDIO checks Audiobookshelf, Jellyfin or Subsonic for a newer playback position and advances when another device has listened further.
• Shared audio. Audio opened through Share can play while the library refreshes in the background. It keeps the same library identity after scanning, and sharing an identical file again reuses the existing copy. Missing files and denied folder access have distinct error messages.

• Trial and subscription. The Ultra trial offer shows when it starts and what the App Store will charge afterward. A reminder can arrive two days before the trial ends. Monthly subscribers can schedule a switch to annual billing at their next renewal.
• Audio and library. Audio-session setup and the EQ preview move off the main thread. The first switch to Music or Audiobooks does less work on the UI thread, and the iPhone Home highlight has more room.
• Purchase and layout fixes. If a completed purchase has not unlocked its features yet, CLAUDIO refreshes the StoreKit entitlements. The guide’s source rows are selectable again, and iPhone Duo received fixes for vinyl artwork, the fold-side handle and read-along.

• Background audio. Pro can use an offline music list or your own imported audio files as background sound. Music follows list order, and imported background files stay on the device.
• Podcasts and entitlements. Free includes two podcast subscriptions. Pro removes that limit. The guide explains the plan differences and makes adding a podcast easier. Cached Ultra access has a seven-day offline grace period after the last confirmed entitlement ends.
• Library and mini player. Background metadata processing keeps unprocessed NAS files in its queue. Mini-player text fits the system capsule better at large text sizes.

• Mac. Playback and View menus add keyboard shortcuts, and audio files dragged in from Finder use the regular library import path. Icon buttons have tooltips, and Statistics and Equalizer have a way back to the library.
• Lists and library. Remove list items by swiping or through the menu. Reorder handles appear when requested. A restart preserves the media type of server items, and a playing podcast’s offline copy stays available until the episode ends.
• Metadata and setup. Metadata scans can continue in the background and retry files after a cancellation or read error. Server address parsing is more consistent. Purchases and restores provide feedback, and iCloud Sync settings include an option to clear synced data.

• Background sounds and speech. Ten Pro sounds can accompany audiobooks and podcasts, including rain, a train journey and three types of noise. They follow playback and the sleep timer. Speech processing was retuned for a more natural sound at adjusted speeds.
• Player controls. The More menu groups actions by media type. Display settings configure five player buttons. The visualizer selector animates only the selected preview, read-along shows progress, and the podcast mini player shows chapter progress.
• Library organization. The folder view keeps nested directories and scroll position. Rows can use filenames or tags and show duration, format and track number. Album artists keep compilations and guest tracks together. Audiobook authors can be sorted by first or last name.
• Large and remote libraries. Prepared search fields, background grid building and bounded artwork memory reduce work on large libraries. Jellyfin can resume interrupted scans and fill in missing tracks. Background library refresh is available on every plan.
• Home and Settings. Home adds square covers and play/pause alongside the title. Settings move directly under More, with searchable tiles and a dedicated equalizer and headphone test tone. The Mac player gets a grid and a side options panel.

• Pause and resume. An explicit pause or an expired sleep timer takes priority over a pending automatic resume. Back-to-back system interruptions are handled in sequence so reopening a stream cannot restart the title in parallel.
• SMB and network recovery. Timed-out SMB reads keep their buffers valid until the connection has finished with them, and copies stay within the buffer size. Temporary connection failures get one retry. Lock Screen, headphone, Siri and widget playback commands honor the most recent command.

• SMB stability. The SMB client closes timed-out requests without reusing released handles. This addresses a crash reported while listening from network shares.
• Audio interruptions. The playback service handles resuming after calls or spoken announcements, reopening remote audio when needed. The player checks that the audio engine is running before asking it to play.

• Server podcasts. Files tagged Podcast or stored in a Podcasts folder appear under Audiobooks, with one book per show and saved progress. Audiobookshelf podcast libraries use the same view and order episodes from oldest to newest.
• Audiobook browsing. An author grid opens each author’s full list of books. Series sort by volume number in lists, author pages and search. Books with multiple authors stay together, and settings let you choose tag titles or filenames.
• Downloads and metadata. Interrupted server audiobook downloads survive a restart and show a clear error if they fail. Untagged Subsonic and Navidrome tracks show their filenames. A short duration in a feed cannot mark a podcast as finished by itself.
• Pro+ offer. Ultra subscribers can find the one-time Pro+ purchase in Settings.

• Felt Pen. A new iPhone theme brings paper surfaces, ink outlines, hard shadows and handwritten headings. Artwork becomes a halftone sticker in the player. The theme has light and dark variants.
• Music progress. Starting a track from the beginning clears its old progress bar, including after listening in LP Mode or from an album in CarPlay.
• SMB addresses. The app strips the smb:// prefix from new and existing server entries and prevents unusable addresses from being saved. This fixes a crash when saving and reopening an affected connection.

• Resume and interruptions. Server streams and podcast episodes resume at the saved position, even after a call during the pause. A failed resume preserves the position so you can try again.
• Offline albums and artists. Long-press an album or artist header to make all associated tracks available offline with Ultra. Album Wall and Grid use album name and main artist to group different release years, compilations and guest tracks.
• LP Mode and podcasts. LP Mode shows the track list in the player’s More menu. Downloaded episodes use their actual playback length for remaining time when the RSS duration is too short.

• iCloud Sync. With Pro, settings, sources, subscriptions, lists, favorites and listening positions sync across devices. The setup guide offers a restore after reinstalling.
• Read-along and podcasts. Apple speech recognition can continue transcription in the background, with progress on the title being processed. Podcast rows show series, date and duration, with larger controls and swipe-to-mark-as-played. Interrupted downloads resume and show progress in the player and mini player.
• Home and CarPlay. Continue Listening fills at launch, with placeholders for network items whose sources are still scanning. CarPlay reflects finished downloads and library additions or removals without reconnecting.

• Read-along. Transcription tries Apple’s on-device recognition first. If a file needs the additional speech module, you can download it and start transcription from the Read Along view. Existing transcripts remain available.
• CarPlay and playback. CarPlay shows local content and the last saved server snapshot at launch while live connections are being checked. Continue Listening offers the next episode from the Priority List again, and changing headphone profiles preserves the EQ preamp.

• Setup and trial. Setup can save Ultra sources before you subscribe. An eligible annual subscription offers a 14-day trial. The offer explains the subscription and the included playback features.
• Saved sources. When Ultra access expires, server sources remain saved for a later return. The setup and purchase screens make the Ultra and Pro options easier to find, including at larger text sizes.

• Favorites and scrobbling. Ultra syncs favorites with Navidrome, Jellyfin and Audiobookshelf and asks how to handle existing favorites on the first sync. Favorite a whole album or audiobook, and count Navidrome ratings of four stars or more as favorites. Jellyfin receives playback reports.
• Widgets and podcast priorities. Pro adds Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, plus Control Center controls for playback, 30-second skips, sleep timer and resume. New episodes are placed in the Priority List according to the show’s priority.
• Library scans and iCloud. Large initial scans can keep running in the background. SMB reads metadata in larger chunks, and switching apps triggers fewer false server warnings. Playback from imported iCloud Drive folders works again on devices affected by error −54.

• Subsonic and Navidrome. Music counts once per playback and sends a Now Playing update to servers that support it. Servers can forward these plays to Last.fm or ListenBrainz. Finished audiobooks and podcasts no longer increase the play count on every sync.
• Sync per connection. Turn progress sync off for an individual Jellyfin, Audiobookshelf or Subsonic connection. It remains enabled by default.

• Jellyfin connections. CLAUDIO supports sign-in on Jellyfin 12 and keeps existing connections usable after a server upgrade. It detects the server version at sign-in and offers a manual version choice in source settings.

• Partial downloads. Remote downloads validate byte-range responses and resume from the last confirmed byte. Audiobookshelf multipart books are kept as an offline bundle, with progress across their files.
• Refresh and progress. A malformed server item cannot empty the library. Temporary reachability checks preserve the current source view, and progress sync retries expired credentials and protects updates queued while a sync is running.

• Feed refresh. Concurrent refreshes share an in-flight request. Errors are logged per feed, and unchanged feeds can return HTTP 304, saving the full download.

• Player buttons. Assign Download or LP Mode to a player button. Download shows the file’s status, starts a copy or removes it while the current track continues as a stream. Shuffle, Favorites and Sleep Timer show their active state on their buttons.
• Read-along and podcasts. Read Along offers a download when it needs the local audio. Podcast downloads move to Pro. Downloaded episodes show up in CarPlay immediately, favorited episodes can download automatically again, and feed refresh is more reliable.
• Server playback. Audiobookshelf offline books play again and show cleaner author and series metadata. Subsonic and Navidrome streams show their own cover and disc number. Jellyfin lyric seeking and library visibility during reauthentication are fixed.

• iPad and Mac. Library, player and Settings use the available space with two columns. The Album Wall reaches the edges of the display.
• Streaming and queues. Streamed audiobooks write less data and clean up temporary files. When a podcast finishes, playback stays in the podcast queue. Playing an unheard episode restores it from the archive.

• Preloading. Background preloading uses less storage and network data, especially when navigating a large collection.
• Podcasts and system controls. New podcast episodes can download overnight while the device is charging. This release also improves Lock Screen and CarPlay behavior.

• Home and recommendations. A prominent highlight leads into Continue Listening, recommendations and individual tracks. You can collapse sections or dismiss suggestions. An on-device taste profile informs Home and Smart Shuffle and can be inspected or reset.
• Player and mini player. The player uses colors from the artwork and gives lyrics and read-along a dedicated view. Artist and album names lead back into the library. iPad has a two-column player, and the mini player moves into the tab bar with a progress ring.
• Library and playback fixes. Lists and Favorites become library views, with a persistent header, larger covers and restored position. Audiobook series show volume numbers, and CarPlay fits long podcast titles. Server favorites and ratings can be read, and completed episodes leave the unplayed list even when their duration is unknown.

• Custom lists and import. Build lists in your own order, including Favorites. Import M3U and M3U8 playlists. Tracks missing from the library stay visible as placeholders and can resolve when their files are added.
• Server playlists. Jellyfin, Navidrome/Subsonic and Audiobookshelf playlists and collections appear as read-only mirrors. Opening a mirror refreshes its order, and duplicating it creates an editable copy. Ultra can keep lists offline and offer them in CarPlay.
• Playback and restore. Audiobookshelf collections resolve their books in the library. Podcast downloads survive changes to a feed’s audio URL, and chapter artwork survives a switch from stream to download. Restoring a backup preserves Favorites as a list.

• Read-along and chapters. Follow an on-device transcript word by word or sentence by sentence with Pro. Optional automatic chapters divide files that have no embedded chapters.
• Bookmarks and statistics. Save a playback position with a note and return to it later. Bookmarks are included in backups. Statistics add listening sessions and streaks.
• Podcasts and playback. Podcast rows show progress, remaining time and download controls, with filters for New, Downloaded and All. Cover handling and large downloads use less memory. Failed SMB streams surface an error, and podcast cover and first-download handling improve.

• Podcast discovery and playback. Browse podcasts by genre in the subscription sheet. The redesigned show page makes play and progress easier to find and opens long episode lists without blocking the interface.
• Remote libraries. Items deleted from Jellyfin, Subsonic or Audiobookshelf are removed from CLAUDIO’s library. SMB and SFTP streaming reuse a connection for the playback session.
• Statistics and chapters. Statistics move to More, and chapter rows show listening progress as a filled bar.

• Speech processing. Audiobooks and podcasts sound more natural at higher speeds. Smart Speed adapts its silence detection to the recording’s noise floor, and podcast outro skipping triggers more reliably.
• Artwork and streaming. Chapter artwork survives quick track changes, and switching tabs remains responsive in large grouped libraries. SMB resumes more reliably after Lock Screen use. Jellyfin, Subsonic, Audiobookshelf and podcast streams handle reconnects and errors better.

• System integration. Find and play tracks, albums, audiobooks and episodes through Siri or Spotlight. Siri can control the sleep timer, and the Live Activity has Cancel and Resume actions. Ultra can cast local files to Google Cast, DLNA/UPnP and Sonos.
• Listening tools. Folder-based audiobook sets share progress and a CarPlay entry. Pro adds smart rewind after a break, intro and outro skipping per show, and silence trimming. Ultra syncs playback position with supported media servers.
• Scrobbling and reliability. Pro can report plays to ListenBrainz or Last.fm. Startup, the sleep timer, large library imports and recovery from a paused SMB stream received fixes.

• Synced lyrics. With Pro, timed lyric lines appear over the Now Playing artwork and scroll with the current playback position.

• Player and feedback. A flatter mini player and reorganized More sheet simplify playback controls. Haptic feedback can be turned off in Settings. Music resumes on Home when played in LP Mode.
• Parametric and headphone EQ. Pro adds custom EQ profiles with configurable bands, filter types and a frequency-response graph. Try an AutoEq headphone profile with a test tone and save it as a custom preset.
• System playback and downloads. Chapter artwork reaches Lock Screen, Control Center and CarPlay. CarPlay lists chapters as tracks and starts more reliably in the background. Podcasts prefer an existing download for playback.

• Achievements. Ultra adds bronze, silver and gold badges in Statistics for sleep listening, audiobooks, music, podcasts, sources and long-term milestones.
• Live Activities. The sleep timer and active downloads show their status on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.

• Pro playback tools. The one-time Pro purchase covers Album Wall, LP Mode, visualizers, equalizer, crossfade, chapters and audiobook tools.
• Ultra and network sources. Monthly and annual Ultra subscriptions include Pro and add remote sources, offline caching, CarPlay, themes, statistics and background library refresh. Settings and purchase screens explain the plan split.
• Podcasts. Podcast listening becomes free. Importing or exporting subscriptions through OPML requires Pro.

• New Labs sources. WebDAV, SFTP, Navidrome/Subsonic and Audiobookshelf join Labs. The source picker groups files, network folders, music servers, audiobook servers and local media servers.
• Remote playback and backup. Remote sources share scan, snapshot, artwork, streaming and download handling. Cached playback and resuming after interruptions are more reliable. Setup, editing and backups include the new sources.
• Discovery and downloads. DLNA discovery filters for media servers and avoids duplicates. Download and offline rows remain visible while their actions run.

• Edit metadata. Edit artist, title, album and the Music or Audiobook classification. Local artwork refreshes more reliably after editing, and M4B track numbers and sort metadata are read more accurately.
• Player and sources. Player controls and translucent surfaces support iOS 18. Podcasts prefer a downloaded episode, and restoring purchases refreshes podcast access more reliably. Repeated remote scans handle cached artwork more consistently.

• Labs statistics. The new dashboard shows listening time and sessions, with breakdowns by source, genre and playback speed. It also reports how complete your metadata is.
• Library and player. Music browsing can drill down from genre to artist to album. Swipe on the player artwork to change the visualizer. Settings, onboarding and plan comparisons are more compact.
• Remote and offline playback. Podcast, Jellyfin, SMB and DLNA paths received performance and stability improvements, including offline playback and downloads.

• Podcast dashboard. Continue Listening, show priorities and a new-episode list make it easier to pick up a show. Swipe actions help sort episodes, and a priority queue can select what plays next.
• Labs and source setup. A Promo Pass offers eligible listeners a way to try Labs. Plan screens distinguish Pro from Labs more clearly. Jellyfin and SMB credential fields work better with paste and Password AutoFill.
• Performance. Podcast artwork, show notes and priority queue transitions are more reliable. Library updates and offline actions respond faster.

• Visualizer and themes. Labs adds animated visualizers including Aurora, Plasma, Spectrum and VU meters, alongside themes with retro typography and display overlays.
• Player and accessibility. Now Playing has clearer controls and stronger sleep timer contrast. Knock to Resume detection, VoiceOver descriptions and localized labels are improved.
• Streaming and startup. Remote audio resumes more reliably after interruptions, in CarPlay, in the background and from the Lock Screen. Startup handles changes to podcast access without crashing when that tab is hidden.

• Library and player. The first release plays music and audiobooks from local files, iCloud Drive and Jellyfin. Smart Lists include Recently Added and Favorites, and music supports Shuffle and Smart Shuffle.
• Pro playback tools. Pro adds SMB shares, M4B and tagged MP3 chapters, saved listening positions, a sleep timer, offline pinning, a 10-band equalizer, ReplayGain, gapless playback and crossfade.
• Labs previews. Labs introduces early access to podcasts and CarPlay. Podcast setup supports RSS, Apple Podcasts search and OPML import and export.