Help & how-to

Setting up and using EyePlayer on Android and PC · FAQ · troubleshooting

EyePlayer plays the music you already own: files on your phone, on a NAS, in a web folder or a shared Google Drive, or synced across from your PC. There is no streaming catalogue to search and no song subscription. This page walks through setup, then answers the common questions and fixes.

1 · Getting started

Android. Install EyePlayer (during early access it is shared as a direct APK download, and a Google Play listing is coming), open it, and grant it permission to read audio when asked. If your music is already on the phone, that is all you need; otherwise add a source (section 3).

PC (Windows & Linux). Download the installer from the link you were given and run it: on Windows by opening it, on Linux with sh EyePlayer-…-installer.sh. Both install for your user account only, so neither asks for an administrator password. The desktop app opens straight into the free version, with no sign-in required, so you can add a folder and start playing immediately. Later versions install themselves: when the app finds a new build it offers it in a strip along the top, and one click updates and restarts it.

2 · Free, trial & Premium

EyePlayer is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Nothing recurs and nothing auto-renews.

• Free plays music from folders on the device itself, with an ad strip. No account needed.
• Trial is a time-limited try of the paid features, once per account and once per device.
• Premium is a single lifetime licence that removes ads and unlocks network sources (NAS / web folder / Google Drive), the equaliser and ReplayGain, offline downloads, and USB sync between phone and PC.

3 · Adding your music

On the phone, open Settings › Servers; on the PC, open Servers (and Add library folder for local folders). You can add several sources and they all fold into one library. Network sources are a Premium feature; folders on the device are always free.

On this device

Point EyePlayer at a folder of music already on the phone or PC. Free on both.

SMB / Windows share

The usual way to reach a NAS or a shared folder on another computer. Enter the host or IP, the share name (e.g. Music), and a username and password if the share needs one. Leave the username blank for a guest share.

Web folder (WebDAV)

For a web-hosted folder that speaks WebDAV: Nextcloud, ownCloud, a managed drive like mailbox.org, a Synology/QNAP WebDAV share, or rclone serve webdav. Paste the folder's address (host and path), turn HTTPS on (it is on by default), and add a username and password if it is not public. If the account can write, EyePlayer can also save exported playlists back to it.

Google Drive (public link) read-only, tentative

Share a Google Drive folder as “Anyone with the link”, copy that link, and paste it in. EyePlayer will list the folder and play the tracks in it.

Please read: Google offers no official way to read a shared folder without signing in, so this is best-effort and read-only. It cannot save playlists back, and Google can change how it works at any time. If a Google Drive folder stops syncing, re-share it for “anyone with the link”, then remove the old source and add the fresh link. That clears it up in most cases.

HTTP directory index

A plain web server that lists a folder (nginx/Apache autoindex, Caddy, or python -m http.server). Enter the host and the path to the music.

Testing & editing a source

Use Test connection before saving to confirm the address and credentials work. To change a source later, tap it (phone) or use the edit (pencil) button next to it (PC); the trash button removes it. After adding or changing a source, run a scan so its music appears.

4 · The control wheel

The round control at the bottom is a rotary touch wheel. Slide your thumb around the rim to move through a list. It moves in gentle detented steps you can feel. The four positions around the rim are the buttons:

• BACK (top) goes back a screen.
• ▶︎/❚❚ (bottom) plays and pauses.
• ❮❮ (left) and ❯❯ (right) go to the previous and next track.
• Centre selects the highlighted item.

On a single-button remote or headset, one tap plays/pauses, a double tap skips forward and a triple tap skips back; turn on Instant single press in Settings › Audio if you would rather a single tap act immediately. The wheel's click and haptics can be turned off in Settings › Appearance.

5 · Playing & organising

• Now Playing shows the artwork, the exact format and sample rate, and the transport. Hi-res files are played bit-perfect where the device allows it.
• Search finds tracks, albums and artists across the whole library, on both apps. On the PC, Ctrl-F (Cmd-F on a Mac keyboard) opens it from anywhere.
• Playlists are yours to build and reorder on both apps; smart lists fill themselves from rules (recently added, most played, and so on) on the phone.
• Gapless & ReplayGain keep albums flowing at an even loudness. The equaliser and ReplayGain are Premium features.

6 · Making it yours

Settings › Appearance offers ten wheel styles (Classic, Plasma, Disc, Album art, Record, Starfield, Aurora, VU meter, Radar and Ripple) and a fifty-colour scheme with four ready-made presets. A style only changes how the wheel looks; the buttons, labels and everything the wheel does stay exactly the same, and a pale colour scheme automatically darkens the text so nothing becomes unreadable.

7 · Offline & networks

• Store library offline keeps a copy of your whole library on the phone so it plays with no network. You can also pin individual playlists for offline play. (Premium.)
• Wi-Fi only streaming stops network sources from using mobile data. Turn it off if you want to stream on cellular.
• Private networks & VPNs: EyePlayer reaches servers on your own LAN or tailnet. If you restrict it to your VPN, public sources (including Google Drive) are intentionally blocked while that is on.

8 · The PC app & USB sync

The desktop app plays local folders and the same network sources as the phone, builds and edits playlists, and keeps itself up to date (it checks on launch and offers any new version, and you choose when to install it).

Settings › Sound holds the desktop's audio controls: a five-band equaliser with the same preset curves as the phone, ReplayGain (off, by track or by album, with a pre-amp), and a bit-perfect switch that plays the file's own sample rate, bit depth and channel count with nothing in the way: no equaliser, no ReplayGain, no downmix. The same panel shows Actual output, read back from the sound device itself, so you can see what is really leaving the machine rather than what was asked for. The equaliser and ReplayGain are Premium features on both apps.

Editing tags. Right-click a track or an album and choose Edit Tags to fix a title, an artist, a year or a track number in the files themselves. Selecting an album edits every track in it at once: a field you leave alone stays as it is on each track, so setting the year on twelve songs does not overwrite their twelve different titles. Each file is copied, tagged and checked before it replaces the original, so a failure part-way leaves your file exactly as it was. Tracks on a server cannot be edited (EyePlayer only writes to files on this PC), and neither can the one currently playing.

Album playback is gapless: the next track is opened while the current one is still playing, through the same open output. Two tracks recorded at different sample rates cannot share one output, so a break there is the sound device changing gear rather than the player pausing.

EyePlayer Link (USB sync). Connect the phone by USB, switch on Settings › EyePlayer Link on the phone, then click EyePlayer Link on the PC to copy chosen music and playlists onto the phone over the cable. USB sync is a Premium feature. The link only listens while it is switched on, and closes when you turn it off.

9 · Licences & devices

You can use the free player with no account at all. Signing in (with Google) is only needed to start a trial, buy Premium, or carry one licence across your phone and PC.

• A Premium licence covers one phone and one PC at a time. Moving it to a new device is a tap, and the old device drops back to free.
• You can take a licence offline for a set period for travel; it re-checks with the server when you are back online.
• Manage your devices, see your purchases, or delete your account at eyeplayer.org/account, or from inside either app.

On the PC, as on the phone, the free version works with no account at all. It plays folders on the computer and shows a small ad strip. Sign in when you want a trial or when you have bought Premium.

Getting a new phone, or losing one

Your licence lives on your account, not on the phone, so a lost or broken phone does not cost you anything. Sign in on the new one and move the licence across.

If the new phone uses a different sign-in from the old one, for example you had an iPhone and now have an Android, add the second sign-in to your account first:

1. Go to eyeplayer.org/account in any browser, on any device.
2. Sign in the way you always have. Losing the phone does not lose the account, so your old sign-in still works here.
3. Add the second sign-in.
4. Open EyePlayer on the new phone and sign in either way.

An account can hold two sign-ins, and you can change them once every six months. That is enough to change phone or platform, and it stops a licence being passed around. If you are stuck outside that, email support@eyeplayer.org from the address you paid with and we will sort it out.

10 · Frequently asked questions

11 · Troubleshooting

Still stuck? Email support@eyeplayer.org with your device, what you were doing, and what happened.