Frequently asked questions

Trove is a native local music player for iOS and macOS — iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. It plays audio files you own — including FLAC, ALAC, APE and DSD — from your device, with gapless playback, a 10-band equalizer and word-by-word synced lyrics. A one-time Pro unlock adds playback from a WebDAV or SMB server such as a NAS, downloading tracks as needed.

Trove is free to download and free to keep using: every format, gapless playback, the 10-band equalizer, the sleep timer, folder and Wi-Fi import, playlists and synced lyrics are all in the free app — and so is everything added in version 1.2, including CarPlay, the play queue, online lyrics and artwork search, M3U playlists and ReplayGain volume leveling. Trove Pro is a one-time $9.99 purchase that unlocks six things: WebDAV and SMB network sources, Apple Watch sync, writing tags back to your files, smart playlists, the floating desktop lyrics window on Mac, and tap-to-sync lyrics editing. Trove Pro Supporter at $24.99 is the same unlock plus four alternate app icons and accent colours, for people who want to chip in. Both are paid once — no subscription, no recurring fee, no trial timer — and one purchase covers every platform, because the unlock is tied to your Apple Account rather than to a device. Both are also enabled for Family Sharing, so a single purchase can cover up to six people in the same family group. (US App Store prices; regional prices vary.)

Yes. Both in-app purchases — Trove Pro and Trove Pro Supporter — are enabled for Family Sharing, so one purchase can be shared with your family group of up to six people, at no extra cost. Each person uses their own Apple Account and their own library; they simply get the Pro features unlocked. Combined with the universal purchase, that means a single $9.99 payment can unlock Pro for six people across their Macs, iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches.

Trove runs natively on iOS 17 or later and macOS 14 or later, covering iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, and on iPhone it also works with CarPlay. It is one App Store listing rather than a separate app per device, so the Mac and iOS versions are the same product.

Yes, on iPhone, since version 1.2 (September 2026), and it is free — CarPlay is not part of Trove Pro. The car screen shows your library in four tabs: playlists, albums, artists and songs, with long lists split into alphabetical pages rather than cut off at the car's row limit. Playback runs on the phone, so everything Trove plays — FLAC, ALAC, APE and DSD included — plays in the car too. Songs you have downloaded from a WebDAV or SMB share are part of the library and show up there; browsing the share itself is something you do on the phone.

Yes, since September 2026. The Mac app is built from the same SwiftUI codebase and ships from the same App Store listing as the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch versions — it requires macOS 14 or later. On the desktop it adds a menu bar mini player, media key support and a floating lyrics window that stays above your other windows. Because it is one listing rather than a separate Mac product, buying Pro once unlocks it everywhere: sign in to the same Apple Account on your Mac and the purchase you made on your iPhone is already there.

Natively: MP3, AAC, ALAC (m4a), WAV, AIFF, CAF and FLAC. Through built-in extended decoding: APE, OGG, OPUS, WMA, DSD (DSF/DFF), WavPack, TTA and Musepack.

Yes, with Trove Pro. Network sources are the main thing the one-time $9.99 unlock buys: Trove then connects directly to WebDAV and SMB shares, so you can browse and play a library stored on a Synology or other NAS, a home server, or any WebDAV-compatible storage — without uploading your collection to a third-party cloud. The free app plays music from the device, the Files app and Wi-Fi transfer.

Yes, with Trove Pro. Send songs from your library to the Apple Watch app over Apple's device-to-device connection, then play them with the phone left behind — useful for running and the gym. The transfer never goes through the internet or our servers.

Swinsian is a Mac music-library player, while foobar2000 has official Windows, macOS, Android and iOS versions; its Mac version supports a selection of add-on components. Trove is a native app from one App Store listing for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. With Trove Pro, you can add the same SMB or WebDAV NAS source separately on your Mac and iPhone; the Apple Watch plays songs transferred to it offline, not directly from the NAS. Pick by the library tools and device workflow you actually use, not outdated platform assumptions.

Since version 1.5, shuffle starts a freshly shuffled round when the current queue reaches its end, so you can keep listening without pressing Play again. Version 1.6 is available on iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Use Feedback in Trove 1.6 to submit directly over HTTPS, without a Mail account. Describe what happened and press Send Feedback; a reply email is optional. You can separately choose whether to attach the playback log or a troubleshooting package. Troubleshooting recording is off by default and stays on your device; use Privacy & Diagnostics to turn it on and Create Diagnostic Package if you want one. The separate playback log can contain track titles, file paths, server addresses and errors. Nothing uploads automatically. If sending fails, your message stays in the app so you can retry or save a feedback package. See the app privacy policy before sharing.

Yes. Trove is local-first: your files never pass through our servers, and there is no account to create. Your library index stays on your device; listening history stays there too. We do not collect either. Looking up missing lyrics, artwork or song details sends only what identifies the song — title, artist, album, length — straight to public music databases, and only when you ask or turn automatic lookup on. In Trove 1.6, troubleshooting recording is off by default, stored locally and never uploaded automatically. A user-created package can be selected for feedback; the separate playback log has its own attachment choice and may contain song titles, paths or server addresses. Feedback goes over HTTPS only when you press Send. See the app privacy policy for the full detail.