NaviBeat  ·  CarPlay

Your own library, on the car screen.

Four tabs, and all of them are your server: Home, Library, Playlists and Radio. Voice search works in twelve languages and resolves against your own music rather than a catalogue somebody else owns. CarPlay comes with the iPhone app, so there is nothing extra to buy.

Platform
CarPlay, from the NaviBeat iPhone app · iOS 18+
Price
$5.99 USD · one-time · Universal Purchase
Server
Navidrome v0.50+, OpenSubsonic, Airsonic-Advanced, Gonic
Install
Comes with the iPhone app · nothing separate to buy
NaviBeat on a CarPlay screen showing the Home tab with Pick up where you left off and Quick Play.
  • 4 tabs

    Home · Library · Playlists · Radio

  • Voice search

    Twelve languages · your own library

  • No extra app

    Comes with the iPhone app

  • $5.99 once

    Universal Purchase · all Apple devices

The car screen

Four tabs, and all of them are your server.

Nothing here is a recommendation feed. Every row is something already on your own Navidrome or Subsonic server, in the order you keep it.

NaviBeat on a CarPlay screen: the Home tab with Pick up where you left off showing Slow Aurora by Aurora Fields, and Quick Play with Shuffle My Library.
Home Pick up where you left off, then Quick Play.
NaviBeat on a CarPlay screen: the Library tab with a search field and rows for Artists, Albums and Recently Added.
Library Search, artists, albums, recently added.
NaviBeat on a CarPlay screen: the Playlists tab listing Deep Ambient, Discover Mix, Focus Flow and Folk and Field with track counts.
Playlists The playlists you already keep on your server.
NaviBeat on a CarPlay screen: the Radio tab listing Ambient Channel, Downtempo Lounge, Indie Folk Stream and Lo-Fi Beats 24/7.
Radio Your own internet radio stations.

In the 1.4 beta

The car screen is your own music, in your own order.

The CarPlay home screen used to be six fixed rows of nothing personal. It now draws the same shelves the phone does, as rows of artwork: Pick up where you left off, Quick Play, NaviBeat Mixes, Made for You, your playlists, Most Played, Recently Added. You arrange the order from the phone. Play All and Shuffle All are named rows at the top of every list rather than buttons nobody found. Search hands the typing back to your phone and primes voice recognition with the names in your own library. And the car stays on the screen you left, through a switch from Wi-Fi to cellular and through unplugging and plugging back in.

CarPlay, from the iPhone. In the beta now. Join the beta →

Voice search

Say it in your language, and it looks in your library.

Say play and the name of an artist, album, song or playlist in any of the app's twelve languages. The search resolves against your own library, not a streaming catalogue, so the thing you asked for is the thing on your server. When nothing matches, it shows you exactly what it heard rather than failing silently.

Typing in a moving car is a bad idea, so search hands the typing back to your phone and primes voice recognition with the names in your own library.

Downloads and signal

A garage, a tunnel, a dead zone.

Your library, playlists, downloads and Now Playing controls are all on the car screen, and the downloads are the part that matters when the signal is not. Anything pinned on the phone plays in the car with no connection at all.

Streaming quality is set separately for Wi-Fi and for cellular, so the car does not have to pull the same files your home network does. And the car stays on the screen you left, through a switch from Wi-Fi to cellular and through unplugging and plugging back in.

Launch price

One purchase. Every device.

$5.99

iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch. CarPlay comes with the phone.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Does NaviBeat support CarPlay?

Yes. CarPlay comes with the NaviBeat iPhone app, so there is nothing extra to buy or install. Plug the phone in, or connect wirelessly if your car supports it, and NaviBeat appears on the car screen.

What can I do from the car screen?

Four tabs: Home, Library, Playlists and Radio. Home carries Pick up where you left off and Quick Play. Library holds search, artists, albums and recently added. Playlists lists your own playlists, and Radio lists your internet radio stations.

Does voice search work with my own music?

Yes. CarPlay voice search works in twelve languages and resolves against your own library, not a catalogue somebody else owns.

Do I need a separate purchase for CarPlay?

No. NaviBeat is $5.99 USD once, as a Universal Purchase. That single price covers iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch, and CarPlay comes with the iPhone app.