Support

Get help with NaviBeat

Email support@navibeat.app and we will get back to you within 48 hours.

Why does my music restart from the beginning when I am driving?

This is the most common complaint across every Subsonic and Navidrome client, and it is not really a client bug. When a server transcodes on the fly it answers with a 200 response that carries no content length and ignores byte-range requests. So when a mobile connection drops mid-track, the client has no way to resume from where it was and refetches from byte zero: the track jumps back to the start while the playhead keeps counting.

NaviBeat takes the network out of the playback path on cellular. It downloads the next two tracks in your queue in full while the current one plays, then plays them from the local file. A tower handover, a dropped connection or a slow transcode cannot restart or stall a song that is already on disk. Your first track still starts instantly as a stream; from the second track of a session onward this cannot happen. The cache is a rolling 300 MB, cleans itself oldest first, never duplicates your real downloads, and is not used on Wi-Fi.

If you are on a VPN such as Tailscale or WireGuard, see the tunnel question below as well: a tunnel adds its own failure mode at every cell-tower change.

Does NaviBeat group classical albums by work?

Yes, and it does not need perfect tags. Albums group by work with every movement listed underneath in the right order.

What matters is that it does not depend on MOVEMENT tags, which almost no real library carries. A tag census of eight MusicBrainz-tagged recordings found zero MOVEMENT tags, and every WORK tag that did exist named the movement rather than the piece, which would split one symphony into four separate one-movement works. NaviBeat recovers the parent work from tags and titles shaped like Symphony no. 5 in C minor, op. 67: I. Allegro con brio, so grouping works without you retagging anything. Composer, conductor and the other credits are shown per track.

What server does NaviBeat require?

NaviBeat works with any Navidrome server (v0.50 or later) or any OpenSubsonic-compatible server. Navidrome is free and open source. See navidrome.org for installation instructions.

The app says "Cannot reach server". What do I do?

Check that your Navidrome server is running.
Check that the URL you entered is correct, including the port number (e.g., http://192.168.0.110:4533).
If you are away from home, make sure your server is accessible from outside your home network (via a reverse proxy, Tailscale, or similar).
If your server uses a self-signed TLS certificate, NaviBeat may reject the connection. Use a trusted certificate (Let’s Encrypt is free) or reach out to us for help.

NaviBeat says "connected" but no library loads on my iPhone, while my iPad on the same WiFi works fine.

Three iOS-side network filters can block local-server connections on one device while another device on the same network is unaffected. Check these on the device that's failing:

Local Network permission. Open Settings → NaviBeat → Local Network and turn it ON. iOS 14+ silently denies private-IP connections (your home server’s 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x address) for any app that hasn’t been granted this permission.
iCloud Private Relay. Open Settings → Apple Account → iCloud → Private Relay. If your server is on a private IP (LAN, .local hostname, Tailscale CGNAT range), Private Relay can hijack the request through Apple’s relay and fail to reach it. Turn Private Relay OFF temporarily; if the library now loads, that was the cause.
Active VPN profile. Open Settings → General → VPN & Device Management. A VPN that routes all traffic (rather than splitting LAN traffic) blocks local-network destinations. Disconnect the VPN and try again.

The same checks apply to Mac (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network), and to Apple TV in a more limited way (no Local Network toggle exists, but a configuration-profile VPN can block server access, check Settings → General → VPN & Device Management on tvOS).

How do I tell whether NaviBeat lost network access vs. my server being unreachable?

Open NaviBeat on a different device on the same network. If a second device works, the issue is local to the failing device (most often the three filters above). If no device can reach it, the server itself is the problem: check that Navidrome is running, the right port is open, and your URL hasn’t changed.

Playback cuts out or stutters. How do I fix it?

If you stream over cellular through Tailscale, WireGuard, or any VPN, see the next question first: that is the most common cause on the road.
Try lowering the max bit rate in Settings > Audio to 192 kbps or 128 kbps.
Check your home network. A wired connection for the Apple TV improves stability significantly.
Check your server’s CPU and disk usage. If Navidrome is transcoding on a slow machine, playback can lag.

Music stutters in the car when my server is on Tailscale or WireGuard. Why?

If your server address is private (192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, a 100.x tailnet IP, or a .local / .ts.net name), your phone reaches it through a VPN tunnel. On cellular, a moving phone hops between cell towers, and each hop can freeze the tunnel’s connections for a while. The stream stops mid-song, NaviBeat recovers it, and a few minutes later it happens again: that is the stutter. It is not your server, and it is not the bit rate.

Best on the road: give NaviBeat a public address. If your server is also reachable at a public URL (a reverse proxy, a Cloudflare Tunnel, or a port forward with HTTPS), use that as the primary address in Settings > Server addresses. Connections to a public endpoint survive tower changes far better than a VPN tunnel. NaviBeat with both addresses configured uses the home address on Wi-Fi and always uses the primary one on cellular.
Simplest: download for the trip. Downloads play from the device, immune to any network. With Download quality set to Original you get the untouched source files.
NaviBeat will show a one-time note when it detects this pattern (repeated recoveries on cellular with a private server address), and Settings > Server addresses shows which route is active.

Where is my NaviBeat data stored?

Everything is on your device or your own server. NaviBeat does not send any data to us or any third party. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Can I use NaviBeat with multiple servers?

v1 supports one server per install. Multi-server support is on the roadmap.

How do I disconnect from my server?

Open the Settings tab, scroll to the Server section, and tap Disconnect. This clears your credentials from the device.

Glossary

Short definitions for terms used across this page and the rest of navibeat.app.

Navidrome: Free, open-source self-hosted music server. The primary server NaviBeat targets. Runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, NAS appliances, and even a Raspberry Pi. navidrome.org.
OpenSubsonic: An open extension to the original Subsonic API that standardises modern endpoints (year-in-review, time-synced lyrics, extended metadata). NaviBeat speaks OpenSubsonic and is listed on navidrome.org/apps with the OpenSubsonic indicator.
Subsonic: The original self-hosted music server (2006) whose HTTP API became a de-facto standard. Most modern servers (Navidrome, Airsonic-Advanced, Gonic) implement a superset of the Subsonic API and now extend it via OpenSubsonic.
Airsonic-Advanced: A community fork of Airsonic itself a fork of Subsonic. Implements the Subsonic API. NaviBeat works with Airsonic-Advanced via the shared API.
Gonic: A lightweight Go implementation of the Subsonic + OpenSubsonic API. Popular for low-power servers. NaviBeat works with Gonic.
Universal Purchase: Apple's mechanism where one $5.99 purchase covers the iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS apps. Buy NaviBeat once on any Apple device and it installs on the other four for free.
LRC lyrics: A lyrics file format with per-line time stamps ([mm:ss.xx]). NaviBeat reads LRC straight from your Navidrome and renders them time-synced: tap any line to seek.
AutoMix: NaviBeat's endless-playback mode. When the queue runs out, AutoMix uses your server's similar-track / similar-artist data, optionally enriched via Last.fm or ListenBrainz (pick a Preferred source in Settings if you connect both), to keep music going without manually building a queue.
Scrobble: Reporting a play event to Last.fm or ListenBrainz so it's recorded in your listening history. NaviBeat never scrobbles directly to either service: scrobbles route through your Navidrome server (which already holds your credentials), keeping the trust boundary on your side.
CarPlay: Apple's in-car experience that mirrors a subset of an iPhone app on the head-unit display. NaviBeat ships full CarPlay support: library, search, Now Playing, and continuous-push playback.