Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to pay to use YouTube?

No. Searching, playing, liking, downloading, browsing your playlists and most other things are free.

• A membership unlocks some newly added YouTube features (on top of supporting the project). They only make sense when signed in to your account.
• Get it through Patreon. Donations through kofi or buymeacoffee get a coupon by email (which can take a few days).
• Sign in from Settings -> Youtube -> Manage Your Accounts -> Add account. ⚙️ Configure Accounts ↗
• See Membership for what it unlocks and how to get it.

YouTube is slow or broken

YouTube updates can break clients from time to time, fixes are available in beta first.

1. Try the latest beta release.
2. Sign in to your account, it can improve download speed and fix some playback issues. ⚙️ Configure Accounts ↗
3. Disable any VPN, custom DNS or proxy.
4. If YouTube is restricted in your area, try a different VPN instead.
5. Still doesn’t play? Send the logs (they show which JS player failed) with “Report an issue”. 📄 About Page ↗
6. Then open the YouTube flags, press RESET_YOUTUBE_SESSION, and make sure INNERTUBE_CLIENT is set to Default. ⚙️ Configure YouTube Flags ↗

What do Local and YouTube mean in the YouTube tab?

They are where a section’s data comes from, tap the selected section again to switch.

• Local is your Namida data, kept on your device and available without signing in (not related to your local music library).
• YouTube is your signed-in account’s live data.

The two are separate, a playlist made in Namida doesn’t show in your account and the other way around. “Import playlist” copies an account playlist into Namida. 🎉 Namida & Account ↗

Sync devices can’t find or connect

1. Make sure both devices run the same Namida version and are on the same network. Guest networks and some routers keep devices apart, and a VPN can get in the way too.
2. Device not found? Connect by IP instead (using the address shown under Server on the other device). 🎉 Connect by IP ↗
3. Found, but connecting fails or times out? A firewall on the server device is blocking Namida, allow it:
   • Windows: set your network to Private, then allow Namida in Windows Security -> Firewall & network protection -> Allow an app through firewall.
   • Linux with ufw: sudo ufw allow 62310/tcp
   • Linux with firewalld: sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=62310/tcp && sudo firewall-cmd --reload
   • If the device isn’t found either, allow 5353/udp the same way.
4. Worked before and suddenly stopped? Turn your network adapter off and on again, or restart the device.
5. Still stuck? Press Diagnostics on both devices, and share both reports in a GitHub issue. 🎉 Diagnostics ↗

Where do lyrics come from?

• LRCLIB
• KuGou 🆕 v7.0.0

See Lyrics for the full lookup order.

Can I change the lyrics source?

Not directly, but you can provide your own lyrics per track:

• Long press the lyrics icon in the player and add an LRC file, or paste the lyrics in the lyrics tag using the tag editor.
• Or write and sync them yourself. 🆕 v8.2.0 🎉 Lyrics Editor ↗
• Or embed any of them into the track, from their ⋮ menu in the same list. 🎉 Lyrics Picker ↗
• Put an .lrc file next to the song with the same filename, or in one of your lyrics folders. Subtitle files (.srt, .vtt, .sbv, .ssa, .ass) and .txt for plain lyrics work too.
• Set Prefer embedded lyrics depending on where you usually keep them.

I added lyrics but they don’t show (or keep showing old ones)

Namida caches the lyrics it finds for a track, and the cached copy wins over anything you add later.
Setting the Lyrics Save Location to Track folder or Lyrics folders avoids this (files there are checked before the cache). Otherwise, delete the cached copy:

1. Long press the lyrics icon in the player.
2. All lyrics found for this track are listed, labeled with its source: Cache, Local, the provider name, or the embedded tag. The ones in use are marked Active.
3. Open the ⋮ menu on the cached one and press Delete.
4. Press done, the new lyrics get picked up.

Or simply tap the lyrics you want and press Save.

If they still don’t show, check Prefer embedded lyrics:

• Always, if the file has embedded lyrics, nothing else is looked at. Pick it if you pasted lyrics in the tag, Never if you added an .lrc file.
• Synced (default), same as Always, but only when the embedded lyrics are synced. 🆕 v8.2.0
• Never, the order is: cached lyrics -> .lrc file next to the track or in lyrics folders -> embedded tag -> .txt files -> online databases. If the Lyrics Save Location is Track folder or Lyrics folders, the .lrc file is checked before the cached lyrics instead.

Can I use a custom app icon?

You can pick from the icons that ship with Namida, but a fully custom one is not possible (Android only allows icons that are already built into the app).
See App Icon, where you can also submit an icon, or use a launcher that supports icon packs.

Why aren’t smart playlists treated as normal playlists?

They are a different thing. A smart playlist is only a set of rules, and its tracks are found only when you open it.

• Listing them with normal playlists means finding the tracks of every smart playlist all the time, which would easily hurt performance.
• Tracks can’t be added to a smart playlist manually (the rules decide what’s in it). Mixing them with normal playlists would make that confusing.

See 🎉 Smart Playlists feature ↗

Is there a LastFm scrobble feature?

No, and not planned. Use PanoScrobbler, see Not Planned.

Is there a Discord Rich Presence (RPC) feature?

No, and not planned. There are apps that work with any player, see Not Planned.

Can I use my AutoEq or Equalizer APO settings?

Yes, import your ParametricEQ.txt file, or paste it with Import -> From clipboard in the equalizer.
For a system wide equalizer that also works for other apps, use Equalizer314 or RootlessJamesDSP on Android (but they don’t apply while USB direct access is in use). 🎉 Equalizer ↗

Android asks for USB DAC access every time I plug it in

Android forgets the access once the DAC is unplugged, unless Namida is set as the DAC’s default app in that dialog.
Android only offers “always” for DACs without a microphone (since Namida doesn’t ask for microphone access). Nothing is wrong with your DAC. 🎉 USB Direct Access ↗

Can’t install the APK, Google blocks it

Play Protect scans apps installed from outside Google Play and sometimes blocks them (the dialog says the app was blocked or wasn’t scanned).

• Tap “More details” then “Install anyway” in the dialog.
• If it keeps blocking, open Play Store -> profile icon -> Play Protect -> settings icon, and turn off “Scan apps with Play Protect”, then install and turn it back on.

See 📒 Installation Guide ↗ for which file to download.

Is Namida available on Google Play?

No, and not planned.
See Not Planned for the reasoning, and 📒 Installation Guide ↗ for where to get it.

Is Spotify supported?

No, and not planned. Importing your Spotify history and favourites (liked songs) is supported, but that’s all. See Not Planned for the reasoning and alternatives.

Are CUE sheets supported?

No, and not planned. Split the album into separate tracks once, it doesn’t lose any quality. See Not Planned for the reasoning. 📒 Split a CUE album ↗

Some FLAC files go silent at some point

The file has a damaged spot, usually from a bad download or rip. Try the latest beta release first, it plays past damaged spots with a short gap instead of going silent.

To repair the file itself, re-encode it with ffmpeg, which skips the damaged spot and writes a clean copy:

ffmpeg -y -i "path/to/file.flac" -map 0 -c:a flac -compression_level 5 -c:v copy "path/to/output.flac"

flac -t "path/to/file.flac" tells whether a file is damaged.