0.12: the first open release

The first open beta release

Version 0.12 is out: our first open, stable release. It ships on Linux, macOS, Windows, Android and iOS.

Start with the desktop app and scan your library. Then sync it to your phone or tablet. The mobile app is a companion: it gets the library from the desktop and doesn’t scan libraries itself, for now.

iPhone and iPad users can get it on the App Store worldwide (EU included), and on AltStore PAL (EU, Japan, Brazil).

On Android you can install directly from Zapstore or download the APK. On Google Play, Nucube is in closed testing; you can just request access here. Please do, and please share feedback.

Get one of them from the download page.

What’s in this release

Version 0.12 adds Samba and NFS shares on your NAS, next to local folders and the DLNA servers Nucube already found. It scans them into one album-first library, without moving or tagging a single file. It plays that library on device, or streams it to a UPnP renderer with OpenHome on your network. And the same library follows you from the desktop to your phone or tablet.

How we got here is short. Builds through 0.9 were private. The 0.11 builds were the open public beta, the run-up to 0.12.0. Odd numbers are where we build; even numbers are stable — the old Linux way. In Nucube starts here we wrote down the path and the principles; this post covers what the beta cycle fixed.

Your NAS, played straight from the share

The cycle had one main job: make music on Samba and NFS shares play properly, everywhere.

Playing from a share used to work — mostly, until it didn’t. Slow starts, dropouts on a bad Wi-Fi day, the occasional album that refused to behave. In 0.12, share audio plays through the same path as local files, streamed as you listen instead of copied first. Gapless works. It keeps up on slow networks. NFS is a library source next to Samba: connect, pick your export, scan, play. Cue-sheet albums import as proper albums.

Sending share music to an OpenHome renderer uses that same path. Skipping around while the music comes from the NAS no longer trips over playback, and Android keeps that playback going in the background. Share music is not the awkward cousin anymore. Same app, same rules, on desktop and mobile.

What else is in it

• The screens. Playback, Audio, Add library, network discovery, Settings and the album page got a real pass, not a coat of paint.
• Renderer manners. Switching to an OpenHome renderer, or coming back to playback on device, keeps queue and position. A phone or tablet used only to control playback no longer steals playback.
• Scanning. Cancel a running scan, retry only the failures, copy every error at once.
• Formats. APE and WavPack scan from folders and shares. In 0.12 they play through an OpenHome renderer, not on the device.
• Look and language. Official light and dark themes. Italian is a complete second language.
• Tablets. Nucube runs on Android tablets and on iPad.

None of this turns Nucube into a server. There is no library to migrate into, no daemon to babysit. The files stay on the share. The desktop does the first scan and can then be switched off.

What was already there

The beta cycle was about shares. Most of the player was already in place before it:

• Album first. Browse albums and artists, not a file tree. The same album on two sources stays one album.
• MusicBrainz matching. Metadata and cover art go into our library database. Your files stay as they are.
• Your formats. FLAC, ALAC, WAV, MP3, AAC and more, played as stored. No conversion.
• Search. Fast, local search-as-you-type. It returns only the music you own.
• Queue and history. A playback queue, and a history of what you played.
• Sync and download. The desktop syncs the library to your phone or tablet. Download albums to play offline.
• Away from home. Reach the files at home over Tailscale, a VPN or a public IP. Stream or download, as on the LAN.
• Your data. Export, back up and restore the library. No tracking, no ads.

None of this turns Nucube into a server. There is no library to migrate into, no daemon to babysit. The files stay on the share. The desktop does the first scan and can then be switched off.

The 0.13 beta

We have not stopped: we’re already working on the next cycle, and the first 0.13 betas are out — on Android through Google Play closed testing (join the Android beta), on iPhone and iPad through TestFlight, and on Linux through the Snap Store beta channel. The next stable release will be 0.14.

Please try it and send us feedback. Thank you.