DS audio (iOS)

Version 5.17

Before using DS audio, make sure you have DSM and Audio Station installed on your Synology NAS. Basic configurations must be managed from a computer with access to Audio Station, such as enabling Personal Library.

Note: Once your iPhone running iOS 13 is paired with an Apple Watch running watchOS 5 or later, you can install DS audio on your Apple Watch. To control DS audio from your Apple Watch, please go to Apple Watch > DS audio on your iPhone, and enable Show app on Apple Watch.

DS audio allows you to log in to Audio Station securely and effortlessly. You can protect your connection via SSL/TLS connections and verify the server certificate installed on your Synology server. What's more, logging in to Synology's suite of mobile apps is made a lot easier with the single sign-on mechanism. This only requires you to log in once and then you will be automatically signed in to the other apps without being prompted to enter user credentials.

To log in to Audio Station with DS audio:

1. Do either of the following:
   • Enter the following information on the login page:
     • Address or QuickConnect ID of the Synology server: this can be either the internal or external IP address, DDNS hostname, or Synology QuickConnect ID. Make sure you have enabled QuickConnect at Control Panel > QuickConnect in DSM before logging in with QuickConnect ID.
     • Your user account and password.
2. Tap the arrow button next to the Address or QuickConnect ID field to select previous login credentials from the list of your login history or find Synology servers in your local network. A set of credentials can be removed by swiping them leftwards.
3. If you want to secure your connection, do the following:
   • Turn on HTTPS if you want your connection to be SSL/TLS-encrypted. Before doing so, make sure the HTTPS service is activated at Control Panel > Network > DSM Settings on your Synology server.
   • Enable Verify certificate by tapping the on the bottom left of the screen. Under Login Settings you can validate the SSL certificate installed on your Synology server. This verification works if the installed certificate is trusted (you will need to purchase from a third party issuer).

To use one-time password:

When 2-step verification is enabled for your account or enforced by the admin on DSM (6.0 and above), you will need to log in to this Synology mobile application with your user credentials and the 6-digit code retrieved from Synology Secure SignIn or other authenticator applications for safe access.

To simplify logging in:

IP addresses (or QuickConnect ID/hostnames) and user accounts are shared between the login histories of the different Synology mobile apps. To avoid entering user credentials multiple times, tap the on the bottom left of the screen. Under Login Settings you can enable Remember IP address and account. Disable the option if you do not want to share credentials among apps.

Alternatively, you can enable Remember me on the login page to remember the password of your user account. You will always be automatically logged in until you log out of the app. Note that enabling this option will only save the password for DS audio but will not share it with other Synology apps.

To log out of DS audio:

Simply tap and then tap Logout.

Below is a general introduction to DS audio:

1. Check your login information, configure playback settings, read related documents, send us your comments or suggestions if you have any to make, and log out of DS audio.
2. Browse and play songs downloaded to your iOS device for offline playback.
3. Browse and play the pinned songs or playlists from My Pins. Alternatively, switch to the Recommended Genre tab for the songs categorized according to their genres.
4. Browse and play songs stored in your Synology NAS.
5. Quickly access songs organized into personal and group playlists, or play songs by the four default categories.
6. Listen to Internet radios provided by SHOUTCast(TM) or to the ones added by yourself.
7. Search music by entering keywords in the search field. When you are logged in, the search tool applies to all the music on Audio Station; when you are logged out, it applies to downloaded songs only.
8. View the download status of songs downloaded for offline playback.

With DS audio, you can stream music directly from your Synology NAS (Library) or songs downloaded to your iOS device (Downloaded Songs).

To view music from Home:

When you launch and log into DS audio, you will first see Home where you can easily play the pinned music collections from My Pins, or enjoy the playlists automatically generated in Recommended Genre.

• My Pins:
  • You can pin the music collections you frequently play from Library and Playlists. Tap or next to a music category to pin or unpin a music category to My Pins.
  • You can reorder or unpin a music category by tapping from My Pins.
  • You can rename your pins by tapping from My Pins.

• Recommended Genre: You can browse and play your music by selected genres.

To view music by category:

When you launch and log into DS audio, you can access music in your Synology NAS Library and download them for offline playback.

• You can browse music By Album, By Artist, By Composer, and By Genre, and browse All songs in these two sources. Tap to go to the desired category.
• You can view your playlists by tapping Library and Downloaded Songs in the menu.

To view your personal music:

1. Activate Personal Library on your Synology NAS (at Audio Station > Settings > Personal Library), and you can view your personal music stored in your homes directory (homes > username > music).
2. Then you can go to Settings to choose your Library source in DS audio: All music, Shared music or Personal music.

To view Internet radio stations:

You can find and listen to Radio configured on your Audio Station (online mode only), including SHOUTCast(TM) and any station added by Audio Station users (under User defined and My favorite).

To view music by ratings:

1. Rate your songs in either way below to help you manage and sort them easily:
• Tap next to your songs and tap Rate to assign stars (1 to 5) to them.
• Rate songs by tapping the grey stars at the bottom when you are playing a song.
2. From the menu, go to Playlists > Top ratings to find playlists of songs sorted from No rating to 5 stars.

To add/delete songs to the playing queue, or download:

With DS audio, you can manage a single song by tapping next to it, or manage multiple songs in the batch mode by tapping to do the following tasks. To perform some tasks, you may have to tap Select from the menu.

• Play: Find playback-related options below:
  • Play: Play songs immediately by replacing all songs in your playing queue.
  • Add to Queue: Append songs to the end of playing queue.
  • Add next to Current: Append songs next to the current playing queue and play them after currently played song.
• Add to Playlist: Save songs to an existing playlist.
• Download (online mode only): Download the songs to your DS audio for offline playback. Songs selected for download will appear in Download Queue, and you can monitor their download progress here.

  Note:

  • The songs being downloaded allow only playback but no other operations.
• Delete (offline mode only): Remove the selected song(s) from Downloaded Songs.

To manage the playing queue:

• Tap to browse the Now playing queue.
• To add individual songs to the queue, tap Play > Add to Queue or Add next to Current.
• To replace the queue with an entire song list, simply tap any song in the target list.
• To reorder songs in the queue, go to the Now playing queue and tap . Hold a song by pressing to drag and drop it at the desired position.

To set a sleep timer:

• Set a sleep timer by tapping when you are playing a song.
• Specify the time lapse (up to 120 minutes), and the playback will automatically stop upon reaching the limit.

To maintain playlists:

You can manage Audio Station playlists with DS audio in the online mode in four ways:

• To add a song to a playlist, tap next to it. To add multiple songs to a playlist, tap and select the targets.
• You can save the search result as a new playlist, or simply add it to an existing playlist.
• On your Now playing page, tap to remove/reorder songs in the Now playing queue. To save selected songs as a new playlist, tap  . Turn on Group Playlist if you want to share the playlist with other DSM users.
• To download playlists for playback, go to Playlists to find the target and tap for download.

To share songs publicly:

• To share individual songs to the public, tap , select Share, and turn on Public sharing.
• To share multiple songs as a Shared Playlist, tap and select the target songs. Tap at the bottom to create a new playlist, and turn on Public sharing.
• To get a sharing link of a shared playlist, tap and select Edit. Enable Public sharing and tap Save to get the sharing link. Alternatively, tap Share to share it via AirDrop, Message, Mail, or DS note.
• To share a personal playlist with the public, tap and select Edit to enable Public sharing.
• To set a duration time for the sharing link, enable Validity period and specify the time lapse of the link.

To stream music to external players:

You can stream Audio Station music to USB, Bluetooth, AirPlay, Chromecast, DLNA or UPnP players with DS audio.

A pop-up notification will request you to Select a player within your local area network when you log in. The default player is your mobile device. If you wish to switch to another player, you can either go to Settings and select Player, or simply tap on the Now playing bar/page. Note that a Chromecast will be detected only if it is in the same local network with the iOS device, but not the Synology NAS.

You can also pair multiple AirPlay devices so more than one device will play your music at once. You can do this by tapping and then selecting Multiple AirPlay devices and then choosing your devices.

DS audio is AirPlay-compliant, so you might also find the AirPlay sign in the Now playing bar/page if you have an AirPlay device in the same network as your iOS device. Tap it to choose your AirPlay renderer.