MusiCards
MusicBrainz Release Viewer & Player
About
Explore MusicBrainz releases, tracks, credits and artists. Connect your own music library to play matching tracks; MusiCards also works as a viewer without one. Available music is marked with a blue play symbol.
Available for iPhone, iPad and Apple silicon Mac with iOS, iPadOS or macOS 26 or later. View on the App Store.
Version 2.1
Search your own library on its own or alongside MusicBrainz. This update also improves loading, error handling and reliability.
Help
Find music
- Enter an artist name, , release title to search releases, or artist, release for a combined search.
- Use the search switch to choose your library only or your library plus MusicBrainz.
- Paste a MusicBrainz release ID to find a specific edition. On iPhone, you can also scan a CD barcode, identify music with Shazam, or open the album playing in Apple Music.
Connect your library
Choose one active source in Library Connection: a local folder or your own Navidrome server. MusicBrainz remains available for browsing with either source.
- Local folder: Tag albums with MusicBrainz Picard. On Mac, use Library Connection to create or update library.json in the music folder. On iPhone, select a folder already containing that index. Only matching files actually present are playable.
- Navidrome: Enter a reachable https:// server address, username and password. MusiCards reads its catalogue and streams matching tracks from your server. HTTP-only addresses are not accepted.
Play
Tap a blue play symbol beside a track, or on a release to queue its available tracks. The PLAYER card has queue and playback controls; system media controls also work during playback. MusiCards plays local FLAC, ALAC and AAC files, and supported audio from Navidrome. Playback and seeking depend on the file, device and connection.
Troubleshooting
- No play symbol? Check MusicBrainz tags and the active source. For a local folder, create the index again after changing files. For Navidrome, make sure its library scan has completed.
- Navidrome will not connect? Check the HTTPS address, credentials and network access from this device.
- Slow start or interrupted playback? A cloud file may need to download first, or the Navidrome connection may be unstable. Check the current audio output if there is no sound.
- Shazam or barcode scanning unavailable? Check microphone or camera permission in iOS Settings.
Support
Questions and bug reports are welcome. For playback problems, please include your device and OS version, music source, audio format and a short description of what happened.
Privacy Policy
MusiCards has no developer account, advertising, analytics or telemetry. The developer does not receive your music files, listening history or Navidrome credentials.
App preferences, recent MusicBrainz content and the reference to your chosen local folder are stored on your device. A local index (library.json) stays in the selected music folder. Navidrome server details are saved locally; its password is stored in Apple Keychain. You can remove a Navidrome connection in the app, and delete a local index from its folder.
MusiCards contacts MusicBrainz, Cover Art Archive, Wikidata and Wikipedia for music information. On iPhone, Shazam recognition and Apple Music Now Playing use Apple services. If you connect Navidrome, the app communicates directly with your chosen server over HTTPS using OpenSubsonic authentication. Search terms, music identifiers and related requests may reach these independent services when their features are used. Your raw Navidrome password is not sent as an OpenSubsonic request parameter.
Microphone access is used for Shazam recognition and camera access for barcode scanning when you start those features. MusiCards does not store microphone audio or camera images for the developer. Your local audio is read for playback and is not uploaded to the developer.
Attribution
Music metadata comes from MusicBrainz, whose core data is available under CC0. Artwork comes from the Cover Art Archive; individual images retain their respective rights. MusiCards includes libFLAC and libogg; their licence notices are in the app under About → Third-Party Licenses.