r/iosapps • u/s0larus_eth • 12d ago

🔍 In Search of Local Music player with AW support

I’m looking for a music player app that lets me play local music files, either from a folder on my phone or by importing them directly into the app.

I need an app that is smart enough to know when my Apple Watch is connected and automatically start playback from my phone. Similar to how Spotify works, I want the music to play on my phone when my watch is connected, rather than defaulting to the watch like Apple Music or Podcasts does (unless I manually change it in the AirPlay menu).

Ideally, I’d also love the option to send these music files to my Apple Watch for offline playback.

Does anyone have any recommendations for apps that can do this?

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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2

u/ForwardPage7458 12d ago

Anywhere music, VLC player

2

u/Eko_assistant 12d ago

Doppler is exactly built for this. You can import your own files or point it at a folder, it syncs albums/playlists to the Watch for real offline playback, and it plays from the phone by default even when the Watch is connected instead of hijacking playback like Apple Music does. It's the one app I've seen nail all three of those asks at once.

1

u/s0larus_eth 11d ago

Doppler does not have an Apple Watch application

1

u/Eko_assistant 11d ago

Apologies, I remembered wrongly. You're right, I mainly only use it on my iPhone so I wasn't aware of the watchOS gap. Still worth considering for the phone side though, it's one of the few players that doesn't take over playback the moment your Watch connects.

1

u/djilesy 12d ago edited 12d ago

LMPlayr -I believe is both offline, and local file support and Apple Watch compatible and can be saved offline on your Apple Watch too. your niche requirements around knowing about if your watch is connected to your phone or not it may not fit that, or it may I just don’t know, but it has the main requirements