# Daft Music

> Daft Music is a fast, beautifully designed, native client for the Apple Music subscription you
> already pay for. It replaces Apple's own Music app with a purpose-built interface for macOS and
> iOS: the same catalog and your same library, reimagined with more speed, more elegance, and a
> layer of features Apple does not ship.

## Overview

Daft Music is "Apple Music, done over." It is not a streaming service of its own and it has no
catalog of its own; it connects to your existing Apple Music account and library (playlists,
favorites, and stations) and gives you a better daily-driver client for it. The premise is taste
plus performance: strip the experience down to its cleanest form, a grid of artwork with playback
at the bottom and search at the top, then go further than Apple on visual polish, animation, and
capability.

It is built from the ground up for Liquid Glass and native performance, so it feels at home on
Apple platforms and stays fast. On top of the core listening experience it adds things Apple's own
app does not: motion cover art, cover-tint theming, custom-curated radio, Shazam-into-a-station,
cross-service import from Spotify and Tidal, Last.fm scrobbling, deep Siri and Shortcuts
integration, Live Activities and Dynamic Island, and social sharing.

It is made for the discerning Apple Music listener who cares how their software looks and feels,
and who will pay a little extra for a client that is more elegant and more capable than the
default. That focus is reflected in recognition from Apple, MacStories, and Product Hunt.

- Platforms: macOS (Mac App Store) and iOS / iPhone (App Store)
- Price: Free to download; full playback requires a Daft Music subscription
  ($1.99/month or $17.99/year), with 30-second song previews otherwise.
- Requirement: An active Apple Music subscription
- Developer: OBRHOFF Software Labs GmbH — an independent studio building native Mac music
  clients since 2017 (see Developer, below).

## Design & Experience

- Beautifully designed, native interface that feels at home on macOS and iOS.
- Built from the ground up for Liquid Glass, with a frosted-glass treatment on playback controls
  for readability; the Outfit font by default, switchable to the system font in settings.
- Native performance: built natively for lightning-fast playback and smooth navigation.
- Now Playing, beautifully animated: album art comes alive with fluid native animations.
- Animated (motion) cover art support for a living Now Playing screen.
- Personalization: light/dark themes, custom accent colors, font selection, cover-tint UI that
  colors the interface from the current artwork, and alternate app icons.
- One-thumb navigation on iPhone: Home, Library, and Search in a floating bar; pull down to
  reach pinned playlists, stations, and favorites.

## Playback

- Full-screen player with artwork, seek slider, and a tabbed player/queue view.
- Full queue management with reorderable items, shuffle, and repeat modes.
- Apple Music playback plus radio and station support (Apple Music stations and artist stations).
- Custom curated radio: personalized, continuously generated stations tailored to your taste.
- Shazam integration built into Radio: recognizes songs and turns them into a station.
- System lock-screen / media controls.

## Library

- Browse your library by tracks, albums, artists, and playlists.
- Create and edit playlists.
- Home / discovery feed with featured carousels and grids.
- Fast search across tracks, albums, artists, and playlists.
- Pin favorite library items for quick access.

## Import & Migration

- Import your playlists and library from Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal.
- Per-playlist selection when importing, with a Live Activity showing import progress.

## Integrations

- Last.fm scrobbling with account connection.
- Live Activities and Dynamic Island support, including a song-detection Now Playing surface.
- Siri and Shortcuts via App Intents: play a track, album, artist, playlist, or station;
  play/pause, next/previous, skip, and search — all by voice or shortcut.
- Share songs as video or image to Instagram Stories, Reels, and square video.
- Handoff / Continuity to move playback between your Apple devices.
- AirPlay support for streaming to compatible speakers and devices.

## Sync & Backup

- iCloud sync (CloudKit) to keep your setup consistent across devices.
- Library backup and restore via exportable/importable backup files.

## Developer

Daft Music is built by OBRHOFF Software Labs GmbH, an independent studio that has been shipping
native music clients for the Mac since 2017.

- DaftCloud (2017–present): the studio's native macOS client for SoundCloud, rated 4.5 out of 5
  from more than 20,000 ratings worldwide, and still actively maintained after eight years.
- Daft Music applies the same approach to Apple Music that DaftCloud applied to SoundCloud: a
  design-led, native third-party client for a streaming service you already subscribe to, with
  Shazam recognition, AirPlay, and a free download with a subscription for full playback.

## Recognition

- Featured by Apple
- Featured by MacStories: https://www.macstories.net/reviews/a-fresh-spin-on-apple-music-exploring-daft-musics-liquid-glass-design/
- Featured on Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/products/daft-music

## Links

- Home: https://daftmusic.app/
- Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/daft-music/id6748985865
- iPhone / App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/daft-music/id6748985865
- DaftCloud (by the same developer): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/daftcloud/id1320450034
- Privacy Policy: https://daftmusic.app/privacy
- Terms & Conditions: https://daftmusic.app/terms
- Imprint / Impressum: https://daftmusic.app/imprint