Flacbox 7.4: Rebuilt CarPlay, Plex, Jellyfin, Subsonic, SFTP for Hi-Res Audio

Anna Kosenko Co-Founder & Director at Everappz

TL;DR: Flacbox 7.4 is a major release for the iPhone and Mac hi-res audio player. CarPlay has been rebuilt from the ground up — fast sorting, multiple color themes, a fresh Now Playing screen, a full play queue at a glance, and a letter index for huge libraries. The update adds 10+ new ways to reach your music — privacy-first clouds Internxt and Proton Drive, personal servers QNAP, Nextcloud, and Amazon S3, the streaming servers Plex, Subsonic, Navidrome, Jellyfin, and Emby, plus the network protocols FTP, SFTP, and NFS. The interface is tuned for Apple’s new Liquid Glass material, the underlying network libraries are stronger, and Home Screen widgets refresh more reliably.

Hi everyone!

A big Flacbox update is here. We rebuilt CarPlay from scratch and added more than ten new ways to connect to your lossless library — from privacy-first cloud storage to popular self-hosted media servers and classic network protocols.

Download Flacbox 7.4 from the App Store or update from your existing version. Mac users can grab the desktop version here.

CarPlay, Rebuilt from Scratch

We redesigned Apple CarPlay for Flacbox from the ground up so listening on the road feels safer and easier. Every detail — from how a song is found to how playback is controlled — has been retuned for the in-car experience.

• Fast sorting — reach any song in moments across albums, artists, playlists, and folders without endless scrolling.
• Color themes that fit your car — pick a theme that matches your dashboard or your interior lighting, day or night.
• A fresh Now Playing screen — bigger artwork, clearer controls, and new playback actions one tap away.
• Your full play queue at a glance — see what is coming next without leaving the current screen.
• Letter index for large libraries — jump through tens of thousands of FLAC, DSD, ALAC, and APE tracks with a single touch.
• Faster loading, no more pauses — opening big folders, cloud directories, or media-server libraries feels instant.

If you stream lossless audio while driving — from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud Drive, Plex, Jellyfin, Subsonic, or any other source — the rebuilt CarPlay experience makes the whole flow feel native to the car.

10+ New Ways to Connect Your Music

Flacbox 7.4 expands what counts as your “music library.” If your hi-res files live on a cloud you trust, a NAS at home, or a self-hosted streaming server, Flacbox now plays from it directly — no syncing, no exporting, no format conversion.

Private Clouds: Internxt and Proton Drive

If end-to-end encryption and zero-knowledge storage matter to you, two of the most respected privacy-first clouds are now native in Flacbox:

• Internxt — open-source, post-quantum encrypted, GDPR-compliant Spanish cloud. Free tier available.
• Proton Drive — end-to-end encrypted storage from the makers of Proton Mail and Proton VPN, based in Switzerland. Free tier available with paid plans for larger libraries.

Connect once and your FLAC, DSD, or ALAC files stream through the encrypted tunnel — Flacbox never sees your data in the clear, and neither does the provider’s server.

Personal Servers: QNAP, Nextcloud, Amazon S3

For listeners running their own infrastructure:

• QNAP — native API connection to QNAP NAS devices for fast, reliable playback over local Wi-Fi or remote access. Stream high-bitrate FLAC and DSD directly without re-encoding.
• Nextcloud — connect to any self-hosted or managed Nextcloud instance. A great option if you have already moved off Google Drive or Dropbox for privacy reasons.
• Amazon S3 — point Flacbox at any S3 bucket (or S3-compatible storage like Backblaze B2, Wasabi, MinIO, Cloudflare R2) and stream your collection directly.

Streaming Servers: Plex, Subsonic, Navidrome, Jellyfin, Emby

This is the big one for self-hosted music fans. Flacbox 7.4 turns your iPhone or Mac into a first-class hi-res client for the most popular open-source and freemium media servers:

• Plex — Plex Media Server is free to download and run. A Plex Pass subscription is optional and unlocks mobile sync, hardware transcoding, and other extras. Flacbox works with both free and Plex Pass libraries.
• Subsonic — the original self-hosted music streaming server. The official Subsonic server is paid ($1/month after a 30-day trial), and Flacbox also speaks the Subsonic API to dozens of compatible servers.
• Navidrome — modern, lightweight, completely free and open-source music server written in Go. Implements the Subsonic API. Runs on a Raspberry Pi, NAS, or any Linux box. Highly recommended for lossless collections up to a few hundred thousand tracks.
• Jellyfin — completely free and open-source media server (a community fork of Emby). Handles music, movies, TV, and audiobooks. No accounts, no telemetry, no subscriptions.
• Emby — freemium media server. The core server is free; Emby Premiere is a one-time or yearly purchase that unlocks mobile apps, offline sync, and more. Flacbox connects to both free and Premiere libraries.

Whichever server you run, Flacbox streams your full collection — albums, artists, playlists, genres, and embedded artwork — with bit-perfect output to USB DACs, the 10-band equalizer, crossfade and gapless playback, AirPlay, Chromecast, and the rebuilt CarPlay experience. Your server keeps listening history; Flacbox respects it.

New Transfer Methods: FTP, SFTP, NFS

For listeners with custom servers, home labs, or generic NAS boxes that don’t ship with a polished mobile app, Flacbox 7.4 adds three classic network protocols:

• SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) — the right answer for secure remote streaming from your own server. SFTP rides on top of SSH, so the entire transfer (authentication and audio data) is encrypted. If you have a VPS, dedicated server, or a Linux box at home with SSH access, you can drop a folder of FLAC or DSD on it and stream over the public internet without exposing anything else. Supports password and key-based authentication.
• FTP — the long-standing standard for file transfer. Useful if your home NAS (older Synology, ASUS, D-Link, TerraMaster, or generic boxes) exposes an FTP server but does not have a native API integration. Best used inside your local network.
• NFS (Network File System) — the de-facto sharing protocol on Linux and most NAS devices. NFS shares are common on home labs and small business networks; Flacbox now mounts them and streams bit-perfect audio directly. Lower overhead than SMB on the same hardware.

Tip: SFTP is the protocol you want for streaming from the open internet. FTP and NFS are best inside your local network — keep them off the public internet unless you wrap them in a VPN.

Other Improvements

A New Look That Matches Liquid Glass

Flacbox 7.4’s interface is updated for Apple’s new Liquid Glass material across the app — translucent surfaces, smoother animations, and refined controls that fit naturally into iOS 26 and macOS 26. The library, Now Playing, equalizer, and settings screens have all been retuned for the new system aesthetic.

Stronger Network Libraries

We refreshed the underlying libraries Flacbox uses to talk to WebDAV, SMB, DLNA, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud Drive, MEGA, and other services. Translation: fewer edge-case connection failures, better support for newer server versions, and improved reliability when streaming high-bitrate audio on slower or geographically distant connections.

Fixed Playback on Some Servers

We tracked down and fixed a handful of playback issues on certain self-hosted servers — including stalls after seeking on large FLAC and DSD files, and slow start times on libraries with very long file lists. Streaming should feel cleaner end-to-end.

New Home Screen Widgets with Better Refresh

The Home Screen widgets — Now Playing, Playback Queue, Recently Played — have been redesigned with cleaner layouts and a smarter refresh policy. They stay in sync with the app without burning extra battery, and a few new widget sizes give you more control over what is visible at a glance.

Translation Fixes

Many small localization fixes across multiple languages based on direct user feedback. Text fits better on smaller buttons and in longer European languages (German, Dutch, French, Spanish).

Small Polish Inspired by Your Messages

Countless small improvements based on App Store reviews and emails to [email protected]. We read every message.

Why This Update Matters

Flacbox 7.4 is built around two ideas:

1. Your hi-res music, wherever you keep it. Whether your lossless library lives on iCloud Drive, a privacy-first cloud like Proton Drive or Internxt, a media server like Plex or Jellyfin, a NAS at home, or a Raspberry Pi running Navidrome — Flacbox now connects to it natively, with the same bit-perfect playback experience everywhere.
2. Better in the car. CarPlay is the screen many listeners see most, and the rebuilt experience reflects that — faster, safer, and built around the way real drivers reach for their music.

Get Flacbox 7.4

Download Flacbox from the App Store or update from inside the App Store. The Mac version is available separately as a universal Mac app. Flacbox is a free download with optional in-app upgrades for advanced features. The rebuilt CarPlay, all new cloud and server connections, the refreshed Home Screen widgets, and the Liquid Glass UI are part of the base update.

If the app makes your day better, a rating on the App Store really helps. Questions or problems? Write to [email protected] and a real person will reply.

Frequently Asked Questions