I’d like to get an app for the Apple watch, or at least get the Roon app on the phone to tie into Apple’s API that allows media players like Tidal, Spotify, iAudioGate and others to show controls on the phone’s lock screen and also on the watch’s Now Playing “glance”.
It would allow a quick check of which track is playing, and the ability to pause, skip, play and control volume from the phone’s lock screen and the watch’s Now Playing glance.
As things stand now, I have to unlock my phone and navigate to the Roon app to even see what’s playing, never mind changing volume or tracks. I have a wired, whole-house audio system that is run by a Marantz Network and Airplay-capable receiver, and I would like to be able to have basic control over Roon from my watch or phone lock screen as I move from room to room during whatever activity is currently taking place. I didn’t think lack of watch or lock screen control for Roon would be a big deal at all when I first started using Roon, but after months and months of controlling Apple Music and Tidal with the watch,it has turned out to be surprisingly annoying! So much so that it discourages me from using Roon at all except when I am semi-permanently parked in front of my PC or on the couch with my Android tablet.
Does anyone else think this would be a useful feature? Please add your voice to this discussion if you do.
Well, I think that it might be useful if it was added to all Roon applications, i.e. Android, Wiindows 10 etc . imho, Roon should keep functionality the same no matter what version you are using, if at all possible.
Is there analogous behavior on other platforms? I know there certainly isn’t the same API for watchOS that ties into the now playing media players on other platforms.
I’d also like to share that my preference is to get iOS native playback going before addressing this rather small UI improvement for remote control use. And to expand upon the iOS specific behavior, a widget would be great for easy access to the remote control UI.
I’d like to put in my vote for three additions for iOS/Roon.
*Allow for iOS device to be a Roon Endpoint. I often use my iPhone (connected via highend external amp/DAC and wired headphones or bluetooth headphones) but I’m out of range of bluetooth from my Roon server. Would be very nice to have the iOS device be an endpoint.
Native Roon playback from iOS. That way I could use while not at home.
iPhone allowing for use of Focus feature (perhaps it’s there but for the life of me I can’t find it). iPad and Mac versions have this but the iPhone version doesn’t seem to. No way for instance to find favorites, etc.
For some reason the iOS app on both iPhone and iPad do not feel iOS-like at all…
For example you cannot swipe back and forward, the side panel does not slide in with a gesture (you need to press a button), etc
On iPad none of the fields in the overview screen are scrollable (e.g. recently added, tidal new albums/top albums). You again need to press a button. In this case the “view all” button.
On iPhone I would expect to be able to slide up the now playing section at the bottom to reveal the now playing or queue screen
These are design choices that simply are unexpected behavior for iOS
Also the app does not stay active in the background and almost every time gives you this annoying “lost connection” screen…
The biggest problem off course is the fact that local playback (even from wifi network) is not possible.
I also feel that roon should be accessible from the lock screen (or at least from a widget in notification screen)
Not sure how they could square doing this with having a same look and feel across all platforms unless you know of a way to make Android the same as IOS
I think the Roon UI is fine really don’t want it to be changed to what ever iOS like you are referring to. It is more important to have a consistent UI between different OS.
But I really mis lock screen contol that’s it. Can’t see why the iOS ap can’t have it, just because it does not make sense on a Mac or PC?
We all know that the iPhone is the “black sheep” of the Roon family… that tiny screen makes it quite a different animal.
IMHO Roon only released it to pacify those that wanted a simplified interface … so I feel it’s a little unfair to judge that against the other larger format platforms.
However, don’t take my response as negative… I too would like better iOS support… such as quick access from the lock screen. (I use an iPad Air 2 as my primary Room Remote and the “connecting” message is frustrating at times).
Agreed. My biggest gripe with the iOS app is lack of access/controls from the lock screen. Having to unlock the phone (fast with Touch ID) and then waiting for the roon app to reconnect to the server is really annoying. Just to skip a track for instance. This really needs to be addressed and should be easy, low hanging fruit.
Another desired request - to get iPhone “Focus on Similar” and and access to favorite information via iPhone version. The iPad can do this but not the iPhone best I can tell - unless I’m missing something. Also, I’d put in my vote to get the iPad to be used in the vertical mode which is how I usually use my iPad. Thanks!
I wanted to listen to an album that I could only find on Apple Music yesterday so I plugged my iPhone into my Chord mojo instead of my Sonicorbiter. The sound quality was pretty poor but the ability to pause, change tracks all with no hesitation from my Apple Watch was superb. For analogue out volume control was instant as well. I would even settle for having Roon run in slide over multitasking on the iPad, I.e. Not full side by side multitasking just to be able to slide it in from the right of the screen to change track. Lock screen controls would be awesome.
why not make an ios app act as a proper ios app