Station apps · iOS · Android · CarPlay · Android Auto
Server Room builds your station's iPhone, iPad and Android apps from its profile, with CarPlay and Android Auto in the same build. You sign them and submit them from your own developer accounts, so they ship under your station's name. They are included with the Premium and Platinum radio plans.
The feature list came from reading reviews of the most popular station apps. Dropped streams were the top complaint across all of them, so reconnection is where the work went first.
Interruptions, a hand-off between Wi-Fi and cellular, a stalled or dropped stream: each one triggers a reconnect, retried after 1, 2, 4, 8 and 15 seconds and then every 15 seconds until audio returns. A data saver picks the lowest-bitrate stream on metered connections unless the listener chose one, and every stream on the plan is in the quality picker.
Now playing is read from the stream's own ICY metadata, so the title changes with the song; the station's now-playing endpoint covers streams that carry none. Recently played sits under it, and listeners keep a list of liked songs on their device.
Background audio with lock screen, notification and Control Center controls. CarPlay shows your streams, your podcasts and a Now Playing screen; Android Auto browses the same library. AirPlay on iOS, Chromecast on Android.
The schedule (on now, up next, the full week) when the station has one, episodes from the podcast RSS feeds you list, and song requests from your library on Platinum stations.
A sleep timer that fades out, and an alarm clock on Android. Share the station in one tap; reach the studio by call, WhatsApp, SMS or email; open the website and social profiles from About.
VoiceOver and TalkBack labels, Dynamic Type and large fonts, and light or dark themes that follow the system. The interface follows the device language across seven languages.
The app talks to three kinds of host only: your station's feed, the stream servers, and the podcast hosts you name. Its User-Agent identifies the app, so your listener statistics can count app listeners without identifying anyone. The privacy policy generated for each app states exactly that.
Published apps tend to go stale because nobody rebuilds them. So a build carries only what the stores display; the rest is fetched on launch, on returning to the foreground and every ten minutes.
| Changes without a new build | Needs a new build and a store update |
|---|---|
| Streams and the now-playing source | App name on the home screen and in the store |
| Schedule, podcasts and song requests | App icon and splash screen |
| Logo and description inside the app | Colours and theme |
| Website, social links and contact details | Store identifiers and version numbers |
Three stages, the last of them in your own developer accounts. The publishing guides cover each store screen by screen.
The generator and the builds cost nothing on a qualifying plan. The store fees belong to Apple and Google and buy the developer accounts the apps are published from, which is also why the listings, ratings and download figures are yours.
| What | Paid to | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Developer Program | Apple | $99 a year |
| Google Play developer account | $25, once | |
| A Mac with Xcode 26 or later | Needed for the iOS build only | Xcode is free |
| The generated apps | Server Room | Included in your plan |
Premium and Platinum radio plans include the apps, and so do the legacy paid radio plans. The station must be running on the current radio platform; one still on the previous platform qualifies as soon as it is migrated, and support can walk you through that. Song requests are a Platinum feature. The free plan has no apps.
Eligibility is checked at every build request. A later change of plan stops new builds; it does not switch off an app that is already in the stores.
Only for iOS. Apple accepts App Store builds from Xcode alone, and Xcode runs only on macOS, so the iOS app is delivered as a project you archive on a Mac. The Android build arrives signed and ready, and any computer with a browser can upload it to Google Play.
The station does. Both listings sit in your own developer accounts, so the ratings, the reviews and the install statistics accrue to you rather than to Server Room.
Inside the app, yes: it reads the logo from your station profile, so a new one appears at the next feed refresh. The launcher icon and the store icon are compiled into the build, so changing those takes a rebuild and a store update.
None. Neither build links an ad network, an analytics SDK or a sign-in service, and the app collects no personal data from listeners.
CarPlay needs Apple's audio entitlement on your developer team. The account holder requests it through Apple's CarPlay request form; approval typically takes one to three weeks. After that, turn on "Apple has approved CarPlay for my app" in the panel, rebuild, and upload the new Xcode archive; the App Store guide has the sequence. Android Auto involves no request to Google, only an opt-in in Play Console.
No. Streams, schedule, podcasts, links and contact details come from the live feed, which the app refreshes on launch and every ten minutes. A rebuild is only needed for what the stores display, such as the icon or the app name, or to ship a newer template version.
Ready to build? A qualifying station finds its app under Apps in the control panel.
