Serento: The audiophile UPnP controller app for iOS/macOS

[serento]

What I have been working on this week (Aug 24 - Aug 31)

The next update has been in the works for a full week now, and it grew into one of the bigger ones so far. Here is what it brings, roughly in the order I worked on it.

iOS 27 and macOS 27 readiness

It started as compatibility work for this fall’s OS releases, and Serento now runs cleanly on both. Along the way I fixed several visual issues that only showed up on the new OS: the virtualised lists on memory-constrained devices had a hard top and bottom background instead of the soft one the rest of the UI uses, and several sheets were missing their soft toolbar. Both match the rest of the app now.

Audio quality fixes

This is the part I am happiest about. Pressing Next or Play on a DSD file on certain streamers could produce a brief burst of audio noise, and the same could happen on anything above CD quality. That noise is gone. I also fixed PCM stuttering when pressing next, previous or seeking. If you listen to hi-res or DSD on problematic streamers, this update should feel noticeably more solid.

Multi-select

You can now long-press to enter selection mode in lists and grids, select multiple albums, tracks or artists, and act on all of them at once: play, queue, tag, favorite, rate, download. Check All is there for large selections. This works across Browse, Tags, Bookmarks and the Classical section.

Reordering

Playlists and bookmarks can now be reordered by dragging, using the native iOS 27 list editing behaviours.

Cover art on compilations

Compilation albums now show the right artwork everywhere. Each track that carries its own embedded art keeps it, in Now Playing, on the lock screen, everywhere, while the album itself shows its proper cover. On top of that, the whole cover pipeline moved inside the sync: covers are downloaded and verified while the sync runs, with their own visible stages on the sync screen, so when the sync says done, it is actually done. A nice side effect: if you replace a cover file on your server with a new image under the same name, Serento now detects the change at the next sync and updates it on every surface. Previously that change was invisible.

Sync behaviour

Two quality-of-life changes here. If a scheduled overnight sync was interrupted and Serento finishes it when you open the sync screen, it now says so, so an automatically started sync is never a mystery. And Cancel now means cancel: it discards the interrupted sync entirely, so Sync Again starts a fresh sync from zero. That matters when you add an album in the morning and want it in your library right away.

Plex and folder browsing

Fixed several Plex sync issues, fixed folder view when multiple servers are active, and fixed the breadcrumb scroll position when navigating deep folder trees.

Volume

Plus and minus volume buttons are now added on the volume popover with 1% increments, where the output allows it, along with a maximum volume setting. This is important so you don’t accidentally set a dangerous volume level.

Polish

An updated app icon, haptic feedback across all the important interactions, a fixed alphabetical index bar layout, horizontal scroll bars removed everywhere, plus fixes for classical music bookmarks, a search issue, the format badge showing bit-perfect while nothing was playing, and tapping the mini player while Now Playing was already open.

Expected release date

The update is expected to land after September the 8th or 9th. It depends when Apple releases the release candidate of iOS 27.