Last updated: December 27, 2019
Here I try to answer the most common questions I get regarding Booksonic. Depending on what the problem you are experiencing is the answers may not always apply to you. If the answer doesn’t help you or you have a problem that is not mentioned here do the following
- Restart the app
- Do the thing that fails
- Go to the main screen of the app
- Tap the dots at the top right
- Tap “Send Log”
- Enter a description of the problem and then send it to me, I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Another great resource for getting help with Booksonic is to go to the Booksonic Reddit and ask the question there. You can find it at https://reddit.com/r/booksonic
The app is just showing white and then crashes when I open it
This is very rare bur can sometimes happen if you don’t have a profilepicture set on the server.
Go to the server in the browser and then Settings -> Personal then select a Profile/Personal image and click save.
There will be a fix for this in a later version of the app.
I can’t connect to the server outside of my network
Make sure that you have portforwarded the port you are using in your router. The default port is 4040. Also make sure that you are specifying the port when you try to go to the server. It should look something like this http(s)://example.com:4040
I can connect to the server when I am not at home or on dataplan but not over Wi-Fi.
Depending on your network configuration it might not be possible to connect to your external IP from inside your network. If so you need to configure the app to use a local IP address instead when you are connected to your Wi-Fi. You can do that from your server settings inside the app. Remember that you also need to configure what SSID should be considered home, if you get <UNKNOWN SSID> when trying to configure it see the point for this further down on this page.
I can connect to the server in the browser but not in the app
Make sure that you enter http:// or https:// at the beginning of the adress and :4040 at the end. If you are using docker or tomcat, make sure to also include /booksonic at the end.
The app keeps crashing when I do X, please help
To be able to help you I need to see the log file. See the list at the top of this post for instructions on how to send me one.
The server sais “Folder not found” when I try to use a network location
This is due to how windows handles permissions. I have posted instructions on how to fix it at https://popeen.com/2016/05/27/using-a-network-shared-folder-in-booksonic/
Casting to Chromecast fails
This will happen if you use a self signed certificate as Chromecast does not support those. There is a workaround for it in the app that you can enable. Go to Settings -> Playback and enable Use device as a proxy, this should fix your problem.
What is the difference between cache and permanent cache?
Files that are cached by Booksonic will normally be automatically removed to make space for newer files once you have reached your cache limit. If you download them using permanent cache they will never be deleted automatically.
When I try to reset my password it says reCaptcha v1 is shut down, can I still reset it?
To reset your password do the following
- Log on to the machine hosting the server
- Stop the server, verify that you can’t reach it in the browser
- use notepad to open c:\booksonic\db\booksonic.script, make sure that you set notepad to Any file or you won’t see it.
- Press CTRL + F and search for INSERT INTO USER VALUES
- After your username you will see enc:lots of numbers
- Replace all the numbers that are before the ‘ sign with 626f6f6b736f6e6963
- Save the file and close notepad
- Start the server
You can now sign in with the password booksonic, make sure the first thing you do is change your password.
If you are running it on a Linux machine the file is probably located at /var/booksonic/db/booksonic.script
I am getting the message <UNKNOWN SSID> when I try to enter SSID in server settings
There was a change in a recent version of Android that requires apps to have location permission before they can see the name of the SSID you are connected to. In the future Booksonic will ask for this permission but for now you have to give it manually from your phone’s settings menu.
The settings menu can look a bit different depending on your phone but it should be something like this, settings -> apps -> Booksonic -> permissions. Then enable the location permission. Go back one step and force close Booksonic.
Now reopen Booksonic and you should be able to get the SSID.
Do you plan to release an iOS version of Booksonic or would you consider it?
Most likely yes, but currently there is no plan as to when that will happen.
In the meantime you can use any iOS app that was created for Subsonic to connect to your Booksonic server. Or you can use webapps like Jamstash or Aurial. These will work just fine for playback but you won’t get any book descriptions or narrator info.
Is Booksonic open-source?
Yes! Booksonic is indeed open source. The server is a fork of the Subsonic server and the Android app is a fork of the DSub app.
You can find the source code for Booksonic at https://github.com/popeen
I have a great idea for a feature, how do I contact you about it?
You can send it to my email at [email protected]booksonic.org, open an issue at https://github.com/popeen/popeens-dsub or post it on https://reddit.com/r/booksonic
While I might sometimes be a bit inactive in posting on GitHub or Reddit I always keep up to date with what is posted.
If you know how to code and want to implement the feature yourself, go for it. Once you are done, send me a pull request on GitHub and as long as the feature doesn’t break compatibility with regular Subsonic servers I will most likely accept it.
