SmartPlayer - Music Player and Scrobbler for Last.fm App Reviews

If your last.fm stats are important to you. Then this app is perfect.

It takes 2 seconds or more when you click for the next song, way too slow! the inference is nice but the slow thing makes me pass.

I use Last.fm, and for a long time, I used the official iOS scrobbler from them. However, it hasn’t been updated since January 2014 last I checked, making the current build over a year old. Between predating iOS 8 and thus probably not being well-optimized for it and me subscribing to iTunes Match, it started having basic functionality problems. It would often miss scrobbles for no apparent reason and not update my play counts reliably via Match. It could rarely even load my profile and streaming was finicky at best, even with a good connection. As a result, I started looking for alternatives that would do what I wanted - scrobble my plays and update play counts through Match. My search finally led me to this app. It was with a bit of initial hesitation, even after reading as much information and reviews that I could that I spent the money on it, but since using it I haven’t regretted it. It has reliably done what I wanted - scrobbled my plays, and updated my play counts with Match. Only two mistakes so far: one double scrobble (easily deleted from my Last.fm profile) and one song that registered two plays through Match instead of one. But even with those errors, its still far better than how well the official app had been doing for a long time. I like that I can see a Last.fm scrobbling progress indicator as a song plays. I like how I can see what’s in an offline queue, and scrobble everything thats there once I have a better connection. Knowing what it’s doing with scrobbling is very helpful to me. Also since switching to this app for my mobile listening, my iTunes play counts reliably update within 24 hours, which I can’t say for the official app, which would update my play counts anywhere from within minutes to a week later (and too often not at all). I stop short of 5 stars for a few things that I think could be added. While I like the touch and gesture based controls, it is a bit prone to error with accidental touches and misinterpreted gestures. It can also be a little imprecise with delayed feedback. I think it would be helpful to have that control scheme, but with an option to switch it off in favor of a more standard play control interface if preferred. Also, once an album or play queue is finished, I think it would be great if the app went back to the user’s selected list view (albums, artists, playlists, etc.) instead of the “Take your pick!” view (or make this a changeable setting). Last, it would be awesome if for iTunes Match users, downloads could be initiated in-app. It’s great to be able to see what’s stored locally and what’s in the cloud, but going a step further would make it possible for me to stop using the stock app entirely. I like to store some music locally for my daily commuting, as I take a bus and go through a few places where I have a weak data connection, so streaming isn’t always the best option for me. But right now, I still have to use the stock app to download anything. Overall, though, those are pretty minor things considering where I came from, and in the end, it does the two biggest things I want pretty reliably - scrobble to Last.fm, and update with iTunes Match.

Controls are leagues more intuitive, stupid easy to scrobble in LastFM, minimalist. Best 2bucks Ive spent on the App store. Could use a built in equalizer.

I love this app so much! Way better than the stock music player. However I downgraded to three stars because lately the search function has been crashing. I hit the eyeglass and when I type the first character: crash! Every time

I dont think there is another IOS music player that comes anywhere near the excellent package of intuitive gestural controls, stunning visual elegance and crisp functionality of Shad Deens "SmartPlayer". I have a very large collection of music (ripped from CDs in Apple Lossless format) and much of it is available via my iPad and iPods through iTunes Match. The SmartPlayer makes it a breeze to find any particular selection I want to hear - and it makes aimless browsing fun, too. Sound quality is excellent - and the displays of album artwork are gorgeous. I have yet to try "scrobbling" with it, since I need to check with our countys sheriff and make sure its legal for a senior citizen to do that in our part of southern Illinois. I will post a follow-up if the sheriff says I can give it a try without getting arrested! ;>)

It costs a lot of battery occasionally which has even made my phone warm or hot... The battery control says its the background running. 4.9 ......................................... It now works perfectly!!! Thank you! Now I dont have to use some other apps that doesnt look and work like Smartplayer.

Simple. Does exactly what a music player should do without all the extraneous crap. Easy to access your music by artist, album, song. Has access to all your iTunes playlists. Scrobbles flawlessly to last.fm. Isnt just a front to Apples music store like the stock app is. Other nice features and a beautiful interface. A music lovers player.

Doesnt support resolution for the new iPhones sadly. This should absolutely be a given considering the price point.

Amazing Music app alternative that is sleek, smooth and very functional. Many last.fm options that will keep the common scrobbler happy.

Interface is pretty.

So I cant use it

In all honesty, Apple really should purchase this app and replace its music app with it. The use of touch gestures makes the whole music experience on a touchscreen seem more natural and current. Lastfm syncing is flawless, transitions and graphics are fluid and best of all it uses your existing library on the phone so no streaming--dont get me wrong, spotify & iTunes Match are great but they dont have every track I want to listen to. Sticking with my iPod/Music for my own collection of music. If youre the same way, download this app. (Oh, and it also works with songs in the Cloud/iTunes Match)

I beg you!!

Does what it says it does and does it with impeccable style.

Ive been using another music app called GROOVE. After I found SMARTPLAYER, its changed the way Im listening to music.. So powerful. I also like the cache scrobble, it allows u to choose which song to be scrobble. By far my best music app.

Everything about this app is pretty much perfect. It is the only alternative to the default music app that Ive found that allows you to rate songs, scrobble your plays to Last.fm, update your Facebook status or Twitter with your currently playing song, and has an extremely elegant interface that is simple and beautiful. The only gripes I have are... 1) Non-square album art is cropped instead of zoomed to fit. 2) The app crashes too often. I suspect it has something to do with the album art (maybe some image formats are unsupported?), but this is just speculation. 3) There is an unnecessary envelop around the album art. It would be nice if it was displayed all-the-way to the edge of the screen...the way the default music app does in iOS 8. Despite these minor flaws, I still give this app 5 stars since it is still the best music app available.

I really like this app. Its a great scrobbler.

I used to love this app until the last update now every time I pick a song it only plays the first track of the album and then I have to skip songs until I find the one I want. Need to fix this ASAP or I will be deleting it and going back to the one that comes with my phone.

Hands down, this is the best music player for any iOS device. Its almost comical how this app trumps Apples default player in every way possible. SmartPlayer is intuitive, responsive, and aesthetically beautiful. There are so many great features, and everything works smoothly. The developer should be applauded for creating such a complex app, while also keeping it simple to use. Words cant express how satisfied I am, this app is awesome! My favorite feature is how it accurately scrobbles music to Last.fm...its even more reliable than LFMs official app.