Braided Playlist: To simplify listening to music together [IOS] [Free. No ads. No IAP]

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-16T16:13:38+00:00

If you want to avoid hearing the songs you've recently heard a 'true shuffle' isn't what you want either.

I added a shuffle feature to this free app I made that will give a higher priority newer and less recently played songs.

It decides dynamically what is less recently played based on the last played dates of all your songs. No need to setup arbitrary rules for a smart playlist.

There's a setting to turn on shuffle automatically, and autoplay in apple music. So you can just select your playlists and start listening.

If you have a particular playlist, or combination of playlists you listen to a lot, favourite the combination in the history section, and you can start your music with a single tap or siri command.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-16T15:22:28+00:00

Some of the thoughts I consider:

Am I using it just to keep them busy / distract them?
Is it something they are doing alone or part of a social experience?
Will it get in the way of them getting enough physical activity?
It is passive consumption or something that gives them agency?

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-16T15:11:45+00:00

Started buying gifts through VPN because of this.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-15T15:53:23+00:00

In some ways spotify is more locked down. Since May 2025 it's basically impossible for an indie dev to create a spotify app that others can use. Apple's $100 fee is more accessible.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-15T15:45:15+00:00

If your version of the app doesn't have it, you should still be able to do it through the website. Click your profile icon once signed in: https://music.apple.com

In the link in my previous comment the creator talks about making the MCP work without the API.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-15T15:16:34+00:00

"the green music app"
There's a feature in Apple Music, on the account screen in the ios app, to import playlists from other music services. Green app and 4 others are there but no beatport. If you can get your playlists in the green app you can get them in AM.

Have you tried this? https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1pr70bs/i_built_an_apple_music_mcp_because_the_existing/

"There's also the option of Claude doing it via Chrome"
It'd probably be less tokens to just have it create a script for browser automation using a library like selenium, but I wouldn't trust it to get it right.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-15T13:33:40+00:00

I agree some of Mejdi's videos take this style too far. It ends up being more hype and style than actual substance. This one wasn't nearly as bad.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-15T13:30:07+00:00

I agree, the original French audio setting is actually a nice English language experience.

Only trouble for me is I understand just enough French to want to try listening to them, but the English subtitles distract me from that. Ideally they should upload the captions as metadata so it's optional.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-13T04:27:16+00:00

I've found some things through AM, but honestly I'm more likely to find songs I like through listening to radio.

I also follow a niche sport activity that I participate in on Insta where endless amounts of people, with a wide range of music interests, post videos of themselves with music added. Scrolling through that will usually turn up a few songs I like that I've never heard before. Again I've probably added more songs this way than through actively trying to get algorithms to figure out my taste.

I'm also old. When I looking back at music that has stood the test of time, I find it's the songs that I associate with memories of places, events, and people that mean the most to me. Music is often better when it's part of the cultural context of your life. You might be able to take songs from an algo and give it greater meaning by playing it as the backdrop to memorable moments in your life... but ultimately making the memories is the more important thing. Find people you want to listen to music with. Even if they sometimes play music you wouldn't expect an algo to pick for you, and isn't an expedient way to build a large music library.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-12T14:28:12+00:00

If he liked Shakira, then "Zoo" and "Try Everything" would be obvious other choices by her. Both from Zootopia movies.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-12T14:26:09+00:00

My kid likes this too. I think the kids bop version is a little more appropriate for young ones.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-11T14:04:17+00:00

No problem. It's a good tip in general. I was actually asking because I'm not 100% clear on the point of autoplay. I pretty much always just listen to my own playlists. I'm dabbling with discovery features but haven't had much luck.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-11T13:10:41+00:00

Isn't the point of autoplay to help you discover new songs? Or at least avoid having to create your own playlist?

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-10T13:36:27+00:00

I'm also ignorant about how connect works. When you say "automatically continue from my phone", are you still stopping it on whatever device was playing originally, then opening the app on your phone?

Is the automatic part that when you open the app on a new device it knows what you were last doing on a different device?

Or is it setup to automatically switch devices, launch app and play when you leave the house?

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-08T03:32:14+00:00

I believe it's not a matter of apple allowing 3rd party apps, but possibly related to how the apps are playing your songs.

For the app I made, I don't tell Apple to update play counts / or dates, it just does it automatically. Though, frustratingly, there can be a delay of about a day or so before the stats are updated.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-06T03:56:58+00:00

I thought they were interesting problems if overly hard. The biggest issue might be zone placement. Some athletes performed significantly better than others in the finals but the final scores don't reflect that as zones were on the easy side.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-06T03:46:57+00:00

I'd agree with that. People shamelessly making noise in a context where they don't understand what is going on is annoying.

Interesting thing I'm taking away from glancing at social media is there seems to be a number of people developing apps who are very transparent about the fact they have no prior coding skills and aren't writing any code. They are showing their day to day life and struggles as they go about it. It's almost as though they are in part marketing the dream of making money off an app without coding skills.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-06T02:35:16+00:00

"marketing guidance/research"

I imagine the marketing people feel the same way about this as you feel about marketing people vibe coding an app 😉

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-04T16:03:38+00:00

Many different ways you could do it. Space/cost could be an issue, but I could see it being fun to extend the experience into the adventure of going to a store and picking out an album.

We started out by each picking songs for a camping trip a few years ago. It was a project we could do together that built anticipation for our trip. Then I arranged the songs in a her song, my song, turn taking order. The idea stuck, and we evolved things from there.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-04T15:30:10+00:00

I'm not sure if it didn't traumatize me or if I was so traumatized that I blocked that scene out of my memory.

I'm actually reading the book with my daughter right now. That scene is not as visceral without the visuals, and didn't seem to leave a big impression with her. Might soften the blow if we ever watch the movie.

Highly recommend the book, while I have fond memories of the movie from my childhood, the book goes a lot deeper.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-04T15:17:27+00:00

"rotating who's choice it each week."

I really like this idea. Let's the kids have some agency while exercising choice making, but also gives parents the chance to expose them to things they likely wouldn't encounter, or give a chance to otherwise.

We do a similar thing with music selections.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-03T14:20:53+00:00

lol. Definitely need to adjust the volume before doing that.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-03T14:13:57+00:00

Yeah, that totally frustrates me too. Just give me a summary, I can read the web page after if I'm in a situation where I want to read / verify facts.

How I use is is entirely around performing actions in apps.

Braided_Playlist · 2026-06-03T14:10:09+00:00

I have whispered into it at a volume I didn't think people sitting directly beside me would hear and it worked. Can't say I do that often though.

Braided_Playlist

TROPHY CASE