what crossfeed actually does
Someone sends you a song. It opens in an app you don't use, or it doesn't open at all. Crossfeed takes any music link and opens it in your player instead.
It also keeps a private diary of what you listen to, and lets you share what you're playing with a few people you choose. All three live in the tabs at the bottom.
Three tabs, three short sections. You only have to do this once, and it takes about five minutes.
pick the app you listen in
The wheel shows the music apps on your phone. Tap the one you use. It lights up, and its name appears in the middle.
- Pick one and links go straight there, no questions asked.
- Pick several and Crossfeed asks which one each time.
Drag the wheel round if your app isn't visible. Apps you don't have installed show as a plain letter.
two switches worth understanding
prefer my own files. If you already own the song, play your copy instead of streaming it. Turning this on asks for permission to read audio on your phone.
open straight away. Skip the confirmation sheet when Crossfeed is certain it found the right song.
It will still ask sometimes, and that is deliberate. Live versions, remixes and playlists cannot be matched exactly, so it checks rather than opening the wrong thing.
let crossfeed catch the links
This is the fiddly bit, and the only part that needs the Android settings app. Skip it if you like, because sharing a link to Crossfeed always works. This step is what makes links open in Crossfeed when you simply tap them.
Android gives an app first refusal on its own web addresses, so Spotify grabs Spotify links before Crossfeed is ever offered. You have to hand them over.
- Tap fix next to each app listed.
- In the screen that opens, turn open supported links off.
- Come back and tap crossfeed's link settings.
- Turn open supported links on, and tick the addresses.
switch on your listening diary
Crossfeed can quietly note what you play, in any app, and turn it into stats. It starts switched off and empty.
Tap turn on listening history. That opens an Android settings screen, because reading what is playing needs a permission only you can grant.
Nothing here leaves your phone. The diary lives in a private file only Crossfeed can read, and you can erase it whenever you like.
allow it, then come back
Find Crossfeed in this list and turn the switch on. Android will warn you this is a powerful permission. It is, so here is exactly what Crossfeed does with it.
It reads the now playing card that music apps publish: song, artist, and how far through you are. It does not read your messages, and none of it is sent anywhere.
Greyed out? If it says restricted setting and will not turn on, that is because the app was installed by hand rather than from a store. Open App info, tap the three dots in the corner, choose allow restricted settings, then come back.
Press back to return to Crossfeed and tap i turned it on.
what shows up
Play something for about half a minute and this tab fills in on its own. There is nothing else to set up.
- today, week, month, all time across the top changes everything below it.
- habits gives your streak, your peak hour, and how often you actually finish songs.
- Further down: your top artists, your top apps, and your genres.
Totals are kept separately from the diary, so you can erase your history and keep your stats.
your own feed
Everything you play appears as a grid of covers, newest first.
- Double tap a cover to play it again.
- Single tap for a play button and a way to delete that entry.
- The badges show when you played it and how long you listened.
see all plays opens the full history grouped by day, and there is an export button that writes the lot to a spreadsheet in your Downloads.
choose a handle
Auxshare is the social half: a small feed of what your friends are playing. Type a name and tap create my handle. No password, no email, no verification.
Two things before you tap. Your handle is permanent, and the only way to change it is to wipe the account and start over. The key to your account is stored on this phone only, so if you uninstall the app, that account is gone for good.
Making a handle shares nothing by itself. That comes next, and it is off until you say otherwise.
say yes to notifications
Straight after you make a handle, Android asks whether Crossfeed may send you notifications. Tap Allow.
This is used for one thing only: telling you when somebody reacts to a song you shared. No announcements, nothing promotional.
If you tap Don't allow everything still works, you just will not hear about reactions until you open the app and check the bell.
add your people
Scroll to your people, type a friend's handle, and tap add. Handles are exact, so check the spelling with them.
They will see a request next time they open the app. Until they accept, you see nothing of each other.
If they have already added you, adding them back connects you instantly.
accept the people who add you
When somebody adds you, they appear under wants to connect at the top of auxshare.
Tap yes to connect, or no to decline. Declining is silent, and they cannot tell the difference between declined and ignored.
You can disconnect from anyone later with the small cross next to their name.
decide what you share
Both switches start off and stay off until you move them.
share what i play. Posts the song, the artist and how long you listened, to your connections only. Not your history. A song has to play for about twenty seconds before it counts, so skipping around posts nothing.
let people find me nearby. Lets other Crossfeed users in your area see you. Your position is rounded to roughly a hundred metres, and others only ever see a rough distance, never a place.
Turn either off at any time and sharing stops immediately.
reading the feed
Once your people start playing music, auxshare fills in.
- The circles at the top are who is listening right now, with the song and artist underneath. Tap one to play it yourself.
- The feed is their recent songs. The small icon shows which app they were using.
- Tap the emoji row to react, play to hear it, bookmark to save it.
Your own songs never appear here. They live in the listening tab.
the full feed
open the feed gives you everything as a wall of covers that keeps loading as you scroll.
- Double tap a cover to love it.
- Hold for the other reactions.
- Single tap for play and save.
The bell at the top of auxshare collects reactions to your songs, grouped by track, so you can see who liked what.
finding people nearby
The round button in the bottom corner opens the radar. It looks for other Crossfeed users close by who have also turned nearby on.
You see a handle and a rough distance band, never an exact position. Nobody appears unless they have chosen to be findable.
Needs location permission, and only while the radar is open.
that's everything
Nothing else needs configuring. Links open where you want them, your listening records itself, and your people can see what you are on if you let them.
- Links not opening in Crossfeed? Back to route, link handling.
- Listening tab still empty? The permission probably did not stick. Toggle it off and on.
- Feed empty? Nobody you have connected with has played anything for twenty seconds yet.
Do not uninstall the app if you care about your handle. There is no way to recover it.