FAQ
The questions we’re asked,
and the short answers.
Everything here appears in more depth elsewhere on the site; this page is the quick pass. If yours isn’t answered, the contact form reaches us directly.
The basics
Running Lagu,
and joining the beta.
What do I need to run Lagu?
A Plex account, a Plex Media Server, and a music library on it. Lagu is a client for your own server — there is no Lagu account to create and no service of ours in the middle.
How do I get the beta?
The closed beta is open. Join the list on the download page, pick your platforms, and an invitation goes out in the next wave, as slots open. An invite arrives as a TestFlight link, a Google Play invitation, or a direct desktop installer, depending on the platforms you picked.
What does Lagu cost?
It’s free while the beta runs. Launch is the day Lagu goes up on the stores for everyone, and that’s when the price starts: one $1.99 App Store purchase covers iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV together, and one $1.99 Google Play purchase covers Android. Desktop is free forever. There is no subscription and nothing to buy inside the app.
Which platforms does Lagu run on?
Lagu is native on iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Android TV, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and desktop on Windows, macOS, and Linux. CarPlay comes with the iPhone app and Android Auto with the Android app. Fire OS is next: the Android tablet and TV apps on Fire tablets and Fire TV, through the Amazon Appstore. Amazon’s Vega OS is a separate platform and is not planned. The Android tablet layout is in verification. The platform table shows what each one does.
Does Lagu upload or see my music?
No. Lagu on your device talks directly to your Plex Media Server. Your music, your listening, and your library data never pass through us. The privacy page spells out the little the site itself collects.
Can Lagu play to a WiiM or another network speaker?
Yes, from desktop and Android phone. Turn on Network speakers in Settings under Playback and DLNA speakers on your network appear in the output picker, with your streaming-quality choice carried over. Your Plex server can be on the same network or somewhere else: Lagu fetches the audio and the album art itself and hands the speaker a private address on your own network, so your Plex token never leaves the device. Volume is set on the speaker for now, and seeking while casting is planned for the next release.
Why does Lagu on Android ask for the microphone?
Only when you turn on a visualizer, and only because Android’s audio-visualizer API needs the record-audio permission to read the audio an app is itself playing. That goes for the phone and the TV. It is bound to Lagu’s own audio session, so it cannot hear anything else, and nothing is recorded, stored, or sent anywhere. Decline it and you keep the cover art. The privacy page has the longer version.
Can I use Lagu Remote away from home?
Yes, wherever the two devices share a network. Lagu Remote is same-network by design; that’s what keeps it fast, private, and free of any cloud service. A laptop and a phone on the same hotel Wi-Fi pair exactly as they would at home. What it can’t do is control a host on a different network. It needs no Plex Pass. Streaming your library itself away from home is a separate question, covered below.
Does Lagu scrobble?
Yes: to Last.fm and ListenBrainz, on every platform, off until you connect a service in Settings. Plays made offline queue up and send when you’re back online. Whether or not either service is connected, your own Plex server keeps its play counts and history — Lagu reports plays to it like any Plex client, and that’s what Deep Cuts, listening stats, and play-count playlist rules are built from. Those records stay on your server. Plex can also scrobble on its own: if your Plex account is linked to Last.fm, your server reports plays from every client, Lagu included. That’s why scrobbles can appear before you’ve connected anything in Lagu, and why connecting Last.fm in both places would record each play twice. Pick one.
Asked something this page doesn’t answer? Post it on the forum — good answers have a way of ending up here.
Plex Pass
What Plex Pass changes,
and what it doesn’t.
A handful of Lagu’s features are built on sonic analysis and Plex-fetched lyrics, two things Plex provides only for Plex Pass subscribers. Lagu never hides a feature because you might not have the Pass, and it never quietly downgrades one and keeps the name. When your server hasn’t got the sonic analysis a feature needs, Lagu says so in plain words at the point you’d use it.
| Feature | Without Plex Pass |
|---|---|
| Playback, library, search, playlists, queue, downloadsThe whole app, apart from the rows below | |
| Lyrics — your own filesEmbedded tags, or an .lrc beside the track; a timestamped .lrc scrolls in sync | |
| Guest DJ — GroupieLeads with the artist’s most-played tracks | |
| Deep Cuts, Artist Mix, Library ShuffleBuilt from play counts and artist metadata | |
| Genres, styles & decadesDecades come from your albums’ release years | |
| Visualizers & EQReact to Lagu’s own audio, not server analysis | |
| Crossfade & Smart FadesSmart Fades read the loudness shape from sonic analysis | Crossfade works; without analysis the fade is the standard fixed one |
| Loudness leveling | Applies to tracks your server has analyzed; the rest play at their original level |
| Waveform seek | The rainbow seek bar stands in for unanalyzed tracks |
| Made For You mixes | Each mix becomes the artist’s own top tracks, named “{Artist} Favorites” instead of “{Artist} Mix” |
| Lyrics — fetched by PlexPlex’s lyric service fills in what your files don’t carry | Needs the Pass |
| Guest DJ — Similar, Gemini, Stretch, ContempoPick by sonic similarity; Groupie and Artist Mix stand in | Needs the Pass |
| Track, artist & album radioGenre, decade, and Library Shuffle stations are unaffected | Needs the Pass |
| Sonic AdventureThe entry point says so before you pick two tracks | Needs the Pass |
| MoodsAn explanatory row remains where the mood shelf would be | Needs the Pass |
I have Plex Pass — why is a sonic feature unavailable?
A brand-new library, or one still being scanned, has the same symptoms, and so does a track your server hasn’t got to yet. Lagu only says a feature requires Plex Pass once your server has refused the request; a timeout, a dropped connection, or a signed-out session is never blamed on your subscription. If your library is still being analyzed, give it time and the features arrive on their own.
Why does streaming away from home ask about Plex Pass?
Playing your library from outside your home network takes one of two Plex subscriptions: a Plex Pass on the account that owns the server, which covers everyone the server is shared with, or a Remote Watch Pass on your own account, which covers just you on any server you can reach. Either one unlocks it. It’s a Plex account matter, and it applies to every Plex client equally.
Bring your library along.
The closed beta is open and free while it runs — invitations go out from the list in waves as slots open.
Join the beta list