Description of App
Echobox player is an elegant, privacy‑minded audio player built for everyday listening. It respects your library, keeps folders as folders, and adds smart features that make long‑form audio a joy—chapters, effects, transcripts, and more—without getting in your way.
Whether you’re listening to audiobooks, podcasts, lectures, or long mixes, Ecobox balances reliability with power. It runs great on‑device, handles big local libraries, and even plays live Internet radio.
- Preserve folder structure: Import entire folders and keep your organization intact. EchoBox mirrors your file tree instead of flattening it.
- Per‑file Relative Volume: Dial in the loudness of each file without permanently altering audio. Normalize your library tastefully—ideal for podcasts and audiobooks recorded at different levels.
- Chapters done right: Fast chapter detection for m4a/m4b and MP3 (ID3 CHAP). Jump quickly via a clear, accessible chapter list and dedicated button.
- Effects when you want them: Optional EQ, low‑cut, reverb, and a smart compressor powered by a robust AVAudioEngine path. Effects are off by default and won’t destabilize normal playback.
- Storage awareness: A tidy footer shows used and free space so you always know when it’s time to declutter.
- On‑device transcription: Generate timestamp‑aware transcripts from your audio using Apple’s Speech framework. Prefer on‑device models when available, with a clear live progress view.
- Internet Radio (.radio): Save and play live streams with a simple .radio file. EchoBox optimizes controls for live playback and gets out of your way.
- Swift, fast, and private: No accounts. No trackers. Your library stays on your device.
Comments
Thoughts and Suggestions
Great start to the app — I can already tell it’s something I’ll be using every day!
I do have a few things I’d love to suggest or see improved:
Language/localization: There are a few spots where Spanish text still appears. For example, the time remaining/watched area and the equalizer preset names in settings are in Spanish. It’d be great if those could be updated to English.
Bookmarking: This feature works sometimes, but other times it doesn’t seem to save my spot properly. I’d say it fails often enough that it’s worth mentioning. Also, the “time remaining” occasionally freezes even though the audio keeps playing, so it doesn’t show the correct time.
File management: It would be awesome if we could rename folders or imported files after they’re created, and also move files into folders. That would make organizing things much easier.
Sharing/importing: It’d be super convenient if we could share audio directly to the app through the system share sheet, instead of always having to import manually.
Thanks so much for making this app available — the fact that it’s free is incredible. I really appreciate all the effort and care that’s clearly gone into it!
Another suggestion
Hi! I have been using this app a lot and love it this far. I have also seen the Spanish words though since I know some spanish this was completely readable. I have not experienced the time-freezing issue. I have a suggestion though. o you think you could add a shuffle function? That would be very usefUl in many places. The share sheet idea is great. It would make it even easier to import content The folder system is great but I can see how renaming folders could be useful. I haven't played around with the bookmark feature yet so I don't know. I love the transcription feature. //Carrie
Shuffle and crossfade
Hi,
This is a great start to this app. But do you think somewhere down the road, you could add a shuffle feature, also, crossfade playback? And maybe even a feature for playlists, so songs which aren't in the same folder can play in a playlist? Also, do you think you could maybe increase the max playback speed to 3x, or at least 2.5? I think this will be great for audiobooks, but 2x speed is still a wee bit slow for me. :)
Couple of questions
Firstly, thanks for what sounds like another great app.
I wonder, does it simply play files from their existing location, for example iCloud folders, like VLC Player does, or does it import files into its own directory, meaning you have duplicates?
Also, might it be possible to support video too?
Dave
Questions, So many questions...
Hi,
Thank you to the developer for making this.
How does the player find music? do you still have to sync with your iTunes library? How do the radio streams feature work? does it support m3U playlists? will majic tap work to start and stop music from the lock screen if the app isn't in focus?
I saw a bookmarking feature, will this only work on chaptered audio? or will it work on downloaded mp3 radio programs that are maybe 60 minutes long or so?
The concept kind of seems like the awsome player Winamp, which is no longer activly in development for windows and whos iOS version sucks big time.
Thank you all in advance.
Regards,
Melissa.
Viewing and Exporting Transcripts
I’m curious if anyone else is having issues viewing or exporting a generated transcript.
Some suggestions
This app has promise as a music player, but I have a few suggestions to make it truly useful:
1. Most importantly, as mentioned elsewhere, a good shuffle function needs to be added. It needs to be a true shuffle, not a random music player. It needs
to reshuffle on subsequent activation of the feature, so tracks don't always play in the same order.
2. It would be great if music could be played directly from Files, either from "on my iPhone" or even better, from iCloud, rather than importing the files
into the app.
3. The ability to rename files and folders would be very useful, as would the ability to drag files and folders to other locations.
4. And finally, converting Spanish to English would be appreciated.