Support and Frequently Asked Questions

Voca is an audiobook and podcast player that connects to self-hosted media servers (Audiobookshelf and Plex), or plays audiobooks stored on your device. It's available on iPhone, iPhone Duo, iPad, Mac with Apple silicon, Apple Watch, Apple TV and CarPlay, and on Android phones and tablets with Android Auto.

• Audiobookshelf: primary, fully featured support
• Plex: audiobook library support
• Local Files: play audiobooks stored directly on your device, no server required

Voca is free to download and use for streaming playback. A one-time in-app purchase unlocks offline downloads and sending audiobooks to your Apple Watch. There are no subscriptions.

On Apple devices, yes. Buy Offline Playback once and it unlocks downloads on every iPhone, iPhone Duo, iPad and Mac signed in to the same Apple Account, along with sending books to your Apple Watch. A new device usually picks it up on its own; if not, go to Settings → Enable Offline Playback → Restore Purchases. Apple TV doesn't need it, as it always streams from your server and everything on it is free. On Android it's bought through Google Play, because Apple and Google purchases can't be shared, and it carries over to your other Android devices signed in to the same Google account.

Yes. On iOS, headphone play/pause, skip forward/back, and next/previous chapter all work. Double-tap the next/previous button to jump between chapters. On Android, single-tap next/previous skips ±30 seconds. Double-tap within 500ms jumps to the next/previous chapter.

Yes. Set a timer from the player controls:

• Duration-based: stop playback after a set time
• End of chapter: stop playback at the end of the current chapter

Yes. Speed can be adjusted from 0.5x to 3.0x in the player controls. Your preferred speed is remembered between sessions.

Open an audiobook's detail page and tap the download button. Downloaded books appear in the "Available Offline" section of the library.

Everything you need to listen and read offline: the audio, the chapter list, the cover art, and any extras such as PDFs and EPUBs. Extras open from the download first, so they work without a connection. While a book downloads, the download button fills with a percentage, and on Android books still downloading are also listed at the top of Settings, Downloaded Books.

Files are stored securely within the app's sandboxed storage. Offline content is not accessible outside Voca.

Yes. Chapters, playback position sync, and sleep timer all work offline.

Ensure offline playback is unlocked (one-time in-app purchase) and your server is reachable. If the download starts but fails, check your device has enough storage space.

Yes. Voca includes a companion Watch app that plays downloaded audiobooks directly from your wrist, with no iPhone required once a book is on the Watch. Sending books to the Watch requires the Offline Playback in-app purchase.

Yes. Voca provides a complication in circular, corner, rectangular and inline styles. Press and hold your watch face, tap Edit, swipe to Complications, tap a slot, and choose Voca. Depending on the style it shows the current book, chapter and a progress indicator, and tapping it opens Voca. When nothing is playing it shows the Voca headphones icon.

No. Voca plays through the Watch's own speaker when no Bluetooth headphones are connected. With AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones connected, playback continues in the background when you lower your wrist or switch apps, because watchOS only grants background playback to apps routed to an eligible Bluetooth device.

Tap the progress bar, or the ⟷ button next to the speed control, to open the scrub screen. Turning the Digital Crown moves through the whole book in about one rotation, whatever its length. The screen shows the time you're moving to, how far that is from your current position, and the chapter at that point if the book has chapters. Nothing moves until you tap Jump, so an accidental turn can't lose your place.

Tap the speaker icon next to the speed button to open the system Now Playing screen, then turn the Digital Crown. Volume isn't on Voca's own player screen because the Crown is used there to scroll.

watchOS limits how often complications may refresh in order to protect battery life. Voca refreshes it when playback starts, pauses, or moves between chapters, so progress advances in steps rather than second by second. For live controls, open the Voca app or use the system Now Playing screen.

Yes. Voca has full CarPlay support with library browsing, now-playing display, and playback controls.

Make sure:

• Your CarPlay system is connected and supported
• Voca is installed on the connected iPhone
• You've updated to the latest version of Voca

If it's your first time connecting, try launching Voca on your phone while CarPlay is active to prompt it to appear.

Yes, on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. Turn on captions in the player to see the narration as it's read, scrolling like lyrics. The text is made on your device by Apple's speech recognition as the book plays, so your audio never leaves it, though unusual names may be spelled the way they sound. Captions need iOS 27 or tvOS 27 or later on a device that supports on-device transcription; on others the captions button isn't shown. On Apple TV that means an Apple TV 4K.

Yes. On the front screen Voca works as it does on any iPhone. Open the Duo and it spreads across the larger display, with the player on one side and chapters or a document on the other, and book pages split the same way. It works held upright, turned on its side, and half folded and propped up like a laptop.

Voca runs on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 or later). To check yours, choose Apple menu → About This Mac: an Apple silicon Mac lists a Chip such as Apple M1 or M4. Open the Mac App Store, search for Voca Player, and choose the result marked Designed for iPad, under iPhone & iPad Apps. Click Get, or the download button if you already own it, then open Voca from Launchpad or the Applications folder and sign in to your server as you would on iPhone. Use the same Apple Account as your iPhone or iPad and Offline Playback carries over. Allow access to devices on your local network when asked, so Voca can reach a server at home. Intel Macs aren't supported.

Yes, on a Mac with Apple silicon. Install Voca from the Mac App Store, where it runs as the iPad app, with the large-screen layouts that put the player beside its chapters and open documents next to playback. If you've bought Offline Playback on iPhone or iPad, it carries over to your Mac with the same Apple Account. Intel Macs aren't supported.

• Install Audiobookshelf on your server (see audiobookshelf.org)
• In Voca, select "Audiobookshelf" during onboarding
• Enter your server URL and credentials
• Select the libraries you want to browse

Yes. Select Local Files during onboarding and choose a folder on your device. Voca will scan it for audiobooks and play them directly, with no network connection or server required.

• Select Local Files on the server selection screen
• Tap Choose Folder and grant access to your audiobook root folder
• Voca scans the folder and displays your library

Root Folder/
  Author Name/
    Book Title/
      chapter01.mp3
      cover.jpg     ← optional
      extras.pdf    ← optional

Voca supports MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, FLAC, OGG, Opus, and WAV audio files.

Yes. Place PDF, EPUB, or TXT files inside the book's folder alongside the audio files. They appear in the Extras section on the book's detail page, exactly as they do for server-hosted books.

Progress is saved locally on your device. It is not synced to any external server, so it won't carry across to other devices.

Local Files books are already on your device, so there's nothing to download. The download feature applies only to books streamed from Audiobookshelf or Plex servers.

• Ensure your Plex server has audiobook libraries configured
• In Voca, select "Plex" during onboarding
• Sign in through the Plex authentication flow
• Select the libraries you want to browse

• Check that your server URL is correct (including port if non-standard)
• Don't use http or https in the server address
• Ensure your server is reachable from your current network
• Check that Voca has local network permission (iOS will prompt on first launch)
• Try restarting the app or your server

Try these steps in order:

• Tap pause then play again
• Restart the app (swipe up from the app switcher)
• Try playing a different audiobook or podcast
• Check your server status

Ensure your Bluetooth device is connected before starting playback. If audio still doesn't route correctly, try:

• Disconnecting and reconnecting your Bluetooth device
• Restarting playback after connection
• Ensuring your device supports A2DP stereo audio (most modern headphones do)

This can happen if another audio app (like Apple Music) starts playing while Voca is paused. Just tap play on Voca's lock screen controls to restore it. This was improved in build 64.

Reach out to voca@velosec.au via email.

No. Voca connects directly to your self-hosted server. There is no tracking, analytics, or data collection. Your library data stays on your own server and device.