Question 1

Does Drift need an internet connection?

Accepted Answer

No. Playback is fully offline. Drift only goes online if you use optional tag or artwork matching, and then it sends only the song title and artist.

Question 2

Is there a subscription?

Accepted Answer

No, and no account either. The player is free with every format and no library limit; one purchase, once, adds the automatic work. Drift is currently a TestFlight beta and free to testers.

Question 3

What audio formats does Drift play?

Accepted Answer

All of them natively: MP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, OGG Vorbis, Opus, Speex, WavPack, Musepack, Monkey's Audio (APE), TTA, Shorten and tracker formats (MOD, S3M, XM, IT). Files are never modified; an optional setting converts imports to ALAC for AirPlay 2 everywhere.

Question 4

Can I play WavPack, APE or TTA files on an iPhone?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Drift plays WavPack, Monkey's Audio (APE) and TTA natively — no conversion, files untouched — so your desktop library plays on iOS as-is.

Question 5

How do I get music onto my iPhone without a cable?

Accepted Answer

Turn on Wi-Fi import and drag files into any browser on your computer, or use the Files app — SMB and WebDAV drives mount there.

Question 6

Can Drift fix garbled music tags?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Tags that were written in GBK, Big5 or Shift-JIS and display as mojibake are repaired in one tap, at import or later. Repairs are stored in Drift's library; the original files are never modified.

Question 7

Does Drift collect my data?

Accepted Answer

No. Drift has no account, no analytics, no ads and no trackers. Your audio never leaves your device. Optional tag and artwork lookups send only the song title and artist to open catalog services.

Question 8

Is Drift available for iPad or Android?

Accepted Answer

Drift is iPhone-only and requires iOS 17 or later.