Airfoil
Audio Hijack
Farrago
Fission
Loopback
Piezo
Soundsource
What’s New In Airfoil Speakers Touch 2!
Posted By Dan Wineman on July 8th, 2011
Hot on the heels of our recent updates to Airfoil for Mac and Airfoil for Windows, we’ve got an update to Airfoil Speakers Touch, our iOS companion to Airfoil. This update brings to iOS many of the new features we introduced to the desktop version of Airfoil Speakers: Reverse Connect and Remote Control, along with a shiny redesign of the user interface. Here’s a quick tour of what’s new:
Reverse Connect
When you launch Airfoil Speakers Touch, the first thing you’ll now see is a list of all the copies of Airfoil that are running on your Wi-Fi network.
The list of available Airfoils on your Wi-Fi network
They’re identified by the name and icon of the computer and the app, song, or audio device currently ready to be captured. You can start receiving audio from a particular Airfoil just by tapping its entry in the list, and you can stop at any time by tapping Stop at the upper left. Of course, you can still connect and disconnect from Airfoil itself too.
Remote Control
Once you’re connected to Airfoil and receiving audio, if the app you’re streaming from supports it, you can play, pause, and change tracks right from Airfoil Speakers Touch. Just use the audio buttons that appear above the volume control:
Remote controls appear above the volume slider
AirPlay, the technology on which Airfoil’s audio streaming is based, has a built-in two-second delay before audio is heard. This means you won’t hear the results of a remote command immediately. To help indicate this, the remote control buttons glow blue while that delay is elapsing.
You can also use the clicker on your iPhone or iPad’s earbud cable the same way you’re used to with other music apps: one click to play or pause, two clicks to skip to the next track, three clicks to rewind. As well, when the app is in the background or the phone is locked, the audio controls in the multitasking tray and lock screen provide control.
We’ve got a list of supported source apps for Mac and for Windows. Many popular Mac apps, including Spotify, Rdio, and more, can be controlled!
Metadata and Visualizer
We’ve completely revamped the user interface in version 2.0. Most importantly, metadata and album art for the playing track are now displayed when available. We’ve also improved the audio spectrum visualizer, with bigger, more precise meters, and multiple colors – just swipe left or right to change colors. You can also quickly hide the meters to save battery life and make more room for album art, by simply sliding them down.
When the meters are hidden, album art displays larger
Get It Now
We think you’re going to love the new Airfoil Speakers Touch. If you’re already an Airfoil user, just grab Airfoil Speakers Touch from the App Store now. If you haven’t checked out Airfoil before, click to get started streaming audio all around your house.
Siavash says:
July 8th, 2011 at 1:31 pmTRULY FANTASTIC. I can’t thank you enough for this.
I have one question though: Do you have plans for adding Airfoil control to this app? Like Reemote? Would be absolutely amazing to have everything in ONE app.
Once again, thank you.
– Siavash
Adam says:
July 8th, 2011 at 4:16 pmPaul: in response to another post about Airfoil Speakers Touch for Android, there has been no official announcement but whoever runs you twitter page has said it is in the future. http://mobile.twitter.com/RogueAmoeba/statuses/27663428910845953 Where would be a good place to discuss this? This seemed the only available place as there is not much information about it but a lot of people seem to be requesting it. Is the Facebook page actually you guys? (there are 3 of them)
Adam says:
July 8th, 2011 at 4:16 pmAnd thank you for making a great product that just works exactly as it’s supposed to!
Paul Kafasis says:
July 8th, 2011 at 4:54 pmSiavash: This is something we’d like to add, yes, but we’ll have to see what happens. For now, using them in conjunction should work.
Adam: “On the list for the future” simply means it’s something to be considered. That may have been imprecise, but Twitter is limited.
I’m not sure what you’re looking to discuss? We’re definitely aware of the interest, and we’re evaluating it for the future, so we’ll see what happens. But asking for an ETA on a product we’ve never stated we’re making, in the comments of an unrelated post, doesn’t make much sense to me.
If you have questions, you can always email us: http://rogueamoeba.com/support/ That’s the place to go, where all feedback is answered.
Paul Kafasis says:
July 8th, 2011 at 4:56 pmAlso, our Facebook page is at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rogue-Amoeba/112674525490692 – that said, it’s unmonitored. If you need a reply, our support page is THE place to go.
Adam says:
July 8th, 2011 at 5:36 pmI did consider email but that would not help all the other people looking for the same information I am. At that time, where I posted the question was the only blog with comments still open. My appologies I mistook that comment as though it was actually being worked on, as in the release is on the list for the future.
Nigel says:
July 8th, 2011 at 8:34 pmThis is great stuff – thanks for the update to a useful utility. Any plans to add the iTunes compatibility to this like you did with the just released Airfoil Speakers for Mac? (i.e. streaming direct from iTunes without using Airfoil.)
Rob says:
July 9th, 2011 at 7:27 amI’m not getting any of the new connectivity controls / reverse connect etc… Would I be right assuming it’s because I’m running Airfoil v3.5.7 on my powerbook G4? If so, are there any plans to get v.3 to be compatible with this or is the only way to have to update to OS 10.6 and get v.4?
If this is the case, you might want to highlight it on the itunes app store just for clarity.
Don’t get me wrong – it looks awesome and it seems to have all the improvements I’ve been waiting for speakers touch to include, I’m just gutted I can’t seem to get it to work!
Paul Kafasis says:
July 9th, 2011 at 1:30 pmNigel: We’ll see – that would require charging for Airfoil Speakers Touch, which we’ve thus far avoided. For now, to send iTunes to your iOS device, you can use Airfoil to send iTunes.
Rob: Yes, this all requires Airfoil 4, which has been out for 8 months now. You’re going to need a 10.6 machine to use it all.
As far as the App Store description, we’ll watch to see if this is a common issue – most users are on Airfoil 4 by now though.
Come check us out when you’ve updated!
Rob says:
July 10th, 2011 at 11:56 amPaul – Sadly I’m G4 Powerbook (non-intel) so upgrading to OS 10.6 would involve ~£1000 on a new laptop as well! No worries though, at the end of the day as long as it streams music then I can live without the bells and whistles.
Hadn’t seen Reemote before, going to see if that will be a work around for the problem.
Ben says:
July 10th, 2011 at 12:57 pmI am with Nigel on desiring native Airplay support like the new speakers. I would even be willing to pay extra, on top of my license, for the feature!
I believe there is a way to setup a system to request a ‘promotion’ code for the app store that could let you verify licenses, and then send a code to someone with a valid license, to allow a free download of an otherwise paid app. Would be some extra work on both ends, but would give the desired effect.
Paul Kafasis says:
July 11th, 2011 at 12:01 amBen: Apple prohibits this sort of thing, in addition to limiting you to 50 promo codes per release. That would not be at all viable for us. No, as I said, even if we could get this approved by Apple, we’d need to start charging for Airfoil Speakers Touch (or at least an in-app purchase).
Like I said, we’ll see what happens – for now, you can simply use Airfoil on your Mac to send any audio to Airfoil Speakers Touch, instead of sending direct.
Ben says:
July 12th, 2011 at 11:03 amAh, did not know that, thanks Paul! It had always seemed a bit of a kludge, so that makes sense.
Approval by Apple would seem like the biggest hurdle in any case.
Well, consider this still a vote for seeing a paid-for version that supports this. Airfoil Speakers Touch Pro (super ultra limited edition™) will definitely have my support if you head that way.
Mathieu says:
July 13th, 2011 at 1:14 pmTotally agree with Ben, would be awesome to have an Airfoil Speakers Touch with the capability of receiving signal from other iOS devices. When you go on holidays, you wouldn’t have to transport your Airport Express with you :)