TickPlay Features for Apple Watch
TickPlay is a standalone offline music player for Apple Watch. These are the capabilities that make it work without an iPhone, a network connection or an account.
In short: TickPlay stores your own audio on the Apple Watch and plays it offline. It supports ten audio formats including lossless FLAC, shows synchronized LRC lyrics, transfers files from a computer over local Wi-Fi, and keeps playing in the background during a workout. There is no account, no cloud and no subscription.
Features with their own page
Each of these pages states the fact, explains how the feature works, lists its limits and links to the source it was verified against.
Offline Music Playback
Play music files stored locally on Apple Watch, with no network connection and no iPhone nearby.
Local Wi-Fi File Transfer
Send audio and video from a computer to the watch over the local network using a plain HTTP file server — no cable, no iTunes and no cloud.
FLAC and Lossless Audio Formats
Play FLAC, OGG and Opus lossless audio alongside MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV, M4B, WMA and APE — with a clear split between native and engine-decoded formats.
Synchronized LRC Lyrics
Load a .lrc file with the same name as the track and TickPlay scrolls the lyrics in sync, with the current line centred and highlighted.
Play Queue, Loop and Shuffle
Build a queue from your stored tracks, then loop the playlist, shuffle it, or repeat a single song — all from the watch.
Background Playback
Music keeps playing after you lower your wrist or leave the app, so a workout, walk or commute is not interrupted.
Also included
These capabilities do not have a separate page, but they are part of the app and are described here in full.
Local Video Playback
Store compatible local video files on the watch and play them full screen, then return to audio without restarting.
- Filed automatically. Video files land in their own section, separate from audio, as soon as the transfer completes.
- Full-screen playback. Tap the screen to expand to full screen, and tap again to go back.
- Audio and video together. Switch between a video and your music queue without quitting TickPlay.
Limits: Only MP4, M4V, MOV and 3GP video containers are supported for playback. Other video containers can be transferred and stored, but will not play. Video is subject to the same on-watch storage quota as audio.
Precise Playback Controls
Digital Crown seeking with a live progress bar, 15-second skips, variable speed and resume-from-position.
- Crown seeking. The Digital Crown scrubs through a track with a live progress bar, which is far more accurate than tapping a thin bar.
- Speed from 0.5x to 2.0x. A long-press picker sets the rate, and your last choice becomes the default for next time.
- Remembers your position. Playback resumes from the exact point you stopped, instead of starting the track again.
Limits: Playback speed is limited to the 0.5x–2.0x range. Controls depend on watchOS gestures, so behaviour can differ slightly between models.
On-Watch Storage and Cleanup
Choose a storage quota, clean up automatically after playback, and clear the cache manually when you need the space back.
- A quota you control. Pick 500 MB, 1 GB or 2 GB so TickPlay cannot quietly fill your watch.
- Automatic cleanup. Files can be removed after playback so the library refreshes itself on each transfer.
- Manual cache clearing. One action frees the space back when you need it for something else.
Limits: The maximum quota is 2 GB per transfer set. Cleanup policies apply to files TickPlay manages on the watch. Storage available to the app also depends on free space on the watch itself.
What is not included
TickPlay does not stream from an online catalogue, does not include a subscription, does not fetch lyrics from the internet, and does not synchronise your library across devices. It plays the files you put on it.
System requirements
TickPlay requires watchOS 10 or later, on Apple Watch Ultra 3, Ultra 2, Ultra, Series 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 or SE. A paired iPhone is required to install and update the app from the App Store, and a computer is required for the initial file transfer.