On-device tracking¶
On-device tracking lets Musicat pick up what you play in Apple Music directly on your phone, as it happens - including while Musicat is in the background.
It is optional and stays off until you turn it on. Without it your listening is still tracked from our servers, just less completely.
Why turn it on¶
- Fewer missed plays. Apple only reports a short window of recent listening. During a long session, earlier tracks can fall out of that window before our servers get to them. Your phone sees each track as it plays.
- Times that match your day. Plays are recorded close to when you actually listened, instead of whenever our servers last checked, so your history and stats line up with reality.
- Your listening appears sooner. New plays reach your profile in minutes instead of waiting for the next check.
Turning it on¶
Open Settings → Apple Music. The On-device tracking section appears once Apple Music is connected and shows Active or Off. The button takes you to where the permission is granted.
Musicat asks for access to Apple Music so it can read your recently played tracks.
Musicat asks for notification access so it can read what is currently playing. Your notifications are never stored or shared.
Precise tracking on Ultra¶
Ultra makes Apple Music tracking twice as accurate. Instead of checking your listening history every two minutes, it does so every minute - capturing more streams with higher precision, especially if you often play shorter songs.
Diagnostics¶
To check whether it is working, run Settings → Apple Music → Connection diagnostics → Run diagnostics.
The row Last report from your phone shows when your phone last sent something in. If it is recent, on-device tracking is running. If it is hours old, or missing, while you have been listening on this phone, something is stopping it - see below.
Common problems¶
It says Active, but nothing is tracked¶
The permission screen only confirms that you granted access - not that tracking is actually running. Pick your phone below: on Android the phone is almost always blocking Musicat from starting on its own, and on iPhone the usual cause is Musicat being closed in the app switcher.
Platform-specific problems¶
Leave Musicat in the app switcher
Musicat keeps your history up to date in the background, so it does not need to be open. But if you swipe it away in the app switcher, iOS stops letting it do anything until you open it again. Your plays still arrive through our servers, just later and with less precise times.
So leave Musicat in the app switcher - closing it does not save battery, it only makes your history slower. If plays are missing, open Musicat once and it will catch up.
Keep background updates allowed
Keep Background App Refresh on for Musicat under Settings → General → Background App Refresh. Bear in mind that Low Power Mode pauses background updates while it is on, so plays may arrive late until you turn it off.
Allow background autostart
Some Android phones stop apps from starting on their own - Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO especially, and often Samsung, Huawei, OPPO and OnePlus. Notification access still shows as Active, but the part of Musicat that reads what you play is never started, so nothing is tracked. It usually shows up after you restart your phone, or once the system closes Musicat in the background.
If your plays stop appearing, allow Musicat to start on its own:
Settings → Apps → Permissions → Background autostart → Musicat
The name differs between phones - look for Autostart, Auto-launch or Background autostart, usually under Apps or Battery. You only need to do this once.
Remove battery restrictions
In the same place, set battery usage for Musicat to No restrictions, so the system does not shut tracking down to save power.
A track I played is missing¶
Tracks you skip are not added to your history - a play needs around 30 seconds to count.