Support

Get help with NaviFin

Email support@navifin.app and we will get back to you within 48 hours.

Known issue: after a long pause the sound comes back but the picture stays frozen

On Apple TV, if you pause a film for more than about two and a half minutes and then press play, the sound can come back and run normally while the picture stays stuck on the frame you paused on. The clock and the seek bar keep moving, so only the picture is affected.

What to do right now: leave the film and go back into it. That clears it every time and you resume where you were.

It happens on files that play through Apple’s own player, which in practice means mp4 files with H.264 or HEVC video; MKV files are not affected. The fix shipped: it is on the App Store in version 1.1 and later, and in the free TestFlight beta. Being straight about it: the fix has been proven in testing and not yet on a real television, so if you still see this after updating, write to support@navifin.app and say which file it was.

Open source inside NaviFin

NaviFin embeds VLCKit (MobileVLCKit on iPhone and iPad, TVVLCKit on Apple TV, VLCKit on the Mac), the media library from the VideoLAN project, to play the files Apple’s own player does not. VLCKit is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 or later. It is shipped as a separate, unmodified dynamic framework inside the app, so you can replace it with your own build of the same library. Its source code is at code.videolan.org/videolan/VLCKit and the binaries NaviFin uses come from vlckit-spm, which repackages VideoLAN’s releases unchanged. NaviFin makes no changes to VLCKit. Copyright © VideoLAN and the VLC authors.

Everything else NaviFin is built on is Apple’s own SDK. NaviFin itself is closed source. If you believe a notice is missing here, write to support@navifin.app.

What server does NaviFin require?

NaviFin works with any Jellyfin server (v10.9 or later). Jellyfin is free and open source. See jellyfin.org for installation instructions. NaviFin is an independent client and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Jellyfin project.

The app says "Cannot reach server". What do I do?

Check that your Jellyfin server is running.
Check that the URL you entered is correct, including the port number (e.g., http://192.168.0.110:8096).
If you are away from home, make sure your server is accessible from outside your home network (via a reverse proxy, Tailscale, or similar).
Behind Cloudflare Access or another proxy? Add your custom access headers (for example CF-Access-Client-Id and CF-Access-Client-Secret) in the advanced section when you pair.
If your server uses a self-signed TLS certificate on the LAN, NaviFin can fall back to a trusted-LAN connection. If it still fails, use a trusted certificate (Let’s Encrypt is free) or reach out to us for help.

Why does NaviFin say "connected" but nothing loads on my iPhone, while my iPad on the same WiFi works fine?

Three iOS-side network filters can block local-server connections on one device while another device on the same network is unaffected. Check these on the device that's failing:

Local Network permission. Open Settings → NaviFin → Local Network and turn it ON. iOS 14+ silently denies private-IP connections (your home server’s 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x address) for any app that hasn’t been granted this permission.
iCloud Private Relay. Open Settings → Apple Account → iCloud → Private Relay. If your server is on a private IP (LAN, .local hostname, Tailscale CGNAT range), Private Relay can hijack the request through Apple’s relay and fail to reach it. Turn Private Relay OFF temporarily; if it now loads, that was the cause.
Active VPN profile. Open Settings → General → VPN & Device Management. A VPN that routes all traffic (rather than splitting LAN traffic) blocks local-network destinations. Disconnect the VPN and try again.

The same checks apply to Mac (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network), and to Apple TV in a more limited way (no Local Network toggle exists, but a configuration-profile VPN can block server access, check Settings → General → VPN & Device Management on tvOS).

Why won't a video play, or plays with no sound?

NaviFin uses a hybrid engine: Apple’s AVPlayer plus a bundled VLC engine. If a file fails on one, NaviFin can fall back to the other. For exotic containers (MKV), codecs (HEVC), or surround audio, the VLC engine usually handles it directly.

If audio is missing, open the player’s audio track menu and pick a different track; some files ship several audio streams.
If subtitles don’t show, open the subtitle menu and select a track; both embedded and external subtitles are supported.
If a specific file refuses to play, let us know the container and codecs (for example MKV / HEVC / TrueHD) so we can reproduce it.

Playback cuts out or stutters. How do I fix it?

If your server is transcoding on a slow machine, playback can lag. Direct Play (no transcode) is smoothest when your device can decode the source format natively.
Lower the streaming quality in Settings if you are on a constrained connection.
A wired connection for the Apple TV improves stability significantly. Check your server’s CPU and disk usage during playback.

Where is my NaviFin data stored?

Everything is on your device or your own server. NaviFin does not send any data to us or any third party, and stores your server credentials in the device Keychain. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Can I use NaviFin with multiple servers?

Yes. NaviFin connects to multiple Jellyfin servers and lets you switch between them in one tap. Each keeps its own credentials in the Keychain and its own resume points. See the multi-server page for details.

How do I disconnect from my server?

Open Settings, find the server, and tap Disconnect. This clears that server’s credentials from the device Keychain.

Which files play natively, and which go through VLC?

NaviFin decides per file. An mp4, m4v or mov file with H.264 or HEVC video and AAC, AC-3, E-AC-3, MP3, ALAC or FLAC audio plays through Apple’s AVPlayer, which keeps HDR and Dolby Vision intact. Everything else, MKV included, plays through the VLC engine. Neither path asks your server to transcode video, so a NAS with no GPU stays quiet. The one exception is AV1 video, which is requested from the server as a transcode because the VLC engine cannot decode it safely. You can pin the engine in Settings, and the Playback Info panel in the player shows which one is running.

How do I get subtitles for a film?

Open Find Subtitles on the detail page or in the player. NaviFin searches your server’s own remote subtitle providers first, then OpenSubtitles and Podnapisi directly from the app, and a downloaded .srt is uploaded to the server so every device sees it. If the search fails with a permission error, your Jellyfin user needs “Allow subtitle management” turned on in the server’s user settings: both searching and downloading need it. Embedded and sidecar subtitles work without any of this, and text subtitles can be resized and shifted in the player.

Does NaviFin work over Tailscale, a reverse proxy or Cloudflare Access?

Yes. Enter the URL you would use in a browser, including a subpath such as https://host/jellyfin if your proxy mounts Jellyfin there. Behind Cloudflare Access or Authelia, add the access headers (for example CF-Access-Client-Id and CF-Access-Client-Secret) in the advanced section when you pair. If your server requires a client certificate (mTLS), import a PKCS#12 file with its passphrase in the same advanced section and NaviFin presents it on every connection. A self-signed certificate on the LAN can fall back to a trusted-LAN connection.

Glossary

Short definitions for terms used across this page and the rest of navifin.app.

Jellyfin: Free, open-source self-hosted media server for movies, TV, music, Live TV, photos, and books. The server NaviFin targets. Runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, NAS appliances, and even a Raspberry Pi. jellyfin.org.
Direct Play: Playing a file as-is, with no server-side transcoding. The smoothest path when your device can decode the source format natively. NaviFin’s hybrid engine maximizes Direct Play.
Transcoding: The server converting media on the fly to a format your device can play. Useful for old codecs or constrained connections, but heavier on the server CPU. A wimpy server may struggle to transcode 4K.
Hybrid engine: NaviFin’s use of Apple AVPlayer for efficient native playback plus a bundled VLC engine for exotic formats (MKV, HEVC, surround, embedded subtitles). When one engine cannot handle a file, NaviFin falls back to the other.
Skip Intro / Skip Credits: Skipping an episode’s intro and end-credits using your Jellyfin server’s chapter or media-segment data. NaviFin shows a button when a segment is detected.
SyncPlay: Jellyfin’s watch-together feature. NaviFin can join a SyncPlay group so playback stays in sync across devices and people, even in different rooms or cities.
Universal Purchase: Apple’s mechanism where one purchase covers the iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS apps. NaviFin ships this way at $6.99: buy once on any Apple device and it installs on the others for free.
Trickplay: Thumbnail previews along the timeline while you scrub, generated by your Jellyfin server. NaviFin shows them so you can find a scene without guesswork.