Adding Network Folders and Cloud Storage as Sources

On the main screen tap Add, then Network Folder - "Add SMB network shares". The Create Network Resource (SMB) screen asks for:

• Server IP, for example 192.168.1.100. Not sure? Tap the network scan button and pick your computer or NAS from the list of devices the app finds.
• Username and Password of the shared folder, and a Domain only if your network uses one ("Leave empty if not needed").
• Port - leave 445 unless your administrator told you otherwise.

Tap Scan host to list the shared folders on that computer, tick the ones you want and add them. Test connection checks the name and password without adding anything. The full walk-through, including how to share a folder on Windows, is in Connecting SMB/Windows shares.

Tap Add, then SFTP / FTP. On the Add S/FTP Resource screen choose SFTP or FTP at the top; the port fills in by itself (22 for SFTP, 21 for FTP). Enter the Host, the Username and the folder path, for example /home/user/media or just /.

For SFTP you can sign in with a Password or with an SSH Key: paste the key or tap Load File, and add the key's passphrase if it has one. Tap Test Connection, then Add Resource. More in Connecting SFTP and FTP servers.

Tap Add, then Cloud Storage - "Tap on a provider to authenticate and select folders". Tap Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, sign in with your account in the window that opens, then pick the cloud folder you want to see in the app.

Each chosen folder becomes a resource of its own. The details for each provider are in Google Drive integration and Dropbox and OneDrive.

If you do not use network or cloud places at all, or want them out of sight for a trip, switch them off as a group. Open Settings, the General tab, and find Remote resources (SMB/(S)FTP/Cloud). There are three switches:

• Local network (Ethernet) SMB - shared folders on your home network or NAS.
• Computer on the internet (S)FTP - server folders over FTP and SFTP.
• In cloud resources - Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox.

When you turn a group off while you still have resources of that kind, the app asks "Hide these folders?" and explains: they are hidden, not deleted. They come back, with all their settings, the moment you turn the switch on again. While a group is off, its card also disappears from the Add Resource screen.

The app does three things by itself so that network and cloud places feel almost as fast as the phone:

• It remembers the file list. When you open a network folder again, you see its files at once, while the app quietly checks the server for changes in the background.
• It keeps small previews. Thumbnails of network and cloud files are saved on the phone, so the tiles do not have to be downloaded again every time. For a folder with more than 10,000 files the app switches previews off by itself and shows file-type icons instead; you can change this with Disable thumbnails in the resource's settings.
• It keeps a playback copy when streaming is not possible. Some servers cannot send a video piece by piece. Then the app downloads it into a streaming cache first, so it plays smoothly and can resume after a lost connection.

Open Settings, the General tab, and find Background sync, network and cache:

• Streaming cache TTL - how long a cached file is kept after you last played it: Off, 1 day, 3 days, 7 days or 30 days. Older copies are removed by themselves.
• Streaming cache cleanup - what happens when you leave the player: Ask each time, Auto-delete or Auto-keep.
• Clear streaming cache - removes all cached copies now. The confirmation shows how much space you get back. When there is nothing to clear, the app says "Streaming cache is empty. Nothing cached, nothing wasted."

When you move to a new phone with Android's own "copy apps and data" transfer, your Google Drive and Dropbox sign-ins come along. On the first start on the new phone these cloud resources simply open - there is no message and nothing to tap.

OneDrive keeps its sign-in in a place the app cannot copy, so on the new phone you sign in to OneDrive once more. If you signed out of a provider on the old phone before the move, that provider is not carried over either.