Show HN: Petrichor – a free, open-source, offline music player for macOS

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reception

  • Many commenters praise Petrichor’s clean, modern, native macOS UI and small binary size (~14 MB).
  • Seen as a much‑needed offline, local-library–focused alternative amid frustration with Apple Music and streaming services.
  • Several express hope that it “sticks around” and continues to be maintained.

Features and current capabilities

  • Uses AVFoundation; supports common formats including MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, AIFF, and FLAC. Some request explicit mention of this in the README.
  • Smart playlists are partly implemented: built‑in lists (Favourites, Top 25, Recently Played) already rely on a rules engine; a UI for editing rules is planned.
  • Search uses SQLite FTS5 over metadata and is reported as fast.
  • Users ask for: CUE sheet support, iTunes‑style column browser, volume leveling, visualizers, AirPlay, and optional AudioUnit effects (EQ, limiting, etc.).
  • Some want support for audiobooks (m4b) as a future extension.

Comparisons and alternatives

  • Strong dissatisfaction with Apple Music’s UI, subscription prompts, and streaming focus; others argue the native app is fine for library management and has longevity.
  • Multiple alternative players are mentioned: Swinsian, foobar2000 for Mac, Cog, Doppler, VLC, Roon, VOX, Jellyfin setups, and various Winamp‑style or “old school iTunes” clones.
  • Some users want deep iTunes‑style features: smartlists with nested rules, “giant spreadsheet” filtering search, volume leveling, cross‑platform (Mac/Windows/iPhone) with collection sync, and preservation/import of decades of play history and “Date Added”.

Platforms, OS support, and syncing

  • Petrichor is macOS‑only (14+), written in Swift/SwiftUI to learn modern APIs. Commenters note this excludes older offline‑focused users; the author is open to exploring lower targets.
  • An iOS version is a common request; the shared Swift core makes this plausible but not imminent. No plans for Windows.
  • Users ask about syncing with iPhones and with remote libraries (Subsonic/Navidrome, NAS setups, Jellyfin, cloud storage). The author prefers leaving cloud sync to dedicated tools.

Installation, security, and updates

  • App is ad‑hoc signed and not notarized, triggering malware/quarantine warnings; workarounds involve xattr or special “Open” flows. Apple’s $100/yr fee is cited as a barrier.
  • There’s a known bug where a metadata constraint failure can halt scanning, perceived by one user as a ~200‑track limit; a fix is coming.
  • Commenters warn to design auto‑updates carefully to avoid silent RCE‑style risks.