refrytUsing refryt
refryt works like the YouTube Music website, with a few desktop habits on top. This page covers the parts worth knowing.
Signing in
Signed out, refryt still searches and plays. Signing in brings your library, Home feed, likes and playlists. There are three ways in, all under Settings → Account (and on Home):
- Sign-in window. Signs in through Google in a small window of its own.
- Import from browser. Takes the session of the browser you used last. It knows Firefox and its forks, Chrome, Chromium, Brave, Vivaldi, Edge, Opera, Whale and Helium. Sign in to music.youtube.com in that browser first.
- Paste cookies. Copies the session from a browser's developer tools, for when the other two can't.
On Windows, browsers that use app-bound cookie encryption are left out of the import. The Flatpak can't see browser profiles, so it has only the sign-in window.
If your Google account has brand accounts, switch between them from the account menu in the top bar.
Playing music
One click selects a song and two play it, as in Spotify. Turn off Double-click to play in Settings → Library to make one click play.
Right-click a song for Play next, Add to queue, Start radio, Save to playlist, Go to album, Go to artist and, with Premium, Download.
Songs you play are added to your YouTube history while you're signed in. Turn off Save listening history in Settings → Playback to stop that.
Up next and Autoplay
The queue panel splits what's coming into two parts:
- Next up holds what you queued with Play next or Add to queue, in the order it will play. The small ✕ beside the heading clears it; the playing song and the radio stay.
- Autoplay holds the radio YouTube Music keeps adding after your songs. Its All ▾ menu offers the filters YouTube gives that radio: Familiar, Discover, and often a decade or a genre. Picking one swaps the Autoplay songs still to come.
Adding a song that is already in Autoplay moves it up instead of queuing it twice. Turning shuffle on part way through leaves the songs you already played behind you. Autoplay itself can be turned off in Settings → Playback.
Lyrics and the fullscreen player
The lyrics panel shows timed lyrics from LRCLIB when it has them, and YouTube's plain lyrics otherwise. Press F for the fullscreen player: the cover, the lyrics beside it, and a queue drawer. Esc closes the drawer, then the player.
To keep song details from going to LRCLIB, turn off Synced lyrics from LRCLIB in Settings → System.
Music videos
Songs that have a music video can be watched in the app, up to 720p. Click the video to pause, double-click for fullscreen, and Esc to come back out.
Local files
Add folders in Settings → Library → Local files. They show up under Library → Local, browsable like a file tree, and any folder plays as a playlist.
Downloads and offline
With YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium, songs, albums and playlists can be downloaded for offline listening. They go to a refryt folder in your Music folder (~/Music/refryt), with tags and cover art. When you're offline, refryt points you to them, and downloaded songs still play.
Downloads only work with a Premium account and are for personal offline listening.
Keyboard shortcuts
Press ? or F1 in the app for the full list. On macOS, Ctrl is Cmd.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Play or pause |
| ↑ / ↓ | Previous / next song |
| Ctrl + ↑ / ↓ | Volume up / down |
| M | Mute |
| F | Open or close the fullscreen player |
| Esc | Close the queue drawer, then the fullscreen player |
| Ctrl + S | Shuffle |
| Ctrl + R | Cycle repeat mode |
| Ctrl + K or L | Jump to search |
| ? or F1 | Show every shortcut |
| F2 | Performance overlay |
macOS extras
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘ + ← / → | Previous / next song |
| ⌘ + 1 2 3 4 | Home, Explore, Library, History |
| ⌘ + F | Jump to search |
| ⌘ + , | Settings |
| ⌘ + M / W | Minimise / close the window |
Tray and startup
Turn on Close to tray in Settings → System and closing the window hides it instead of quitting; quit from the tray icon. Launch on startup opens refryt when you log in (not available in the Flatpak). Media keys and the system's media controls work whether the window is open or not.