FlickWatch videos from your NAS or media server on iPhone (DLNA / UPnP)
If your videos live on a NAS, a home server or a router with a USB drive, you don't need to copy them to your iPhone. Most of these devices can share media over DLNA / UPnP, an old and widely supported standard for playing media across a home network. Flick finds those servers on your Wi-Fi and plays straight from them.
Step 1: turn on the media server
Your device may already have one running. Common places to look:
- Synology: install the Media Server package from Package Center.
- QNAP: enable the DLNA media server in its multimedia settings.
- Plex Media Server: Settings → DLNA → Enable the DLNA server.
- Jellyfin: install the DLNA plugin from the plugin catalogue.
- Routers with a USB port: many have a "media server" or "DLNA" switch in their USB or storage settings.
Point the server at the folders that hold your videos and music.
Step 2: open the Network tab in Flick
Join the same Wi-Fi as the server and open the Network tab. Flick lists the servers it finds. Tap one to browse its folders, albums and cover art. Videos and music from your servers also show up in your library next to your own files.
Step 3: play
Tap a video. MKV, AVI and other formats play through Flick's built-in libVLC engine, so you don't need to transcode anything on the server first.
Server not showing up?
- Check your iPhone and the server are on the same network, not a guest network.
- Allow Flick to use the Local Network in iPhone Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network.
- Some routers block discovery between devices ("AP isolation" or "client isolation"). Turn it off, or add the server by its address in Flick.
- Restart the media server so it announces itself again.
Watching away from home
DLNA discovery only works on your local network. To reach the same server from anywhere, put it and your iPhone on a VPN such as Tailscale and add the server by its VPN address. Here's how to set that up.