Browser and phone

Credenza’s main app is a web page. Open your server’s address in a browser, for example http://192.168.1.10:8080, and sign in. There is nothing to install on a computer. The same page adapts to a phone, and the Android app and Android TV app load this same page from your server.

On a computer

On a wide screen, navigation is a narrow rail down the left edge. It holds Dashboard, Search, Requests, My reports and a tile for each of your libraries. Your account is at the bottom. Administrators also see a Server group with Libraries, Users, Activity, Needs matching and Reported problems. Press the Credenza mark at the top to expand the rail and show labels.

The account menu (your account tile at the foot of the rail) has the theme switch, Settings, Sign out and, near the bottom, the server’s version number.

On a phone

Below about 640 pixels wide, Credenza switches to a layout built for phones:

A tab bar along the bottom replaces the rail: Dashboard, Libraries, Search and Account.
Everything else is in the Account tab. Requests, My reports, Settings, Sign out and, for administrators, the Server items (Libraries, Users, Activity, Needs matching, Reported problems) all live in that menu. Nothing is out of reach on a phone. It’s just one tap further in.
The dashboard is a row of cards you swipe through, not the full-width banner a computer shows.
The Libraries tab depends on how many libraries you can see. With one library it opens that library directly. With two or more it lists them.
Library shelves show three posters per row, with sort and A–Z controls as two buttons above the grid.
A film’s page leads with its backdrop, with the poster and title at its foot. Less-used actions are behind the ⋮ button.

The tab bar stays on every page except the player.

Watching on a phone or tablet

On a touch screen, the player goes full screen as soon as the browser allows it, which hides the address bar and toolbars. When a film goes full screen, the browser turns it to landscape even if auto-rotate is off. On an iPhone, the video uses the system’s own full-screen player, which rotates by itself.

For how the server decides what to send your device, see How playback works.

Install it as an app

On an iPhone, an iPad or a desktop browser that supports it, you can install Credenza to your home screen or dock. It then opens in its own window with its own icon and no browser toolbars.

To install it, open the account menu and choose Install app…. That entry only appears when your browser is able to install the app, and Credenza never asks on its own.

Chrome and Edge on a computer show an Install Credenza dialog. Press Install to open the browser’s own install prompt.
Safari on an iPhone or iPad shows the two steps instead: tap Share in the toolbar, then choose Add to Home Screen and Add.

Not now and Got it just close the dialog. Choose Install app… again whenever you like.

The installed app has no offline mode. It always needs your server to show anything. When the server is updated, the app loads the new version the next time you open it.

Open your server on a phone

To get your server onto a phone without typing its address, open the account menu on your computer and choose Open on your phone…. It shows a QR code for the server’s address. Point your phone’s camera at it, open the link and sign in.

What the code contains depends on your settings:

If a Public address is set under Settings → Server → General, the dialog offers two choices: Public address, which works from anywhere, and This network, the address your computer is using right now.
Otherwise the code holds the address your browser is on. Your phone needs to be on the same network to use it.
If your browser is on localhost or 127.0.0.1, the dialog warns you that this address only works on that one computer. Open Credenza with the computer’s network address, such as http://192.168.1.10:8080, or set a public address.