Network Shares (SMB)

As well as your media server, Zuno can play videos straight from a shared folder on your network, such as a Mac or Windows PC with file sharing turned on, or a NAS like Synology, QNAP or TrueNAS. These are often called SMB shares. You browse the folders and tap a video to play it, with the same player you use for the rest of your library.

Before you start

Turn on file sharing on the computer or NAS, and make a note of the share’s name and an account that can open it. Some shares allow guests instead.
Your device and the computer need to be on the same network. Network shares work at home only; to watch away from home, use your media server.
On iPhone, iPad and Mac, allow Local Network access when Zuno asks. If you said no, turn it on in Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network.

Open Settings → Sources & Servers and choose Add Network Share.
Under Nearby, choose your computer or NAS. If it isn’t listed, type its name or IP address in Address, for example nas.local or 192.168.1.20.
- Windows PCs don’t show up under Nearby, so type the PC’s name or address.
- If the share doesn’t use the usual port (445), add it after a colon, for example 192.168.1.20:4450.
Under Account, enter the username and password, or turn on Connect as Guest if the share allows guests.
Leave Share empty and choose Connect. Zuno lists the shares on that computer so you can pick one. If the computer doesn’t list its shares, type the name of the shared folder instead.
Optionally change the Name, and use Start In to open straight into a folder such as Films.
Choose Add.

Your password is stored securely in iCloud Keychain and synced across your devices. If you use more than one profile, a share belongs to the profile that added it. Turn on Share with All Profiles to let every profile on this device browse and play from it.

Browsing and playing

Each share gets its own view in the Libraries tab, named after the share. Open it to see its folders and videos, and open a folder to go inside.

Tap a video to start playing straight away.
Each video shows its size, how many subtitle files it has, a tick once you’ve watched it, and a progress bar if you stopped part way.
You can reorder, hide or pin a share’s view like any other, in Edit Views.
Zuno shows common video files such as MKV, MP4, MOV, AVI and TS, and hides everything else.

Resuming and watched

Zuno remembers where you stopped in each video on that device. Start the video again to carry on from there. Once you’ve watched about 90% of it, it’s marked as watched.

Progress for network share videos is kept on each device, and these videos don’t appear in Continue Watching or on the home screen.

Subtitles

Subtitle files saved next to a video, with the same name, appear in the player’s Subtitles option. Zuno reads .srt, .vtt, .ass and .ssa files. Add a language code before the extension to label them, for example:

Film.srt
Film.en.srt
Film.fr.forced.srt (forced subtitles, shown only for foreign dialogue)
Film.en.sdh.srt (subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing)

Subtitles inside the video file work as usual. See Subtitles.

What network shares don’t do yet

Videos are shown by file name, without posters, descriptions or detail pages.
Search, Continue Watching, Up Next, Recently Added and your watchlist don’t include network share videos.
You can’t download network share videos for offline viewing.
Zuno always plays the original file and can’t lower the quality to suit a slow connection, so very large 4K files need a fast, steady connection to the computer, ideally wired or 5 GHz Wi-Fi.

Open Settings → Sources & Servers and select the share to rename it, change its account or Start In folder, or choose Remove Share. Removing a share only removes it from Zuno; the files on the share aren’t touched.

Troubleshooting

“The computer didn’t respond”: check the computer or NAS is switched on, file sharing is turned on, and the address is right. Make sure you’re on the same network, and on iPhone, iPad and Mac that Local Network access is on for Zuno.

“The username or password is incorrect”: check the account details. Some computers want the account name rather than your full name.

“This share doesn’t allow guests”: turn off Connect as Guest and sign in with a username and password.

“There’s no share called…”: check the spelling of the share’s name, or leave Share empty and choose Connect to pick from the list.

Playback stops with “Zuno can’t reach this file on your network share”: the computer may have gone to sleep, been switched off, or the file may have moved. Short Wi-Fi drops don’t stop playback; Zuno reconnects by itself and carries on.