Help and Troubleshooting

Welcome to the Tuneshine help page! You can start here with a few of the most common questions people have. Be sure to check these as they can often resolve your issue.

• Wi-Fi and network issues: In some rare cases, you may need to make some tweaks to help your Tuneshine get a solid connection to the network. See Wi-Fi connectivity tips.
• Firmware updates: Sometimes Wi–Fi issues can be solved by a firmware update. If there is an update available for your Tuneshine, you will be prompted in the app after setting it up. If your Tuneshine seems to be taking a long time to update, don't worry—if you leave it near your Wi–Fi router the update will usually go through. If not, you can reset your device to cancel the update.
• Bluetooth issues: Typically, Bluetooth issues can be resolved by resetting your Tuneshine and “forgetting” it from your phone. See Bluetooth troubleshooting tips.
• Album art not displaying: If your network connection seems solid, but you're not seeing album art, this is most commonly fixed by ensuring that you have connected the same account to your Tuneshine that you're using to listen to music. To resolve this, see tips for Spotify, Apple Music, or Sonos.
• Returns, damage, and repairs: It's rare but things happen! Email [email protected] for assistance. If you think you need a replacement, please confirm the shipping address in your message. If your Tuneshine has suffered accidental damage, you can order a screen replacement.

Tuneshine uses a chip with a 2.4GHz Wi‑Fi antenna. If you're having trouble with Wi‑Fi stability (flashing gear icon on the Tuneshine display or “Not connected to server” in the app), try the steps below for a more stable connection.

Firmware update

If you're on a version of the Tuneshine firmware prior to 2.2.0, update to 2.2.0 or higher. These versions include Wi‑Fi updates from the chip manufacturer and more mesh network options. From the Tuneshine app home screen, tap the name of your device—if there's an available firmware update you'll see a prompt to update.

Mesh networks

On certain mesh networks (especially NETGEAR Orbi and eero), users report better results when Tuneshine connects only to the mesh node with the strongest signal and rejects weaker connections.

To enable this behavior:

1. If your Tuneshine is connected, reset the Wi‑Fi settings by going to the device settings, scrolling to the bottom, and selecting “Disconnect or change Wi‑Fi network.” You'll then be prompted to reselect the Wi‑Fi network via the Bluetooth setup process.
   
   If you're not able to get Tuneshine connected at all, plug it in and press the reset button on the back with a pen or paper clip for 6–8 seconds. You will then be able to set it up again through the app via Bluetooth.
   
   
2. During Bluetooth setup, when you arrive at the Wi‑Fi password screen, press “More options” and select “Strict AP Selection,” then complete the setup.

More tips

If the above doesn't help—or if you're on a non‑mesh network—try the following (easiest to most involved):

• If you're on a mesh network, move closer to a mesh node; if you're on a non‑mesh network, move closer to your main router.
• If you're on a mesh network, see if you can disable roaming for the Tuneshine. This is a feature designed for devices that move around a home, and can cause problems with stationary 2.4GHz devices.
• If WPA2 encryption is disabled on your router, try enabling it.
• If your router provides the option, add an additional 2.4GHz network with roaming disabled—this option is also called “IoT network”.
• Disable “Band steering” or similar features that attempt to automatically steer devices from your 2.4GHz network to your 5GHz network.
• Manually select the 2.4GHz channel used by your router and try setting it to another value.
• If available in your router config, use a 20 MHz channel width for the 2.4 GHz network.
• If your router has “airtime fairness” or similar load‑redistribution features, disable them for the whole network or just the 2.4 GHz network.
• Set your network to use 802.11 b/g instead of 802.11 b/g/n.
• Separate your 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks and connect Tuneshine to the 2.4 GHz network.

The only times you should connect to your Tuneshine with Bluetooth is during initial setup or if there is an issue that prevents it from connecting to the internet, such as Wi-Fi going down, your Wi-FI password changing, or if it hasn't been started up in a while and it needs new credentials.

During normal operation, you do not need to connect to Tuneshine with Bluetooth to use it. Tuneshine uses its Wi-Fi connection to access information about the music you play.

If you are having Bluetooth issues during setup, try the following:

1. Make sure you are staying close to the device during setup.
2. Reset the Tuneshine by holding down the recessed button next to the power button down with a pen for 6-8 seconds.
3. Go to your phone's Bluetooth settings and “forget” the Tuneshine.

While it generally works great, Apple Music usage with Tuneshine has some quirks due to the way the Apple Music integration functions.

Rather than being able to simply check what song a user is playing, Tuneshine needs to check the recently played tracks for a user and update when the list changes. As a result, it is normal for the artwork for a song to display for some time after it stops playing.

For Tuneshine to work with Apple Music on your Apple devices, you'll need to make sure “Listening History” is enabled.

On an iPhone or iPad: Open the Settings app and go to Apps > Apple Music. Make sure that the “Listening History” toggle is turned on.

On a Mac: Open the Music app and go to the Music menu > Settings > General. Make sure the “Listening History” box is checked.

As of firmware version 2.3.0, Tuneshine provides a local HTTP API if you would like to build or use your own integrations and run them on your local network to add additional functionality to the Tuneshine.

Each Tuneshine will advertise itself via mDNS using the service _tuneshine._tcp. You can connect to the API by using the IP discovered by mDNS, or using the hostname based on the last 4 digits of the device's hardware ID/MAC address, e.g. tuneshine-abcd.local. Note that some HTTP clients will default to unsupported IPV6 DNS resolution, which may make requests take longer—to avoid this, connect using the IP address or explicitly use IPV4 DNS resolution.

To download an OpenAPI spec for the Tuneshine, you can load the /openapi.json endpoint from the Tuneshine itself, which ensures that you'll get the most up-to-date spec for the firmware version. You can then upload the spec to Swagger Editor to browse the API spec.

Images sent via the HTTP API will override any images sent from the Tuneshine server, so you may want to make sure your integration checks the current state of the Tuneshine via the /state endpoint to make sure you're not overriding content you would like to display. Images will also display until remove them via the API or Tuneshine app, so be sure to check /state to see when you should remove the image.

You can send http: URLs that point to JPEG, PNG, or WebP images, or you can upload 64x64 WebP images directly—including animated WebP images.

For now, you will have to still log in with a service like Spotify and connect to the Tuneshine server to set up your Tuneshine, but this requirement will be removed in a future update.

Here are some examples of ways you might want to use the HTTP API:

• Integrate your own service: If your preferred music player isn't supported by Tuneshine, you can use the HTTP API to send images and metadata from your music player.
• Augment services that don't provide images: Some music services, such as Sonos, may not provide artwork in all cases. You can check /state to see what's playing and if no artwork is provided, you can provide your own from another source.
• Display the status of your Tuneshine on a dashboard: If you would like to integrate your Tuneshine with home automation software, you can use the HTTP API to check or update its current state from your home dashboard.
• Custom idle behavior: Not happy with a static image when you're not playing music? Check the /state endpoint to see when your Tuneshine is idle and send a clock, the weather, or anything else you dream up.
• Additional music features: You can check what song is playing and display related information, such as a scrolling animated WebP of the song title or lyrics, or an animation or video related to the current track.

To remove your account from a Tuneshine (say if you are gifting or selling it), there are two ways to reset it.

Reset using the app (recommended)

1. From the home screen of the Tuneshine app, tap the name of your device.
2. Tap the settings icon in the upper right corner.
3. Scroll to the bottom and select “Reset this device”
4. This will remove the Tuneshine from your account and remove all user configuration from the device.

Reset on the device

1. Hold down the recessed button next to the power button with a pen for 6-8 seconds.
2. This will remove all user configuration from the device, but it will not remove it from your account. You will need to separately remove it from the app.

If you forget to reset your device, the recipient will still be able to set it up—they will just have an extra step when they first connect to it.

If you are having issues and would like to inquire about a return or repair, please email [email protected] to inquire about a return.