Troubleshooting + help

Windows reports no app is currently registered as the SMTC owner. Simply start playing music in any app and the message will disappear within a second.

If music is playing and Now Playing still doesn’t see it:

• Firefox : open about:config, set media.hardwaremediakeys.enabled to true, restart Firefox.
• Chrome / Edge : check chrome://flags for Hardware Media Key Handling and set it to Enabled.
• Apple Music for Windows : can be inconsistent. Try pausing/resuming, or use a dedicated source instead.

By design. IKANDY queries the active app for which transport commands it actually exposes: some apps (single YouTube videos, podcasts) don’t advertise Next or Previous, so IKANDY locks those buttons.

Hover any greyed-out button to see the reason. For broader transport controls, connect a dedicated source such as MusicBee, foobar2000, or VLC, or play in an app that publishes full controls to Windows media controls.

Windows treats system audio capture the same as microphone access for privacy purposes.

Fix: Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone → toggle Let desktop apps access your microphone on. Restart IKANDY.

If that doesn’t help, click 🎤 Reconnect Audio in Setup (⚙) → AUDIO tab.

Spotify plays through Windows media controls. Play, pause, and skip work when Spotify publishes them; some controls (seek, volume, shuffle) live inside Spotify itself. There is no sign-in and no account connection: press play in Spotify and IKANDY follows.

If you followed an older guide that asked for a Client ID and a Spotify Developer app, that connection has been removed from IKANDY. No setup is needed anymore.

Open http://localhost:8080 in a browser: you should see the VLC web UI password prompt. If you don't, the web interface isn't enabled.

Fix: VLC → Tools → Preferences → Show settings: All → Interface → Main interfaces → tick Web. Expand Lua below it and confirm a Lua HTTP password is set. Restart VLC.

In foobar2000 → File → Preferences → Tools → Beefweb Remote Control, confirm Enable HTTP server is ticked.

Test by visiting http://localhost:8880 in a browser. If you see the Beefweb player, the plugin is healthy. If you set a password, paste it exactly as configured in IKANDY's foobar2000 settings.

Confirm MusicBee is running and that MBXHub appears under Edit → Preferences → Plugins. The MBXHub bundle's mb_MBXHub.dll and MBXHub.exe should be in MusicBee's Plugins folder.

Test by visiting http://localhost:8080/docs in a browser. If the MBXHub API documentation loads, match IKANDY's host and port to the plugin configuration. The IKANDY defaults are 127.0.0.1 and 8080.

If the plugin does not load, confirm .NET Framework 4.8 and the .NET 10 Desktop Runtime are available (MBXHub 0.5.5.1 and earlier use the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime instead; from 0.5.5.2 on, MBXHub prompts you to install .NET 10 when it is missing), then check the MBXHub download page for current requirements and the installation notes.

For help with MBXHub itself (installing it, the plugin not loading, its settings), ask in the MBXHub support thread on the MusicBee forum. If MBXHub is running and IKANDY still won't connect, email support@ikandy.app.

Steam handles installing and updating IKANDY. If an install stalls or a launch fails after an update, use Steam's built-in repair: right-click IKANDY in your library, then Properties → Installed Files → Verify integrity of game files.

By default IKANDY captures the entire system audio mix: game sound effects, Discord calls, notification pings, and music all go in together. The visualizer reacts to whichever is loudest at any given moment, which is often the game.

Fix: use Per-Process Capture. Open Setup (⚙) → AUDIO tab → What to visualize, click Scan for apps, then pick Spotify or MusicBee in the list. IKANDY will focus on that app's audio stream while the game keeps running normally.

Confirm the source is connected: the console bar's Now Playing zone should show the track name and source.

Visuals react to system audio regardless of which source you’ve picked for track info. If the visualizer is static while music plays, audio isn’t reaching IKANDY. Click 🎤 Reconnect Audio in Setup (⚙) → AUDIO tab, and check Windows microphone permissions.

IKANDY captures a stereo loopback stream. With 5.1/7.1 configured, Windows mixes most music into rear/centre/sub channels, leaving the front L/R that IKANDY captures very quiet.

Fix: set your default output to Stereo (2 channel):

1. Right-click speaker icon → Sounds → Playback tab.
2. Right-click your active output → Configure Speakers → choose Stereo.
3. Right-click again → Properties → Advanced → pick a 2-channel format from Default Format.
4. Apply, then in IKANDY hit 🎤 Reconnect Audio in Setup (⚙) → AUDIO tab.

Lyrics load from your own files, matched by the artist and title of the playing track: a synced .lrc next to the track, or one in your linked lyrics folder. If no local file matches, IKANDY shows nothing instead of guessing. Use Add Lyrics and Tap to Time to create one; see the lyrics guide.

Also check: if your files have incorrect artist/title tags, the match can land on the wrong song.

IKANDY is GPU-bound. If your GPU is busy with another task, frame rate will suffer.

Try: step Visual Quality down (Setup, PICTURE tab); pick a simpler scene (Spectrum or Aurora instead of Starfield); or turn off extras that each add a full-frame pass, such as God Rays or a Look (set it to Original in the Motion window).

On laptops, make sure IKANDY is using the discrete GPU: in Windows, Settings → System → Display → Graphics.

If the COMFORT chip shows in the bottom left corner, Comfort mode is on, and it lowers the frame rate. Click the chip to turn it off.

That is Comfort mode holding a flash back. It shows most on bright scenes. Comfort mode is on only when you turned it on, at the first start or in Setup, and the COMFORT chip in the bottom left corner shows it is on.

To turn it off, click the chip, or choose Off in Setup, COMFORT, Comfort and flashing.

Turn on Comfort mode in Setup, COMFORT, Comfort and flashing. It holds back fast flashing, keeps Intensity at 6 or lower and turns every Motion move off. MilkDrop and WarpField presets play as their authors made them, and some flash or move fast; Comfort mode holds them back too.

Intensity all the way down stops every reaction to the music.

IKANDY opens about two seconds after you accept the license. The first time this version starts on your PC, Now Playing, lyrics, logos and pets can take up to a minute and a half to appear; after that they are there at once.

Try a clean reinstall: uninstall via Windows Settings → Apps, delete %APPDATA%\IKANDY, then reinstall the latest build.

If it still crashes, email support@ikandy.app with your Windows version, GPU, and any error message shown. If IKANDY opens, press Ctrl+Shift+D to save a diagnostic file for support and attach it. IKANDY 1.7 was tested on NVIDIA graphics cards only; AMD and Intel graphics cards were not tested.

IKANDY stores all user data in the Electron userData folder: %APPDATA%\IKANDY (paste into the Explorer address bar).

Files stored there include source preferences, preset reactivity scores, favorites, hidden presets, and thumbnail cache.

Uninstall note: the standard NSIS uninstaller on Windows does not delete %APPDATA%\IKANDY. Your settings, favorites, and cached thumbnails survive an uninstall and are picked up automatically when you reinstall. To fully reset IKANDY, delete that folder manually after uninstalling.