Playback

Master FableFrog's player controls including speed, volume boost, sleep timer, bookmarks, car mode, headphone controls, and AirPlay.

Player Controls

FableFrog's player gives you precise control over your listening experience. When you tap play on any book, the full-screen player opens with the following controls:

Play / Pause: the central control. Tap to toggle playback.
Skip forward / backward: configurable skip durations with custom hour/minute/second pickers. Tap to jump ahead or back.
Scrubber: drag the timeline scrubber to seek to any position in the current chapter or the entire book.
Chapter navigation: tap the chapter list button to see all chapters with durations. Tap any chapter to jump to it instantly.
Chapter vs. total time: toggle between showing time remaining in the current chapter and time remaining in the entire book. Tap the time display to switch modes.

Customizable Action Buttons

The bottom row of the player is fully configurable. Pick which of the following actions appear, and in what order:

Speed — open the speed selector
Volume Boost — open the volume boost slider
Sleep Timer — open the sleep timer menu
Car Mode — enter car mode
Bookmark — create a bookmark at the current position
Listening Activity — jump into the activity feed
Book Details — open the book's detail page

Set your global defaults in Settings > Playback > Player Actions. Override the layout for a specific book from its Book Settings if a title needs different controls (e.g. always have Bookmark at hand for dense nonfiction). Scrubber lock and stay-awake toggles now also show a toast confirmation so you know the action registered.

Playback Speed

FableFrog supports playback speeds from 0.5x to 3.0x in 0.25x increments. Tap the speed indicator in the player to open the speed selector.

Global vs. Per-Book Speed

Set a global default speed in Settings that applies to all books. If a particular book works better at a different speed (a dense nonfiction title at 1.0x, a light novel at 2.0x), you can override the speed on a per-book basis. Per-book overrides persist across sessions and are shown in the player when active.

Speed Savings

FableFrog tracks the cumulative time you've saved by listening faster than 1.0x. This metric is visible in your listening statistics and gives you a concrete sense of how much extra listening time faster speeds have unlocked.

Volume Boost

Volume boost amplifies audio output beyond the normal maximum, useful for quietly narrated audiobooks or noisy environments.

Range: 0% to 200% above normal volume
Per-book overrides: Like speed, volume boost can be set globally and overridden per book. If a particular narrator is consistently quiet, set a higher boost for that title and forget about it.
How it works: Volume boost applies digital gain to the audio signal. At high levels, some distortion may occur depending on the source recording.

Sleep Timer

The sleep timer lets you fall asleep to your audiobook without losing your place.

Presets and Custom Timer

Choose from preset durations (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 minutes) or set a custom duration using the hour and minute picker. There's also an end of chapter mode that stops playback when the current chapter finishes, which is ideal for staying at clean stopping points.

Shake to Extend

When the timer has just expired and you're still awake, shake your phone to extend it by the original duration. No need to unlock the screen or open the app. Shake-to-extend is limited to the post-expiry window so it won't trigger accidentally mid-playback. Shake sensitivity is configurable in Settings > Playback > Shake to Extend, with a built-in test button (including haptic feedback on a successful shake) and per-book overrides for when a particular book needs a different threshold. You can also disable shake-to-extend entirely.

Automatic Sleep Timer

Set a time window (e.g. 10 PM to 6 AM) and FableFrog automatically starts a sleep timer whenever playback begins inside it. Configure it in Settings > Playback > Automatic Sleep Timer:

Time window: pick a start and end time. Windows that cross midnight are handled correctly.
Timer type: choose between Duration (e.g. 30 minutes) or End of Chapter.
Per-book overrides: disable the automatic timer for a specific book, or give it its own window/type — from Book Settings.

Manual timers you set yourself always take precedence over an automatic one. The player displays a distinct "Auto" banner label when an automatic timer is active so you can tell at a glance.

Expiry Behavior

When the sleep timer runs out, playback stops. You can configure whether the timer simply pauses playback or fully stops the session. Your position is always saved regardless of which behavior you choose.

Bookmarks, Clips, and Notes

Bookmarks let you mark moments in an audiobook and optionally annotate them with notes.

Create a bookmark by tapping the bookmark button in the player. FableFrog saves your exact position.
Add a title and notes: each bookmark supports a title and up to 5,000 characters of notes, giving you room for detailed annotations.
Jump back to any bookmark from the bookmarks list on the book's detail page. Tap a bookmark to seek directly to that position.
Delete bookmarks by swiping on them in the list.

Bookmarks sync to your Audiobookshelf server, so they're accessible from any client.

Car Mode

Car mode transforms the player into a simplified, glanceable interface with large tap targets designed for use while driving.

Activating Car Mode

Tap the car mode button in the player to switch. The interface changes to show oversized play/pause and skip controls with minimal visual clutter.

What Changes

Controls become significantly larger for easier tapping without looking
Non-essential UI elements are hidden
Stay awake is enabled automatically, so the screen won't dim or lock while car mode is active

Car mode is separate from CarPlay. It's designed for situations where you're using your phone mounted on the dashboard rather than a CarPlay-equipped vehicle.

Headphone Controls

FableFrog integrates with iOS remote command controls, so your wired or Bluetooth headphones work out of the box.

Supported Actions

Single press: play / pause
Double press: configurable (see below)
Triple press: configurable (see below)

Customizing Double-Press

In Settings > Playback, you can configure what a double-press of the headphone button does:

Skip to next chapter: useful for navigating long audiobooks
Create a bookmark: hands-free bookmarking while listening

Customizing Triple-Press

Triple-press maps to the iOS "previous track" command, which on other audiobook apps (Overcast, Castro, Pocket Casts, Apple Books) typically skips backward rather than restarting the chapter. FableFrog defaults to Skip Back by your configured Skip Backward duration, but you can change it in Settings > Playback:

Skip Back: jump backward by your Skip Backward seconds — the default
Previous Chapter: jump to the beginning of the previous chapter

Both double-press and triple-press can be overridden per book from Book Settings if a specific title calls for different behavior.

Control Center

FableFrog provides full Now Playing integration. The iOS Control Center shows your current book's cover art, title, chapter information, and standard playback controls. On iOS 18 and later, FableFrog also supports Control Center widgets for play/pause and progress.

AirPlay

The player includes a built-in AirPlay route picker. Tap the AirPlay icon to see available devices and send audio to any AirPlay-compatible speaker, receiver, or Apple TV. Playback controls continue to work normally while streaming via AirPlay.

Siri & Voice Control

FableFrog supports hands-free control via Siri and Apple Shortcuts, built on the modern App Intents framework. Voice phrases are auto-indexed by Siri, Spotlight, and Shortcuts at install time — no setup required.

Supported Phrases

Pause FableFrog / Resume FableFrog
Skip forward in FableFrog / Skip backward in FableFrog
Next chapter in FableFrog
Set sleep timer in FableFrog (followed by a duration like "for 30 minutes" or "for 1 hour")
Sleep at end of chapter in FableFrog
Cancel sleep timer in FableFrog
Show upcoming books in [series] on FableFrog
Play [book] on FableFrog — resumes from your last position

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