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Open Source side project from Cologne

For every Bose SoundTouch model

Keep your Bose SoundTouch alive without the cloud

Bose shut down the SoundTouch cloud service in May 2026. STR makes those speakers fully usable again without the cloud. Internet Radio, Spotify, your own music and the preset buttons work like they used to.

Download nowSource on GitHub
  • Ready in 10 minutesBox on Wi-Fi, tap Install in the app, done. No USB stick, no extra hardware, no tech skills. After that STR runs on the speaker itself, your computer can stay off.
  • Your preset keys work againThe six keys on the speaker and the remote, just like before.
  • Free, foreverAn open source project. No fee, no subscription, no cloud.
Bose SoundTouch 10 speaker seen from the front
STR can do more today than the Bose app ever could.See all features
  • Open source under the Apache 2.0 license
  • Bose firmware stays untouched
  • Fully reversible at any time

What this is about

STR is an Open Source hobby project. It exists because Bose shut down the SoundTouch cloud in May 2026 and turned several hundred euro devices into paperweights. Bose never published official sales figures, but industry reports talk about millions of SoundTouch speakers sold worldwide since the 2013 launch. The cloud shutdown wiped out a huge amount of fully working audio hardware overnight, and that is exactly what kicked this project off. A few weekends of reverse engineering later, the speakers can be operated without that cloud. The goal: hardware that still works should not end up as e-waste just because a vendor pulled a service.

What happened to SoundTouch, and what you can do

STR is alive all over the world

Drop a pin on the map and pick a reaction to show your speaker is alive again. New visitors can see at a glance where STR is already in use.

Loading map

Tap anywhere on the map. Your position is stored deliberately coarse, never house level.

Emoji by OpenMoji · CC BY-SA 4.0

STR in action

The German YouTube channel gapsed! took an independent look at STR and shows in this video how a silenced SoundTouch speaker plays internet radio again and how the software behind it works. Feedback like this from the community makes my day.

The video is in German.

Thumbnail of the YouTube video about STR
gapsed!Bose SoundTouch retten: Die Lösung, auf die ich gewartet habe

The video is hosted on YouTube. It only loads after you press play, which sends data to Google.See the privacy policy for details.Watch directly on YouTube.

More videos

All videos in one YouTube playlist.

Three steps back to radio

From download to your first station playing takes about ten minutes.

Prerequisite: your Bose needs to be on WiFi

This is the only thing you need to prepare. STR talks to your speaker over your home network, so the Bose has to be connected to your WiFi once. The easiest way is the official Bose app; in its latest version you no longer need a Bose account or the cloud for this. Alternatively, connect the speaker to your router with a network cable. Once the speaker is on the network, the STR app finds it automatically and installs everything else over the network.

  1. Download the app

    Grab the Windows or Mac version from the Download section below. If you want to be sure, you can verify the SHA256 checksum or the GitHub attestation, instructions in the Verify section. Optional.

    Go to download

  2. Install STR over the network

    Start the STR app on your computer. It finds your Bose automatically on the WiFi and installs STR onto the speaker with one click, straight over the network. It takes just a few minutes, then the box restarts with STR. After that the app offers new versions, and you can also install them straight from your phone.

  3. Put stations on the buttons

    Search for stations in the browser or in the computer app and put your six favorites onto buttons 1 to 6 on top of the speaker. Done. Speaker works like it used to.

    Finger pressing a preset button on top of the SoundTouch

What your Bose SoundTouch can do again

Everything from before works again. Plus a few things the Bose app never did.

Everything as before

Internet Radio

Tens of thousands of stations from around the world, with station logos and search by language. Search, play, done. No account, no app sign up.

Spotify Connect

Spotify now plays straight on the speaker, with no Bose app at all. Put your playlists on buttons 1 to 6 and hear them at the touch of a button, with the track and artist shown in the app. Several Spotify accounts in one household and shuffle work too, and the volume slider in the Spotify app follows the speaker. You need Spotify Premium for it.

Hardware buttons 1 to 6

The favorite station keys on top of the speaker and on the remote work again, even right after switching on. A short press plays at once, a long press saves whatever is playing on that key, just as the speaker always did.

Your own music

Play the music stored on your home network, from a NAS or your router, right on the speaker. Browse it in the app and put any track on a button, and the key shows its album cover. Nothing leaves your home. Under the hood it uses the open DLNA and UPnP standards.

Multiroom and stereo pair

Play several speakers in sync, or pair two SoundTouch 10 as a stereo pair with a left and a right channel. A stereo pair you set up in the Bose app stays intact when you install STR. If a speaker is stuck in an old, broken stereo pair, the app notices and frees it with one click.

Control from your phone

Every speaker brings its own remote for your phone's browser, on Android and iPhone, with no app store and no account. It takes over what you used the Bose app for as a remote: play, volume, standby, the six presets, station search, your own music and groups. It also installs STR updates on all your speakers.

In the US: Pandora and iHeartRadio stay on your speaker. Link your account in the speaker settings and play your Pandora stations from the app or your phone.

New, never in the original

New

Updates from your phone

Your speakers update themselves, no computer needed. In the phone remote, open More and then Software update: one tap brings every speaker in your home up to date, one after another. A speaker on a version older than 1.0.13 gets this one update from the computer app first.

New

Now playing on the speaker display

On every SoundTouch with a display (20, 30, Portable and Wave), STR can take over the speaker's display while music plays: station, artist and title, a small playing symbol and, if you like, the time. Long titles scroll across, and the music never stutters for it. Switch it on in the speaker settings. The display also confirms when you save a key, and “Find this speaker” makes it say hello, so you know which one it is.

Now playing on the speaker display
New

Alarm clock

Set an alarm on the speaker itself, with weekdays, volume and a switch-off time. It wakes you with one of your six keys, so with your station or your playlist, and turns itself off again afterwards. The alarm lives on the speaker, so it runs with the computer and the phone switched off.

New

Your remote controls your smart home

Each of the lower keys on the remote is a separate trigger for Home Assistant and similar systems, the living room light for example. It is set up in the app on a picture of the remote: tap a key, pick an action, done.

New

Groups that stay

Set up a speaker group once and it stays. As soon as the main speaker plays, the others join by themselves, through standby and a restart. The group shows in the app and on the phone. Groups can mix any models. Two SoundTouch 10 speakers can also be paired as a true stereo pair with separate left and right channels.

New

Sleep timer

Set a timer and the speaker, or the whole group, switches itself off after the time you set.

Users tell us the app runs smoother for them than the original.

The app in real use

This is what the STR app looks like on your computer. Search for stations, put them onto the hardware buttons, configure the speaker, all from one place.

STR app main view with speaker and preset buttons
Listen to music
STR app station search with filters
Find stations
STR app library with a network music server
Network library
STR app per-speaker settings
Speaker settings
STR app additional speaker settings
More settings
STR app status view with speaker info
Status and actions

Screenshots are from the current version, each shown in its own language. Sensitive data like IP address, WLAN name, device ID and serial number is blurred.

Every speaker serves its own phone remote in the browser: Android, iPhone, iPad or any tablet, with no app store and no account. Scan the QR code in the computer app's speaker settings once, add the page to your home screen, and it works like an app.

Play, volume and presets
Play, volume and presets
Find stations and music
Find stations and music
All speakers and groups
All speakers and groups

These screenshots show the real phone remote exactly as a speaker serves it.

Planned

Everything that already works today is listed under the features.

Working on now

  • Deezer: bringing your Deezer favourites onto the buttons.

Maybe later

  • TIDAL Connect integration
  • Podcasts: search a show and put it on a button so the newest episode plays at a press.

Most wanted

Ideas from the community, ranked by votes. Vote for what you want next or suggest your own. Voting needs a free GitHub account.

  1. 12 presets via double-press20 votes
  2. Android app for the phone remote9 votes
  3. Play music from a USB stick plugged into the speaker7 votes
  4. Podcasts on the speaker and on the preset keys7 votes
  5. Waking one grouped speaker wakes the whole group6 votes
  6. One volume slider for a stereo pair5 votes
  7. Deezer5 votes
  8. Voice control (Siri, HomeKit, Alexa)4 votes
  9. Integration with YT Music3 votes
  10. Music library as a native source in the Bose app3 votes
Vote on GitHubSuggest an idea

How to vote: open an idea, sign in with a free GitHub account, and click the ▲ arrow next to the title. One vote per idea; click again to take it back.

The order is not set in stone. If you need something urgently, drop me a message or open an issue, that shifts priorities.

Works with

Every SoundTouch model runs STR and has been tested on real hardware, including the three people ask about most: the SoundTouch SA-5 amplifier, the Wave SoundTouch series IV and the SoundTouch 300. They all use the same download.

  • SoundTouch 10
  • SoundTouch Portable
  • SoundTouch 20
  • SoundTouch 30
  • SoundTouch SA-5 amplifier
  • Wave SoundTouch series IV
  • SoundTouch 300
  • SoundTouch SA-4 amplifier
  • Wave SoundTouch series III
  • CineMate with SoundTouch adapter120 · 130 · 220 · 520 · SoundTouch 520
  • SoundTouch Wireless Link adapter
  • Lifestyle with SoundTouch adapter535 · 600 · 650

Bose and SoundTouch are trademarks of Bose Corporation. This project is not affiliated with Bose.

Open Source and verifiable

What I say on this page you can check yourself or with a bit of help. No promises, just facts to look at.

Apache License 2.0Source on GitHub

Source is open

All the code is on GitHub. Read it, fork it if you do not like a part, make your own version. Apache 2.0 licensed, you do not need to ask.

Signed by the build pipeline

Every download has a SHA256 fingerprint and a GitHub build attestation. If you want to be sure, the Verify section below shows how.

What STR leaves open on your network

So you know what STR newly adds: the STR control page on port 8888 runs without a login, anyone on the same WiFi can change presets or trigger playback through it. The connection between the desktop app and the speaker is unencrypted. Both are intentional, the WiFi is the trust boundary of the project. If you have unknown devices on your home network, you should be aware of this.

Your data stays home

STR and your speaker only talk inside your WiFi, plus radio-browser.info for the station search. At startup the desktop app briefly checks st-reborn.de for updates and reports only anonymous basics like version, operating system and language. No account, no cookies, no stored IP, no profile. You can turn the check off and the app still runs.

Build it yourself

If you build the source with the same tools as me, you get the same binary bit for bit. It is documented, ping me if it does not work.

Report a security issue

Found a bug or a security issue? Report it on GitHub or by email. I usually reply within a day or two.

Bose firmware stays untouched

The official Bose firmware is not modified. STR lives only as extra files in the internal storage. A factory reset of the speaker resets the Bose software but leaves the STR files in place. To take STR off completely, use the clean uninstall built into the app, which returns the speaker to its original Bose state.

Download

Grab the Setup Wizard for your computer. It installs STR onto your Bose SoundTouch once over your home network. The same app then also runs day to day: it controls the speaker, finds stations and puts them on the hardware preset buttons 1 to 6.

Versionv1.0.13Released15 Oct 2026downloads total72,150

What you need

  • Windows 10 or newer, a Mac running macOS, or Linux, also on a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5
  • No USB stick and no extra hardware. STR installs straight over your home network onto the speaker.
  • Your Bose SoundTouch switched on and on the same home network as the computer. How to get the speaker onto WiFi is explained higher up on this page.

Windows Setup Wizard

Guided one-time install over the network. After that the same app controls every speaker running STR on your WiFi.

Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit). Windows 7 and 8 are not supported.

Download for WindowsBrowser blocking the download? Get the ZIP version instead.
Size
53.2 MB
SHA256
a4036017...46cd34

Signed. On first launch the Windows firewall asks for access on the home network. Without that permission the search stays empty.

macOS Setup Wizard

Universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel.

macOS 12 (Monterey) or newer.

Download for macOS
Size
42.0 MB
SHA256
bb742277...824465

Notarized by Apple. A drag into the Applications folder is all it takes.

Or install it with Homebrew: brew install --cask jrpersonal/tap/st-reborn

Linux

For 64-bit PCs and for ARM64 computers such as the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5. As an archive, or as a .deb package for Debian, Ubuntu, Mint and Raspberry Pi OS.

A current 64-bit Linux, x86_64 or ARM64.

Download Linux archive (x86_64)

More Linux downloads

Size
19.1 MB
SHA256
06704ed0...30be09

Unpack the archive after the download and start the program from the unpacked folder. The .deb package installs with a double click, and later app updates go through your system's package installer.

All releases and older versionsAll SHA256 hashes as fileWant to build from source? Code and build instructions on GitHub. github.com/JRpersonal/streborn
Verify your download

Every download can be verified. This way you know the file came from the official GitHub build pipeline and was not tampered with in transit.

This is optional. The download works fine without it. These steps are just for anyone who wants to be extra sure.

Method 1: SHA256 checksum

Compute the SHA256 hash of your downloaded file and compare it with the value on the Release page. If hashes match, the file is unchanged.

# Windows PowerShell
Get-FileHash .\STR-Windows.exe -Algorithm SHA256

# macOS oder Linux
shasum -a 256 STR-macOS.dmg

Method 2: GitHub build attestation

Using the GitHub CLI you can cryptographically prove the binary was produced by the official build pipeline. This still works even if someone tampered with the checksum afterwards.

# GitHub CLI installieren: https://cli.github.com
gh attestation verify \
   STR-Windows.exe \
   --owner JRpersonal

Only download binaries from the official GitHub release page or this website. Never from third party sources.

Community and contact

STR lives off you and other SoundTouch owners. You do not need to code to help, sometimes a short note about what works or does not is exactly what I need.

GitHub Issues
Bug reports, feature requests, setup help.
GitHub Discussions
Open questions, user stories, station recommendations.
Contribute code
You program and want to help build? Issues labeled "good first issue" are a friendly entry point.
Direct email
Usually answered same day. Good when your topic should not be public on GitHub.
E-Mail Adresse, bitte JavaScript aktivieren

Help it get around

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still use my SoundTouch after the Bose cloud shutdown?
Yes. Bose switched off the SoundTouch cloud in May 2026, but the speakers themselves still work. With STR, internet radio, Spotify Connect, the six preset buttons, music from your own network, groups and stereo pairs work again. You control it all from the computer app or your phone. STR runs on the speaker itself, with no account and no cloud, on the SoundTouch 10, 20, 30, Portable, Wave and the other models listed under Works with.
Can I still use Spotify on my SoundTouch after the Bose shutdown?
Yes. STR brings Spotify Connect back to the speaker: open Spotify on your phone or computer, pick the speaker, and the music plays straight on it. You can also put your favorite playlists on the keys 1 to 6 and start them with one press on the speaker or the remote, no phone needed. Several Spotify accounts in one household work too. You need Spotify Premium for it.
Do iHeartRadio and Pandora still work on my SoundTouch in the US?
Yes. On speakers set to the United States, STR keeps the speaker's own Pandora and iHeartRadio. In the speaker settings of the app you link your Pandora or iHeartRadio account to the speaker, or remove it again. Your Pandora stations then show up in the app's station search and on the phone, ready to play or to put on a key. Pandora has been confirmed working by a user. iHeartRadio is still experimental, so tell me how it works for you in the ideas thread on GitHub. Both services only play from a US internet connection. Internet radio, Spotify and your own music work everywhere, in the US too.
My SoundTouch preset buttons stopped working after the shutdown. Can I get them back?
Yes. The six buttons on the speaker and on the remote used to get their stations from the Bose cloud, so they went quiet when it was switched off. STR keeps your presets on the speaker itself, and the buttons work again, also after switching off, standby or a Wi-Fi outage. A button can hold a radio station, a Spotify playlist or music from your own network. A short press plays, a long press saves what is playing right now.
Is my Bose SoundTouch still safe afterwards?
Yes, even safer than before. STR does not modify the official Bose firmware. During installation STR writes a few files into the speakers internal NAND (under /mnt/nv/streborn/), including the STR agent itself and its configuration. They run as an additional process alongside the Bose software. Security note on the network install: to push the agent, STR briefly opens the maintenance access that the Bose firmware ships with, then closes it again as soon as the install is done. So the only exposure window is the short install itself, and the app shows a banner during that phase. A factory reset only rolls back the Bose software, the STR files stay in place, see the next question if you ever want to pass the speaker on.
How do updates get onto the speaker, and is that safe?
When a new version is out, you have two ways. On your phone, open the phone remote, go to More and then Software update, and one tap updates all your speakers one after another, no computer needed. Or use the computer app, which offers the update when you start it. When a speaker updates itself, it first checks STR's signature on the new version and refuses a file that does not match. The Bose firmware stays untouched, only STR's own files are replaced. The phone way works from version 1.0.13 on, so a speaker on an older version gets this one update from the computer app first.
Does my computer have to stay on for the speakers to play?
No. STR is installed onto the speaker once through the app and runs there permanently. The preset keys, internet radio, Spotify and the phone control keep working with no computer switched on. You need the computer app for the first setup and for conveniences like searching stations on a big screen. Updates work without it too: the phone remote installs them on all your speakers.
Can I control my SoundTouch from my phone without the Bose app?
Yes. Every speaker with STR serves its own remote for your phone's browser, on Android, iPhone and tablets, with no app store and no account. Scan the QR code in the speaker settings of the computer app once and add the page to your home screen, then it works like an app. From there you play and pause, change the volume, put the speaker in standby, start your six presets, search for stations, browse your own music and group speakers. Under More you also find Software update, which brings all your speakers up to date. The computer can stay off.
I opened the speaker's IP address in the browser and only see a Bose page. Where is the phone remote?
Without a port number the browser lands on the speaker's built-in Bose page, which is normal. The STR remote has its own address with a port number. Open the speaker's settings in the computer app: it shows the QR code with the full address right under it. Scan the QR code with your phone camera and your phone lands straight on the right page, ready to be added to your home screen.
Does my speaker need a specific Bose firmware version?
Yes. STR expects the last official Bose firmware, 27.0.6. It is the final version Bose rolled out to all SoundTouch models in 2022, nothing newer exists. You do not need to check the version yourself: the app reads it and lets you know when a speaker still runs an older firmware. Then click “Update now” in that notice. The app fetches Bose's own file for exactly your model from Bose's server and installs it over your home network, with no USB stick. It takes about ten minutes, so leave the speaker plugged in the whole time. Its name, Wi-Fi, keys and STR itself stay as they are. If the app does not show the button for your speaker, the firmware guide on GitHub explains the manual way.
The update to Bose firmware 27.0.6 keeps failing. What now?
A tip from the community, no guarantees: on some speakers the direct jump to 27.0.6 does not work, the update aborts or the box keeps restarting. What has helped is a detour: first install an older SoundTouch firmware from a USB stick, then update to 27.0.6 as usual. The SoundTouch Firmware Downgrade Guide in the community wiki describes this step by step. Also important: older SoundTouch models of series I and II only use 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. If your router broadcasts on 5 GHz only, the speaker cannot find the network, so enable the 2.4 GHz band as well. Thanks to Jos from the community for this tip.
What do I need to do if I sell or pass on my speaker?
A factory reset through the Bose app only clears Bose-owned data such as WiFi, account and Bose presets. The STR files stay in place, so STR keeps running after the reset. To hand the speaker on in real stock state, there is now a clean uninstall built right into the app. The wizard removes STR completely and returns the speaker to its original Bose state, ready to sell or pass on. If the new owner just wants to keep using STR, all they need is to set the WiFi via the app and put their stations back onto buttons 1 to 6.
How do I remove STR again?
Straight from the app, in one step. There is nothing to back up first, because nothing of the original state gets overwritten: STR lives in its own folder in the speaker memory and hooks itself in at startup, the Bose firmware itself stays untouched. There are two ways. Uninstall removes STR completely and restarts the speaker as a plain Bose, still on the WiFi. The app then forgets the speaker; it shows up again once STR is installed anew, which can be done at any time. That is the way to go before selling, or for a later reinstall. Factory reset clears the Bose side, meaning WiFi, account and Bose presets, but keeps STR installed. Worth knowing: a factory reset from the Bose app does the same, it does not remove STR. If an STR USB stick is still in the speaker, it needs to come out before uninstalling, otherwise it installs STR again on the next start. . Your six keys are not lost either, the app keeps them and puts them back on the speaker when you install STR again from the same computer
What if Bose lets the old cloud domains expire one day?
Right now the old Bose cloud domains like streaming.bose.com are still registered to Bose, they just no longer respond. If Bose ever lets them lapse and someone re-registers them, that party could in theory remote-control an untouched SoundTouch, the Bose firmware trusts those hostnames implicitly. STR addresses this in two ways: first, the affected hostnames are pinned locally to 127.0.0.1, so the speaker no longer sends those requests out at all. Second, STR creates a per-speaker local TLS CA that is only valid for these exact hostnames and never leaves the device. Even if one of the old cloud domains ends up in the wrong hands, your speaker with STR stays protected.
The app does not find my SoundTouch. What now?
In the current version the app main list only shows speakers that already have STR installed. A factory speaker that has not been touched yet will not appear there, even if your PC can ping it on the same network or the Bose app used to find it. So this is not a firewall, WiFi or mDNS issue, just how the app currently behaves. To set up a new box: make sure the Bose is on the same home network (see above) and start the install in the app. STR installs onto the speaker over the network, with no USB stick. Once the speaker reboots with STR firmware, it shows up in the list automatically.
How do I change the stations on the preset keys?
Through the station search in the app. Type the station name, click Search, and on the match choose “Assign to key”; the app then asks which of the six keys should hold it. From then on that key on the speaker starts exactly this station. If a station worth keeping is playing right now, a long press on the wanted key does it, in the app, on top of the speaker or on the remote, and the running station is saved there. The phone page works the same way via the Search tab.
My speaker stops reacting to the preset keys after a longer break. What now?
Some speakers silently lose their internal sign-in after a long idle period or a power off and then refuse every key press. The quick fix: unplug the speaker for ten seconds, after that the keys work again. Version 0.9.21 already makes this much rarer, it fixes a connection bug that could swallow key presses. A coming update closes the last gap by storing presets in a more robust format on the speaker.
My Wave plays the station but shows UNAVAILABLE or no station name.
That is a display quirk of the Bose firmware on the Wave, not a playback problem. On a key press the box first tries its old cloud path, which goes nowhere, then STR takes over playback. Whether the station name survives on the display is unfortunately up to the firmware. The music always plays correctly. A permanent fix is in the works that will bring the names back reliably.
Why is a speaker greyed out in the app?
Grey means seen but currently unreachable: the speaker is in deep standby, unplugged or rebooting. It deliberately stays in the list so it does not seem to vanish, and the tooltip tells you when it was last seen. As soon as it answers again the tile comes back to life on its own. A speaker in deep standby is woken at the device itself, that saves power and is intentional.
My speaker keeps jumping to an old Wi-Fi network or a public hotspot. What can I do?
A speaker remembers every Wi-Fi network it was ever connected to. When your home network drops out for a moment, it may switch to one of the others, an old router or a public hotspot nearby, and then the app loses it. In the app, open the speaker settings and click “Forget the other networks” in the Wi-Fi section. The speaker keeps only the network it is on now and restarts once, which takes about a minute. When you move a speaker to a new network in the app, you can tick the same option right away. A few models keep their own list that STR cannot change yet, and the app tells you if yours is one of them.
The app shows “No internet” on my speaker. What does that mean?
The speaker is on your home network, so the app finds and controls it, but it cannot get out to the internet. Radio and Spotify need the internet, which is why a station then stops after a few seconds. The app now says so on the speaker tile and on the phone, instead of leaving you guessing. The cause is almost always the router: check whether the speaker is blocked there, for example by parental controls or a device block, or whether the internet itself is down. Music from your own home network keeps playing.
My Spotify preset plays a foreign or wrong playlist.
This happened when Spotify autoplay was running at save time: instead of your playlist, its temporary radio spin-off got stored, which later leads nowhere. Since version 0.9.21 STR always stores the real playlist and also self-heals previously saved keys on recall. If a key still plays the wrong thing afterwards, just save it once more while the playlist is playing.
Why does the app ask for local network access on startup?
Because without it STR cannot find your speakers at all. On startup the app looks for every SoundTouch on your home network that runs STR, connects to them to control playback and put stations on the buttons, and fetches the station list from radio-browser.info over the internet. On top of that it runs a short update check against st-reborn.de with anonymous basics like version and language, and that is all. On Windows the firewall asks once on first launch whether the app may communicate on your networks. Allow access for private networks, meaning your home network, public networks are not needed. If you deny it, the app still starts but will not find any speakers.
A radio station is missing. Do I need TuneIn?
No. STR does not use TuneIn; it searches radio-browser.info, a free community directory. A station missing there is missing in STR, and one you add works for everyone. The easiest way is to let an AI gather everything the Add station form needs. Paste the following into a chatbot like ChatGPT and fill in your station's name. "I want to add the internet radio station NAME to radio-browser.info. Give me, ready to copy, the direct audio stream URL (the real stream, not the web player page), the homepage, a direct https logo image URL, the country and its two-letter code, the language, a few tags, and the bitrate and codec if you know them. If you are not sure of the real stream URL, say so instead of guessing." Then open the stream URL in your browser or in VLC and confirm you actually hear the station, because an AI sometimes invents one that looks right. Add the details at radio-browser.info under Add station, and it appears in STR after a short check, ready for a preset key.
How do I install the app on Linux?
The Linux version is the same graphical app as on Windows and macOS. It comes for normal 64-bit PCs (x86_64) and for ARM64 computers such as the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 with the 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS. On Debian, Ubuntu, Mint and Raspberry Pi OS the easiest way is the .deb package: download it and double click it, and your software installer sets everything up, including the entry in your application menu. Later app updates go through the same installer. If you prefer the tar.gz archive, using Linux Mint or Ubuntu as the example: extract the downloaded file with a right click, open the extracted folder, right click inside it and choose "Open in Terminal". Install three system libraries once with sudo apt install libgtk-3-0 libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 libsoup-3.0-0 and then start the app with ./STR-Linux-x64, or with ./STR-Linux-arm64 on ARM64. If you also run ./install.sh in the same folder, ST Reborn appears in your application menu with its icon, no administrator rights needed. On other distributions the three packages have slightly different names, the README file inside the archive lists the commands for Fedora and Arch.
Can I still use the Bose app and other apps?
Yes. STR does not replace the Bose firmware, it sits alongside it, so the speaker stays reachable for other programs on your home network. The official Bose app still finds your speaker, and everything that runs locally, such as power, volume and setting up WiFi, works there even without a Bose account. Everything in the Bose app that went through the cloud, meaning account, station browsing and storing presets, stays dead. That is down to the shutdown, not to STR. So you manage your stations and buttons 1 to 6 in the STR app. Other local controls keep working too, Home Assistant for example.
Can I control my speakers with Alexa?
Not directly, but there is a way round. The old Alexa control ran through the Bose cloud: Alexa talked to Bose, and Bose talked to your speaker. Both halves are switched off, which is why the old Alexa skill cannot be brought back, by anyone. I deliberately do not build a new one. It would need a server on the internet, an account and running costs, and it would open a door to your speaker from outside. STR runs at your home only, with no account and no cloud. What does work is a hub on your own network, Home Assistant for example. It talks to your speakers and offers them to Alexa. That gives you switching speakers on and off, changing the volume, and starting your presets by voice, for example "Alexa, turn on kitchen preset 2". Free speech like "play station X" is not part of it. This is for anyone happy to run a small server. If that is not for you, you lose nothing: the app and the phone remote control everything without it. Guide: Setting up voice control. Alexa and Amazon Echo are trademarks of Amazon, Home Assistant is a trademark of the Home Assistant project. STR is affiliated with neither.
Will STR support Amazon Music?
No, and this will not change on STR's side. Amazon encrypts its music with copy protection that only Amazon's own licensed apps can unlock, and there is no open way for other software to play it. The SoundTouch's built-in Amazon Music source depended on Bose's servers, which are gone. What works today: play Amazon Music from the Amazon Music app on your phone and send it to the speaker over Bluetooth.
What does the AirPlay optimization setting do?
It keeps the AirPlay coprocessor awake so AirPlay starts faster and stays reliable. The setting only appears on speakers whose AirPlay runs on its own chip, such as the Portable. On the SoundTouch 20 Series III AirPlay runs in the speaker’s main software, so there is nothing to keep awake and the app does not show the setting. On means faster and more reliable AirPlay, at the cost of a little more power. Off means deeper standby and longer battery life, but AirPlay reacts a bit slower. Leave it on if you use AirPlay regularly. On a battery-run Portable you rarely stream to, turn it off. Changing it briefly restarts the speaker.
Which stations can I listen to?
Any station listed in the radio-browser.info catalog. That is currently over 50,000 stations worldwide, the community keeps adding more. If your favorite station is missing, you can submit it at radio-browser.info for free, it then appears in STR automatically.
What format does a radio station need?
Almost every web radio station works. Recently many stations that used to time out play too, like BBC Radio 4. A few very rare formats the speaker still cannot play. If your favorite station is missing entirely, you can add it yourself at radio-browser.info, free and without an account, and it shows up in STR shortly after.
Why do I hear adverts on some stations?
The advertising comes from the station, not from STR. STR plays the stream exactly as the station sends it and adds nothing of its own, no adverts and no announcements. Many commercial stations run advertising in their web stream, often a spot the moment you tune in. Stations without advertising have none of it. If it bothers you, switching to a different station is the cure.
Can I play music from my NAS, for example a Synology?
Yes. The Library tab in the app lists every media server on your home network automatically, including Synology, FritzBox and others. Browse to your playlist or album, play it directly on the speaker, and put it on one of the keys 1 to 6. After that the key on the device starts the music straight from the NAS, the app does not need to be running.
Does Home Assistant work with STR?
Yes, in both directions. Home Assistant ships a Bose SoundTouch integration that talks to the speaker directly on the home network, and that local interface is exactly what STR keeps alive: add the integration, enter the speaker IP, and power, volume and the preset keys work from there too. New is the other way round: the lower keys on the remote can be set up in the app as triggers for Home Assistant and similar systems, each key on its own, directly on a picture of the remote. The Home Assistant guide on GitHub walks through both ways step by step.
Can I control my speaker with an iPhone shortcut or the Apple Watch?
Yes. A shortcut in Apple's Shortcuts app can start a preset, switch the speaker on or off or set the volume, with no extra app. Shortcuts you make on the iPhone show up on a paired Apple Watch by themselves, and Siri runs them when you say their name. Each shortcut is just two steps, and the Apple Shortcuts guide on GitHub lists exactly what to enter. Give the speaker a fixed address in your router, otherwise the shortcuts stop working when it gets a new one. Apple, iPhone, Apple Watch and Siri are trademarks of Apple Inc. STR is not affiliated with Apple.
Do I have to rebuild my group every time after switching on?
No. A group created in the app stays saved permanently. As soon as the main speaker plays, the other speakers wake up by themselves and join, through standby or a restart. A plain restart of the main speaker without playback does not wake the group, so no box ever turns on uninvited. The saved group is listed in the Multiroom area of the app and on the phone page, and can be removed there as well. A speaker that belongs to a group, a saved one included, cannot currently become half of a stereo pair. Dissolve the group first if you want the pair.
Can I form and dissolve a speaker group with the remote?
Yes. Save the group in the app under Multi-Room and put it on a Thumbs up or Thumbs down key of the remote. One press forms the group, the next press dissolves it. If the main speaker was quiet, it starts its last station so the music is playing right away. The key can also sit on a speaker that only plays along in the group. Nothing shows on the display, you hear it instead when the other speakers join or go quiet. If a smart home action already sits on that key, the group wins.
Will my stereo pair survive installing STR? And what if a speaker is stuck in an old pair?
A stereo pair of two SoundTouch 10 that you set up in the Bose app stays as it is when you install STR, and you can keep using it straight away. Sometimes a speaker still clings to an old stereo pair whose partner is missing or broken, and then it will not play. The app spots this in the Multiroom area and offers to dissolve the old pair with one click. After that the speaker plays on its own again and can join a new pair or group. New stereo pairs and groups are set up in the app.
Can the Bose wake me like a clock radio?
Yes. In the app pick the speaker, go to the alarms, and set the time, the weekdays, one of the six keys, the volume and a switch-off time. The alarm is stored on the speaker rather than on the computer, so it wakes you with the PC and the phone switched off. It survives a restart and an update. A speaker can hold several alarms, each with its own days and its own volume.
I used another SoundTouch app and now my keys do not work.
A speaker holds only one slot for the address of the service it reports to. STR writes itself in there, and other apps do the same. Whoever wrote last owns the speaker, and the change restarts it. After that STR can no longer reach it and the six keys stop responding. Here is the repair: close the other app first, on every phone it is installed on, because while it runs it writes itself back in after every restart. Then restart the speaker, or pull the power for ten seconds. STR’s address lives in the speaker’s own configuration and is read back at boot, so it returns by itself. Nothing is lost on the way, not the keys, not the groups, not the settings. One difference is worth knowing: STR leaves the original address in place and points it at the speaker itself, so nothing leaves your home network. Other apps may instead write their own address on the internet. Both work, but they are not the same thing.
I need help, where do I ask?
A good first stop is the list of existing issues on GitHub. Many questions have already been asked and answered there, and closed issues stay readable. The search box at the top of that page quickly finds keywords such as a model name or an error message. If the topic is not covered yet, a new issue on GitHub or an email to me works. I usually answer the same day. For an error report the diagnostic log helps: at the very bottom of the app window, “Save diagnostic logs” writes a file that can be attached to the issue or the email. It also contains the speaker's own log, so one file is usually enough, saved right after the problem occurred.
Footer of the STR app with the “Save diagnostic logs” link
Footer of the STR app with the “Save diagnostic logs” link
Why would someone do this for free?
Out of frustration with throwaway hardware and a love of reverse engineering. Donations fund the hobby and pay for additional speaker models to test. Nothing is required.

Help it get around

The software works. The problem is somewhere else: most people with a silent SoundTouch have no idea STR exists. Bose has sold millions of these speakers since 2013, and only a small share of their owners have found their way here so far.

I have no advertising budget and I do not want one. What works is people passing it on. A sentence in a forum, a word to the neighbour with the old speaker on the shelf, a post wherever you already spend your time.

If STR is running in your home, you are the most credible messenger this project has.

Social networks

Forums

Direct

Your favourite channel should know about this

If STR is running in your home and you follow a tech channel, a magazine or a podcast you like: a short note from you carries more weight there than anything I could send. You know the tone, you know what fits, and nothing about your name says advertising.

For video channels a comment under a related video often works better than an email. Newsrooms almost always have an address for reader tips.

Write it in your own words, that is the part that works. The text below is only a starting point. Figures, a short description and images are ready on the press page.

Go to the press page

Thanks

STR only exists because other people give their work away. Here are the projects without which this would not be possible.

Show all projects

App and speaker agent

  • radio-browser.info: Community catalog of 50,000+ internet radio stations, free to use, no API key. The station search in STR runs entirely on it.
  • go-librespot: Spotify Connect client by devgianlu (GPL-3.0) behind the Spotify support in STR. Runs as a separate, standalone binary. STR builds it from a small public fork that adds raw-Ogg passthrough (upstream: github.com/devgianlu/go-librespot).
  • Wails: Cross-platform desktop framework, Go in the back, web in the front. Bridges the STR desktop app.
  • gorilla/websocket: WebSocket library for Go. Hooks into the internal Bose firmware bus and catches the hardware preset buttons 1 to 6.
  • grandcat/zeroconf: mDNS service discovery for Go. Lets the desktop app find the SoundTouch automatically on the LAN.
  • skip2/go-qrcode: QR code library for Go. Generates the QR codes in the app that open a speaker's phone remote directly on your phone.
  • Octicons: Icon set by GitHub (MIT). Provides some of the interface icons in STR.
  • Mozilla CA Certificate Store: Mozilla root certificate store (MPL-2.0), redistributed by the curl project. Some speakers do not know a few of these authorities, so STR adds them in memory only while connecting.
  • Vite: Frontend bundler in the STR desktop app. Active locally during build, not shipped in the bundle.
  • Sigstore: Build provenance for every release. Makes the build trail cryptographically verifiable, see Verify above.
  • GitHub Actions: CI/CD ecosystem that builds, checks and signs every release.
  • Linux + BusyBox: Run on the Bose SoundTouch speakers themselves. Without this GPL base STR would not be possible, the STR agent builds directly on top of it.

This website

  • Astro: Static site framework. Ships the page you are reading right now.
  • Tailwind CSS: Utility-first CSS framework. Keeps the styling small and consistent.
  • GoatCounter: Privacy-friendly visitor counting, no cookies, no persistent visitor ID.

go-librespot is licensed under the GPL-3.0 and ships alongside STR as a separate binary. The STR code itself stays under the Apache 2.0 license. The complete corresponding source is available in the fork: github.com/JRpersonal/go-librespot

STR contains third-party software. Which parts those are, under which license they stand and where the corresponding source lives is listed in full in the license notices: THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md

Community reverse engineering

STR ships none of these projects' code, but several of its central mechanisms would not exist without what they published. Most of them accept no support at all.

  • Bose-SoundTouch by gesellix: Documented the account and service schema that lets a speaker register its sources again, which is what makes the preset buttons work without the Bose cloud.Donate
  • SixBack by Dirk Tostmann: Showed how a speaker distinguishes a source it does not know from one it cannot log into, which is why STR can now tell those two failures apart.Donate
  • soundcork by deborahgu: Wrote down the Bose cloud API from real speaker traffic, the reference STR checks its own emulation against.
  • BoseSoundtouch by TimoGo: Documented the speaker command sequence for joining a Wi-Fi network, including the detail the official service manual leaves out.
  • Soundtouch-without-the-app by bosefirmware: Collected the firmware images and cloud-free operating notes STR uses to tell speaker generations apart.
  • bosesoundtouchapi by thlucas1: The most complete public description of the speaker's own control API.
  • libsoundtouch by CharlesBlonde: The original community library for these speakers, and the first description of their live event stream.
  • opencloudtouch: A parallel effort to keep these speakers alive after the shutdown, and a useful cross-check on findings.Donate