A jukebox for your bar, pub, party, or family gathering — iOS plays, any mobile device requests and approves. JukeBar plays your own music: playlists from your Apple Music app, including your own MP3s, purchased tracks, and Apple Music library songs (obtaining the required music licensing remains the venue's responsibility).
playlists from your Apple Music app — your own MP3s, purchased tracks, or Apple Music streaming titles. One device runs everything.
if configured so, customers can directly request songs from your playlist on the iOS device.
In mixed or remote-only modes, customers can scan a QR code and browse/search the full catalog as well as submit requests on their own mobile devices via their browser.
Bartenders/admin approves or denies requests from a connected mobile device browser. Approved songs play in order of approval, or up next.
A configured price can be presented to requesters per song or per 3 songs (discount), which the bartender can collect before approving the requests (all payment processing, licensing fees, and taxes remain the responsibility of the venue).
Every session is archived to a CSV file — request history, songs, prices, timestamps — which can be downloaded for record keeping and analysis, shareable via AirDrop or email.
Optionally publish your bar name and the bands you play on your JukeBar on a map so music-loving guests can find the bars that match their music taste in a given location. (valuable if/when usage is widespread)
Three roles, three simple flows.
JukeBar shows a setup wizard every time it starts. Go through it once to configure the session; pre-filled fields make subsequent launches quick.
Grant JukeBar access to your Apple Music library. This is required to read your playlists and play songs.
Choose the Apple Music playlist you want to use as the jukebox source. Songs must be in your Apple Music library — either downloaded to the device (plays offline) or available as Apple Music catalog tracks (streams when internet is present). JukeBar's QR/request system works entirely on the local network and never requires internet..
Bar name (shown on the kiosk screen and in the customer web app, next to the logo), currency symbol, per-song price, and 3-song bundle price.
4–6 digit PIN that unlocks the admin panel and lets bartenders pair, so they can approve requests. Leave blank to keep the existing PIN on subsequent setups.
Bartender approval — customers use QR codes on their own phones; bartender approves via browser. Requires a shared WiFi network or Personal Hotspot.
Auto-accept — requests are entered directly on the host device and accepted automatically. No network needed.
How long the current QR code URL stays valid (default 8 hours). After expiry, customers need a new QR scan — useful if the device IP changes overnight.
Once running, long-press the bar name on the kiosk screen and enter your PIN to open admin controls: playback (play/pause/skip), catalog refresh, approval mode toggle, network diagnostics, session reports, and End Session.
JukeBar plays only songs that are physically downloaded to the device. In the Apple Music app, open your playlist, tap the download button (⬇), and wait for all tracks to download before starting a session. Songs marked with a cloud icon are not yet downloaded.
Share the bartender URL shown in admin settings (format: http://<device-IP>:8080/bartender) with your bartender. They open it in any browser on the same WiFi, enter their name and the bar PIN, and are ready to approve requests. The first person to pair becomes the session admin; additional bartenders need approval from the admin.
JukeBar runs a local web server on port 8080. Customers and bartenders connect to it over WiFi — no internet required.
Connect the iPhone and all customer/bartender devices to the same WiFi network. The customer QR code and bartender URL point directly to the iPhone's local IP address.
Most venue/bar routers have client isolation (also called AP isolation or wireless isolation) enabled on guest networks by default. This blocks devices from talking to each other — customers can reach the internet but not JukeBar.
Fix: In your router's guest-network settings, disable "Isolate WiFi clients" or "AP Isolation." Reboot the router after changing the setting — many routers require a restart for isolation policies to take effect.
Use a dedicated guest network for JukeBar with isolation disabled. Keep your main network isolated for security.
Enable Personal Hotspot on the iPhone. Customers and bartenders join the iPhone's WiFi hotspot directly — no router involved, no isolation issues. Requires a cellular plan that supports hotspot.
The hotspot network name and password are shown in the setup wizard and on the kiosk screen.
Personal Hotspot is the most reliable option if you can't control your venue's router settings. The iPhone handles everything — no external equipment needed.
In local mode, all requests are entered directly on the host device and auto-accepted. No WiFi needed. Useful for small venues or testing.
JukeBar connects to the jukebars.com relay server over the internet. Customers use a shareable QR link that works on any network — no shared WiFi required. Bartenders can approve requests from any device on any internet connection, including remotely.
The iPhone still plays the music locally; only requests, approvals, and now-playing state are relayed through the server. No song data leaves the device.
Venues where customers can't easily join the bar's WiFi, events with guests on different networks, or situations where the bartender needs to manage requests from a separate location.
The most common cause is AP isolation on the router — see the Network setup section above. Switching to Personal Hotspot mode bypasses this entirely.
Also check that the customer's device is on the same network as the iPhone (not on a separate network band). Some routers have separate 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks — customers need to be on the same band as the host device, or both bands need to be on the same subnet.
Make sure all songs in your Apple Music playlist are downloaded to the device. Songs with a cloud icon are not downloaded. Open the Music app, find your playlist, and tap the download button.
If you recently added songs to the playlist, use the Refresh Catalog button in admin settings to reload it.
Approved songs play after the currently playing song ends. If playback is paused, resume it from the admin controls.
If a request was approved before playback had started, JukeBar re-queues it automatically the next time playback begins — it won't be lost.
The bartender app polls for new requests every 20 seconds. Pull down to refresh manually, or wait for the next poll cycle.
Check that the bartender's device is on the same network as the iPhone and that the bartender is paired (status shows "✓ Approved" in the pairing screen).
Long-press the bar name on the kiosk screen — if you can't get past the PIN prompt, run the setup wizard again. Tap End Session (accessible if you can unlock admin) and confirm, or delete and reinstall the app to reset everything.
In the setup wizard's PIN step, enter a new PIN to replace the old one. Leaving both fields blank keeps the existing PIN.
Open admin settings (long-press bar name → PIN), scroll to the Approval section, and tap the toggle button. The change takes effect immediately — no restart needed.
Reports are available in admin settings under the Reports section. Each session produces a CSV file with all request details. Tap the share icon to send via AirDrop, email, or Files. Reports are kept for 10 days and then deleted automatically.
Yes. Each bartender opens the bartender URL in their browser and pairs with the PIN. The first to pair becomes the session admin; the admin approves subsequent bartenders. All paired bartenders can approve and deny requests simultaneously.
Yes — entirely. JukeBar uses Apple Music for playback, which works offline as long as songs are downloaded to the device. The QR code, customer web app, and bartender web app are all served from the iPhone itself. No cloud service is involved at any point.
JukeBar archives the current session to a CSV report and starts a fresh session. The setup wizard appears with all fields pre-filled from the previous session — tap through quickly to resume. Pending requests from the previous session are not carried over.
JukeBar is designed to keep all data local by default. The only data that leaves the device is what you explicitly choose to share.
| Data type | Where it goes | Leaves the device? |
|---|---|---|
| Bar configuration (name, PIN hash, prices) | Stored in the app's local Documents folder | ✗ No |
| Customer names and song requests | Stored locally; included in session CSV reports you generate and share manually | ✗ No |
| Apple Music library access | Read locally to build the song catalog. No track data is sent anywhere by JukeBar. | ✗ No |
| Location / network (WiFi SSID) | Used only to display the WiFi network name on the kiosk screen. Not stored or transmitted. | ✗ No |
| Internet mode relay (requests & approvals) | Request and approval actions pass through jukebars.com when internet mode is active. No song audio or personal data is included. | ⚡ Internet mode only |
| Community map (voluntary opt-in) | Bar name, playlist band names, and device GPS location are published to the JukeBar discovery map. Only sent when you explicitly enable "List on map" in setup. | ✓ Opt-in only |
| Analytics or crash data | None collected | ✗ No |
Bars can optionally appear on the JukeBar discovery map so that music-loving guests can find them before arriving. When enabled, your bar name, the GPS location of the host device at registration time, and the band names from your playlist are published to the map. This setting is off by default and can be changed at any time in the setup wizard.
Session CSV reports are kept on-device for 10 days and then deleted automatically. You can delete individual reports at any time from admin settings. Deleting the app removes all data permanently.
Playback uses Apple's MediaPlayer framework and your existing Apple Music subscription. JukeBar only reads your library — it does not access your listening history, purchases, or account information. Apple's own privacy policy governs how Apple Music data is handled by iOS.
JukeBar runs a local HTTP server on port 8080. It is reachable only by devices on the same WiFi network or Personal Hotspot. No data from this server is relayed to any external service when operating in local or hotspot mode.
For questions, bug reports, or feature requests, email [email protected].
JukeBar is made by the same team behind Grapefruitplayer — a concert discovery tool that plays music from bands performing live near you.