In short
A playlist lets the people who scan your Mark see all of its items, its videos, audio, photos and web pages, and choose what plays. Without it, each scan opens one item, picked by the Rotator. You need at least two items on the Mark.
Set it up in the App from My Linxy: open your Mark’s sheet and tap Content & playback. On the web, use the Playlist section of the Mark’s editor. Both reach the same settings, and the playlist is not limited by your plan.
On this page
- Getting more than one item onto the Mark
- In the Linxy App
- Playback for viewers: every setting
- A cover photo or silent video
- On the web
- How the playlist and the Rotator fit together
- Full screen, the controls and the now-playing bar
- Playing on its own: displays and signage
- Symptoms, causes and fixes
- Things people commonly get wrong
Getting more than one item onto the Mark
| In the App | On the web | |
|---|---|---|
| Add video or audio files | Video or audio at the bottom of the Content screen, then Choose videos, Record a video, Choose audio or Record audio. You can pick several videos or audio files at once (up to 20); they upload one after another and join the end of the list in the order you picked them | Upload Media in the editor, with Replace unticked |
| Add files from My Files | Add from My Files on the Content screen: tap the files in the order they should play, then Add. Or, in My Files, choose files and Add to… > Add to the end of its playlist | In My Files, choose files and Add to a Mark or link… |
| Add a web page | Web page, then Paste the page address and Add | Add the page’s address on its own line in the Destination URL(s) box, then Update Linxy Mark |
In the Linxy App
- Open My Linxy and the Marks tab.
- Tap the Mark’s name, or its more button, to open its sheet.
- Tap Content & playback. It appears only on Marks you own.
The Content screen lists everything on the Mark under In this mark:
| On the screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| Playback for viewers | Opens the playlist settings, below |
| Drag to reorder | Drag an item by its handle to change the order viewers see |
| Select | Tick several items, or Select all, then Move to top or Remove. A Mark always keeps at least one item |
| Shared links | Links that share this playlist, each with who can open it, when it expires and how it plays. See Sharing a playlist |
| The more button on an item | Replace with another video or audio, Change thumbnail, Refresh from the page (pages only), Move to the top, Move to the bottom, Rename and Remove from this mark. A Mark always keeps at least one item. Replace is not offered while the item is still processing |
| Video or audio and Web page | Add items. Files you pick show Waiting to upload, then their progress, right in the list. You can leave the screen; uploads finish in the background |
A file that is still converting shows Processing in the background and stays hidden from viewers until it is ready.
Playback for viewers: every setting
| Setting | Choices and meaning |
|---|---|
| Let viewers see and choose items | The playlist itself. Off: every scan plays one item, as before |
| When scanned, open | Full screen: plays in the Mark’s orientation, with a button that shows the other items. Playlist page: a player with the list beside or below it |
| Screen | Auto (the starting choice) follows the way the phone is held. Portrait or Landscape holds the playlist that way for everyone who plays it, the same as the orientation setting on a Mark |
| Show items as | List or Thumbnails |
| Starts with | One at a time, Play all or Shuffle |
| Pause between items | From Instant to 15 sec (4 sec unless you change it). Play all and Shuffle wait this long before the next item, with an Up next card. Instant skips the card |
| Repeat | Play all and Shuffle start over after the last item. One at a time replays the item that is playing. This is the starting setting; viewers can change it if they can change the mode |
| Show each photo for | 3 to 60 sec (8 sec unless you change it), in Play all and Shuffle |
| Include web pages | Shown when the Mark has pages. On: pages take a turn in Play all and Shuffle instead of waiting for a tap. Linxy App only; browsers still open pages when tapped |
| Show each page for | 5 to 120 sec (20 sec unless you change it), when pages take a turn |
| Viewers can change the mode | Shows One at a time, Play all, Shuffle and Repeat in the list |
| Play the first item on scan | Playlist page only. Off: viewers choose first |
| Keep audio playing in the background | Audio continues when the screen locks |
| Linxy App only | Browsers can’t show this Mark’s content; they get a page asking to open the Linxy App. Works with the playlist on or off. See Linxy App only |
Tap Save when you are done.
A cover photo or silent video
A cover fills the screen behind audio tracks, with the player’s controls on a white card over it. Set it in the App on the Content screen, under Cover:
| Choice | What it does |
|---|---|
| None | No cover. Audio tracks show their own picture |
| Photo | Shows behind audio tracks and becomes the playlist’s picture, for example on the Playlists screen |
| Silent video | Plays behind audio tracks with no sound, on a loop. Up to 60 seconds: Linxy trims longer videos and removes the sound. A still from it becomes the playlist’s picture |
- Tap Photo or Silent video.
- Choose This phone to pick from your photos, or My Files, then tap Use.
- Wait while Making your cover... shows. A photo takes a moment; a video takes a few seconds while Linxy prepares it. Cover saved confirms it. There is no separate Save step.
To swap it, tap Change. To stop showing it, tap Remove or None. The playlist keeps the picture it had until you choose another.
On the web
Open the Mark in its editor and find the Playlist section. It holds the same settings as the App, plus:
- A row for each item, with its Title, its Thumbnail choice, and Move up, Move down and Remove. You can also drag the rows.
- Also show the playlist on browser scans. Off: browsers get one item per scan, by the Rotator.
- Repeat, Show each photo for, Include web pages in Play all and Shuffle and Show each page for, the same as in the App.
- Refresh from the page when I update, on web page rows.
Changes apply when you click Update Linxy Mark. If you have just typed in the Destination URL(s) box, the editor asks you to update the Mark first, then reorder or remove items in the Playlist section.
With URL Shielding on, a browser scan moves from the short link to a temporary viewer address, so the address bar shows neither the short link nor any file address. Each file plays through the secure viewer, the player has no download option, and the page works only in the browser that opened the link, for up to six hours. Viewers who come back later scan again or reopen the link. See How protected content opens.
How the playlist and the Rotator fit together
| Playlist off | Playlist on | |
|---|---|---|
| Scanned with the App | One item per scan, by the Rotator | The playlist: the first item, plus the list |
| Opened in a browser | One item per scan, by the Rotator | One item per scan, by the Rotator, unless Also show the playlist on browser scans is ticked |
The Rotator’s choices are Off (always the first item), Random and Sequence. When you save playlist settings in the App, the Rotator is set to match your starting mode, Random for Shuffle and Sequence otherwise, so browser scans still move through your items.
Full screen and the now-playing bar
Full screen. Tap the full-screen button on a playing video, or turn the phone sideways while a video plays. To hold the picture one way whatever way the phone is held, tap Landscape or Portrait on the player. This works even with the phone’s own rotation lock on. It isn’t offered when the Mark’s owner set the playlist to always play in portrait or in landscape.
The on-screen controls. While a playlist plays, its controls hide so only your content shows. Tap the screen to show them:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Previous and Next | Move to the item before or after |
| Pause or Play | Pauses or continues. A paused photo shows Paused and stays on screen; Play all and Shuffle wait until you tap Play |
| Close | Stops the playlist and leaves the player |
The controls hide again about three seconds after you tap, while the playlist is playing. While it is paused they stay on screen. The Home, Scan and Help bar at the bottom shows and hides with them, in portrait and in landscape. On an audio track the controls also show for a moment when each track starts. Turned sideways, an audio track shows its picture beside the controls.
Keep playing while you use the App. When you leave a playlist that has started, it keeps playing, sound included, and a now-playing bar shows the item above the bottom of the screen. The bar is on every screen except Scan.
| On the bar | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tap the bar | Opens the playlist again where it is |
| Play or pause | Pauses or continues |
| Next | Skips to the next item |
| Close | Stops the playlist and removes the bar |
Scanning keeps the playlist going. When you open something else to view, for example a scanned Mark, the playlist pauses and the bar reads Paused · tap Play to continue. It stays paused until you tap Play. Opening another playlist replaces the one on the bar.
For sound with the screen locked or the App in the background, switch on Keep audio playing in the background for the playlist.
Playing on its own: displays and signage
With Play all or Shuffle, Repeat on, and Include web pages on if the Mark has pages, a phone or tablet keeps cycling through your videos, photos and pages, and its screen stays on while it does. That is enough for a simple display in a lobby, a shop window or a booth. The controls and the bar at the bottom stay hidden until someone taps the screen, so only your content shows. Set Screen to Portrait or Landscape to match the way the display is mounted. See Using a Mark on a display screen for the full setup, including keeping the device on the Linxy App and silencing calls and notifications.
Symptoms, causes and fixes
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No Content & playback on the sheet | You are not the Mark’s owner, or your App is older than this feature | Check the signed-in account; update the App |
| Let viewers see and choose items cannot be switched on | The Mark has only one item | Add a second item first |
| A new upload replaced everything on the Mark | Replace was ticked on the web upload | Add the old files again with Replace unticked |
| No Replace with another video or audio on an item | The item is still processing, or it is a page or photo | Wait for processing to finish. For a page, remove it and add the new address |
| Pages wait for a tap in Play all | Include web pages is off | Switch it on in Playback for viewers |
| A new video is missing from the viewer’s list | It is still processing | Wait for Processing in the background to clear |
| No controls on screen while it plays | They hide while playing | Tap the screen. They stay while paused |
| The upload did not finish when choosing a cover | The connection dropped while the file was uploading | Check the connection and choose the cover again |
| The cover video has no sound | By design: a cover is always silent | Add the video to the playlist as an item if it should be heard |
| The cover stops after 60 seconds and starts again | Covers are trimmed to 60 seconds and loop | Choose a shorter clip that loops well |
| Browsers still show one item | Also show the playlist on browser scans is off | Tick it in the web editor’s Playlist section |
Things people commonly get wrong
Related reading: Marks with more than one video, song, photo or page, Thumbnails and titles in a playlist, Web pages in a playlist, Using a Mark on a display screen, Your Playlists, Sharing a playlist, Linxy App only, Mark settings, and My Linxy items.