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Tidal (public playlists by link)

Paste the link to a public Tidal playlist and Trobar reads its track list and matches it against your own library. It works like Spotify links and YouTube Music links, in the same box on the same page. You need no Tidal account and don't sign in.

This is separate from linking a Tidal account. A linked account brings in your own playlists. A link brings in any public playlist, in full.

Adding a playlist

  1. Open Playlists.
  2. Paste the link into Add a public playlist by link and press Add.
  3. The import runs there and then, and the result appears under the link.

As with the other links, the playlist is yours and private by default. Flip its Shared/Private pill if you want the rest of the household to see it.

These link shapes work:

  • https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/…, the playlist's Share link;
  • https://tidal.com/playlist/…;
  • https://listen.tidal.com/playlist/…, the web player's address bar.

If the server's Tidal app isn't set up, the box says so instead of importing: see For the person running the server.

What you should expect it to find

  • The whole playlist. There is no track limit.
  • Exact matches where your files carry an ISRC. Tidal gives each track's ISRC (the recording's international code), so a track whose file has the same code matches on it before artist and title are compared. The rest match on artist and title, as for the other links.
  • Public and unlisted playlists both work. A private one shows as Unavailable.

The count under each link works as it does for the other links: "0 of 50 tracks in your library" means the playlist's tracks aren't in your library, not that the import failed. Tracks that miss land in the usual unresolved-tracks review.

What it does not do

  • It never writes to Tidal and never signs anyone in.
  • It downloads nothing. Trobar reads the track list and matches it against files you already have.
  • It sends nothing about you. The requests name the playlist and carry the server's own Tidal app credentials, never a member's.

When it breaks

A playlist that has been deleted, made private, or whose link was wrong shows as Unavailable. Anything else shows as "Couldn't read this playlist from Tidal". Either way:

  • Nothing already imported is changed. The playlist keeps its tracks, stays on any device it was synced to, and keeps its selections.
  • The error stays on the link until a fetch succeeds. Refresh retries at once.
  • Remove is the only thing that deletes the playlist.

For the person running the server

These links read with the Tidal app the server already registers for linked Tidal accounts: its client ID and secret, entered once under Administration (see Register the OAuth app). Nothing else to configure, and no member needs to link an account. Without that app, Tidal links are refused with a message saying so; the other link kinds still work.

Tidal returns a playlist 20 tracks at a time, and after a few quick requests asks the server to wait a few seconds. Trobar waits and carries on, so a long playlist takes a little longer to import, not fewer tracks. If Tidal keeps refusing, the fetch fails and the playlist stays as it was. Each link costs about two requests per 20 tracks per sync.

Verified in November 2026 against Tidal's live API.