You bring your own audiobooks to Squabble. This page covers importing a file from your device, what happens automatically once you do, and where Squabble keeps the file so it survives a reinstall.
Adding a book from your device
Tap the add button
On your Library screen, tap the + button in the bottom-right corner.
Choose a source
If you've connected an Audiobookshelf server, an action sheet asks whether to import From Device or From Audiobookshelf. Otherwise you'll go straight to your device's file picker.
Pick the audio file
Choose a single audiobook file (MP3, M4A, M4B, and similar formats all work) from your device or cloud storage.
Squabble copies the file into your library and adds it as a new book right away — you don't need to wait for anything else to finish before it shows up.
What Squabble fills in automatically
As soon as a file is imported, Squabble reads its embedded tags to pull out the title, author, narrator, duration, cover art, and chapter markers. If the file has no usable tags, Squabble falls back to parsing the filename instead.
In the background, Squabble also checks Hardcover-powered enrichment against your book's title and author to fill in anything still missing — narrator, series, and a better cover image — and to link the book to its series for folder browsing. This can take a few moments after import.
Setting up your library storage folder
On Android, Squabble offers to set up a library storage folder — a place on your device (not locked inside the app) where your audio files live. This matters because it's what lets your files survive an app reinstall instead of disappearing with it. A banner on your Library screen (or Set up library folder in Settings) opens the setup sheet any time you don't have one yet.
You get three choices:
- Use recommended location — Squabble creates a dedicated Squabble Library folder for you on your device.
- Choose my own folder — point Squabble at a folder you already use for audiobooks.
- Skip for now — imports stay inside the app's private storage. Squabble will keep reminding you until you set one up.
Library storage folder setup isn't available on iOS yet — imports there always stay inside the app for now, and you won't see this option.