Sharing & Importing Projects
Sometimes you don’t want a mixdown or a folder of stems — you want the project. The arrangement, the clips, the mixer settings, the plugin settings, all of it, opened on another device exactly as you left it.
homecrate packages an entire project into a single portable file you can AirDrop, save to Files, or email. On the other end, importing that file rebuilds the project and opens it.
Use it to move a song between your iPhone and your Mac, to back a project up somewhere safe, or to hand a half-finished idea to a collaborator.
🔒 Pro feature. Sharing and importing projects is available with Homecrate Pro.
Exporting a Project
- Stop playback and recording — export is disabled while the transport is running.
- Tap ⋯ (more menu) → Export / Share.
- Switch to the Project tab.
- Tap Share (.zip).
[SCREENSHOT: Export / Share modal on the Project tab]
homecrate saves the project first (so the file carries exactly what you’re hearing), packages everything up, and opens the iOS share sheet. From there you can AirDrop it, save it to Files or iCloud Drive, or send it however you like.
What’s in the File
| Included | Details |
|---|---|
| The project itself | Every track and MIDI track, every clip with its position, trim, stretch, and fades, tempo, time signature, section markers, lyrics |
| Mixer settings | Volume, pan, mute, and spatial positions for every track and the master bus |
| All audio | Every clip’s audio file, plus the mono sidecar files spatial playback uses |
| Artwork | The project’s cover art |
| Plugin settings | The saved state of every plugin on every track and on the master bus |
| Plugin files | The NAM amp profiles, cabinet IRs, and drum pad samples your homecrate plugins reference — packaged so they arrive with the project |
| Not included | Why |
|---|---|
| Video attachments | A song video dwarfs everything else in the archive. Attach it again on the other side |
If anything referenced by the project can’t be found when you export, homecrate tells you before it shares — “The project was exported without 2 clips with missing audio”, or a list of plugin files it couldn’t locate in your library. The export still completes; you just know what’s missing rather than finding out later.
Importing a Project
- Stop playback and recording.
- Tap ⋯ (more menu) → Open / Import.
- Tap Import at the bottom of the Projects tab.
- Pick the project file from Files.
[SCREENSHOT: Saved Projects list with the Import button at the bottom]
homecrate unpacks the audio and plugin files, creates the project, and opens it.
Import always creates a new project. It never overwrites, merges with, or replaces anything you already have — even if you import the same file twice, or import a project that originally came from this device. You get a second copy, and your existing work is untouched.
If anything couldn’t be restored, you’ll see an “Imported with warnings” message listing exactly what — for example a clip whose audio was missing from the archive. The rest of the project imports normally.
What Can and Can’t Travel
This is the honest part, and it’s worth reading before you rely on project sharing with someone else.
Plugin settings are included in the file. Every knob position, every preset, the full saved state of each plugin instance travels with the project.
But settings are not the plugin. A plugin’s state can only be restored if the plugin itself exists on the receiving device.
| Situation | What happens on import |
|---|---|
| homecrate’s own plugins (amp, synth, drum, vocal, dynEQ, send) | Restored fully. They ship with the app, so they’re always present, and the NAM profiles, IRs, and drum samples they reference are packaged in the file |
| A third-party AUv3 the recipient has installed | Restored. Its saved state is pushed back into the plugin when the project opens |
| A third-party AUv3 the recipient does not have installed | Cannot be recreated. The settings are in the file, but with no plugin to load them into, that slot comes up empty. Installing the plugin and re-importing the project restores it |
| Audio a plugin points at that wasn’t packaged | Won’t resolve. The plugin loads, but that particular profile, impulse response, or sample is missing on the other device |
Nothing in the archive is lost by this — the state stays in the file. It’s a matter of the receiving device having something to load it into.
In practice: if you and a collaborator both work in homecrate with homecrate’s own plugins, projects move cleanly. If your song leans on a third-party AUv3, say so when you send the file, or bounce those tracks to audio first — see Exporting Stems.
Tips
- Bounce before you send. If a track depends on a plugin the recipient might not own, record its output to audio first. The part survives even if the plugin doesn’t. See AUv3 Plugins Overview.
- Read the export warning. If it says clips are missing audio, fix that before sending. Missing audio on your end is missing audio on theirs.
- Project files are a real backup. A shared project saved to iCloud Drive is a complete, self-contained copy of your song. Cheap insurance before a big arrangement change.
- Re-attach the video on the other side. Video isn’t packaged. If the project has a song video, send it separately and attach it again — see Spatial Mode Overview.
- Name the project first. The project name is what the recipient sees in their project list.
- Importing twice is safe. Every import mints a fresh project, so there’s no risk of clobbering the version you’re working on. Delete the duplicate if you don’t want it.