❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to the most commonly asked questions about Shiru and its usage.

General

What is Shiru?

Shiru is a personal anime library manager for watching and tracking your collection in real time. It plays files directly from your device for near-instant playback with no transcoding or compression, and integrates with AniList and MyAnimeList for list management, progress tracking, and release notifications.

Is Shiru free?

Yes. Shiru is completely free on all supported platforms and open source under the GPLv3 License.

What platforms does Shiru support?

• 🪟 Windows
• 🐧 Linux
• 🍎 macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel)
• 📱 Android 7.0+ (Nougat)
• 📺 Android TV 7.0+ (remote navigation is a work in progress)

Does Shiru contain ads?

No. Shiru has no ads, no paywalls, and no tracking.

Does Shiru host or provide any media content?

No. Shiru does not host, distribute, or provide any media content. It is a bring-your-own-content application for managing and playing media you legally own.

Setup & Usage

I have an existing media library. Can Shiru import it?

Not directly in the way Plex or Jellyfin would. However, you can specify Shiru's file storage location in settings to point to your existing media folder. If you select content that already exists in that folder, Shiru will use it without retrieving it again. Make sure Persist Files is enabled, otherwise Shiru will delete content after it has been watched.

You can also add local media files directly via the Torrent Manager by clicking Upload and selecting your files.

Can I close the miniplayer?

Yes. You have three options:

• Press the [-] button to minimize the player. This hides the miniplayer and changes the sidebar button to take you directly to the player page instead. A press-and-hold (or right-click on desktop) on this button opens the now-playing anime details. An anime details button also appears on the player page itself.
• Press the [x] button to fully unload the current content. The miniplayer will be hidden until the next file is loaded.
• Click, tap, or swipe the edge of the miniplayer to shelve it. You can unshelve it by clicking on the shelf or swiping it open. The miniplayer will automatically unshelve when media begins playing.

Can I play my own files directly?

Yes. To add your local media files for playback, you would do so directly via the Torrent Manager by clicking Upload and selecting your files.

For the home page, you can specify a different RSS feed to check when the app looks for new releases. Additionally, you can just paste or drag-and-drop a torrent file or magnet link anywhere when using the app, and it will try its best to auto-detect what anime is playing.

Why is a specific anime not playing?

There are a few common reasons:

• The content is not seeded or has very few seeders
• Your transfer speed is too low for smooth playback
• Your ISP may be blocking the protocol. See this tutorial for a potential fix, or use a VPN
• The app could not find a matching file for the anime

Shiru picked the wrong episode. What do I do?

Finding desired episodes can sometimes be difficult. If Shiru auto-selects an episode incorrectly, you can either disable Auto-Select Files in settings to select the content source yourself in the episode search modal, or manually find and paste in a .torrent file URL or a magnet URL into Shiru to play a desired episode manually.

If you believe the auto-detection is incorrect, you can open the File Manager (H keybind in the player) to manually correct the series name and episode number. You can also open an issue to help improve detection accuracy.

What are shiru:// links?

These are protocol links that open directly in the app. They can be pasted into Shiru or triggered by supported applications. They can open an anime view, join a Watch Together session, play specific content, and more. They are used instead of standard URLs because Shiru is a standalone app and does not rely on a website to redirect for you.

Does Shiru stream the content or store it?

Shiru stores content locally. By default, only one item is stored at a time unless Persist Files is enabled in settings. Note that a single item can consist of many video files (such as a full season batch) and may take up significant disk space.

Can I reduce the upload speed?

No. Shiru seeds content it transfers to keep the network healthy. Upload speed is set to match the transfer speed, and manual upload limits are not currently supported.

Extensions & Sources

What extensions are there?

Shiru is bring-your-own-content and does not offer or recommend any specific extensions. See the Extensions page for information on setting up and developing your own.

Is there a curated list of extensions?

No. Shiru is not affiliated with any extensions or external sources.

How do I install an extension?

Go to Settings > Extensions > Sources and add a source by URL (https://example.website/index.json), npm package (npm:package-name), or GitHub (gh:username/repo). See the Extensions page for full details.

Can I change which sources content is retrieved from?

Yes. You can add, remove, enable, and disable extension sources from Settings > Extensions. Each extension can be toggled individually.

Playback & Technical

How is this different from sequential qBit?

Unlike qBit's sequential mode, this prioritizes retrieving the file pieces required for playback. When you seek to a different position, it dynamically adjusts which pieces are retrieved next, rather than strictly retrieving them in order. This ensures smoother playback and faster access to the part of the file you want to watch.

Will this negatively affect swarm health?

On average, no. The app seeds one item at a time as long as it is open, and the upload speed is set to match the transfer speed. This means Shiru seeds more than a typical client that removes content the moment it finishes transferring.

Why is Shiru a native app and not a website?

The underlying protocol requires TCP/UDP connections, which browsers cannot access. This is the primary reason Shiru is built as a native application rather than a web app.

Why doesn't Shiru use WebRTC for content delivery?

WebRTC-based media delivery is technically possible, but broad client adoption and library support are still catching up. Until there is a widely supported global network, it will not provide a meaningful improvement over the current approach. This may change in the future as the ecosystem matures.

Shiru crashed or won't start after an update.

This is most commonly caused by updating from a very old version to a new one with cache incompatibilities. To resolve it, uninstall Shiru, navigate to %appdata%/shiru (Windows) or the equivalent config directory on your platform, remove all files, and reinstall. If the issue persists, open an assistance request.

Why does Shiru need to disable battery optimization on Android?

Android's battery optimization policies can kill background processes, which interrupts playback, especially during external player usage. Shiru prompts you to disable battery optimization to prevent this from happening mid-episode.

Why does Shiru request All Files Access on Android?

When a custom storage location is set, Shiru requests the All Files Access permission (MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE). Android's standard storage permissions only grant access to app-specific directories by default. So when you point Shiru to a folder outside of that, such as a folder on your SD card or a custom path on internal storage, this elevated permission is required to read files in arbitrary locations. Without it, Shiru would be unable to see or play any files stored outside its own sandboxed directory.

Privacy & Safety

Is it safe to use Shiru?

It is recommended that you read the guide about the basics of torrenting to understand the general landscape. See Shiru's Privacy Policy for details on what data the app stores and exposes.

Does Shiru track me or collect my data?

No. Shiru does not track, store, or process any personal information. See the full Privacy Policy for details.

What data is exposed to other parties?

As with any peer-to-peer protocol, certain data is inherently visible to other participants in the network, including your IP address and piece information. This is a fundamental characteristic of the protocol and is beyond the control of the app. See the Privacy Policy for the full breakdown.