CrateSync

Every release shared in the Telegram groups you pick, as a cover-art library on your Mac. Listen in the app, build playlists, or download AIFF, WAV or FLAC files that are named and tagged for Rekordbox.

You sign in with your own Telegram account, just like the Telegram app. Your login stays encrypted on your Mac. Nobody else, including whoever sent you CrateSync, can see it.

A1

Install

  1. In Telegram, open CrateSync-1.1.6.dmg from the group. It goes to your Downloads folder.
  2. Double-click the file. A window opens with CrateSync and an Applications folder.
  3. Drag CrateSync onto Applications. Then eject “CrateSync” in the Finder sidebar.
A2

Open it the first time

CrateSync isn't from the App Store, so the first time you open it, macOS asks you to confirm that you trust it. You do this once for each new version.

macOS 15 Sequoia or 26 Tahoe 2024 and later

  1. Open CrateSync from Applications or Launchpad. macOS says “CrateSync” Not Opened. Click Done, not Move to Trash.
  2. Within the next hour, open System Settings › Privacy & Security and scroll down to Security.
  3. Next to “CrateSync was blocked…”, click Open Anyway and enter your Mac password or use Touch ID.
  4. macOS asks one last time. Click Open Anyway.

macOS 14 Sonoma 2023

  1. If you already double-clicked CrateSync and macOS said it can't check it, click Cancel.
  2. In the Applications folder, Control-click (or right-click) CrateSync and choose Open.
  3. macOS asks if you're sure. Click Open.

The System Settings route on the left works here too.

If macOS says CrateSync “is damaged”, see the fix under Help below.

B1

Get your Telegram API key

CrateSync talks to Telegram as an app of its own, and Telegram gives every app a key: an api_id and an api_hash. You make yours once, for free, at my.telegram.org. It takes a few minutes, and you can do it on your Mac or your phone.

my.telegram.org got a new look in October 2026, so older videos and screenshots look different. The steps are the same.

  1. In Safari, go to my.telegram.org/apps.
  2. Type your phone number with + and your country code, for example +44 7700 900123. Leave out the 0 at the start of your local number. Click Next.
  3. Open Telegram and go to the chat called Telegram (it has a blue tick). There's a message called “Web login code”. The code mixes letters and numbers, for example jd7yTH9T7eA, and capitals matter: copy all of it.
  4. Paste it into Confirmation code and click Sign in. This site doesn't ask for your Telegram password. No message after a minute? Click Resend code once.
  5. If the page already shows an api_id and api_hash, you made an app here before: use those and skip to step 8. Each Telegram account can have only one.
  6. Otherwise, fill in the form:
    App title: CrateSync Mac (don't use the word “Telegram”)
    Short name: cratesyncmac (5 to 32 letters and numbers, no spaces)
    URL: leave it empty
    Platform: Desktop
    Description: optional
  7. Click the create button once and wait for the page to show your app. If it says ERROR, see the fixes below.
  8. Find api_id (a number) and api_hash (32 letters and numbers). Use the copy button next to each one: it copies the real value even when the hash shows as dots. Keep the page open for the next step.

Keep these to yourself. Never give the my.telegram.org code to anyone, not an admin and not a “helper” bot: it can delete your Telegram account. Don't post your api_hash in the group either; it can't be changed later. CrateSync keeps it in your Mac's Keychain. To move the values from your phone to your Mac, use AirDrop or Notes, not a chat.

The site says “ERROR” when you create the app

This is common, and Telegram never says why. Try these in order and stop when one works:

  1. Make sure any VPN, proxy or iCloud Private Relay is off.
  2. Turn off ad blockers for this site: Safari › Settings › Websites › Content Blockers › set my.telegram.org to Off.
  3. Wait 5 to 10 minutes and click create once more.
  4. Try Chrome or Firefox, or a private window.
  5. Use mobile data instead of your home Wi-Fi: turn on Personal Hotspot on your iPhone and join it from the Mac, or do these steps on the iPhone itself with Wi-Fi off.
  6. Still failing? Stop and try again tomorrow. Clicking many times can make it worse.

“Sorry, too many tries. Please try again later.” means stop asking for codes and try again after several hours, ideally the next day. “Invalid confirmation code” means paste the newest code exactly, with the same capitals and any dashes.

B2

Connect your Telegram

CrateSync welcome screen with a Connect Telegram button
The first screen. Click Connect Telegram.
  1. Click Connect Telegram.
  2. CrateSync asks for your api_id and api_hash. Paste the two values from B1 and click Continue. You only do this once.
  3. Type your phone number with the country code, for example +44 7700 900123.
  4. Telegram sends a new login code for CrateSync, usually as a message from “Telegram” in your Telegram app. This one is a short number. Type it into CrateSync.
  5. If you use two-step verification, enter your Telegram password. Telegram may also ask you to add an email address.
  6. Your phone may say “Someone just got access to your messages!” Tap Yes, it's me: that was CrateSync. Tapping No signs CrateSync out.

CrateSync appears in Telegram under Settings › Devices as a new session. You can end it there whenever you like.

B3

Start your library

  1. Pick the groups and music bots to follow, how far back to look, the file format and where music goes, then click Start Building My Library. You can add groups and change any of it later in Settings.
  2. Covers appear while it reads your groups. The first pass takes a few minutes and only reads links and file details. Nothing downloads until you ask.
A grid of release covers with titles, artists, labels and years
What your library looks like. This example uses CrateSync's sample library, so the releases are invented.

Every day

Listen

Click a cover, then Play. Space pauses. Tracks you haven't downloaded take a few seconds to load from Telegram.

Download

Click Download and pick AIFF, WAV or FLAC. Files land in Music/CrateSync/Artist - Title (Year) [Label - Cat].

Playlists

Click + next to Playlists in the sidebar, then drag releases or tracks onto it. Tracks you add are downloaded for you.

Into Rekordbox

CrateSync keeps your playlists in a rekordbox.xml file. Set it up once with Send to rekordbox on a playlist; after that, click refresh next to “rekordbox xml” in Rekordbox. You can also drag files straight in. AIFF works best on CDJs; FLAC support depends on the player.

Needs Review

When CrateSync isn't sure which files belong to which release, it asks there. One click settles each.

MP3s stay MP3s

Lossy files are marked as lossy and never turned into fake AIFF or FLAC.

Locked tracks

If a group turns on “Restrict saving content”, you can listen to its files but not download them.

A release page with artwork, tracklist, Play and Download buttons, and the player at the bottom
A release page, playing in the app.

Help

macOS says “CrateSync is damaged and can't be opened”

That usually means the copy changed on the way. Download CrateSync-1.1.6.dmg from the group again and reinstall. If it still happens, ask whoever shared CrateSync for a fresh copy.

Only for a copy you got directly from someone you know: open Terminal (Applications › Utilities) and run this once. It tells macOS you trust this one app.

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/CrateSync.app
The login code doesn't arrive

Look in the Telegram app on your phone or computer: the code comes as a message from “Telegram” (blue tick), not by SMS. When Telegram allows it, CrateSync offers a button to send the code another way, with a countdown until then. Telegram is sometimes slow to send codes to apps like CrateSync: wait a while rather than retrying over and over, because Telegram limits sign-ins per day.

A group is missing from the list

CrateSync lists the groups, channels and music bots your Telegram account is in. Join the group in Telegram first (ask for an invite link), then open Settings › Choose Groups and Bots… again.

CrateSync says Telegram asked it to slow down

Telegram limits how fast any app can read a group's history. CrateSync pauses for as long as Telegram asks, sometimes several minutes, and carries on by itself. Leave it open.

A box asks to use the Keychain

Enter your Mac password and click Always Allow. CrateSync keeps the key that encrypts your Telegram login there. After an update macOS may ask once more.

Updating or removing CrateSync

Update: quit CrateSync (CrateSync › Quit, since closing the window keeps it running), drag the new version into Applications and replace the old one, then open it the way you did in A2. macOS asks once per new version. Your library and login stay. Click Always Allow if macOS asks about the Keychain again.

Remove:

  1. In Telegram › Settings › Devices, end the CrateSync session.
  2. Quit CrateSync and drag it from Applications to the Trash.
  3. In the Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder, enter ~/Library/Application Support and delete the CrateSync folder (your library and Telegram login on this Mac).
  4. Open Keychain Access, search for app.cratesync and delete what it finds.
  5. To also clear its settings, run this in Terminal:
defaults delete app.cratesync.CrateSync

Music you downloaded stays in Music/CrateSync until you delete it.

What CrateSync does with my data

It only reads the groups you pick, and it never posts or sends messages. Your library lives on your Mac. Release details come from Discogs, MusicBrainz and the Bandcamp pages people share. There are no accounts, servers or analytics. CrateSync is an unofficial app that uses the Telegram API; it isn't made or endorsed by Telegram.