What usually goes sideways.

I only have two speakers. Is there any point?

Yes, though a smaller one. With two outputs you get placement across a stereo image rather than around you, and the room view still governs the balance between layers. The reason to start there is that you can hear what the tool does before buying an interface for it.

Does anything leave my network?

Your audio and your rooms, never. Two things reach the internet, both optional and both started by you: claiming an HTTPS name orders a certificate from a public authority, and binding the player to a Surroundify account tells the site the machine exists. Neither carries anything you have made or played.

What does binding a server to an account actually do?

It records, on the website, that a machine is yours: its name, its platform, the player's version, and when it last checked in. That is the whole of it. The site cannot reach into the machine — it is behind your router — and the player sends nothing about your rooms, mixes or audio. Binding is optional, either end can undo it, and a bound player behaves exactly like an unbound one.

My phone can't reach it.

Both devices have to be on the same network. Try the machine's IP address directly (http://192.168.x.x:7171). If that works but the .local name does not, your network is blocking mDNS — use the IP, or claim a name under apps.surroundify.co and reach it by that.

No sound devices show up in the list.

On Linux, make sure your user is in the audio group (sudo usermod -aG audio $USER, then log out and back in). A Bluetooth speaker has to be paired and connected on the machine running Surroundify, not on your phone.

My eight-output interface only shows two channels.

The machine's sound server picked a stereo profile for it. On Linux: pactl set-card-profile <card> pro-audio.

Sound comes out of the wrong speaker.

That is the Layout screen — the positions there are what Surroundify pans to, and it will believe whatever you told it. Re-check which channel is which.

It says ffmpeg is not on PATH.

Surroundify decodes audio with ffmpeg and cannot ship it. Install it with the line for your system on the install page. On RHEL, Rocky, Alma and CentOS Stream it takes three commands, since ffmpeg lives outside the default repositories there.

Can I run it in Docker?

Yes. The repository ships a Dockerfile and a compose file, and INSTALL_DOCKER.md covers running it in a container, on a server, or through Docker Compose.

Something else is already using port 7171.

Surroundify takes 7181 and 7182 instead, and says so when it starts. To choose your own: npx @loicortola/surroundify ports --port=8080 --https-port=8443, then restart the service. The choice survives updates and reboots.

How do I remove it?

npx @loicortola/surroundify service uninstall stops it and stops it starting again, leaving your data where it is. To remove everything, delete the install folder (~/.surroundify) and the data folder for your system.

Still stuck? The reason is almost always in the log — the installer prints its path, and it is logs/surroundify.log inside the data folder. The install page has the per-platform detail.