Releases · jmshrv/finamp

23 Apr 05:45

0.9.16-beta

eadd32b

Finamp Beta Update 0.9.16 - The Hackathon Update Pre-release

Pre-release

Note

This release was previously available through Testflight for a few hours before we pulled it due to upgrade issues for some users. We hope that the issues have now been resolved, but if you experience startup errors after upgrading, please make sure to save the logs and then open an issue here on GitHub to let us know about it! Without logs it's extremely difficult to diagnose what went wrong :)

Hi everyone!

As you might have heard, we recently held Finamp's first Hackathon, "Finamplify".
The hackathon was a success, and we received many contributions from both long-standing and new contributors alike!
That's why there are a ton of new features and improvements in this release, so a huge thanks to everyone who participated! Many long-standing bugs and issues were resolved as well, making this a very well-rounded update!
To learn about everything new, read on! And have fun trying it out!

If you're not using the beta yet (how to join) (click to expand)

The beta is free and open to everyone, but we'd like to get as much feedback as possible. So please do try it out and then let us know what you think!

Join the Finamp Beta Testers Discord server
- This step is optional, but since we're looking for feedback, it would be great if you could join!
- Alternatively, there's a discussion for the beta right here on GitHub: Redesign Beta discussion
Take note of your current Finamp settings, since this is a beta it could happen that the update changes some of them.
- Downloads should be migrated, but since the new download system is completely different, there might be inconsistencies.
On Android, join the beta on Google Play or download the APK file from below.
On iOS, join the beta on TestFlight.
- We're currently not able to offer a beta on F-Droid (more info here), but you can use an app like Obtainium to automatically download the latest APK from GitHub.
Open Finamp and enjoy!

Keep in mind that not all of the text in the beta has been translated yet. If you're missing a translation, you can now contribute it on Weblate!

Bug Fixes

Finally fixed the "hanging/freezing on splash screen" issue! Huge thanks @corngood!
@corngood also fixed resuming from the media notification when Finamp was killed in the background (on Android)
Fixed the parent album opening after deleting a track (thanks @flloschy!)
Fixed library downloads missing from the downloads screen (thanks @Komodo5197!)
Prevent Finamp starting to play right-away on desktop (thanks @Komodo5197!)
Don't show sync button for media that hasn't been downloaded yet (thanks @Komodo5197!)
Tried to fix missing album art in media notification

What's New

Proper Differentiation Between Album Artists and Performing Artists (thanks @lukaslindnermusic!)

For a while now Finamp hasn't properly handled artists. Online mode showed performing artists, offline mode showed album artists, but there was no clear distinction between the two.
This has now been fixed, and you can now choose between browsing/searching (performing) artists and album artists on the artists tab, both in online and offline mode!
As part of this change, performing artists now have a section with albums which they appear on, but aren't an album artist. This matches Jellyfin's "Appears On" secion.

Note

Since previously only performing artists were downloaded, you'll need to run an automatic "repair" of the downloads in order for album artists to show up in offline mode.
For that, go to the Downloads screen, and then click the little hammer/tools icon at the top right (the center icon of the three). The repair might take a few minutes to complete.

Additionally, it's now possible to collapse the various sections (top tracks, albums, appears on) on the artist screen.

Shoutout to @Komodo5197 for assisting with the offline mode integration!

Automatic Offline Mode (thanks @flloschy!)

Finamp will now automatically enable offline mode if all network connectivity is lost (WiFi *and mobile data). This will behave just like the regular offline mode, aside from automatically returning back to online mode once connectivity becomes available again.
If you manually enable offline mode, it will still active indefinitely.

There is a new setting (see below) that lets you choose in which scenarios offline mode should be enabled. You can choose between all connectivity being lost, WiFi/Ethernet connection being lost, or never switching automatically.

This should be a nice improvement for anyone who hasn't exposed their Jellyfin server to the internet or via a VPN, or who does lives in an area with poor reception.

Keep in mind that the queue will not be reloaded when toggling offline mode, so if you start playback during online mode, Finamp will still try to fetch your media from the server, even in offline mode. That is of course unless you have the tracks downloaded already, since Finamp currently always prefers downloaded media.

New Transcoding Options (thanks @felix920506!)

Ever since its humble beginnings, Finamp supported transcoding to AAC when streaming from the server.
Now it is finally possible to choose alternative formats to transcode to, enabling not only more flexibility, but much more efficient transcoding with modern codecs such as OPUS.
We even have support for transcoding to FLAC now, for all you HiFi lovers out there who want to stay as lossless as possible while staying compatible with all kinds of devices. This should now allow Finamp to play virtually any source format without suffering an immense loss in quality compared to the original media.

For lossless target formats, such as FLAC, it's not possible to choose a bit rate.

Shoutout to @em1lyy for trying to add this over three years ago! Jellyfin and the mobile OSs simply weren't ready for it back then...

Customizable Track Swipe Gestures (thanks @lukaslindnermusic!)

A while ago we added a setting to change what happens when swiping left or right on a track within an album or playlist.
We have now enhanced this feature, allowing different actions for different directions, adding more possible actions, and also allowing to disable the swipe gesture for one or both directions completely. The latter should help to avoid accidentally adding a track to the queue when using gesture-based navigation.

You can customize this in the "Interactions" settings.

Support for Remote Controlling Finamp via 'Play On' (thanks @pinsarda!)

We added partial support for Jellyfin's 'Play On' feature!
This means you can now control Finamp remotely from other Jellyfin clients which support this feature, like the official (web) apps! Playback controls will now also show up on the admin dashboard. You can even send a message to Finamp 🤯
The feature is enabled by default but can be disabled if desired.

Now, you might be asking yourself: "Why? What's the use in controlling a mobile app?"
There are several reasons:

We agree that the more useful feature would be using Finamp to control other clients, like the headless Jellyfin mpv Shim, or the Android TV app. This uses the same technical foundation, but is more complicated to support in Finamp, so we decided to start with the easier part.
Finamp has (alpha) support for desktop platforms. You could theoretically have a media center PC connected to your stereo, or even just an old Android tablet. With Play On support, you can controll playback on either the player device itself or remotely via your phone or laptop.
Consistency and feature parity is important to us. We don't want the Jellyfin client ecosystem to become even more fragmented, with each client supporting some features but not others. That's why we're trying to implement any existing Jellyfin features that apply to a music-only client.

We are also trying to add support for the inverse direction (using Finamp to control other clients) soon, but don't have a concrete timeline yet.

Caveats

Play On is a complex feature, and since only a few clients support it, the documentation and compatibility aren't great. We did our best to provide you with a pleasant experience, but there are some things you should keep in mind:

Right now only admin accounts can remote-control other clients. This is a known bug with the Jellyfin server, with a fix in the pipeline
- If you aren't logged into Finamp with an admin account, you should log into one within the Jellyfin app that you want to use for remote controlling
Playlists are currently not played in the correct order. This is also a known bug with the Jellyfin server
- You can simply click on the first track in the playlist; this will result in the correct order. Shuffle works in any case.
If Finamp is suspended in the background to save battery, you won't be abl...

Contributors

corngood, Maxr1998, and 11 other contributors

Assets 5

28 Mar 23:35

Chaphasilor

0.9.15-beta

3a9d5fb

Finamp Beta Update 0.9.15 Pre-release

Pre-release

🚀 Announcing Finamplify - Finamp's First Hackathon - Starting Today*!

^{*depending on your timezone. It starts on March 29th at 10.30am UTC}

Some of you might have seen our announcements on Lemmy, Reddit, and the Jellyfin Forum a few days ago.
But in case you missed it: We're hosting Finamp's first ever Hackathon, called "Finamplify", starting today until April 6th!
It's a digital Hackathon on our GitHub (right here) and Discord server that's all about working on Finamp's redesign!

Everyone who's interested in helping out to make Finamp the best Jellyfin music client possible can contribute!
Whether you're a designer, developer, tinkerer, creative writer, organizer, or user researcher, we could use and would love your help!

And there's something in it for you, too: Aside from obviously improving an app for yourself and others, we will send out custom Finamp stickers for your laptop, phone, fridge, or anything else!
All you need to do is contribute something, and then fill out a form to let us know your address!

You can find the full details on the Hackathon, as well as tips for getting started, in the Hackathon's GitHub project here:
https://github.com/users/jmshrv/projects/5/views/1?pane=info

Looking forward to meeting you and hacking together!!!

Important

Since the 0.9.12 update on Android, Finamp sometimes gets stuck when opening the app. This seems to happen when its audio player has been suspended by the operating system. Force-closing (terminating) Finamp seems to fix this temporarily. Our last attempt at fixing this simply resulted in a black screen instead of the logo screen, so we've reverted that. If you have an idea how to fix this, the hackathon is the perfect opportunity to help out!

Hi everyone!

A month after the last release we have another one for you! While this update is more focussed on small quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes, we still wanted to push this out before the Hackathon starts.
So please enjoy this new release, and be sure to read the release notes below to get all the details!

If you're not using the beta yet (how to join) (click to expand)

The beta is free and open to everyone, but we'd like to get as much feedback as possible. So please do try it out and then let us know what you think!

Join the Finamp Beta Testers Discord server
- This step is optional, but since we're looking for feedback, it would be great if you could join!
- Alternatively, there's a discussion for the beta right here on GitHub: Redesign Beta discussion
Take note of your current Finamp settings, since this is a beta it could happen that the update changes some of them.
- Downloads should be migrated, but since the new download system is completely different, there might be inconsistencies.
On Android, join the beta on Google Play or download the APK file from below.
On iOS, join the beta on TestFlight.
- We're currently not able to offer a beta on F-Droid (more info here), but you can use an app like Obtainium to automatically download the latest APK from GitHub.
Open Finamp and enjoy!

Keep in mind that not all of the text in the beta has been translated yet. If you're missing a translation, you can now contribute it on Weblate!

Bug Fixes

Fixed invisible back and cast buttons on the player screen (thanks @edeuss)
Fixed duplicate download/delete buttons (thanks @Komodo5197)
Fixed migrating from the stable version to the beta version (thanks @Komodo5197)
Fixed not being able to download after upgrading to the beta version (thanks @Komodo5197)

What's New

Grouping & Sorting on the Downloads Screen (thanks @Maxr1998)

The downloads screen has gotten some love in this update, thanks to @Maxr1998!

Downloads are now grouped by category and sorted alphabetically within those categories, instead of being sorted by when they were added.
This not only looks better, but also makes it easier to compare downloads between an old and a new phone, for example. It also paves the way for further improvements to the screen which should be arriving soon!

Translation Updates

Many of you have contributed a ton of translations since the last beta update, and we're really glad for that!
Finamp is now almost fully translated into 13 other languages, thanks to you.

Here's the current translation status:

All in all, Finamp is about 60% translated now. So there's still a lot to do.
Take a look at the graph above and see if there's any language that you can help out with! You can just click the image to start contributing.

We also have a discussion channel for translations on our Discord server where you can quickly ask questions about the context or intended meaning of a string. Alternatively, you can also ask questions as a translations discussion here on GitHub.

New Settings

Added setting for customizing the release date format for albums
- Settings > "Layout & Theme" > "Customization" > "Release Date Format"
- Default is "Year" (unchanged)
Added setting for showing the album release date on the player screen
- Settings > "Layout & Theme" > "Customization" > "Show Album Release Date on Player Screen"
- Default is off/hidden (unchanged)

Other Changes

You can now sort tracks by play count (thanks @Decimate1405)
It's now possible to customize how the release date of albums is shown throughout the app
- The default is just showing the year, but other formats can be chosen using the setting described above
It's now possible to show the release date of the album for the current track on the player screen
- The release date will be shown behind the album name, for long album names you'll need to scroll horizontally to see it
- The date will be formatted like any other release date, as chosen through the setting described above
Added a "sliding up" animation when opening the player screen, with a fade when closing it (thanks @edeuss)
- This should fix the weird transition direction on iOS
Improved speed and efficiency of color theme generation (thanks @Komodo5197)
Increased queue restore speed by prioritizing it over loading other data from Jellyfin (thanks @Komodo5197)
Refactored "song" to "track" within the entire codebase (thanks @lukaslindnermusic)