Finamp Beta Update 0.9.8 - Drive Safe and Sound with Android Auto
Pre-release
Hi everyone!
No, this isn't yet another Jellyfin server hotfix, this is actually a new Finamp beta version! :P
We packed a couple of nice features into this release, an of course some bug fixes like always.
Have fun with the update, and be sure to read the release notes below to get all the details!
The beta is a work-in-progress, there are several new features already, but we will be adding more features over time.
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 all of the text in the beta hasn't been translated yet, so it will be shown in English no matter which language your device is set to. We're not able to add more translations to the beta just yet (it's not as easy to configure as we'd hoped), but we'll let you know once you can help translating all of the new stuff!
Bug Fixes
0.9.7 introduces a few bugs that affected downloading your favorites, playlists and latest albums. For some of you, downloading might not have been possible at all any more.
There were also issues when trying to download playlists that contained some other media (e.g. movies or show episodes).
These bugs should now be fixed, and you should be able to download your music like you're used to.
Apologies for any inconvenience caused by this, and thanks to @Komodo5197 for fixing these!
What's New
Android Auto Support (contributed by @puff and @Chaphasilor)
Please Note: Android Auto support only works if you installed Finamp via the Google Play Store!
It is possible to get it working for alternative installation methods as well, but that requires enabling developer options, which you should only do if you know what you're doing!
That's right, Finamp finally works with your car! If your car and phone support Android Auto, using Finamp in your car should be a much nicer experience now.
Aside from being able to control the currently playing track and browsing most of the tabs from the regular app, you also get some other useful features like voice search, support for offline mode, and a global search.
Please drive safely and keep your eyes on the road. Finamp might be a bit slower in your car, and you shouldn't keep staring at the screen until something happend. Try relying on the voice commands, and let us know what we should improve!
Here are some voice commands you can try out (you should try them in your own language):
- To play an album, say "play <album name> by <artist name>" or "play album <album name> by <artist name>"
- The first version only works if there's no track with that title by that artist
- To play an artist, say "play songs by <artist name>"
- Just saying "play <artist name>" might result in Google Assistant choosing a single random track from that artist instead
- To play a track, say "play <song name>", "play <song name> by <artist name>" or "play song <song name> by <artist name>"
- Google Assistant will try to recognize tracks and provide Finamp with additional information, but it doesn't always get it right. If something different then what you wanted ends up getting played, saying "play song <song name>" does help in most cases. In extreme cases, "play the song called <song name>" might solve the problem
- The same applies to playlist, "play <playlist name>" might work, otherwise try "play playlist <playlist name>", otherwise "play the playlist that's called <playlist name>"
After performing a voice search, you can also tap the "Search Results" button on the player screen to start a search for other media that matches your search term (given that Google Assistant recognized your command correctly).
The view type (Settings > "Layout & Theme" > "View Type") also affects Android Auto, so if it's set to grid in Finamp, it will also use a grid instead of a list in Android Auto. If you change this setting, you'll have to fully restart Finamp for the changes to be applied to Android Auto!
Caveats:
- If the wrong app (e.g. YouTube Music) is used when you try to perform a voice search, you can try changing/removing the default app in Google Assitant
- To do that, on your phone start up Google Assistant (e.g. by saying "Hey Google" or tapping the Assistant icon), then say or type "open Assistant settings".
- In the assistant settings, scroll down to "Music" and tap on it, then under "Your music services" select "No default provider"
- For each tab, only the first 100 items are loaded at the moment. If you want to help improve that, feel free to create a pull request!
- You can only toggle offline mode from within the regular app, not through your car
- The favorite/like button isn't shown in your car yet
- Search might be a bit slow
- Android Automotive support is almost ready, but needs some additional setup and testing from our side
Favorite/Like Button in Media Notification (Android Only)
In the Android media notification, you will now find a heart button that you can use to toggle the favorite state of the current track. This was a much-requested feature, and I hope you enjoy it!
The stop button which was shown in previous versions is now disabled by default (see below).
New Settings
- Added some lyrics customization settings (hide timestamps & text alignment)
- Settings > "Layout & Theme" > Lyrics
- Default is timestamps shown and lyrics aligned to start of line (unchanged)
- You can now prevent the progress bar in the media notification from being seekable
- Settings > "Layout & Theme" > "Customizations" > "Show seek controls on media notification"
- By default, the progress bar is seekable (unchanged)
- Renamed "Show track progress on now playing bar" to "Show track progress on in-app miniplayer" in "Layout & Theme"
- Hopefully that's less confusing!
- Renamed "Hide queue button" to "Hide bottom actions" in "Layout & Theme" > "Customizations"
- The setting will also hide the lyrics button. You can still use swipe gestures if the buttons are hidden.
- Android only: You can now choose if the stop button is shown in the media notification
- Settings > "Layout & Theme" > "Customizations" > "Show stop button on media notification"
- By default, the stop button is not shown (changed from previous versions!)
Other changes
- Fixed adaptive/monochrome launcher icon on Android
- Fixed error / blank space on player and album screens when loading artist images failed
- Fixed queue source being empty when adding a track to an empty queue
- Fixed wrong track playing when search with favorite-only filter active
- Enable Impeller rendering engine on Android for testing
Upcoming Features
We have a lot of features planned for the future, and we're always open to new ideas. Here are some of the things that we're planning to add:
- Desktop Support 👀
- This is now in a "soft release" stage, where it might already be available for your platform. An official release will happen in the future
- Accessibility improvements
- Scrolling marquee text for handling long track titles
You can take a look at the full list and current progress in the Redesign project.
Sorry for delaying this update so much, I hope the download issues didn't cause too much frustration! I'll try to do better next time.
If you want to help out with the redesign, there's still a lot to do! We're currently mostly in need of people who contribute code and design, any help in that regard would be appreciated and should speed up the pace of these updates!
Also, there are some rather specific bugs in Finamp that are chore to fix; if one of them affects you, why not look into fixing it yourself? That's probably the best way to get started with contributing to Finamp, and you can always ask us for guidance if you need help!
Thank you for using Finamp!
- Chaphasilor
Download Links
- Google Play: Join the beta
- TestFlight: Join the beta
- F-Droid: not available, see above
- APK: see below
