[!NOTE]
You didn't miss a release, we skipped version 0.9.17 on purpose.
This was just to re-align version numbers after having to re-release 0.9.16 to the App Store for some last-minute fixes.
Hi everyone!
After almost two months we're finally back with a new beta release! And this release is absolutely packed with new features! You should definitely check out the juicy details below to learn more.
Enjoy!
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!
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
Fix volume normalization using the wrong gain when shuffled
Tab visibility can now be properly toggled again
Fixed a visual glitch when opening menus on the artist and genre screens (thanks @lukaslindermusic!)
This fix also greatly reduces network requests which in turn should improve performance
Finamp can now show large GIFs as album covers without crashing (thanks @Maxr1998!)
What's New
Use Local Address in Local Network (thanks @flloschy!)
It's now possible to configure an additional local address where your server can be reached!
Finamp will try to connect to the server via this address whenever there's a change in network connectivity, and if the connection works, the local address will keep being used.
We chose this approach instead of i.e. configuring specific WiFi networks because it avoids having access to the device's location (and requesting permissions for that).
To configure this, head to the new network settings, enable "Prefer Local Address", and then fill in the address.
New Genre Screen (thanks @lukaslindnermusic!)
The genre screen has received much love and a full makeover, adding new capabilities and improving performance!
You can now browse tracks, artist, and albums for each genre, with the first 5 of each being shown right on the screen. To see the remaining items, just tap the "See All" button.
The top 5 items can be ranked (sorted) in various ways, and the chosen sorting will be remembered. You can even re-order the ranking options. Keep in mind that not all of these ranking options are available in offline mode, but Finamp will gracefully fall back to the next ranking in that case.
When opening an artist via a genre, the artist will be filtered based on that genre by default, but you can change the behavior in the settings.
Finally, all content on the genre screen will now be limited to the currently active library, just like the rest of the app. This is a breaking change.
Improved Artist Screen (thanks @lukaslindnermusic!)
The "Top Tracks" section on the artist screen now supports additional rankings other than play count, just like on the genre screen.
It's now also possible to change the order of the sections.
Additionally, all genres assigned to an artist are now shown. You can tap or long-press (depending on your settings) each genre to open the genre screen or filter the artist based on that specific genre.
Playing an artist in offline mode will now also include albums/tracks from the "Appears On" section.
And just like for genres, all content on the artist screen will now be limited to the currently active library. This is a breaking change.
Download Improvements (thanks @Komodo5197 and @lukaslindnermusic!)
As part of the reworked genre screen and following in the steps of clearly splitting album artists and performing artists, we made a few consistency improvements to the download system.
For artists and genres, downloads are now properly limited to the current library. Existing downloads will be shown as not fully downloaded or have an "All Libraries" moniker, but are otherwise unaffected.
To remove all items from other libraries, hit the download button for that artist or genre, wait for the synchronization to finish (no files will be downloaded, it's just a migration), and the go to the downloads screen and delete the old artist/genre download in the "All Libraries" section.
Supercharged Sleep Timer (thanks @matty-r!)
Finamp's sleep timer received a bunch of new features. The design is updated, and it integrates directly into the player menu now, just like the speed menu.
It's now also possible to sleep after playing a certain number of tracks, instead of a fixed duration.
And of course, you can now play the last track until the end, which we hope will be super useful to you!
The sleep timer menu will also show an estimated duration after which playback will end. For a regular duration this is of course pretty obvious, but when you want it to stop after the current track, after a certain number of tracks, or play the last track until the end, this will let you know how long it will actually take the sleep timer to kick in (given that you don't make changes to the queue).
You can now sort the tracks within a playlist just like you can sort item on the main music screen.
For that we had to move the playlist name to a different position.
Finamp will remmember your sorting for all playlist.
You can now also edit a playlist's visibility (public/private), in addition to the name, by using the edit button.
New (and Consistent) Menu Design
Up until now we had only redesigned the track menu for the beta. With this update, all remaining item menus (albums, playlists, artist, and genres) also have a new look that resembles that of the track menu.
Additionally, all menus have been slightly tweaked to include a new "playback action" row. This is a row with multiple horizontal pages, where you can find options for playing, shuffling, and queueing any item.
We did this to reduce the overall size of the menu while adding more playback actions and grouping them together logically. We would greatly appreciate your feedback regarding this change to make sure it works for as many people as possible!
The actual contents of the menus are mostly the same, there are just a few options or infos that only apply to certain item types and are therefore missing for others.
The additions include buttons to open the current item and to add it to a playlist / favorite it, as well as the number of albums or tracks for artist and genres.
As part of these improved menus we also simplified the playback buttons on the album, playlist, and artist screens.
Other Changes
Automatic offline mode can now be disabled & re-enabled both after manually toggling it on and off (thanks @flloschy!)
There are also updated icons and a clear button for re-enabling the automatic mode
When settings affecting the playback source are changed (transcoding, offline mode, etc.), Finamp will now show a prompt to reload the queue
There's also an experimental setting to automatically reload the queue instead of showing a prompt
You can now tap album covers and other images throughout the app to enlarge them (thanks @fridaynext!)
You can even further zoom into the enlarged image
This works for all "larger" images, i.e. the ones on the album/playlist/artist/genre screens, and in the menu headers
Moved "Show Album Release Date on Player Screen" from Settings > "Layout & Theme" > "Customization" to Settings > "Layout & Theme" > "Player Screen"
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:
A proper home screen
More contrast and accent color improvements
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, but is currently not a priority.
This update again contained many changes that originated during the Finamplify Hackathon, so that was definitely a huge success.
Thanks to all old and new contributors who helped to bring you all these improvements and fixes! Keep being awesome! <3
If you're wondering what happened to beta version 0.9.17: We had to pull 0.9.16 shortly after release to fix an issue with updating, and then re-released it with the build ID for 0.9.17. So we're skipping that version to get everything synced up again :D