Hi everyone!
In the last release notes, I lied to you :)
I stated that
while this update does not, the next update will include the new home screen
... which sadly is not the case. However, we have many other exciting features and bug fixes in store for you, so Finamp is definitely getting better!
We're just focusing on quality over quantity.
Read on for some important information, followed by a list of all changes, as always.
[!CAUTION]
We stilldon't recommend to upgrade to Jellyfin 10.11.x just yet!
There are a bunch of known performance issues especially for larger music libraries, but the server team seems to be actively working on fixing those now.
So we expect an issue-free upgrade path at the start of 2026.
We will of course inform you once our recommendations change.
TL;DR
New Features:
Radio (endless playback)
Dynamic System Color Scheme
Reorder when shuffled, fix loop, shuffle, and Next Up on Desktop
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!
[!NOTE]
Throughout the release notes you will find links marked with the ๐ icon; these links will open Finamp to the relevant screen, so that you can play around with the new settings right-away!
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!
[!IMPORTANT]
We've updated some default settings related to downloading to improve performance while downloads are running. These should decrease lags without slowing down downloads, and we recommend everyone to apply these new defaults.
To do this, open the ๐ Downloads Screen, scroll to the bottom, and set "Download Worker count" to 1 and "Max Concurrent Downloads" to 5.
Alternatively, you could reset all download-related settings to their defaults by tapping the reset button at the top right of the ๐ Downloads Screen. This will however reset all settings on the downloads screen to their defaults, which you might not want.
What's New
Bug Fixes
Fixed "mdbx" startup errors (part 2 - electric boogaloo)
Improved startup performance when lots of images have been downloaded
Fixed "Authorize Quick Connect" menu not accepting any input and showing no keyboard
In Jellyfin 10.11.0, Finamp would not play the tapped track by default, because of a bug in Jellyfin. @DhruvaSambrani was super quick to propose a workaround for this in Finamp, but luckily the bug was quickly fixed in Jellyfin itself in 10.11.1, so no workaround was needed. Still, thanks!
The player screen now actually always shows the codec, instead of the container or random strings like MOV,MP4,M4A,3GP,3G2,MJ2 @ <bitrate>
Previously played tracks can now be removed from the queue again
Fixed wrong (off-by-one) indices on playlist edit screen
Fixed "Saved Queue" being shown as the source for tracks after restoring a queue
Fixed crashes and performance issues when trying to play a ton of tracks in offline mode
We're now limiting how many tracks are queued up at once, but you shouldn't really be able to tell
When restoring a shuffled queue, it now restores shuffled and you can actually un-shuffle it
Fixed buttons overlapping when editing playlists
Fixed missing covers in Android Auto
Improved color contrasts for the now playing bar and lyrics screen
Added missing tooltips for some buttons
Radio (initiated by @hammy275!)
[!IMPORTANT]
Finamp's Radio was developed with AudioMuse in mind.
To get the best experience for some radio modes, you should definitely set up the AudioMuse server and install the AudioMuse Jellyfin plugin.
AudioMuse uses sonic analysis to recommend similar music from your library. It's FOSS software, and a great addition to anyone using Jellyfin for music.
For example, there will be little perceptible difference between the "Similar" and "Continuous" modes if you're not using AudioMuse.
Everyone listens to their music differently. Some people listen to albums. Some to playlists, some to artists, some to genres, and some simply shuffle all their tracks. All of these are great ways to listen, and all of them are possible with Finamp already.
But what happens after you finish that album/playlist/artist/genre/queue?
Until now there were two scenarios. You either loop the queue, listening to the same tracks in the same order again, or the music stops.
But one thing that streaming services like Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, and YouTube Music have in common, is that if you don't want the music to stop, the music never stops.
This is something that has so far been missing from the Finamp experience: unless you manually added more things to play to the queue, the music would eventually stop or repeat. But if you want, this can now be a thing of the past!
Finamp's new radio feature bridges the gap between the queue and mixes. If you enable radio, the music will never* stop. But of course you stay in control of what will play:
Radio is completely optional, and disabled by default. Turn it on or off at any time, right from the queue panel or by long-pressing the loop mode icon
Finamp's goal is not to let an algorithm decide what you listen to. Radio is simply meant as yet another way to listen, with full control, and specific to your library.
Initially, Finamp offers 5 different modes:
Similar Mode: This is the mode we recommend in most cases, and is close to what streaming services usually do. Finamp will keep adding tracks to the queue which are similar to the queue's source. The most similar tracks will be added first, and over time tracks will become less and less similar.
This mode only works when playing from a specific item, so for sources like "Shuffle All" it will be unavailable. For those, consider a different mode:
Continuous Mode: Finamp will continuously transition between genres, never staying in one place. Each track is similar to the previous track.
Album Mix Mode: Finamp will try to queue up similar full albums (with at least two tracks). If none can be found, it first falls back to adding singles, then to adding random albums or singles.
Reshuffle Mode: Once the queue reaches its end, all tracks within it are shuffled, and then appended as radio tracks in the new order. This way you can keep listening to the same tracks, but with some variety.
Random Mode: Track are fetched from the queue's source fully randomly, and added as radio tracks. Duplicates and repeats are possible.
[!TIP]
The quality of similarity-based radio modes like Similar or Continuous heavily depends on the quality of your metadata!
Jellyfin identifies similar tracks solely based on genre tags, so make sure that you have everything properly tagged.
Alternatively, you can simply set up AudioMuse (and the AudioMuse Jellyfin plugin) and use the power of sonic analysis to get even better radio.
There are a few more things to note about the radio:
You can also start a radio right-away via the menu for any item in your library. This will then generate a few radio tracks to get you started.
If there are still track in your queue, those will always play before any new radio tracks are added.
Any track that's added to the queue by the radio will be marked with a radio icon. If you turn off the radio, any upcoming radio tracks will be removed
Radio currently doesn't respect library boundaries, so tracks from other libraries can end up in your radio, just like with Instant Mixes
If the queue gets too long (which could lead to performance issues), Finamp will discard old radio tracks when restoring queues
While radio is active, looping is not available, since the queue will never end
You might be curious what the difference between radio and an Instant Mix is:
Instant Mixes generate a full queue (or playlist), based on a source. They will include tracks from the source itself
Radio generates tracks which are similar to a source, but are not part of the source itself
So if you start an instant mix, it will include tracks from the source, but if you start a radio, it won't include those tracks
There's an option to "Start Instant Mix" for each item type now, even for albums, playlists, artists, and genres
In 0.9.21 there's a known issue where some radio modes aren't available at the end of an instant mix, sorry about that :)
@hammy275 originally just wanted a "random" mode that allowed repeating tracks from the existing queue fully randomly. After discussing requirements, alternative approaches, and ways to integrate AudioMuse into Finamp, we came up with the radio idea. Together with @hammy275 we got to work, implementing, testing, discussing, and iterating on the feature to get it ready for everyone!
* Some radio modes prevent duplicates, so after you've listened to all tracks in your library, the queue will end.
Accent Color Based on System Color Scheme (thanks @flloschy!)
After custom accent colors arrived in the last update, we have how extended the functionality so that Finamp can automatically sync its accent color with the accent color of your system/device. This should work on Android, Windows, Linux, and macOS.
You can enable this via ๐ Settings > "Layout & Theme" > "Use System Accent".
The system accent color will be preferred over both the default and custom accent colors.
Additionally, you can now use a tinted, colorful version of the Finamp logo throughout the app, for an even more consistent color scheme!
More Info for Linux Users
For Linux the GTK themes can be updated at anytime using the following command [1]. You can use this command after updating your System Theme to apply it without interacting with Finamp.
The active GTK theme might not result in the wanted effect though, so in addition to force-updating, you can also force-set the accent Color with this command [2]!
Please note that these DBus commands will only work while Finamp is running.
[!IMPORTANT]
"Use System Accent" needs to be enabled.
2. Overwrite the accent color
gdbus call \
--session \
--dest 'com.unicornsonlsd.FinampSettings' \
--object-path '/com/unicornsonlsd/Finamp' \
--method 'com.unicornsonlsd.Finamp.setAccentColor' \
'#ff0000' # you can also send "default" to clear the accent color
[!IMPORTANT]
"Use System Accent" needs to be disabled.
Reorder When Shuffled + Looping, Shuffle & Next Up Now Available on Desktop (thanks @Komodo5197!)
In this release we did some housekeeping on our internal playback code, and as part of that managed to finally properly enable reordering while shuffle is enabled (on all platforms), as well as enabling shuffle, looping queues, and appending tracks to Next Up (which we disabled just last release) on Windows and Linux.
This means the desktop versions of Finamp should now have feature-parity with the mobile versions, aside from some platform-specific differences in available settings!
The mobile apps are still a bit more polished and easier to install than the desktop ones, so don't expect a bug-free experience just yet :)
Moving Tracks Within Queue
After @bsfreq suggested this over on the Finamp Beta Testers Discord server, we decided implement a way to move tracks in the queue right away!
Before this change, you could only create copies of the tracks within the queue and add those copies to Next Up or the end of the queue. Now, if you long-press a track in the queue, there will be an option to "Move Within Queue", which gives you options to "Play next", "Move to Next Up", and "Move to End".
The old behavior of creating a copy is also still available, just switch to the "Play" tab/page for that.
Finamp will remember which page you last used if ๐ "Remember Last Playback Mode" is enabled.
Other Changes
Swapped the position of loop mode and shuffle mode buttons on the player screen
They were positioned exactly the other way around everywhere else, so it's now consistent. Sorry about the confusion. but this is what a beta is for!
You can now long-press any (error) message shown in Finamp to dismiss all current messages at once, instead of having to swipe them away one-by-one
Each item type now has a "Start Instant Mix" option now, even albums, playlists, artists, and genres
Those still keep their "Add to Mix" option in addition to the regular instant mix and radio options
Added warning that downloading all playlists will download all items within those playlists, no matter which library they're in
The behavior has always been like this, we just added the warning
Finamp is now more restrictive about what custom download locations can't be added (thanks @Komodo5197!)
If writing to a download location fails, you won't be able to use that location
We've re-enabled the "Impeller" rendering engine on Android
It should be stable enough now, and give modern devices a nice performance boost
If there are network errors and a track fails to play, Finamp will no longer skip to the next tracks and try loading those
Instead, playback stops at the current track, and you can manually skip to the next track or try to restart playback
Audio offloading is ~~not~~ now disabled by default, after our audio plugin received many reports of devices offloading audio even if the device's hardware doesn't support that
Default of "Start Instant Mixes for Individual Tracks" changed
Default is now disabled
This was done because the Instant Mix was unexpected for many people, and the radio is a more deliberate and flexible workaround to fill the queue with related tracks
Alright, and that's the last update of 2025!
Unless we have to push out some urgent fixes, of course.
There's a lot in store for next year, when we'll be officially releasing the current beta version as the default version, and of course add many new features and improvements.
Thanks for spending the year with us, thanks for reading through these release notes, and of course: Thank you for using Finamp!
- Chaphasilor
New Contributors
@brumik made their first contribution in https://github.com/jmshrv/finamp/pull/1443
@hammy275 made their first contribution in https://github.com/jmshrv/finamp/pull/1313