Happy Thursday! Glad to announce new v2.10 release. It was released almost 2 weeks ago, but GooglePlay held update in hostages until I found a way to reach a person in google store team to help with that so I didn't post changelogs until all platforms were deployed.

For those who don't know - JellyBox is a music only opensource native crossplatform player for Jellyfin, Emby and Navidrome which I work on since 2023. Unlike other clients I focus on convenience, have spotify-like features. App runs on desktop, mobile and cars(android auto/carplay).

I also tried this new grid type of release notes(insprired by apple's presentations), what do you think?

New Features

• Added mobile home-screen widgets(ios/android).
• Added Chromecast as a playback target. iOS might be flaky, sometimes it needs few times to cast and stop until it works. Not sure whats the problem yet.
• Added relay. Using relay you can connect to your jellyfin server remotely without need to use tailscale, VPN or port forwarding. Connect in settings. Needs you to install Jellyfin plugin.
• View lyrics in full-screen Studio mode, with word-by-word highlighting when available.
• Added ratings for Navidrome songs.
• Added a right side ruler for quickly navigating alphabetically sorted lists(enable in settings).
• Added support for custom ListenBrainz server addresses.
• Added a setting to clear cached images.
• Added a remote server address. This could be used for tailscale, VPNs or anything where your remote address differers from local.

Improvements

• Album pages have a refreshed design with animated cover art when available.
• Artists on album pages are now clickable.
• Albums on artist pages are sorted from newest to oldest and show their release year.
• Liked songs can be downloaded and, on Navidrome, sorted by when they were liked.
• Downloaded playlists and liked songs are now available in CarPlay and Android Auto. Queues can also be restored when the server is offline.
• Playback stays on the selected device when controlling another device, and reconnects more reliably after starting from a car or Bluetooth control.
• Switching back from AirPlay is clearer: the current device remains hidden until playback is switched back.
• Desktop window controls are now available throughout the app, including the login screen.
• Studio mode windows can now be dragged and resized on Windows and Linux.
• Horizontal rows no longer scroll unexpectedly when using a mouse wheel.
• Home-page rows support pull-to-refresh(from left to right).
• Control colors better match the current cover art, with an option to disable this behavior.
• Playlist cover art is now centered.

Bug Fixes

• Improved stability on Android, in-car use, and session restoration across devices.
• Fixed artist results from Navidrome being shown outside the selected library.
• Fixed playback queue items not being replaced correctly when starting the app or switching devices.
• Fixed the Linux app name appearing incorrectly in some places.

I'm still dealing with issue when you connect to bluetooth headunit in car with all that needs cold boot - sometimes playback not starts automatically. I'm aware of that and trying to fix it using my own car's headunit. I'm not totally understand the issue yet, but seem like I'm not alone with it, other players have it too. Hope to find solution by next release.

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/releases/tag/v2.10.0

PS: This is my first post on lemmy, I used to post changelogs only on reddit, but from now on - I will post them here too.