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Android TV version 0.17

· 4 min read
Niels van Velzen
Niels van Velzen
Core Team, Android Lead

The latest Android TV app release features enhanced stability, improved navigation with a new home button, and an updated screensaver with age rating filters. Check out the full blog post to see all the new features and update now!

Notable changes​

This release comes with over 100 changes from 13 contributors. The complete list of changes, including their respective pull requests, can be found on GitHub. I've listed the most important/noticeable changes below.

It might seem like just one button, but it solves a significant issue. A new 'home' button in the top-right corner lets you return to the Jellyfin home screen easily, instead of pressing the back button repeatedly. Additionally, the layout of the item details has been slightly tweaked to fit more useful information.

Screenshot of item details in the Android TV app

Playback​

The current video player was improved by adding support for more audio codecs, including WAV, Vorbis and PCM. Additionally, timeouts for player errors were increased to give transcode and remux tasks more time to start. This improves playback for media stored on network drives and BDMV files that require unpacking.

Audio normalization support was added to automatically adjust volume levels for music playback. This feature prevents sudden volume changes between songs. To activate this feature, you'll need to enable the LUFS scan for your music library.

Screensaver​

The screensaver now includes a feature to filter items based on their age rating. By default, only items with an age rating up to 13 will be displayed, ensuring a family-friendly environment. Age rating options can be changed in the preferences under the customization tab.

Additionally, the screensaver has been enhanced to display a logo of the movie or series being shown.

Screenshot of the updated screensaver design in the Android TV app

Other changes​

Series and seasons now display their respective special features, which were previously available only for movies. Additionally, the search function has been improved to include results for Live TV channels, playlists, collections, photo albums, and individual photos.

Invisible but noteworthy, a significant amount of work was invested in reworking the communication between the app and the server. This has resulted in a faster and more reliable app, with improved performance and the groundwork laid for the development of exciting new features. As a consequence of these changes, the app now requires Jellyfin 10.9 or newer and older versions are no longer supported.

Contributors​

Jellyfin is completely developed by volunteers, and we couldn't do without their great skills and dedication. Consider donating if you appreciate their work. A big shout-out to all contributors that made this release possible:

Jellyfin Team

Other contributors

We'd also like to thank everyone who reported bugs, provided feedback and participated in beta testing!

Helping out​

If you have experience with Android TV development or with Kotlin and are interested in contributing yourself, feel free to dive into the source code and open a pull request.

Alternatively, you can help with translating the app into your language on our Weblate instance.

Downloads​

Update your app now to check out all these changes! The app stores will auto-update your Jellyfin app if you're already using the app. For new users, you can find the app here:

Jellyfin for Android TV on Google Play Jellyfin for Fire TV at Amazon App Store Jellyfin for Android TV on F-Droid

Direct downloads are available for sideloading at repo.jellyfin.org or in the GitHub release assets.

You can also join our beta program on Google Play and help test new versions before they're released to the public.