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Jellyfin for iOS 1.6.0

· 4 min read
Bill Thornton
Bill Thornton
Core Team, Web Lead

Jellyfin for iOS is back with the first release in nearly 3 years!

Version 1.6.0 of the Jellyfin app for iOS marks a new milestone for the development of the app. A complete list of changes, including their respective pull requests, can be found on GitHub. An update on the development of the app, a summary of included changes, and some future plans can be found below.

Renewed development with more frequent releases​

I'm sure a lot of people are curious why it has been so long since the last app release. There are a few reasons for this. First, we have not released any breaking changes to Jellyfin that required an app update. Perhaps most significantly the toolkit we use to build the app made some changes that essentially prevented my continued development of the app without access to a modern Mac. However, thanks to the generosity of contributors to Jellyfin's open collective, I was able to expense the majority of the cost to purchase a new Mac Mini for development. Finally, the build system provided by the toolkit we were using had been discontinued. We have now replaced that build system with a fully automated GitHub Action workflow that builds and publishes the app to TestFlight on demand.

Longstanding bugs squashed​

This release features fixes for the following longstanding bugs:

  • Improved video player UI by allowing the video to cover the entire screen and hiding the home screen indicator.
  • Removed an incorrect check for (e)ac3 audio support.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the app to display a blank screen sometimes when left open in the background.
  • Added user device name entitlement so the app can report the correct device name on iOS 16+.
  • Excluded unused features from the build so the app no longer requests access to permissions it doesn't need (like fitness data).

What is next?​

While the primary focus of the next couple releases will be to do some dependency maintenance and updates, you can also expect work to continue on some exciting new features. Few people are probably aware that I started working on offline support 3 years ago! Unfortunately it wasn't quite ready for this release, but my goal is to make it available as a general alpha/beta feature later this year. I have some other ideas to address some well-known limitations of the app and a new contributor has expressed interest in developing some new features also. You can track all new developments on the project roadmap on GitHub.

Supported iOS versions​

The Jellyfin app currently supports iOS versions as old as iOS 12. Over the next few releases, we will be updating our core dependencies which will force us to increase our minimum supported version to iOS 15.1. If you are using a device that cannot be updated to a newer iOS version, you will still be able to use the Jellyfin web interface but future app updates will be unavailable.

Contributors​

Jellyfin is completely developed by volunteers, and couldn't be made 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

And finally a big thank you to everyone who contributed translations, reported bugs, provided feedback and participated in beta testing!

Helping out​

If you have experience with React Native development and are interested in contributing yourself, feel free to dive into the source code and open a pull request. Likewise, if you have experience with JavaScript/TypeScript and React, jellyfin-web is always looking for additional contributors. Alternatively, you can help with translating the app into your own language on our Weblate instance.

Downloads​

Update your app now to check out all these changes! The AppStore will auto-update your Jellyfin app if you're already using the app. For new users, you can find the app on the Apple App Store.

Download on the App Store

You can also join our TestFlight and help test new versions before they're released to the public.