v1.7.0 is out on the open testing channel, going to everyone on it from today. After a few days there it moves to the Play Store for everyone, probably next week. It gets the app ready for Android 17, adds a couple of things people asked for, and fixes most of what was reported since v1.6.1.

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Android 17

Android 17 asks apps for permission before they can reach other devices on your local network, and a remote that cannot reach your computer is not much of a remote. v1.7.0 asks for that permission, and explains why first, since the system prompt only talks about "nearby devices" and never mentions MusicBee.

If you say no, the app tells you it cannot connect instead of showing "Connecting..." forever, and offers a way back to the prompt or to the app settings whenever you change your mind. Scanning for the plugin gives the same reason rather than claiming it found nothing.

New

• Keep screen on, under Appearance, for when the phone is propped up somewhere and you glance at it between tracks. Choose never, only while charging, or always. It is off by default and only applies while the app is on screen.
• The now playing queue opens on the track that is playing, with a couple of tracks above it for context, instead of at the top. A button in the top bar jumps back to it after you scroll away.

Fixes worth calling out

• The volume keys kept controlling MusicBee after you closed the app. Swiping the app away left its background service running, with its volume slider, and no obvious way to stop it. It now stays only while something is playing.
• Reconnecting could get stuck for good. Leaving the app running while away from your network, or closing MusicBee for a while, could leave it where tapping connect did nothing and only force stopping the app helped. Connecting by hand now works whatever state it got into.
• The widget showed the previous track's artwork. MusicBee sends a track and its artwork as two separate messages and the widget only heard about the first. It now catches up as soon as the artwork arrives.
• The volume slider could hide behind the navigation bar on foldables and other edge-to-edge devices. The player keeps its controls clear of the system bars now, in portrait, landscape and on tablets.
• Long-press play/pause to stop is back, on the player and the mini player.
• Lock screen, headset and car controls could freeze the app while the connection was down or dropping out. Commands are sent in the background now, so the app stays responsive whether or not they get through.
• Skipping a track no longer rewinds it to the start, so a track meant to resume where you left it does.
• Long titles stopped scrolling after three passes and left the end unreadable. They keep scrolling while on screen now, and if you turned animations off on your device they are shortened with an ellipsis instead.
• Several crashes are gone: switching debug logging on or off, a damaged cache of the playing track that crashed every launch, updating from a very old version of the app, and the background service being refused a start on Android 12 and later.

Scrolling is smoother, especially in the now playing queue on older phones, and the app, the queue, the library and the player open faster.

The full changelog has everything else.

About the plugin

v1.7.0 works with the plugin you already have. One thing you may notice: the warning for a plugin older than v1.4.0 never actually appeared before, because the app could not read the version it was comparing against. It works now, so if you are on something that old you will be asked to update. Plugin v1.5.0 is the one to get.

Getting it

If you are on the open testing channel, v1.7.0 is already on its way. If not, you can join the test channel, or download the Play APK from GitHub Releases and install it. It is the same build as on the Play Store, so the Play Store keeps it updated from there.

There is also a separate GitHub APK in the release if you would rather avoid Crashlytics and Firebase. That one you update by hand.

What's next

v1.8.0 picks up the plugin's network discovery, so finding your computer should get easier, and fixes browsing tracks that have more than one artist or genre.

If you run into something, open an issue on GitHub or come say hi on Discord.