The developers behind the widely lauded music player and equalization tool Poweramp are looking to bring the app up-to-date at some point in the near future and test versions of incoming features are available in a beta form now. For clarity, users will need to have a Poweramp account to access the app download in order to install it. That’s a fairly easy process to complete, although it isn’t clear whether a paid version of the app is required or not. It’s also worth pointing out that this is a beta and not necessarily stable but there will be difficulties rolling back since the underlying database is being changed. So it may be a good idea to wait until the official release to pick up the app. In the meantime, this is going to be a relatively massive update and, with consideration for how popular Poweramp already is, could easily propel the app back to the top of the charts. This is, after all, the first update since 2016.
The major user interface overhaul and navigation tweaks are the biggest changes. For navigation, users will now be able to get around in a way that is similar to how other apps in the category work. That means swiping and clicking on album art will take them to the “now playing” playlist. Swipes can also be used in the main UI and in the bottom-bar “mini player” to switch tracks or changes categories. Meanwhile, tapping the mini player will move back to the main player UI Pinch-zoom has been added to lists as well, as has swipe gestures for moving between lists. Simultaneously, the UI itself has been updated with clean-looking panels, popups, dialogs, and a new “wave” style seek bar. A visualizations panel has been added, as have new notification shade elements which look much closer to how Google’s Play Music does. For example, it now shows album art and associated color themes rather than a simple white card. Hi-Res audio output is now a big part of Poweramp, too, though that’s still under development for Android 8.0 and newer, as of this writing. OpenSL HD output has been added in support of Android 8.0 devices.
That is all actually included in what Poweramp says is an incomplete list of the changes planned. At the same time, as mentioned above, some known issues with the current build are also present. For starters, there are no list options in library screens, and list, track, preset operations including deletion, add to playlist, and more aren’t fully supported yet. Moreover, the library categorization features haven’t been implemented yet and no custom lock screen features are available for now. Lastly, this version of the app still hasn’t been optimized for tablets or landscape viewing. Bearing all of that in mind, this is shaping up to be the largest update yet for the app and that’s sure to make lots of fans of high-quality music happy. Anybody interested in checking it out in spite of the current drawbacks can find the download at the button below.
Download the Poweramp v3 beta preview
