Version 2.3.0

• ThemeDeck now reacts reliably to every Now Playing source. ThemeDeck stays silent only while a track is playing and resumes immediately when it is paused, stopped or no longer available.

Version 2.2.0

This update adds YouTube Music, upmixes Your Music and YouTube Music to 5.1 and 7.1 surround, adds beautiful 3D particles fullscreen effects, and makes Spotify far more reliable.

What's new

• YouTube Music - a full new source with Home, Search, Library, albums, playlists and artists in both QAM and Big Picture, with a one-time sign-in simple setup.
• Surround Upmix (5.1 / 7.1) - a new "Upmix surround" card upmixes stereo to 5.1 or 7.1 with an adjustable volume for every single speaker (only audible on a real 5.1/7.1 output). Applies only to Your Music and YouTube Music (unfortunately Spotify is platform limited at the moment).
• Audio-reactive 3D Particle visualizers - a full-screen experience where thousands of particles react live to the music's bass, mids and highs and take their colours from the current cover. There are seven 3D Particle modes (Field, Tunnel, Sphere, Wave, Ring, Knot, and Cone), with adjustable particle resolution for performance vs. detail. Plus two new 2D Flower, and Circle that reacts to music either.
• Full controller mapping in Fullscreen - LB/RB cycle the visual effect, X cycles the info layout (standard / clock + weather / cover + track / effect only), Y changes cover size, LT/RT previous / next track, R3 play-pause, and D-pad up/down rotate the 3D effect. The playback controls fade out after a few seconds and any D-pad press brings the full layout back.
• Spotify API-usage meter - a live counter at the bottom of the Spotify settings card that reads internal counters.

Improvements

• Whole Spotify library - play-all and shuffle now cover the entire saved-tracks library instead of only the most recent tracks.
• Instant metadata on every source - title and cover swap the moment you change track, like local music; the progress bar only starts when the audio actually begins.
• Readable metadata on light covers - title, artist and album turn dark on light or pastel covers, across all sources.
• Larger Spotify cache - the local audio cache target is raised to 5 GB with a usage indicator.

Fixes

• Picking a saved Spotify track now always starts the exact track you chose, instead of a shifted one.
• Spotify cover and metadata now appear immediately on shuffle instead of several seconds after the audio.
• Returning to Your Music no longer shows the last YouTube Music or Spotify track that was playing.

Version 2.1.0

This update makes playback feel smoother and more dependable, keeps Spotify ready in the background, and removes the legacy volume helper.

What's new

• Background Spotify sign-in and startup - once Spotify is configured, Now Playing prepares the connection without waiting for you to open or select the Spotify source.
• Direct Windows app volume control - music apps now use Windows Core Audio directly, with no separate AppVolumeBridge.exe executable.

Improvements

• Progress is interpolated locally for smoother movement without aggressive API polling.
• Spotify Connect playback started from another device can be adopted while the plugin is running in the background.
• The local music picker is now centered, bounded to the screen, and scans selected files or folders in the background.
• Volume changes are serialized and revisioned, so holding the gamepad control remains responsive and the newest value always "wins".
• QAM and Big Picture share stable playback, artwork, progress, and volume state.
• Fullscreen rendering and background observers do less work while the plugin is idle.

Fixes

• Album covers no longer clear or reload during play, pause, previous, next, shuffle, repeat, progress updates, or temporary source refreshes.
• Fixed delayed volume commands overriding a newer value or briefly jumping to 100%.
• Fixed Spotify progress moving in visible multi-second steps.
• Fixed local file and folder selection from Big Picture settings.
• Fixed Spotify initialization being delayed until the source was manually opened.

Version 2.0.0

This is the biggest update ever done for Now Playing.

It turns Now Playing into a complete music experience for Windows, with built-in local playback, integrated Spotify (totally indipendent from the Spotify Windows App), richer artwork, smoother controls, and a new Big Picture interface designed for the sofa.

What’s new

• Your Music is a complete local music player inside Steam. Add your folders, browse artists and albums, search your library, access the queue, and play your own files without keeping another music app open.
• Spotify is now built into Now Playing with Home, Search, Library, artist, album, and playlist pages made for TV and controller use. Playback can use the private Now Playing Spotify Connect device on your PC.
• SpotifyScraper support handles compatible public catalogue requests before the official Spotify Web API (that is used as a fallback), helping reduce API usage without adding faster polling.
• New fullscreen music experiences combine album artwork, animated glow, track information, playback controls, time, and optional Weather data from the Weather plugin!
• Artist backgrounds can be discovered and chosen through fanart.tv (API required) and TheAudioDB, previewed safely, cached locally, and selected for both Spotify and Your Music.
• A new Restart plugin services recovery flow and expanded diagnostic report make it easier to recover media detection without restarting Windows.

Fixes

• Album artwork, glow, title, artist, and album information no longer flash or disappear during play, pause, shuffle, repeat, volume, or track changes.

Install or update

You can install or update Now Playing from the Playhub Plugin Store in the Playhub app.
You can also download Now-Playing-decky_Installer-2.0.0.zip below and install it through Decky Loader developer mode.

Existing settings, Spotify authorization, music folders, caches, selected backgrounds, and saved volume levels from now one will be preserved.

Now Playing 2.0.0 is a Windows-only plugin.
Spotify browsing and playback require Spotify Premium and a personal Spotify developer Client ID (all the step-by-step instructions are visible in the plugin settings page). Your Music, Tidal, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon Music and SoundCloud obviously remains available and perfectly usable without a Spotify account and API.

Version 1.5.0

This update delivers a complete visual and technical overhaul for Now Playing, with a redesigned Quick Access Menu, improved fullscreen mode, application-specific volume control, configurable cover art sources and top bar integration.

What’s new

• Added a completely redesigned Quick Access Menu interface, with a larger album cover, updated text styles, reorganized controls and a layout that uses the available panel width more effectively.
• Added animated album cover glow effects that react to playback.
• Added application-specific volume control, allowing the volume of the active music application to be adjusted directly from Now Playing without changing the main Windows volume.
• Added configurable cover art sources:
  • Online | High resolution, for higher-quality artwork retrieved through online matching.
  • Windows | Faster, for artwork provided directly by the active Windows media session (capped at 300x300 pixel, that's a Windows limit).
• Added the new Cover Blur Fullscreen Mode visual effect, which uses the current album artwork as an animated blurred background.
• Added optional song information in the Steam top bar, including the current service icon and track title.
• Added an option to move the Steam clock and Now Playing information to the left side of the top bar.
• Added time and Weather information in fullscreen mode when the Weather plugin is available.
• Added service-specific color accents for Spotify, TIDAL, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon Music and SoundCloud.

Improvements

• The Quick Access Menu now uses a cleaner and more consistent visual hierarchy for artwork, song information, playback controls and service actions.
• Album artwork is now displayed with a consistent square format, improved cropping and softer rounded corners.
• Long track, artist and album names now use responsive scrolling instead of being constrained by the previous fixed-width layout.
• Gamepad and keyboard navigation have been improved across the redesigned interface, including precise volume adjustment in 1% increments.
• The fullscreen interface has been redesigned with improved artwork placement, typography, control sizing and visual blending.
• Steam Big Picture’s top bar and footer are now hidden immediately when entering fullscreen mode.
• The selected music service is now shown as the panel title instead of the generic “Now Playing” label.
• Media-session updates and cover retention have been improved for more responsive track changes and more stable long-running playback sessions.

Version 1.3.0

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