Releases: XDanfr/Aperture
Release list
Issue test
This build is provided exclusively to test the USB/media-folder picker fix reported in #5
If you want to download the latest version of Aperture, do not download from this release.
Download from here instead
If you are testing the USB-folder fix, please report whether your NTFS drive and media folders are detected correctly after selecting them from Settings.
Please use Aperture-v0.4.1-pre-alpha.apk, not app-debug.apk.
v0.4.0-alpha
Aperture v0.4.0-alpha
Now With More Codecs!
This release moves us on from Aperture v0.4.0 from pre-alpha to alpha, adding software decoding fallbacks, improving Dynamic Theming and polishing the changes introduced in the previous build. Full Changelog: v0.4-PRE...v0.4
Download APK
Expanded media support
- Added FFmpeg-based software decoding through NextLib (GPLv3)
- Added fallback support for E-AC-3, AC-3, DTS, DTS-HD, TrueHD and more audio formats
- Added software video fallback for H.264, HEVC, VP8 and VP9
- Hardware decoding is still preferred whenever the device supports it
- Improved handling for media that previously froze, failed silently or played without audio
- Added clearer playback error reporting and decoder logging
Dynamic Theming
- Dynamic artwork colours now update when hovering over media on Home
- Added hover-driven themes to Movies and TV Shows
- Added artwork themes to grouped shows and individual episode rows
- Added a short delay before changing themes to prevent excessive recolouring while quickly navigating
- Previously extracted artwork colours are cached for faster theme changes
- Media without artwork no longer causes distracting colour changes
TV shows and episodes
- Shows consistently open on the earliest available season and episode
- Improved numerical season and episode ordering across Home, Search and TV Shows
- Improved grouped-show and episode-row navigation
- Fixed the tutorial popup interfering with the My List introduction
Player and navigation
- Improved OSD and Quick Menu focus handling
- Back now dismisses the active player overlay in one press
- Improved subtitle background-opacity handling
- Fixed Right navigation from the sidebar returning to the wrong destination
- Improved focus restoration across Home, Movies, TV Shows and Settings
Open source
- Added NextLib and FFmpeg attribution
- Aperture is now licensed under the GNU General Public License v3
Known issues
- Dolby Vision: Playback still depends on the formats and profiles supported by the device. Software HEVC decoding does not guarantee full Dolby Vision support. Please submit any issues and be willing to test if you have trouble!
- Software video decoding: High-resolution video may perform poorly on slower Android TV hardware.
- Current episode detection: Continue Watching tracks the appropriate episode, but grouped show cards currently open on the earliest available episode.
- OpenSubtitles: Temporarily disabled while account login and the API are integrated.
- Dynamic Theming: Still experimental and may behave differently depending on available artwork.
- Emulator playback: Some emulators may still experience crashes or green-screen issues.
This is an ALPHA release.
Aperture is actively being developed and may contain unfinished features, device-specific playback problems and unexpected bugs. Please report anything unusual!
Note
Please perform a full cache clear and rescan if you experience unexpected behaviour after updating before submitting an issue.
Support will only be provided for Aperture-v0.4.0-alpha.apk. It might not be given for users of the unoptimised debug.apk right now as it runs much slower and is designed for debugging only.
v0.4.0-pre-alpha
Aperture v0.4.0-pre-alpha
Grouped Shows and Media Compatibility!
This release brings the planned v0.4 features into an early pre-alpha build, while adding safer handling for media formats that Android TV devices cannot currently play.
TV shows and episodes
- Added grouped TV show presentation with one card per show
- Added season and episode selection
- Added episode-specific thumbnails, titles and synopses
- Added configurable grouped-show and episode-row layouts
- Added episode progress and Continue Watching support
- Improved episode detection and season/episode ordering
Media playback
- Added safer fallback handling for unsupported audio and video formats
- Added clearer playback error reporting
- Temporarily added handling for Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and other unsupported formats
- Prevented unsupported tracks from freezing the player
- Improved player and Quick Menu focus handling
- Added local and embedded subtitle support
- OpenSubtitles integration is temporarily disabled while account-based API support is prepared
Home and navigation
- Added home suggestion regeneration
- Improved sidebar focus restoration
- Fixed returning from the sidebar to the page and position that opened it
- Improved grouped-show navigation from Home, Search and TV Shows
- Improved popup, tutorial and player overlay behaviour
Presentation and customisation
- Added dynamic artwork-based theming as a pre-alpha feature
- Added selectable themes
- Added episode-row and grouped-show presentation settings
- Added fallback artwork for media without assets
- Added fade and scale animations when adding media to My List
- Improved subtitle appearance settings
- Improved focus borders, scaling and TV navigation
Optimisation
- Improved library organisation and media grouping
- Improved metadata and asset handling
- Added more robust error handling throughout the app
- Reverted a breaking change affecting compatibility with existing installations
Known issues
- Unsupported media: Some audio and video formats may still be unavailable on particular Android TV devices. Further decoder support is planned.
- Currently, Dolby Atmos E-AC-3 audio is not supported and no audio plays by default on videos with this audio codec.
- Current episode detection: Continue Watching chooses the current episode, but broader current-episode detection throughout the app is still being worked on
- OpenSubtitles: Temporarily disabled while account login and the newer OpenSubtitles API are integrated
- Dynamic Theming: Still a pre-alpha feature under testing and may not update in every navigation state. More coming soon
- Emulator playback: Some emulators may experience crashes or green-screen issues when attempting playback.
- Refresh Assets uses the same icon as the title changer, which may confuse people.
- Title Changer: its UI is currently slightly broken and while it does work, navigating it is unclear.
This is a PRE-ALPHA release.
Aperture is actively being developed and may contain bugs, incomplete features and device-specific playback issues. Please report anything unexpected, especially playback failures and navigation problems. This version is made for people that want to test new features and fixes.
Note
Please perform a full cache clear and rescan if you experience unexpected behaviour after updating before submitting an issue.
Support will only be provided for app-release.apk. It might not be given for users of the unoptimised app-debug.apk right now.
v0.3.1-alpha
Aperture v0.3.1-alpha
Fixes all around
This patch is all focused on fixing some major navigation issues and improving local media detection following some testing I did with v0.3.0.
Sidebar and Home
- Fixed Left opening the sidebar from every media card
- The sidebar now opens only from the leftmost item in each row or grid
- Fixed Right failing to return from the sidebar after it was opened (positional stuff)
- Fixed Home becoming inaccessible after switching tabs
- Fixed stale Spotlight focus after the featured title changed
- Fixed Home recommendations unexpectedly reshuffling during background updates
- Fixed slight bounce when navigating across Home rows
- Refreshing Home now returns to Spotlight
TV show detection
- Added support for common episode filename formats:
SxxExxSx ExSxx.ExxxYYx
- Added show-name detection using parent folders
- Added support for folders such as
Show Name Season X - Added scanning for
/TV Shows,/TV, and/Shows - Previously misclassified episodes can now be corrected during a rescan
- Added parser regression tests
TMDB
- Improved title, sequel-number and year matching
- Added retries for rate limits, temporary network failures, and TMDB server errors
- Refresh Assets now searches using the original filename
Known issues
- Some unusually named films may still match the wrong TMDB result (e.g. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (2025)).
- Episode-specific titles, synopses and thumbnails are not yet fetched.
- Manual title correction is planned for a future release.
This is still an ALPHA release.
Many features are still work-in-progress. Please report anything that behaves unexpectedly, especially remote focus and TV episode classification.
Note
Please perform a full rescan after updating so previously misclassified TV episodes can be corrected or if you experience unexpected behavior after updating before submitting an issue.
Full Changelog: v0.3...v0.3.1
v0.3.0-alpha
Aperture v0.3.0-alpha
Personalisation and control!
This release adds major usability features for TV navigation, library organisation, personalisation, and in-session updates.
Library and Home
- Randomised Movies and TV Shows rows on Home
- Pressing Home again regenerates suggestions
- Movies and TV Shows are now separate organised sections
- TV Shows are grouped by show, season, and episode (Heavily WIP and untested)
- My List additions are ordered newest first
- Hidden media can be managed from Settings
Hold-for-actions menu (#1)
- Added a hold-for-actions menu for media covers
- Added Remove from Continue Watching
- Added Play from beginning
- Added Add/Remove from My List
- Added Mark watched/unwatched
- Added Assets
- Added directional menu placement and action icons
Themes and presentation
- Added selectable themes, including:
- Aperture Purple
- Material TV
- Emerald
- Cinema Red
- Sunset Orange
- Electric Blue
- Ocean Teal
- Neon Pink
- Added a theme picker with colour previews
- Themes apply across menus, the player OSD, and Quick Menu. Submit an issue if I missed anything.
- Added smoother Home refresh, My List, tutorial, and startup animations
- Improved startup colours and removed the light preview flash
Onboarding and metadata
- Added a guided post-scan tutorial
- Added manual TMDB artwork and metadata selection (WIP and not currently working)
Updates
- Added GitHub update checking (Untested)
- Added APK download progress
- Added unknown-app installation permission handling
- Added direct Android installer handoff for compatible releases
Known issues
- ❌ Pressing left ALWAYS triggers the sidebar in the menu. A fix is planned very soon.
⚠️ My List: still uses the existing placeholder-style presentation in some areas.- ℹ️ Manual TMDB selection: currently selects a TMDB match as a whole; finer poster/backdrop selection may come later.
⚠️ Emulator green-screen: may still occur.
This is still an ALPHA release.
Many features are still work-in-progress. Please report anything that behaves unexpectedly, especially remote focus, long-press actions, update installation, or tutorial navigation.
Note
Please perform a full cache clear and rescan if you experience unexpected behavior after updating before submitting an issue.
v0.2.2-alpha
Aperture v0.2.2-alpha
My List & QoL
This release adds My List, improves playback state handling, and makes Spotlight more useful for continuing media.
Playback
- Added Restart controls to the Player OSD and media details popup
- Finished videos now return to Home automatically
- Finished videos start from the beginning when selected again
- Added Play, Continue and Rewatch labels rather than just Play
- Slightly improved playback progress persistence when leaving the Player
My List
Added a functional My List. You can add and remove titles through the media details popup to its newest-first grid.
Spotlight
- Spotlight now prioritises the most recently watched unfinished title so you can jump right back in
- Completed media is hidden from Spotlight by default for 14 days
- Added Settings controls for enabling/disabling this behaviour and changing the exclusion period
- Spotlight falls back to the full library if every title is currently excluded. This may just become a reset in the future.
Stability
- Improved focus restoration after leaving playback
- Improved popup Back handling
- Preserved completion history when playback is reset to the beginning
- Added a database migration for the new playback state
Known issues
- Language and Subtitle Appearance settings: not yet implemented.
- Emulator green-screen: may still happen.
This is still an ALPHA release.
Many features remain work-in-progress. Please report anything that behaves unexpectedly.
Note
Please perform a full cache clear and rescan if you experience unexpected behavior after updating before submitting an issue.
v0.2.1-alpha
Aperture v0.2.1-alpha
Even... more stability and usability!
This release continues fixing and working on Aperture’s navigation while adding more control over Spotlight behaviour.
Player and Home navigation
- Fixed Home becoming unusable after exiting the Player
- Restores the last focused Home control where possible
- Falls back safely to Spotlight when the previous control is unavailable
Spotlight
- Completed media can now be hidden from Spotlight temporarily
- Added a Settings toggle for this behaviour
- Added a configurable exclusion period from 1–365 days (will eventually have the option to set forever too)
- Defaults to 14 days
- (Spotlight falls back to the full library if all available media is excluded)
Progress indicators
- Improved media progress-bar visibility against focused card outlines, and made them more round
- Added stronger contrast and spacing for focused progress bars
Known issues
- My List: still a placeholder
- Language and Subtitle Appearance settings: not yet implemented
- Emulator green-screen: may still happen. Not a priority right now, sorry.
This is still an ALPHA release.
Many features are work-in-progress and may not function as expected. Please report issues.
Note
Please perform a full cache clear and rescan if you experience unexpected behavior after updating before submitting an issue.
v0.2.0-alpha
Aperture v0.2.0
Stability and Usability!
This release focuses on making Aperture feel reliable and natural on TV, especially when navigating with a remote, by fixing bugs and adding features.
TV player controls
- Added a proper TV-style player OSD
- Added Play/Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind, and Quick Menu controls
- Improved remote focus and click handling
Media details and sidebar navigation
- Fixed the media details popup opening and closing animations. Clean now!
- Prevented Left navigation from accidentally opening the sidebar or scrolling
- Added better focus restoration after closing media details in general
- Improved navigation between content rows and the sidebar
- Added destination-aware focus restoration for Home, Search, and Settings. Others will be done when actually made.
Media details and sidebar navigation have been fixed.
Library onboarding and metadata preparation
- Added eager media discovery after storage permission is granted
- Added TMDB metadata matching during onboarding
- Added total progress tracking with status instead of throwing you straight into the app blindly
- Added per-title metadata progress
- Added a Skip option so users can enter the app while processing continues in the background
- Added a dynamic fading poster grid while the library is being prepared [UNTESTED]
- Added rate-limit retry handling for TMDB requests
- Added caching for unsuccessful metadata matches
Artwork and presentation
- Added title-based fallback artwork and banners for media without TMDB posters
- Added focus-aware fallback colours and outlines
- Improved artwork cache clearing overall
Settings
- Fixed oversized Settings controls and edge clipping
- Improved TV focus scaling and visual focus borders
- Fixed the Open Source Licences window appearing behind Settings (sorry about that)
- Added TMDB attribution beneath Open Source Licences so I don't get killed
- Disabled unfinished Language and Subtitle Appearance controls until they are actually implemented, rather than them just being dummy buttons
Known issues
- Sidebar/Home issues: Watching something and then exiting the player makes the home menu impossible to use. A temporary fix is to switch tabs e.g. Search and then switch back to Home.
- The apk reports itself as v0.1.7-alpha. Sorry about that, completely missed it.
- My List: still a placeholder.
- Language and Subtitle Appearance settings: not yet implemented. Settings has been updated to show this.
- Emulator green-screen: may still happen. Not a priority right now, sorry.
This is still an ALPHA release.
Many features are work-in-progress and may not function as expected. The code changes have been made but my testing reveals that several fixes are not working in practice. Please report issues.
Note
Please perform a full cache clear and rescan if you experience unexpected behavior after updating before submitting an issue.
v0.1.7-alpha
Rebrand!
This release serves as a simple rebrand with no other changes. Let me know what you think of the new icon!
Changes
- New Aperture logo, banner and branding around the app.
Known Issues from v0.1.6
- Sidebar Interference: Navigating left from the media details popup now triggers the sidebar to open (the popup does close correctly, however, so still a win?)
- An in/out entrance/exit animation for the media details popup is currently under development.
- All other issues from v0.1.5, including:
- My List is Non-Functional: My List feature is still not functional - placeholder only. This is intentional, but tbf worth noting.
- Player UI Invocation: Despite player UI being added, it does not reliably invoke when pressing buttons. It immediately fades out, never to be seen again.
- Settings Buttons: Buttons in settings enlarge too much and get cut off at the edges. A lot of them are also non-functional, or they display behind the menu UI, which is counterintuitive (thanks, Gemini).
- Green Screen Bug: The green screen bug is still prevalent on emulators. Still no idea of the cause, not considered a big enough issue rn as cannot replicate on real devices.
- Progress Bars: Progress indicators on media covers are WIP and don't work properly just yet
- Onboarding: Onboarding may flash up momentarily during app startup.
Note
Please perform a full cache clear and rescan if you experience unexpected behavior after updating before submitting an issue.
Thank you for testing Aperture!
v0.1.6-alpha
Aperture v0.1.6 Release Notes
This is a very quick incremental update focused on cleaning up some navigation and scrolling behaviors that were breaking basic functionality beforehand!
What's Fixed
- Scrolling Stability: Resolved the issue where scrolling too far down would cause the view to snap back to the top.
- Popup Navigation: Fixed the bug that allowed users to scroll outside the bounds of the media details popup.
Known Issues
- Sidebar Interference: Navigating left from the media details popup now triggers the sidebar to open (the popup does close correctly, however, so still a win?)
-
- An in/out entrance/exit animation for the media details popup is currently under development.
- All other issues from v0.1.5, including:
-
- My List is Non-Functional: My List feature is still not functional - placeholder only. This is intentional, but tbf worth noting.
-
- Player UI Invocation: Despite player UI being added, it does not reliably invoke when pressing buttons. It immediately fades out, never to be seen again.
-
- Settings Buttons: Buttons in settings enlarge too much and get cut off at the edges. A lot of them are also non-functional, or they display behind the menu UI, which is counterintuitive (thanks, Gemini).
-
- Green Screen Bug: The green screen bug is still prevalent on emulators. Still no idea of the cause, not considered a big enough issue rn as cannot replicate on real devices.
-
- Progress Bars: Progress indicators on media covers are WIP and don't work properly just yet
-
- Onboarding: Onboarding may flash up momentarily during app startup.
Note
Please perform a full cache clear and rescan if you experience unexpected behavior after updating before submitting an issue.
Thank you for testing Aperture!