This is one of the biggest updates ever released for Phrida. Every view has been redesigned, and several core systems have been rebuilt to deliver a faster, smoother, and more reliable experience. What's New: Audiobooks - Full audiobook support is now available in Phrida. - Audiobooks synced through the Apple Devices app automatically appear in the new Audiobooks section. - Local audio files can be converted into audiobooks by long-pressing and selecting Mark as Audiobook. - Chapter support is available for local audiobook files. Due to Apple limitations, chapter selection is unavailable for synced audiobook files. - Phrida automatically saves listening progress and tracked chapters. Sleep Timer — Premium Only - Playback can automatically stop after a selected duration when no interaction is detected. Custom App Icons — Premium Only - Choose from multiple alternate app icons. Smart Playlists — Premium Only - Automatically generated playlists based on your listening habits and favorite artists. - Refreshes daily for updated recommendations. - Generated entirely from your local and synced library. No streaming service data is used. Account, Achievements & Reward Points - Sign in with Apple to securely sync statistics and achievements. - No personal information is stored on external servers. - Unlock achievements by completing actions in Phrida. - Achievements sync across devices automatically. - Earn Reward Points through subscriptions, achievements, and rewarded ads. - Redeem 300 Reward Points for 1 free week of Premium. Complete Local File Support - Local audio files are now fully integrated across the app. - Local and synced music can now be mixed seamlessly in libraries and playlists. Tips & Tricks - Added a new Tips & Tricks section in Settings. Settings Redesign - Fully redesigned Settings interface. - Added optimized default settings for new users. - Settings now include detailed description windows. Local View Improvements - Added an import button to the Local view, both for empty and populated libraries. New Premium Model - Phrida now uses a subscription-based Premium model with a free 1-week trial. - Existing Premium users automatically receive Lifetime Premium access. Pricing $2.99/month $29.99/year $99.99 Lifetime Additional Improvements - Added a Contact Me option in Settings for support and feedback. - Added an option to hide the Now Playing Bar. - Swipe up from the navigation bar to open Now Playing when hidden. - Tap artist or album names in Now Playing to jump directly to their views. - Redesigned landscape mode on iPhone and iPad. Bug Fixes & Improvements - Rebuilt the content loading system for improved speed and reliability. - Fixed crashes and loading issues affecting some devices. - Fixed issues with artist image refreshing and album artwork consistency. - Fixed Statistics counting for synced and local songs. - Fixed playback queue mismatches and shuffle behavior. - Fixed artwork reflection and scrolling title issues. - Fixed title overlap in the Now Playing Bar. - Fixed Local Album artwork display issues. - Improved Google Cast stability during extended playback.

Bug Fixes: - Resolved an issue preventing content from loading on some iPhone and iPad devices, which caused a continuous loading loop. - Fixed Google Cast functionality with Apple Music queues, ensuring proper behavior when casting. Improvements: - Re worked the NavBar to provide a smoother experience. Upcoming Features: - Theme support is planned for the next major release (2.0.0). The foundation is already implemented and working properly. Known Issues: - The app may crash when attempting to Google Cast a local song. Users are advised to avoid casting local songs until this issue is resolved.

Following the recent purchase of an iPhone 13, this update focuses heavily on optimizing performance and ensuring a smoother experience across older devices. Bug Fixes: - Resolved an issue where the Mixed Queue (local and synced songs) was not functioning correctly. - Fixed a problem causing Albums to not appear in the Albums tab on older devices. - Corrected unintended ad behavior for non-premium users. Ads were previously triggered on every song skip, which was not intended. - Fixed an issue where the “Watch Ad – Get 6h Premium” feature displayed the incorrect ad and failed to grant the promotional Premium access. - Resolved a bug where a paused song could unexpectedly resume playback. Updated Ad Behavior: - A full-screen ad is shown after every 5 skips (Next or Previous). - A full-screen ad is shown after every 3 songs played. Note: These counters operate independently. For example, playing 2 songs and skipping 5 times will result in two consecutive ads. - A full-screen ad is displayed when reopening the app after it has been in the background or closed for 30 minutes or more (excluding the first-ever app launch). Improvements: - Optimized load times in the Now Playing view. - Enhanced overall performance and responsiveness, delivering a smoother experience across all supported devices. New Features: - Added Google Cast support for Local Files. - Added Airplay support for Local Files. - Introduced metadata display in the Now Playing view for local files.

Bug Fixes: - Completely re-worked the logic of how the App import local files, testing shows 100% import rate. Update: - Updated the Copyright in the Settings View. - Dramatically reduced the loading time of Albums Tab View (over 90% reduction in loading times). - Dramatically reduced the loading time of Statistics Tab View (over 50% reduction in loading times). - Partially reduced the loading time of Statistics Tab View (over 10% reduction in loading times). New Features: - Added initial support for .m3u playlists, you can import them via the import files button in settings. Consider this option still in Beta.

Bug Fixes: - Resolved the underlying cause of performance lag during song playback. - Improved scrolling performance in the lyrics view. - Adjusted the lyrics view layout to prevent overlap with the device notch and ensure it remains within the album artwork area. - Restored proper functionality of the draggable bar. - Corrected the size and color of the drag and volume controls in the Now Playing view. - Fixed an issue where Google Cast would stop when the device received an incoming call.

Bug Fixes: - Improved performance of the Now Playing view (with additional optimizations planned). - Increased the reliability of Google Cast. - Fixed an issue where content failed to load correctly on first launch for some users. - Restored search functionality for Synced Files. - Corrected Now Playing Bar behavior when searching for files. - Fixed indexing issues occurring when the Now Playing Bar is not visible. New Features: - Added initial support for Local Files. You can now import and edit local files directly in the app or via iTunes drag-and-drop. - Introduced a new Local view to display all local files in one place. - Added the ability to edit local file metadata via long-press. - Local files are now seamlessly integrated into the Artists view and merged with synced files. - Try Premium: Watch a special ad to unlock Premium features for 6 hours (available in Settings). - Added a quality-of-life improvement: tapping the bottom view now scrolls you back to the main content area. Notes: - Supporting Local Files required significant changes to core parts of the app. Given the time since the last update, this release focuses on delivering those improvements now. Additional views and expanded local-file functionality will be rolling out in the coming weeks.

Bug Fixes: - Resolved an issue that caused a pop-up error when starting a Google Cast session. - Corrected the Casted Plays counter in the Statistics View. - Patched color customization for elements in Tab Bar Customization. New Features: - Added display of file format, frequency, bit depth, and bitrate in both the Now Playing View and Information View, with the option to toggle these settings on or off.

Bug Fixes: - Fixed an issue where some views were not loading correctly. - Fixed an issue where albums in the Albums view were not sorted properly. - Fixed an issue where the Now Playing Bar hid elements in certain views. - Fixed an issue where some elements of "Most Listened" in Statistics got mixed up between elements. - Fixed an issue where it was impossible to swipe back from the Artist's Albums view to the Artist Tab on iPad. - Fixed NowPlayingView for iPad in portrait mode. - Fixed Statistics View not loading properly on iPad. - Fixed Statistics View Artworks in the grid. Improvements: - Improved the loading time of StatisticsTabView. - Reduced CPU and GPU consumptions for Now Playing View. - Re-worked Artist's Albums view for iPad for better navigation. - First draft for the Now Playing view in landscape view for both iPhone and iPad. New Features: - Customize your navigation bar! You can now rearrange icons directly in Settings. - Unlimited tabs are now supported! Switch between them seamlessly. - New genre display options, choose between: - Genres → Songs - Genres → Artists → Songs - Genres → Albums → Songs - Genres → Artists → Albums → Songs - All genre sub-views have been redesigned for a smoother experience. - Automatic genre images are now included! More will be added in future updates. (Note: these images are AI generated, as I don’t currently have the abilty, nor resources to commission original artwork.) - Added a new Now Playing blur effect called "Extreme", which increases the blur intensity by 20% from "Very High". - Improved settings with a new interaction model: tap to toggle between options, or long-press to open the full menu. - New option to filter out the articles “The” and “A” from artist names. For example, "The Beatles" will now appear under B. You can choose to not display the articles, The Beatles can be displayed as Beatles.

Added a new View: Genres - Browse your music by genre without losing Phrida’s signature style. Added a new View: Changelog (Hidden Gem) - Unlock the full history of Phrida: in Settings, long-press the copyright footer to open the Changelog and browse what made Phrida great. Re-worked the blur background in the Now Playing View: - Album artwork now appears as a reflection behind the controls. You can adjust the blur intensity in Settings. Added a new Premium View: Statistics - Curious about your listening habits? Dive into detailed stats: total songs played, weekly plays, top tracks, artists, albums, and genres. Built for data lovers. Added a new Premium Funtionality: Your year Wrapped. - Phrida now supports Wrapped-style insights. See your top 50 songs, artists, albums, and genres anytime—and share a snapshot of your stats. Under the Hood modifications: - Reworked major parts of the app to power Statistics. Performance dipped early on, but after a month and a half of tuning we’re in great shape for release (with more improvements to come). - Fixed an issue where ads didn’t display correctly. - Fixed a bug where Add to Top of Queue could restart the current song. - Laid groundwork for upcoming features.

Under the Hood Improvements: - Optimized the artwork caching system, this should alleviate the gpu consumption by around 75%. - Improved how the timers work in various environments, we went from 3 timers (local, airplay and google cast) to one unified timer, this should improve performance by around 60%. - improved the caching for lists, this allow older devices to feel snappier. - Fixed album flashing in the lockscreen when casting to a Google Device. - Improved the Premium purchase workflow. - Fixed the Now Playing Gradient hiding the song and artist's name if the album artwork was mostly white. - Fixed the previous button behavior in Now Playing View, now, if the song has been played for at least 10 seconds the button restarts the song and, if pressed again before 10 seconds, plays the previous song of the queue. Custom Album Artwork Support - Users can now upload custom artwork for any album directly from the Album Songs View. Custom artwork: - Is applied to all songs of the selected album. - Appears in ArtistAlbumsView, NowPlayingView, and all other views where album artwork is shown. - Artwork is cached locally and persists across app launches. - Added "Remove Custom Artwork" option to restore the original album art. - This option will not overwrite the song metadata. Lyrics Editor Improvements - Re-worked the whole view, now it is snappier and has more function. - Fixed the Fetch Lyrics Mechanism. Now we also have an official website (https://phrida.app), an official subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/Phrida/) and two official email app.phrida@icloud.com and support.phrida@icloud.com.