HeadentClient — update: builds 30–33, Google Play status, and Open Collective
Hi everyone,
it's been a while since my last update here (build 29), so here's a summary of everything that landed in HeadentClient since then — builds 30 to 33 — plus some project news.
Build 30 — light player theme, background radio, crash diagnostics
- The modern player got a proper light theme, selectable independently of the app theme.
- Fixed background radio on servers with digest authentication — radio keeps playing on the background panel after leaving the player, on both plain and digest servers.
- New crash diagnostics: if the app crashes, a log is saved and you can review and send it from Settings → About → Diagnostics, with device/OS/app info pre-filled.
Build 31 — recording indicator, large-server stability, guide filter
- The recording indicator now shows only on the channel that is actually recording — recordings are matched by unique channel ID (same approach as the Kodi Tvheadend client), not by name/number.
- Fixed out-of-memory crashes on servers with a very large EPG: the guide cache is now stored and loaded per channel, keeping memory low regardless of EPG size.
- New TV guide filter by channel group (tags/bouquets, incl. Favorites) — works with the D-pad on Android TV and touch on phones, remembered per server.
Build 32 — Appearance settings, picon backgrounds, solid info bar
- New Appearance section in Settings: interface mode (classic/modern), app theme and player theme in one place.
- Picon background picker — default, fully transparent, or preset colours; applies everywhere logos appear, great for transparent picons.
- Optional solid info-bar background on Android TV, so the channel strip stays readable over bright video.
Build 33 — channel groups, search and favorites on TV, decoder color fix, HDR switch
- The channel list in the TV player now has a group filter (All, Favorites, your server tags) — press up to the pill and switch groups left/right; CH+/− zapping then stays within the selected group.
- Search channels by name on TV — a magnifier next to the group pill opens a search field with the on-screen keyboard; results filter as you type across all channels.
- Favorites on TV: gold star in the list and search results, add/remove (or hide a channel) directly from the channel menu (hold OK).
- New decoder color fix option for boxes where hardware decoding shows wrong (blue/orange) colors — switches the decoder to a compatible path while keeping decoding fully hardware-accelerated.
- You can now allow or block HDR switching when auto frame rate (AFR) changes the display mode — blocking it avoids the HDMI re-sync and unwanted HDR flip on some boxes.
- Plus: consistent D-pad focus on all settings switches, the guide info no longer disappears when switching groups, and various smaller fixes.
Google Play status
The app has been in closed testing on Google Play for a while now (12+ testers, daily use). The application for production access has been submitted and is currently in the final review before approval. Once approved, HeadentClient will be publicly available on Google Play — and after the official release, the APK will also be downloadable directly from the website for those who prefer to sideload.
Open Collective — the project is now fiscally hosted
Some more good news: HeadentClient has been accepted by Open Source Europe as its fiscal host, so the project now has an official, transparent Open Collective. If anyone would like to support development, it's possible here — purely voluntary, no pressure whatsoever, the app is and stays free and open source (MIT) with no ads or paid features:
https://opencollective.com/headent-client
Links
As always — big thanks to the testers from this forum. The group filter, TV search and favorites in build 33 all came directly from your reports and ideas. If you'd like to join testing, sign-up is on the website.
