Double-tap to Rewind/Fast Forward

Finally, it is here! Double-tap to RW/FF, the most popular gesture control from all video players, is now available with Android 4.2.0. Users can easily navigate between frames by simply double-tapping either side of the screen. This great feature is well blended into the new UI. Video watching cannot be simpler than this.

4.2.0

Release Date: November 11, 2021

New Feature & Updates

• Added double tap to rewind/fast forward.
• Updated IMA SDK to 3.24.0.
• Updated ExoPlayer to 2.14.2.

Improvements

• Added localization support to our DAI implementation via ImaSdkSettings.
• Added a reason to onBuffer events.
• Improved error code reporting.
• Continued improvements to User Interface.
• General stability improvements.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where caption track did not show up properly when casting a video.

OMID Ad Support

Pioneered by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the Open Measurement standard for video in the mobile app is a giant leap for viewability measurement. Open Measurement gives publishers transparency and control to manage the third-party verification scripts rather than running them through the ad creatives themselves, where they cannot be accessed. Our Android 4.1.0 release brings out of the box OMID support for this industry-wide specification through our VAST ad client.

4.1.0

Release Date: October 6, 2021

• Added support for OMID (Open measurement Interface Definition) in JW Player VAST client.
• Added the ability to specify a playlist URL in PlaylistItem.playlistUrl.
• Added caption analytics support.
• Fixed an issue where InPlaylistTimedMetaData start and end values differ from web and iOS.

Introducing Version 4

We are excited to announce JW Player SDK 4.0 for Android. This release updates the SDK its new features & UI, and many other improvements to engage your audiences intelligently and monetize your content.

Version 4 is a complete rewrite of the JW Player SDK for Android to make it easier for developers to add the best in class media playback to any Android app. Please refer to this important 4.x migration guide for Android to update your current application from version 3.x to 4.x. This guide includes important information about API changes, new features & callbacks, and will help your team with the transition process.

You may use Maven to update to SDK 4.x, or you can download the SDK 4 packages from the Players -> Downloads & Keys section of your JW Player Dashboard. Please note that version 4 of the SDKs are available to our Enterprise edition customers, and do not require new license keys because 3.x license keys will work.

4.0.1

Release Date: September 20, 2021

• Improved memory management.

4.0.0

Release Date: July 28, 2021

General Changes

• JWPlayerView has been decoupled from the JWPlayer API, which enables your layouts to inflate quickly and provide a responsive user experience on screens that have a JWPlayerView.
• JW Android SDK 4.0 uses fully native controls, which simplified control customization by using ViewModels.
• Updated Java package root to be com.jwplayer.
• Added support for Picture-in-Picture, Related feeds, and JW Recommendations.
• Thumbnail preview is shown as the user seeks across the content if a thumbnail track is specified for a PlaylistItem.
• Improved accessibility support for screen readers.
• Added helper classes to better support Background Audio.
• Minimum OS is set to API 21.

User Interface

• Created new menu system for new design and updated seek bar thumbnail style, Casting menu, error code screen, Next Up card, and Live interface.

Ads

• JW Android SDK 4.0 supports IMA, IMA DAI, and JW Player VAST.
• Added support for background loading of the next playlist item and VAST ads.
• Added ads cue points for IMA.
• Added feature to make IMA ad request before the ad break.
• Added AdErrorEvent and AdImpressionEvent to help the customers to track ad related events.

API Updates

• Created a JWPlayerCompat class that contains all of the addOnXListener() and removeOnXListener() methods.
• Added CaptionsListEven, ErrorEvent, and SetupErrorEvent to help the customers to track the list of captions and all error related events.
• Renamed AdSource to AdClient.
• Renamed ImaAdvertising to ImaAdvertisingConfig.
• Renamed ImaDaiAdvertising to ImaDaiAdvertisingConfig.
• Renamed ImaVMAPAdvertising to ImaVmapAdvertisingConfig.
• Renamed VMAPAdvertising to VmapAdvertisingConfig.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where TalkBack would not read the controlbar contents correctly.
• Fixed an issue where the player does not maintain the selected resolution when replaying a video.

Deprecated features

• VPAID and FreeWheel support.
• CSS support.
• Caption Styling Configuration.

ExoPlayer upgrade

3.9.1

Release Date: December 10, 2019 (Build 88)

Update

• Maintenance release

3.9.0

Release Date: November 15, 2019 (Build 81)

Update

• Upgraded ExoPlayer dependency to version 2.10.6
• Exposed Freewheel adBreakStart, adBreakEnd, and adViewableImpression events

Fixes

• Fixed issue where calling pauseAd() when using Google IMA did not pause ads
• Fixed issue where creating a new player during playback crashes the app

Google IMA Library Update and New Friendly Ad Obstruction API

We have created a new Friendly Ad Obstruction API class that can be used to ensure ad viewability is properly calculated by the Open Measurement SDK when using Google IMA.

3.8.0

Release Date: October 16, 2019 (Build 78)

Update

• Upgraded to Google IMA Android version 3.11.3
• Added JWFriendlyAdObstructions API class to replace the now deprecated JWExperimentalAPI class that enables the registration of video controls that overlay the media element. Typically, these video controls are considered obstructions and reduce the viewability rate calculated by the Open Measurement SDK. More information on how to use the JWFriendlyAdObstructions API can be found here
• Expose the adId parameter in the AdImpressionEvent for Google IMA
• Improved the user experience by retaining the paused state after a viewer seeks while paused. Developers who have worked around this in the past by calling pause() on seek no longer need to use the API, but anyone who wishes to resume playback automatically after a seek event now must call play()

Fix

• Fixed an issue where changing quality levels would pause playback in fullscreen if using multiple MediaSources as pseudo quality levels.

JW Webplayer Version Updates and More!

JW V3 Android SDK now uses webplayer version 8.21.2, which includes lots of new features and huge improvements. ExoPlayer and IMA SDK have updated so that Android SDK continues to work properly with the latest Android OS.

3.20.2

Release Date: May 4, 2021

• Removed a usage of PackageManager.getInstalledPackages() which was being used to verify Cast API availability
• Fixed a crash that would occur when using TextureView
• Fixed an issue with WideVine DRM playback

3.20.1

Release Date: December 14, 2021

• General FreeWheel improvements

3.20.0

Release Date: October 20, 2021

• Updated Web Player version to 8.21.2.
• Updated ExoPlayer version to 2.14.2.
• Updated IMA SDK version to 3.24.0.
• Fixed an issue where the settings gear button did not show up properly while casting.
• Fixed an issue where InPlaylistTimeMetaData start/end values did not match iOS and the web.
• Fixed an issue where IMA DAI custom ad tags were not being sent correctly.

JW DRM Certified

Our first JW DRM certified Android SDK release.

3.19.6

Release Date: September 2, 2021 (Build 130)

• Improved memory management.
• Fixed an issue where IMA response does not fire ads callbacks and causes the player to stop.
• Fixed a bug where user interface does not behave seamlessly when selecting side-loaded caption options.
• Fixed a bug where preroll ads play from background when app sent to background during ads buffering.

3.19.4

Release Date: June 3, 2021 (Build 123)

• Fixed an issue where autoplay doesn’t behave as expected when IMA prerolls error out.
• Fixed an issue where video player does not set up properly on Android 4.4, 5.0, 6.0.

3.19.3

Release Date: April 8, 2021 (Build 122)

• Fixed an issue where player crashes in rotating orientation when JWPlayerView passes in a non-activity Context in the constructor.

3.19.2

Release Date: February 26, 2021 (Build 120)

• Fixed an issue where casting live video takes to start while casting.
• Fixed an issue where pre-roll ad plays from the background when the app is backgrounded during ad buffering.
• Fixed a bug where the foregrounded ad is being skipped with irregular behavior when the backgrounded ad brought back.

3.19.1

Release Date: December 17, 2020 (Build 119)

• Fixed a FreeWheel issue causing the app to crash after "adId":39689202 mid-roll ads being played.

3.19.0

Release Date: December 1, 2020 (Build 118)

Updates

• Added adTagParameters support to DAI configuration.
• Updated IMA SDK to 3.19.3 to avoid crashes with GDPR consent libraries.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue causing Snapback plays more than the latest skipped ads.
• Fixed an issue causing the player to call pause() unexpectedly when the app is backgrounded while casting.
• Fixed a bug causing the player seeking to bring the position to the beginning of the content.
• Fixed an issue causing audio only livestream does not start playing automatically.

Chromecast Updates

We’ve made lots of improvements on Chromecast including updating Chromecast SDK to 19.0.0

3.18.2

Release Date: October 21, 2020 (Build 117)

• Fixed a bug causing the App to crash when casting is initiated.
• Fixed an issue in player.isControlBarVisible where onControlBarVisibilityChanged notification doesn't work as expected when player is being paused.

3.18.0

Release Date: October 7, 2020 (Build 115)

Updates

• Upgraded the Android SDK to use Chromecast SDK 19.0.0.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue in Chromecast where playlist restarts from first item when disconnected.
• Fixed a bug causing the seek control to freeze when casted.
• Fixed a bug causing the player to fire callback when video being played in background.

FreeWheel GDPR updates

For FreeWheel customers, stay up to date with GDPR compliance in our Android 3.17.0 release.

3.17.1

Release Date: September 11, 2020 (Build 112)

• Fixed a bug preventing the “Next Up” button from being displayed.
• Fixed an issue in the Google IMA ad client where the ad was not properly destroyed and no content was displayed.

3.17.0

Release Date: September 1, 2020 (Build 111)

• Updated the FreeWheel SDK, which included a GDPR compliance update.
• Fixed an issue in FreeWheel where the ad ID value always returned null.

Google IMA Library Upgrade

Stay up to date with the latest Google IMA library in our Android 3.16.0 release.

3.16.0

Release Date: August 19, 2020 (Build 127)

• Updated the Google IMA to support version 3.18.1.