The app is currently in beta but we found it to be perfectly usable.
It's a bit light on customization compared to some of the other apps here but all the basic features are all there. The Now Playing screen is also quite pretty and the Play button even picks up the color from the album art. It looks completely modern and is quite attractive, with interesting UI choices and a non-native font. If you like tinkering with settings, this should keep you busy for a while.ĭespite the name there really isn't anything retro about this app. It also has all the other options you's want like gapless playback, crossfade, auto artwork downloading, and a lot more.
There's just a ton of options here, perhaps the most comprehensive of this group. The Now Playing screen can also be modified. You can change the font used in the app and also customize the UI color as precisely as you want with custom values. Now Playing screen is super clean with crisp text and simple, clean button layout and large album art. Clicking an album opens a floating card with all the tracks. It uses large text labels as tabs at the top, which remind a bit of Windows Phone UI.
Theme options are limited to presets, of which only three are available in the free version.īlackPlayer skips out on some of the Material Design guidelines and goes a bit rogue. It has artwork download, gapless playback, custom equalizer, and Last.fm scrobbling. Pulsar has a very simple and minimal structure with large buttons and well laid out text in the Now Playing screen. It doesn't have a custom equalizer though and depends upon your phone's built-in one, which not all phones have.
Phonograph too has customizable theme and accent colors, auto download album art, and also gapless playback support. The latest one is by far the best looking, with a unique playlist card right below the now playing screen. Phonograph has gone through a lot of UI and even name changes. Other features include custom equalizer, downloading artwork whitelist/blacklisting of tracks, and Last.fm scrobbling. Dig through the settings and you will find dozens of way to customize the color scheme of the app. Shuttle is your classic Material Design app, with a vibrant color palette and big edge to edge album art. Try them out and let us know what you think. Most are free or have a free version with reduced functionality. The have all the basic features along with some customization options and also a widget for your homescreen. Each of the apps featured below has a beautiful UI with elegant design and meaningful animations. Some people use Poweramp, but that's not ideal either if you want something that's simple and doesn't look like it was designed in the last decade.įortunately, there are now tons of great music player apps available for Android.
When it comes to playing locally stored music on an Android device, most people just use the app that comes pre-installed, which in most cases is Google Play Music, which isn't really your best option.