Android SDK 4.20.0 improves PiP receiver handling, enhances player lifecycle reliability, and resolves playback interruptions caused by faulty ad tags.

New Feature

• The IMA package has been upgraded to version 3.36.0.

Bug Fixes

• A new receiver is registered only after the previous one is removed to prevent multiple PiP receivers per Activity.
• Related configuration requests correctly follow the player lifecycle in React-Native and Native setups.
• Only one set of player controls appears during initial buffering.
• The player no longer crashes when attempting to enter PiP in an Activity that is no longer attached to the Window.
• If a faulty VAST ad tag is encountered, the ad is skipped and content playback continues without stalling.

Android SDK 4.19.0 enhances caption management, upgrades core playback components, and addresses critical stability issues with advertisements.

New Features

• For a video hosted on JW Platform, the player now ignores side-loaded captions if the video already includes embedded captions, preventing duplicate entries in the captions menu.
• The AndroidX Media3 ExoPlayer has been upgraded to version 1.4.1.
• The minimum supported Android version has been updated to Android 7 (API level 24).

Bug Fixes

• DRM content with advertisements will play without causing application crashes.
• Skipping a Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) ad advances the player to the next media item in the playlist.

In Android SDK 4.18.4, a critical security update improving the safety of local content handling has been released.

Bug Fix

We have released a critical security update that enhances the safety of local content handling within the app. This update mitigates potential risks and improves overall application security. 

We strongly encourage all users to upgrade to this latest version to benefit from these improvements and maintain optimal protection.

This release addresses caption scaling and improves stability on older Android devices.

Bug Fixes

• Captions correctly scale when a device has been rotated to fullscreen landscape mode.
• On older Android 6 devices, crashes no longer occur when users resume an app (using a TextureView configuration) from the background during an IMA ad.

With the 4.18.2 Android release, several issues relating to casting and DVR windows have been addressed.

Bug Fixes

• Content playback begins after a cast connection is established.
• Streams with large DVR windows and numerous timed meta tags play smoothly after the initial load.
• Both side-loaded .vtt captions and the scrub bar display during casting.

This latest JWP Android SDK release improves .playlistUrl support, caption scaling, player setup with .useTextureView(true), DAI event handling, and IMA ad playback.

Bug Fixes

• A .playlistUrl can be used with the Background Audio Service in a PlayerConfig.
• Captions scale correctly in full-screen portrait mode.
• The player no longer crashes on setup when configured with TextureView .useTextureView(true).
• When using DAI, the onAdPause and onAdPlay events fire only once.
• If an app implementing a player configured with .useTextureView(true) defined is backgrounded during IMA ad playback, video and audio ad playback continue after returning to the app.

The latest JWP Android SDK update includes a new feature and bug fixes to improve functionality and user experience. New Chromecast support has been introduced. Updates to SDK dependencies and various bug fixes are also detailed below.

New Feature

• Chromecast now supports sending JSON data to custom receiver apps, enabling the ability to cast Widevine DRM-protected content.
• The IMA Android dependency has been updated to 3.33.0.

Bug Fixes

• When a custom receiver does not support the data sent during casting, the Android SDK will throw an error.
• In Android 14, controls work as expected in picture-in-picture (PiP) mode.
• Playback for large HLS media assets begins without a noticeable delay.
• IMA pre-roll ads no longer cause an Index out of bounds error.

Android 4.17.0 resolves crashes targeting Android 14, improves ad display and event handling, fixes null pointer and ConcurrentModificationExceptions, and improves compatibility with Kotlin 1.9.21.

Bug Fixes

• A fatal crash when targeting Android 14 (API 34) has been fixed.
• The onAdPause event now accurately identifies clickthrough as the reason for pausing instead of visibility.
• A null pointer exception has been fixed.
• Cycling through full-screen modes no longer causes a rare crash.
• Kotlin version 1.9.21 is now compatible with the SDK.
• A ConcurrentModificationException related to OMID has been addressed.
• When the Learn More button is clicked during an IMA or DAI ad, ad playback pauses, and the webpage for the ad opens.

With this release, player stability has been improved during setup and with background media handling.

Bug Fixes

• The player no longer becomes null before the player setup.
• The player handles background media without crashing.

The latest update transitions ExoPlayer to the Media3 library and includes several bug fixes.

New Feature

This significant release migrates to the new home for ExoPlayer inside the Media3 library. We have removed the deprecated ExoPlayer2 library from the SDK. 

⚠️ If you are using ExoPlayer alongside our SDK, only implement this update if you are comfortable upgrading your ExoPlayer library to version 1.1.1 of the Media3 library. 

Bug Fixes

• When content playback is complete, only the player controls appear.
• Casting device text no longer overlaps controls.
• If the Learn More link is invalid, no browser will open when Learn More is tapped.