Improving Emby Music on Android: UI Tweaks and QoL Wishlist

March 24, 2025

Good day

I’ve been an Emby user for some time, and though the experience is fantastic for Movies and TV shows, I find it lacking for music. I often resort to third-party player apps for a satisfactory audio experience on my Android device. My goal is to use the Emby app itself for music without needing external workarounds such as third party apps that may not have the best native integration with Emby.

Why This Post?
Like many users, I consume most of my music on a mobile device, and the current UI and controls feel clunky and less user-friendly than a modern music player should. To improve the experience for mobile users, I’ve thought of two changes I’d love to see that would improve the experience tremendously. These are subjective but align with what I believe most mobile users would want, based on how the market alternatives are laiyng out their apps.

UI Challenges:
It’s a well-known fact that scrolling and navigating via mobile touchscreens is less precise than with a mouse and keyboard—especially for those with larger fingers or smaller screens. UX/UI design often addresses this with larger tap targets, gesture support, and simplified layouts. While Emby’s Android app has made efforts in the right direction, its interface for music users falls short. Music users navigate more frequently—switching songs, albums, or playlists, pausing, etc.—than video users, making these shortcomings more noticeable and frustrating.

Below please find a wishlist of what i'd like to see implemented:

Enlarge Playback Controls (Pause, Stop, Skip) in Music UI

The app's playback controls are way too small for mobile users, especially for people with larger fingers or small phone screens. It is the most essential and most used option on a music player, yet its size is al most the smallest and hardest to touch, as it is relegated to a tiny fraction of the screen. This is particularly cumbersome in low-attention moments like walking or driving, where focusing on a small target is impractical.

If you look at other mobile apps that focus on music: Spotify,Plexamp, Itunes, they all have in common that the play/pause icon is larger,o for very good reasons .Emby should follow this same standard.

While I appreciate to be able to see the large album art, it shouldn’t shrink the playback controls. The album and song titles could move up or shrink slightly to give those buttons more space.

Below please find a picture to illustrate what i am talking about:

Changes in app menu Navigation:

Add Swipe Gesture to Switch from Now Playing to Library Seamlessly

Perhaps this is the single best feature that if added, would improve the mobile experience tremendously, not only in music, but all across the app too.

I’d love to see a quality-of-life tweak in the Android app where I can swipe (e.g., up or down) to seamlessly switch from the Now Playing screen to the Library tab, instead of tapping the back button. This would make navigation feel more intuitive and fluid, especially during music playback to change or view a playlist, album or artist with ease.

Swipe features are an industry standard nowadays in most modern mobile apps. It is far easier than pinpointing a small icon in the top-left corner, especially in distracted scenarios. If swiping isn’t feasible due to technical limitations, at least enlarge the back arrow to reduce the precision required from the user.

Below a screenshot of the current back arrow that is requried to press