After a year of silence, VLC for Android is updated with much-needed new features
When an app goes silent for more than a year, it's reasonable to assume that it has been killed off -- but that's not the case with VLC. The Android version of the popular media player has been updated to version 2.5 after getting stuck at 2.0 for 13 months.
Work has been going on for VLC 3.0, but you would have been forgiven for thinking that the app had just been forgotten about. With the launch of VLC 2.5 there are a number of new features to enjoy including a new dynamic UI, a night mode, and picture-in-picture support for Oreo users.
VLC is famous for being able to handle just about any video format imaginable, and now there's support for 360° videos. Bringing things into the Oreo age means that there's not only PiP support, but also a more dynamic Material look to everything -- complete with blurred backgrounds.
VLC 2.5 works with ChromeOS, and is compatible with Android Auto -- including support for voice commands.
Here's the full list of what's new in this update to the app:
- 360° videos support
- Android Auto implementation
- More dynamic and Material-compliant UI
- Enable Picture-In-Picture mode on Android O
- Refactored MediaLibrary
- DayNight mode integration
- New Search activity and integration with Google Now
- Resume position for audio media tagged as audiobook or podcast
- Double tap on screen edges in video player to seek by 10s
- Audio boost in video player
- Custom equalizer presets
- Improve RTL support
- Improve app & video player startup speed
You can download VLC for Android from Google Play.