Flow Release v1.4.0
This major update introduces the Next-Generation FlowNeuro™ recommendation engine, designed to provide a personalized, discovery-focused experience without compromising user privacy. Version 1.4.0 also expands multitasking capabilities with a new floating mini-player and significantly improves data portability and playback stability.
The FlowNeuro™ Engine (V5)
The core recommendation logic has been completely overhauled to bridge the gap between privacy and content discovery:
- Interactive Onboarding: New users can now select preferred topics to seed the local recommendation engine immediately upon startup.
- Dynamic Temperature Scaling: The algorithm now detects session fatigue (boredom). If a user frequently skips content, the engine automatically increases novelty weights to surface fresh discovery content.
- Temporal Recency Bias: Implemented a time-decay curve that prioritizes recent uploads while preserving "Classic" high-engagement content and subscription priority.
- Smart Feed Mixing: Refactored the home feed to interleave subscription updates, discovery queries, and viral content, ensuring a diverse and non-repetitive viewing experience.
Enhanced Media Experience
- Floating Mini-Player: Added support for a floating in-app video player to allow for seamless multitasking while browsing the app.
- Nested Comment Threads: Implemented full support for comment replies and nested conversation threads.
- Advanced Metadata: Improved integration for YouTube Dislike counts and added visible like counts to the video information section.
- Audio Track Management: Introduced priority selection for native stream languages and resolved issues regarding duplicate audio tracks.
Data Sovereignty and Advanced Configuration
- Expanded Import Options: Users can now import YouTube subscriptions via CSV and migrate full backups from NewPipe or previous Flow installations.
- Buffer Configuration: Added advanced settings to manually configure buffer thresholds for optimized playback on unstable networks.
- Granular Quality Preferences: New dedicated settings for default video quality, search history management, and audio track priorities.
Performance and Architecture
- Parallel Execution: Implemented app-wide asynchronous fetching using Kotlin Coroutines (Dispatchers.IO) and SupervisorScope, resulting in significantly faster parsing and UI responsiveness.
- Modular Refactoring: The Video Player Manager and Enhanced Player Screen have been decoupled into standalone modules for improved maintainability.
- Localization Framework: Migrated core components to a standardized Strings.xml structure to support future community translations.
Fixes and Stability Improvements
- Playback: Resolved an issue where music tracks would become stuck during transitions.
- Downloads: Fixed a critical crash occurring during high-bitrate music downloads.
- Library Logic: Corrected the count separation between Music and Video categories in the Library screen.
- PiP Management: Disabled automatic Picture-in-Picture triggers to resolve system-level overlay bugs.
- Asset Fetching: Fixed channel avatar retrieval issues when importing data from external YouTube Takeout files.
- UI Spacing: Resolved safe-area padding issues on player controls and reduced empty gaps in the bottom navigation bar.
UI and Tablet Support
- Large Screen Optimization: Redesigned the music and video player layouts to provide native support for Foldable and Tablet devices.
- Layout Refinement: Updated the Download screen and reduced video title line limits for a cleaner, more consistent visual aesthetic.
Full Changelog: v1.3.4...v1.4.0
System Requirements
- Android 5.0 (API 21) or higher
- Minimum 2GB RAM recommended