Photok 2.5.0
The biggest media viewing upgrade Photok has ever had.
This release revolves almost entirely around one thing: a completely new image viewer and a brand-new inline video player.
The old RecyclerView-based viewer has been rewritten from the ground up.
The result is faster, smoother, more modern — and finally built on a foundation that can scale with future features.
If you spend most of your time inside Photok actually viewing your media, this release will feel very different.
Features
A Brand-New Inline Video Player
The video player has been completely rebuilt and is now tightly integrated into the image viewer experience.
This is not just a UI refresh — it’s a serious performance overhaul.
New capabilities:
- Inline autoplay
- Screen stays on while watching
- Mute / unmute toggle
- Looping support
- Improved seek slider for precise scrubbing
- Zooming in videos — even while playing
- Dramatically faster performance
And yes — it is way faster than before.
By properly taking advantage of the new encryption layer:
- Initial playback starts much faster
- Seeking is now almost real time
- Overall responsiveness is significantly improved
Video playback finally feels modern and fluid.
New Video Player
output.mp4
This work closes a long list of long-standing issues and feature requests:
#363, #607, #139, #545, #353 and (hopefully) #605.
A Completely New Image Viewer
The image viewer has been fully redesigned and reimplemented.
Design-wise, it is heavily inspired by Google Photos: minimal, content-first, and focused on staying out of your way while still giving you powerful controls when you need them.
The previous RecyclerView-based implementation is gone.
What’s new inside the viewer:
- Add to Album button directly accessible while viewing media
- New details sheet with clearer layout and improved structure
- Slightly refined overall design with better spacing and hierarchy
Add to Album (directly in the viewer)
Screen_Recording_20260131_032600_Photok.foss.mp4
New Details Sheet
The details sheet is cleaner, more structured, and easier to extend in the future.
Sharper Thumbnails
Thumbnail quality has been improved to look noticeably better — especially on high-resolution displays — without negatively impacting scroll performance.
Browsing your library should now feel cleaner and more refined.
Rebuilt “New Features” Dialog
The “What’s New” dialog has been rebuilt from scratch.
It’s cleaner, more structured, and easier to extend in future releases.
Language Improvements
- Urdu added as a new supported language (thanks @abusarimhindi)
Fixes
Screen Flickering When Re-Tapping Current Tab
Re-tapping the currently selected tab could cause visible flickering.
This has been resolved, resulting in smoother navigation throughout the app.
Community
New contributors in this release:
Thank you for helping improve Photok.
The Usual
If you enjoy Photok, consider:
- Leaving a star on GitHub
- Reporting issues
- Contributing translations
- Opening a pull request
Every contribution helps.
Autogenerated release notes
- Fix: Screen flickering when tapping the current tab by @leonlatsch in #615
- Feature: Improve thumbnail quality by @leonlatsch in #616
- Feature: New Image Viewer and Video Player by @leonlatsch in #609
- Adding Urdu language by @abusarimhindi in #612
- Update Simplified Chinese translation by @sr093906 in #621
- Rebuild the "new features dialog" by @leonlatsch in #622
- Translate
common_continuefor all supported languages by @Copilot in #623
New Contributors
- @abusarimhindi made their first contribution in #612
- @Copilot made their first contribution in #623
Full Changelog: 2.4.3...2.5.0