nextcloud / nextcloud/talk-android

Improve In-App Media Player for audio files to look and behave like Telegram

Open
#6,408 3 comments 11 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

1. to develop enhancement
Dominant language
Kotlin
Stars
739
Forks
321
Avg merge
14h 59m
Merged PRs (30d)
151

Description

[!TIP]

How to use GitHub
  • Please use the 👍 reaction to show that you are affected by the same issue.
  • Please don't comment if you have no relevant information to add. It's just extra noise for everyone subscribed to this issue.
  • Subscribe to receive notifications on status change and new comments.

Feature request

Which Nextcloud Version are you currently using:
Nextcloud Hub 9 (Talk Android App)

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I'm always frustrated when standard audio files (like .mp3 or .wav) sent in a chat are displayed as clunky generic file attachments. This takes up a lot of space in the chat history and lacks a proper, compact in-app media player integration for regular audio files.

Describe the solution you'd like
I would like regular audio files to be displayed in a compact chat bubble similar to voice messages. It should feature a clean, round Play/Pause button, display the actual filename or ID3 metadata (Title/Artist), and show a simple, linear progression bar (SeekBar) instead of the voice message waveform if no amplitude data is present.

Furthermore, it should behave exactly like Telegram's audio player:

  1. It needs to support background playback so music/audio keeps playing when the app is closed, showing a persistent media control notification at the top of the Android status bar.
  2. It should automatically queue and skip to the next available audio file in the chat history once the current track finishes.

Many users are currently looking for secure, self-hosted alternatives to Telegram, and having a polished, fully-featured media player is a key feature to convincing them to switch to Nextcloud Talk.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Leaving it as a generic file download, which forces users to use external media players or clutters the chat view.

Additional context
This would drastically improve the user experience when sharing music, podcasts, or longer audio recordings within Talk, bringing the chat UI closer to modern messengers like Telegram or Signal.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

The issue does not name files or tests; begin by tracing how standard audio attachments and voice messages are rendered in Talk Android. Compare the current behavior with the requested compact player, metadata and progress display, background controls, and queueing. Done means the agreed audio-player behavior is implemented and verified across these requirements.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
android, kotlin
Domain
audio-video-rtc, mobile
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.