Integrated Media Widget

Niagara Launcher's media widget lets you control music playback right from your home screen. To use the feature, long press on Niagara Launcher's time widget at the top and turn the media widget on. It will automatically appear when playing a song, video, or podcast and go away afterward.

To enable it, navigate to Niagara Launcher's settings > Features > Niagara widget > Show media widget.

Troubleshooting

Media App doesn't open when tapping on the widget

This is a known issue on Xiaomi Miui devices. Long press on your music app and tap on "App info" to fix this. Inside the app info screen, scroll to "Other permissions" and make sure "Display pop-up windows while running in the background" is checked (see image below). Moreover, please make sure you have enabled the notifications from the music player app.

The Artwork Is Not Showing Up

Niagara displays the same image on the home screen displayed on the lock screen (instead of your wallpaper) on newer Android versions. If your Android version usually displays artwork on the lock screen but doesn't do it when playing songs with a specific player, it means that the player app does not provide the image. Please get in touch with the developer of your music app in this case. You can also try out if the cover can be seen in Android Auto. Here's the Google Play link and Apk-mirror link.

The Artwork is Blurry

Disable "Blur on lock screen" in your player's settings if the option is available.

Media Controls Are Not Working

Please get in touch with the developers of your music app and ask them if they can support transport controls & implement proper media sessions (e.g., you can share this Medium article).

Media Widget Doesn't go Away After The Music Stops

We show the media player as long as Android shows the media player in their notification shade (you might have to fully expand the quick settings panel to see it; it's above the notification panel. On Samsung devices, the player might be in the media section ). If the player isn't there, this is likely a bug caused by the media player app.

The Media Widget Doesn't Show Up at All

First, please make sure the media widget is enabled in Niagara Launcher. To do that, go to Niagara's settings > Features > Niagara widget > enable Show media widget. Second, make sure you enabled notifications for the music apps for which you want to see the widget (e.g., Spotify). Here's how.

On some devices, battery saver mode can intercept the media notification necessary to display the widget, so please make sure to turn the battery saver off or exclude Niagara Launcher.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn't the Media widget stay on the screen all the time?

The idea is that Niagara's adaptive home screen only shows you the information you need right now. In our opinion, the media widget takes up too much space to be always visible. Moreover, Android 11 already keeps the media player in the quick settings/notification shade (you might have to expand it), so you can also resume it that way. On top of that, we cannot use Android's API for "standby" media sessions because it's a system API (to be more precise, most media players only allow the system to access their last media session).

Why does the media widget push favorites to the bottom?

Instead of occupying the whitespace at the top, Niagara Launcher's media widget pushes down your favorites further down, and here's why: The upper whitespace has the purpose of reaching interactive elements on your home screen easier, including the playback buttons on the media widget. That's why it makes more sense that the widget shows up below the whitespace and doesn't replace it.

Why are media apps not hidden from the favorites list as long as its media widget is visible?

Even though you could also tap on the media player to open the corresponding app, not everyone knows that or wants to access launch the app that way. Moreover, tapping on the media player doesn't do the same as tapping on the app. The former leads you directly to the song that is being played; the latter only opens the app. For the sake of simplicity, we let the media player app stay on the home screen.

Why doesn't the widget work properly with my media app (e.g. Sonos)?

We have received several messages that the Sonos app doesn't react to the playback buttons of the widget. It seems that this app doesn't support transport controls properly. Please contact the developers of your music app and ask them if they can support transport controls & implement proper media sessions (e.g., you can share this Medium article).