YZ Music Player: turning a spare or inexpensive Android phone into a dedicated kosher MP3 player
I’m building YZ Music to help people reuse an Android phone they already have at home—or an inexpensive Android phone—as a dedicated kosher music player.
A special thank-you to @ars18 for all the help and support!
The idea is to give the device a simple music-focused home screen, with Zemer for online music, Pulsar for local music files, and shortcuts such as Bluetooth and optional Waze. There are normal and car layouts too. The goal is to make a spare phone useful as an MP3 player instead of buying a separate device.
I’m also working on a browser-based WebADB setup flow for the initial installation. For future YZ Music updates, I’d like users to update directly from the app, without reconnecting the phone to a computer each time.
For an APK distributed outside Google Play, what’s the safest and most reliable update approach? I’m considering checking for a signed release, downloading it, and handing the installation over to Android.
I’d especially appreciate advice about:
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How to verify that an update comes from the same developer
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What installation prompts users should expect
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Any issues with Device Owner or managed-device setups
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Whether the updater should be part of the launcher or a separate helper
Compatibility will depend on the Android device, so I’d also welcome feedback from anyone who has tried repurposing an older or low-cost phone this way.
Please feel free to let me know if you see anything that could be improved.
Setup page: WebADB
Shkoyech !!!