tempus

Tempus Usage Guide

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Table of Contents

• Prerequisites
• Getting Started
• Server Configuration
• Main Features
• Navigation
• Playback Controls
• Favorites
• Playlist Management
• Android Auto
• Settings
• Known Issues

Prerequisites

Important Notice: This app is a Subsonic-compatible client and does not provide any music content itself. To use this application, you must have:

• An active Subsonic API server (or compatible service) already set up
• Valid login credentials for your Subsonic server
• Music content uploaded and organized on your server

Tempus offers advanced features such as Instant Mix, Continuous Play, Artists Page, and many others, which require a properly configured server capable to respond to "similar songs" requests and correctly tagged music files.

Verified backends

This app works with any service that implements the Subsonic API, including:

• LMS - Lightweight Music Server - personal fave and my backend
• Navidrome
• Gonic
• Ampache
• NextCloud Music
• Airsonic Advanced

Getting Started

Installation

1. Download the APK from the Releases section
2. Enable "Install from unknown sources" in your Android settings
3. Install the application

First Launch

1. Open the application
2. You will be prompted to configure your server connection
3. Grant necessary permissions for media playback and background operation

Server Configuration

Initial Setup

IN PROGRESS

1. Enter your server URL (e.g., https://your-subsonic-server.com)
2. Provide your username and password. Or in some cases, API key (eg LMS: https://github.com/epoupon/lms/discussions/562).
3. Test the connection to ensure proper configuration

Advanced Settings

TODO

Main Features

Library View

Multi-library

Tempus handles multi-library setups gracefully. They are displayed as Library folders.

If your server reports more than one music folder, Tempus can limit browsing and search to a single one of them.

Tap the app name in the toolbar on the Music tab of Home, or on Library. A second line under it names the library in use, and tapping opens a checked list of the server's libraries. The same setting lives in Settings under General as "Music library". Either one takes effect on the screen you are looking at, with no restart and no navigating away.

"All libraries" is the default and keeps the old merged view. The filter reaches browsing and search only, so it never touches your starred items, your playlists or your downloads. On the Podcast and Radio tabs that second line names your server instead of a library, and it is not tappable there. On Downloads there is no second line at all.

The setting is hidden when there is only one library to choose from.

Folder or index playback

If your Subsonic-compatible server exposes the folder tree or provides an artist index (for example Gonic, Navidrome, or any backend with folder browsing enabled), Tempus lets you play an entire folder from anywhere in the library hierarchy:

• The Library ▸ Music folders screen shows each top-level folder with a play icon only after you drill into it. The root entry remains a simple navigator.
• When viewing inner folders or artist index entries, tap the new play button to immediately enqueue every audio track inside that folder/index and all nested subfolders.
• Video files are excluded automatically, so only playable audio ends up in the queue.

No extra config is needed—Tempus adjusts based on the connected backend.

Now Playing Screen

On the main player control screen, tapping on the artwork will reveal a small collection of 4 buttons/icons.

marked the icons with numbers for clarity

1. Downloads the track (there is a notification if the android screen but not a pop toast currently )
2. Adds track to playlist - pops up playlist dialog.
3. Adds tracks to the queue via instant mix function
   • TBD: what is the instant mix function?
   • Uses getSimilarSongs of OpenSubsonic API. Which tracks to be mixed depends on the server implementation. For example, Navidrome gets 15 similar artists from LastFM, then 20 top songs from each.
4. Saves play queue (if the feature is enabled in the settings)
   • if the setting is not enabled, it toggles a view of the lyrics if available (slides to the right)

Format and bitrate

The player's format and bitrate label gives what was actually decoded, not the transcode Tempus asked for. If your server ignored the request, or had no rule matching the track, the label shows what it really sent. A track the server did transcode reads as the new format followed by "(Transcoding)".

Downloaded tracks show the format on disk. When Tempus transcodes a download, the row and the track info dialog carry the transcoded format and bitrate instead of the source values.

Podcasts

If your server supports it - add a podcast rss feed

Radio Stations

If your server supports it - add a internet radio station feed

Navigation

Bottom Navigation Bar

IN PROGRESS

• Home: Recently played and server recommendations
• Library: Your server's complete music collection
• Download: Locally downloaded files from server

Playback Controls

Streaming Controls

TODO

Advanced Controls

TODO

Favorites

Favorites (aka heart aka star) to albums and artists

• Long pressing on an album gives you access to heart/unheart an album

• Long pressing on an artist cover gets you the same access to to heart/unheart an album

Playlist Management

Editing a playlist

Open a playlist and pick Edit playlist from its menu to rename it, drag tracks into a new order, or remove tracks. Saving writes the list exactly as it stands on screen, so a removal or a reorder takes effect on the server instead of being added on top of the tracks already there.

Two things to know:

• A playlist has to keep at least one track. A save that would leave it empty is refused and the editor says so, use Delete if you want the playlist gone.
• Saving needs the server. The editor will not save from the offline cache, because writing that older copy back would drop anything added to the playlist since it was cached.

Server Playlists

TODO

Creating Playlists

TODO

Settings

Android Auto

Enabling on your head unit

To allow the Tempus app on your car's head unit, "Unknown sources" needs to be enabled in the Android Auto "Developer settings". This is because Tempus isn't installed through Play Store. Note that the Android Auto developer settings are different from the global Android "Developer options".

1. Switch to developer mode in the Android Auto settings by tapping ten times on the "Version" item at the bottom, followed by giving your permission.

2. Go to the "Developer settings" by the menu at the top right.

3. Scroll down to the bottom and check "Unknown sources".

Interface Configuration

The Android Auto interface can be configured by user to best suit their preferences.

4 tabs can be configured with the following functions:

• Do not display : This tab is not used
• Home : Displays all functions not used in other tabs
• Recent : The 15 recently listened-to albums
• Albums : Albums sorted by name
• Artists : Albums sorted by artist or Artists, selected by preference
• Playlists
• Podcast : The 100 podcasts recently added
• Radio : Your server's stations together with any you added locally in the app. The local ones show even when the server reports no stations of its own
• Folder : Navigation through music directories
• Albums most played : The 15 most played albums
• Tracks played : The 100 last tracks that were completely played
• Albums added : The 15 recently added albums
• For You bundle
• Starred bundle
• Tracks bundle
• Genres : 500 songs of the chosen genre OR 100 random songs if "shuffle genre songs" is selected
• Downloads : the 500 first downloaded tracks OR 100 random downloaded tracks if "shuffle downloaded tracks" is selected. Shown at the top of the Home tab and playable without connectivity

For You bundle includes:

• Quick mix : features 12 tracks chosen randomly from the 15 last played albums
• My mix : features 15 tracks chosen randomly from the 15 last played albums, and starred artists or starred albums, following preference
• Discovery mix : features 18 tracks, as My mix, with similar songs
• Starred artists
• Starred albums
• Starred tracks : the 500 first starred tracks OR 100 random starred tracks if "shuffle starred tracks" is selected

Starred bundle includes:

• Starred artists
• Starred albums
• Starred tracks : the 500 first starred tracks OR 100 random starred tracks if "shuffle starred tracks" is selected

Tracks bundle includes:

• Random : 100 random songs
• Genres : 500 songs of the chosen genre OR 100 random songs if "shuffle genre songs" is selected
• Tracks played : The 100 recently listened-to tracks
• Starred tracks : the 500 first starred tracks OR 100 random starred tracks if "shuffle starred tracks" is selected

If all tabs are set to "Do not display", then "Home" tab will be created with all functions inside.

If "Home" is selected after another tab, it becomes "More".

In addition, you can choose to display the following functions as thumbnails or lists:

• Home, For You bundle, Starred bundle and Tracks bundle
• Albums (Last played, Most played, Recently added, Artists, Starred albums, Starred artists)
• Playlists
• Radio
• Podcast

As they displayed tracks, Tracks played, Starred tracks, Random and Genres are always be displayed as a list.

Artists view and View by albums:

Starred Artists view:

On an artist's page, if they have at least 2 albums with a minimum of 20 tracks, an "Instant Mix by Tempus" album is added at the beginning. This album features 12, 15 ou 18 tracks chosen randomly from their discography and is an one click play. The number of tracks on the album depends on the size of the artist's discography (>20, >30 or >40)

The A-Z button allows you to jump to items starting with the chosen letter.

Search button returns albums or artists, even if they are not displayed by the selected function.

Results of the A-Z jump will always be displayed as a list.

Display of albums and artists is limited to 500. For large libraries, it's preferable to use star albums or star artists.

Shortcuts are displayed only if the function is selected from root level:

• On albums page: jump to starred albums
• On starred albums page: jump to albums
• On artists page: jump to starred artists
• On starred artists page: jump to artists

Server Settings

IN PROGRESS

• Manage multiple server connections
• Configure sync intervals
• Set data usage limits for streaming

Audio Settings

IN PROGRESS

• Streaming quality settings
• Offline caching preferences

Appearance

TODO

Known Issues

Airsonic Distorted Playback

First reported in issue #226
The work around is to disable the cache in the settings, (set to 0), and if needed, cleaning the (Android) cache fixes the problem.

Support

For additional help:

• Question? Start a Discussion
• Open an issue if you don't find a discussion solving your issue.
• Consult your Subsonic server's documentation

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Note: This app requires a pre-existing Subsonic-compatible server with music content.

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