You copied an album onto your phone years ago. Maybe it is a CD you ripped, an album you bought as a download, or your own band’s demos. To play it, the phone offers a streaming app that wants you to sign in, or a free player that shows an advert every time you change track.

Simplify my Player is a music player with no ads for Android, and it is in closed beta testing on Google Play right now. It plays the music files already on your phone. No ads, no account, no subscription and no tracking. It will be free, every feature included, and the whole app is under 6 MB.

A small group of testers is using it every day, and I am fixing what they find. It will be available to everyone on Google Play soon. Until then, the Player page is where the link will appear first.

Why build another music player for Android?

Because playing your own files should not come with strings attached.

Streaming apps are built around their catalogue. Your own files are an afterthought there, if they show up at all. Many free local players pay for themselves with banners and full-screen adverts, and the cleaner ones tend to get sold, abandoned or turned into a subscription.

I wanted the opposite: open the app, see my music, press play, put the phone in my pocket. The same idea as Simplify my Gallery, applied to music.

A local music player that keeps your music on the phone

Player reads the audio files Android already knows about and plays them from where they are. It does not copy them, upload them or index them on a server, because there is no server.

There is one thing that goes online, and I would rather say it plainly than hide it. When you edit a track and press Search to find a cover, Player sends that search text, the artist and album unless you change it, to Apple’s iTunes Search API and downloads the covers it finds. That is the only network request the app makes, and only when you press the button. No ads, no analytics, no crash reports, no account and no device identifier.

Your music never leaves the phone. The only thing that goes online is a cover search you start yourself.

The full list of permissions and what each one is for is on the privacy page.

What the music player will do

This is what the beta build does today, and what you get on release day.

Tracks, albums, artists and playlists in one library, with a swipe between the four tabs.
Background playback with a proper notification, lock-screen controls and headset buttons.
Pull the player up for the queue. The cover slides away, the controls stay at the top, and the queue sits right under them. Tap a track to play it, pull down to go back.
Swipe the cover left or right to change track, with the next cover following your finger. Swipe down to close the player.
Edit tags and covers. Title, artist, album, album artist, genre, year, track, disc, composer and comment, written into the file itself. Find a cover online, pick an image from the phone, or remove it.
Favourites and playlists, and a play history that is off by default. Off means nothing is recorded.
Hide folders you do not want in the library, such as ringtones or voice notes.
Delete a track from the phone, with Android’s own confirmation.
Light, dark and pure black themes, five accent colours plus a custom one, and six app icons.
Make the layout yours: tabs and actions at the top or bottom, text or icons or both, three row spacings, adjustable text size, contrast and corner radius.
Pick up where you left off: the queue and position come back when you open the app, and silence between tracks can be skipped.

There is no repeat mode, only shuffle. There are no lyrics, no equaliser and no sleep timer yet. If one of those matters to you, tell me.

How it compares to other music players for Android

	Simplify my Player	Streaming apps	Ad-supported free players
Price	Free, every feature	Subscription, or free with ads	Free, Pro tier to remove ads
Ads	None, ever	On free tiers	Banners and full-screen ads
Account required	No	Yes	Usually no
Plays the files on your phone	Yes, that is all it does	Limited	Yes
Tag and cover editing	Built in	No	Sometimes, often in Pro
Goes online	Only for a cover search you start	All the time	For ads

Streaming apps are the better choice if you want new music, recommendations and a huge catalogue. Player is for the music you already own.

Free, with no catch

People reasonably ask how a free app with no ads pays for itself. The honest answer: it is a small app built by one person, and a music player that does not run a service costs nothing to keep running. There are no servers to pay for, because there are no servers.

It is part of a family of apps built on the same rule: free, no ads, no accounts, no tracking. Gallery is already on Google Play, and a voice Recorder, a two-pane Files manager and a Launcher are on the way.

Who this offline music player is for

People with a music folder they have carried from phone to phone for years.
Anyone who buys music as files, from Bandcamp or a band’s own site, and wants to play it without a streaming app.
Parents setting up a phone for a child who should not see adverts.
Anyone who wants the cover and the artist name right before the music goes onto a car stereo or an old MP3 player.

FAQ

Is Simplify my Player free?

Yes. Every feature is free, with no ads, no in-app purchases and no subscription.

Does it work offline?

Yes. Playing music, the library, playlists and tag editing all work without a connection. Only the online cover search needs the internet, and you can pick a cover from the phone instead.

Can it play music from Spotify or YouTube Music?

No. It plays audio files stored on your phone. Downloads inside streaming apps are locked to those apps.

Can I edit MP3 tags and album covers on Android with it?

Yes. Open a track’s menu or the player menu, choose Edit metadata, change the fields or the cover, and save. Android asks you to confirm before the file is changed.

Can I download it now?

Not yet. Player is in closed beta testing, so the Google Play listing is only open to testers for now.

When will it be on Google Play?

Soon, once the closed beta is done and the issues testers report are fixed. The Player page will have the link the day it goes live.

Simplify my Player is in closed beta and nearly here. When it lands, open the permission list on Google Play and see how little it asks for. If there is something a music player must have, tell me now, while it can still go in before release.