It’s been a years-long effort, but Winamp is truly returning from the dead. While the new web-based Winamp player lacks what most see as an essential feature—local music playback—this shortcoming is rectified in the new Winamp mobile app.
Winamp relaunched as a web-based experience in mid-2023. And, understandably, it was met with mixed emotions. The web app lacked personal media playback and instead focused on a direct subscription business model called “Fanzone,” which is effectively Patreon for musicians. Local playback and third-party streaming integration are supposedly planned for the future.
Llama Group, the company behind this revival, assured users that the upcoming Winamp mobile app would provide an experience more akin to the legacy Winamp player (plus Fanzone integration). This promise is now fulfilled. Upon opening the Winamp mobile app, I was immediately greeted by my personal media library. I didn’t need to make an account, and the app isn’t forcing me to interact with Fanzone.
There’s plenty of room for improvement here. The app is attractive and functional, but the music player itself feels generic. Album art with a blurry background, just like every other mobile music player. It’s a far cry from the highly customizable (and often chaotic) Winamp desktop player that I used in the 2000s.
However, as an iPhone user, I seriously appreciate this app’s iCloud integration. Winamp is under the same restrictions as every other iPhone music player—it can only access media files that were transferred to the iPhone over a wired connection. iCloud integration lets me circumvent this problem. I can go into my iCloud library and connect songs or albums to Winamp in under a minute.
The Android version of this app also supports cloud functionality. Of course, Android isn’t restrained by the draconian rule that I experience on iOS.
I should note that this is not a brand-new app. Winamp was quietly launched on Android and iOS last year, presumably for beta testing. As far as I can tell, the only difference in today’s release is added tab customization, a Hotmix radio tab, and a bugfix. An update that added customizable EQ and CarPlay support also rolled out last week.
You can download the Winamp mobile app today on Android and iOS. Please don’t mistake my enthusiasm for an endorsement of this app—I’ve only tested it for a few hours.
Source: Winamp
