feat: enhance browser functionality and stability

- Enable hardware acceleration for performance
- Implement YouTube-specific ad blocking
- Add notification permission handling for media
- Improve WebView background playback visibility
- Add tab preference persistence test coverage

Author: aanneion

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,22 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [1.0.9] - 2026-09-03
+
+### Added & Enhanced
+- **🎵 YouTube & Web Background Playback**:
+  - Uninterrupted audio and media playback when switching tabs, navigating to the home screen, or turning the device screen off.
+  - Seamless multi-tab persistent WebViews ensuring background media does not restart or pause during tab switches.
+- **📱 System Media Player & Lock Screen Controls**:
+  - Full Android `MediaSession` integration with rich notification bar and lock screen player.
+  - Controls for Play, Pause, Next Track, Previous Track, and Close.
+  - Dynamic extraction and display of video title, artist/channel name, and high-resolution thumbnail artwork (`hqdefault.jpg`).
+  - Android 13+ dynamic `POST_NOTIFICATIONS` runtime permission handling.
+- **🛡️ Enhanced YouTube Ad Blocker**:
+  - Network-level interception for YouTube video ad streams, tracking calls, and DoubleClick endpoints.
+  - Client-side DOM filtering suppressing promoted cards, banner overlays, and companion ads.
+  - Automatic skip detection and fast-forwarding through unskippable video ad segments.
+
 ## [1.0.8] - 2026-09-01
 
 ### Added & Enhanced

README.md

@@ -6,25 +6,25 @@
   <strong>An ultra-lightweight (~1.3 MB), high-performance, privacy-first Android browser featuring true isolated multi-profiles with custom device fingerprint spoofing.</strong>
 </p>
 
-[![GitHub Release](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/aanneion/lightweight_browser?style=for-the-badge&color=2563EB&logo=github)](https://github.com/aanneion/lightweight_browser/releases/latest)
-[![CI Status](https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/aanneion/lightweight_browser/ci.yml?branch=main&style=for-the-badge&logo=githubactions&logoColor=white)](https://github.com/aanneion/lightweight_browser/actions)
-[![APK Size](https://img.shields.io/badge/APK_Size-~1.3_MB-10B981?style=for-the-badge&logo=android&logoColor=white)](https://github.com/aanneion/lightweight_browser/releases/latest)
+[![Releases](https://img.shields.io/badge/Releases-Latest%20APKs-2563EB?style=for-the-badge&logo=github)](https://github.com/aanneion/lightweight_browser/releases)
+[![Build Status](https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/aanneion/lightweight_browser/release.yml?branch=main&style=for-the-badge&logo=githubactions&logoColor=white)](https://github.com/aanneion/lightweight_browser/actions)
+[![APK Size](https://img.shields.io/badge/APK_Size-~1.3_MB-10B981?style=for-the-badge&logo=android&logoColor=white)](https://github.com/aanneion/lightweight_browser/releases)
 [![Platform](https://img.shields.io/badge/Platform-Android_8.0+_(API_24+)-3DDC84?style=for-the-badge&logo=android&logoColor=white)](https://www.android.com/)
 [![Kotlin](https://img.shields.io/badge/Kotlin-2.2-7F52FF?style=for-the-badge&logo=kotlin&logoColor=white)](https://kotlinlang.org/)
 [![Jetpack Compose](https://img.shields.io/badge/UI-Jetpack_Compose_M3-4285F4?style=for-the-badge&logo=jetpackcompose&logoColor=white)](https://developer.android.com/jetpack/compose)
 [![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-F59E0B?style=for-the-badge)](LICENSE)
 
 <br />
 
-[📥 Download Latest APK (v1.0.8)](https://github.com/aanneion/lightweight_browser/releases/latest) • [🌟 Core Differentiators](#-core-differentiators) • [🛡️ Multi-Profile Isolation](#-isolated-multi-profiles--fingerprint-spoofing) • [✨ Feature Highlights](#-feature-highlights) • [🛠️ Architecture](#-architecture--tech-stack) • [🚀 Building from Source](#-building-from-source)
+[🌟 Core Differentiators](#-core-differentiators) • [🛡️ Multi-Profile Isolation](#-isolated-multi-profiles--fingerprint-spoofing) • [✨ Feature Highlights](#-feature-highlights) • [🛠️ Architecture](#-architecture--tech-stack) • [🚀 Building from Source](#-building-from-source)
 
 ---
 
 </div>
 
 ## 📖 Overview
 
-**Feather Browser** is an open-source, minimalist web browser engineered from the ground up for speed, low resource consumption, and uncompromised privacy. Unlike mainstream mobile browsers that consume hundreds of megabytes of storage and track user activity, Feather Browser compiles into a lean **~1.3 MB APK** while offering desktop-grade features like **Isolated Multi-Profiles**, **Device Fingerprint Spoofing**, and a **Built-in Ad & Tracker Blocker**.
+**Feather Browser** is an open-source, minimalist web browser engineered from the ground up for speed, low resource consumption, and uncompromised privacy. Unlike mainstream mobile browsers that consume hundreds of megabytes of storage and track user activity, Feather Browser compiles into a lean **~1.3 MB APK** while offering desktop-grade features like **Isolated Multi-Profiles**, **Device Fingerprint Spoofing**, a **Built-in Ad & Tracker Blocker**, and **Background YouTube & Media Playback** with lock screen controls.
 
 Built purely in **Kotlin** and **Jetpack Compose (Material Design 3)**, Feather delivers dynamic Material You theming, instant cold starts, and buttery-smooth 120Hz scrolling.
 
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ Built purely in **Kotlin** and **Jetpack Compose (Material Design 3)**, Feather
 | 🪶 **Ultra-Lightweight (~1.3 MB)** | 90%+ smaller than standard browsers (Chrome ~150MB, Firefox ~90MB). Stripped of unnecessary bloat, third-party analytics SDKs, and background daemon services. |
 | 👥 **True Multi-Profile Isolation** | Separate browser personas within a single app. Each profile maintains its own dedicated sandbox: independent cookies, localStorage, indexedDB, web cache, tabs, bookmarks, and history. |
 | 🎭 **Hardware & Fingerprint Spoofing** | Each profile can emulate distinct hardware/platform signatures (Windows, macOS Safari, iOS, Linux Firefox, Stealth) to defeat browser fingerprinting and cross-site tracking. |
-| 🛡️ **Zero-Overhead Content Blocker** | Inbuilt network-level request interceptor that blocks ads, tracking pixels, and telemetry beacons before network requests are dispatched. |
+| 🎵 **YouTube & Background Media Play** | Seamless background audio playback when screen is locked or browsing other tabs. Full Android `MediaSession` lock screen and notification bar controls. |
+| 🛡️ **Enhanced Ad & YouTube Blocker** | Inbuilt network-level request interceptor and DOM cleaner that removes web trackers, banner ads, and blocks YouTube video prerolls, midrolls, and promoted videos with auto-skipping. |
 | ⚡ **Instant Cold Boot & Low RAM Usage** | Near-zero startup latency with optimized R8 tree-shaking and memory-efficient Compose layout trees. |
 
 ---
@@ -78,8 +79,11 @@ Most mobile browsers share a single global cookie jar and device identity across
 
 ## ✨ Feature Highlights
 
-- 🛡️ **Native Ad & Tracker Blocker**: Blocks intrusive pop-ups, banner networks, and telemetry scripts without requiring heavy extensions.
+- 🎵 **YouTube & Background Media Playback**: Continue playing audio from YouTube and web media seamlessly in the background when switching tabs, minimizing the browser, or locking the device.
+- 📱 **Lock Screen & Notification Player Controls**: Full Android `MediaSession` integration providing lock screen playback controls, dynamic video title and artist display, high-resolution artwork thumbnails, and responsive play/pause/skip actions.
+- 🛡️ **Enhanced YouTube & Web Ad Blocker**: Dual-layer blocking engine combining fast network URL interception with client-side DOM cleansing to block YouTube video ads, banner promos, pop-ups, and trackers without battery overhead.
 - 🎨 **Material You Dynamic Theming**: Adapts seamlessly to your device's Android 12+ wallpaper colors, with Light, Dark, and true Pitch-Black (`#000000`) AMOLED modes.
+- 👥 **True Isolated Multi-Profiles**: Independent browser personas with partitioned cookies, cache, local storage, history, bookmarks, and per-profile hardware fingerprint presets.
 - 🕵️ **Ephemeral Private Browsing**: One-tap incognito tabs that wipe cookies, session tokens, and cache immediately upon closing.
 - 🔍 **Multi-Engine Search Selector**: Switch instantly between Google, DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, and Bing directly from search settings.
 - 📑 **Visual Tabs Manager**: Intuitive tab switcher with real-time website favicons, tab counts, and swift swipe-to-dismiss gestures.
@@ -144,6 +148,9 @@ Feather Browser only requests permissions strictly required for browsing:
 | :--- | :--- |
 | `android.permission.INTERNET` | Required to fetch web pages requested by the user. |
 | `android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE` | Used to detect offline state and trigger network reconnects. |
+| `android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE` | Required for persistent background audio playback when the app is minimized or screen is locked. |
+| `android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK` | Android 14+ specific foreground service type for media and audio playback. |
+| `android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS` | Displays media playback notification player with controls on Android 13+. |
 
 > **Privacy Guarantee:** Feather Browser collects **0% telemetry**. No URLs, search queries, IP addresses, or device analytics are ever logged, sent to external servers, or sold. Everything stays strictly on your physical device.
 

app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
     <application
         android:allowBackup="true"
+        android:hardwareAccelerated="true"
         android:dataExtractionRules="@xml/data_extraction_rules"
         android:fullBackupContent="@xml/backup_rules"
         android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"

app/src/main/java/com/example/MainActivity.kt

@@ -1,28 +1,43 @@
 package com.example
 
+import android.Manifest
 import android.content.Intent
+import android.content.pm.PackageManager
+import android.os.Build
 import android.os.Bundle
 import androidx.activity.ComponentActivity
 import androidx.activity.compose.setContent
 import androidx.activity.enableEdgeToEdge
+import androidx.activity.result.contract.ActivityResultContracts
 import androidx.activity.viewModels
 import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxSize
 import androidx.compose.runtime.LaunchedEffect
 import androidx.compose.runtime.getValue
 import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
+import androidx.core.content.ContextCompat
 import androidx.lifecycle.compose.collectAsStateWithLifecycle
 import com.example.browser.BrowserViewModel
+import com.example.media.MediaSessionManager
 import com.example.ui.BrowserScreen
 import com.example.ui.theme.MyApplicationTheme
 
 class MainActivity : ComponentActivity() {
 
     private val viewModel: BrowserViewModel by viewModels()
 
+    private val notificationPermissionLauncher = registerForActivityResult(
+        ActivityResultContracts.RequestPermission()
+    ) { isGranted ->
+        if (isGranted) {
+            MediaSessionManager.refreshNotification(this)
+        }
+    }
+
     override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
         enableEdgeToEdge()
 
+        requestNotificationPermissionIfNeeded()
         handleIntent(intent)
 
         setContent {
@@ -43,6 +58,14 @@ class MainActivity : ComponentActivity() {
         }
     }
 
+    private fun requestNotificationPermissionIfNeeded() {
+        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.TIRAMISU) {
+            if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
+                notificationPermissionLauncher.launch(Manifest.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS)
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     override fun onNewIntent(intent: Intent) {
         super.onNewIntent(intent)
         setIntent(intent)

app/src/main/java/com/example/browser/BrowserViewModel.kt

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import android.widget.Toast
 import androidx.lifecycle.AndroidViewModel
 import androidx.lifecycle.viewModelScope
 import com.example.data.AppDatabase
+import com.example.data.BrowserPreferences
 import com.example.data.BrowserRepository
 import com.example.data.model.*
 import com.example.privacy.ContentBlocker
@@ -85,36 +86,69 @@ class BrowserViewModel(application: Application) : AndroidViewModel(application)
     private val _findQuery = MutableStateFlow("")
     val findQuery: StateFlow<String> = _findQuery.asStateFlow()
 
+    // Settings Preferences
+    val preferences = BrowserPreferences(application)
+
     // Settings State
-    val searchEngine = MutableStateFlow(SearchEngine.GOOGLE)
-    val themeMode = MutableStateFlow(AppThemeMode.SYSTEM)
-    val useMaterialYou = MutableStateFlow(true)
-    val newTabStyle = MutableStateFlow(NewTabStyle.PRODUCTIVITY)
-    val isAdBlockEnabled = MutableStateFlow(true)
-    val blockThirdPartyCookies = MutableStateFlow(true)
-    val httpsMode = MutableStateFlow(HttpsMode.PREFER_HTTPS)
-    val enableWebDarkMode = MutableStateFlow(false)
-    val enableBackgroundPlay = MutableStateFlow(true)
-    val downloadProvider = MutableStateFlow(DownloadProvider.BUILT_IN)
+    val searchEngine = MutableStateFlow(preferences.getSearchEngine())
+    val themeMode = MutableStateFlow(preferences.getThemeMode())
+    val useMaterialYou = MutableStateFlow(preferences.getUseMaterialYou())
+    val newTabStyle = MutableStateFlow(preferences.getNewTabStyle())
+    val isAdBlockEnabled = MutableStateFlow(preferences.isAdBlockEnabled())
+    val blockThirdPartyCookies = MutableStateFlow(preferences.isBlockThirdPartyCookies())
+    val httpsMode = MutableStateFlow(preferences.getHttpsMode())
+    val enableWebDarkMode = MutableStateFlow(preferences.isEnableWebDarkMode())
+    val enableBackgroundPlay = MutableStateFlow(preferences.isEnableBackgroundPlay())
+    val downloadProvider = MutableStateFlow(preferences.getDownloadProvider())
+
+    fun setSearchEngine(engine: SearchEngine) {
+        searchEngine.value = engine
+        preferences.setSearchEngine(engine)
+    }
 
     fun setThemeMode(mode: AppThemeMode) {
         themeMode.value = mode
+        preferences.setThemeMode(mode)
     }
 
     fun setUseMaterialYou(enabled: Boolean) {
         useMaterialYou.value = enabled
+        preferences.setUseMaterialYou(enabled)
     }
 
     fun setNewTabStyle(style: NewTabStyle) {
         newTabStyle.value = style
+        preferences.setNewTabStyle(style)
+    }
+
+    fun setAdBlockEnabled(enabled: Boolean) {
+        isAdBlockEnabled.value = enabled
+        preferences.setAdBlockEnabled(enabled)
+    }
+
+    fun setBlockThirdPartyCookies(enabled: Boolean) {
+        blockThirdPartyCookies.value = enabled
+        preferences.setBlockThirdPartyCookies(enabled)
+    }
+
+    fun setHttpsMode(mode: HttpsMode) {
+        httpsMode.value = mode
+        preferences.setHttpsMode(mode)
+    }
+
+    fun setEnableWebDarkMode(enabled: Boolean) {
+        enableWebDarkMode.value = enabled
+        preferences.setEnableWebDarkMode(enabled)
     }
 
     fun setBackgroundPlay(enabled: Boolean) {
         enableBackgroundPlay.value = enabled
+        preferences.setEnableBackgroundPlay(enabled)
     }
 
     fun setDownloadProvider(provider: DownloadProvider) {
         downloadProvider.value = provider
+        preferences.setDownloadProvider(provider)
     }
 
     // Whitelisted domains flow
@@ -389,6 +423,11 @@ class BrowserViewModel(application: Application) : AndroidViewModel(application)
         viewModelScope.launch {
             repository.deleteTab(tabId)
             ContentBlocker.resetTabBlockCount(tabId)
+            try {
+                if (com.example.media.MediaSessionManager.activeMediaTabId.value == tabId) {
+                    com.example.media.MediaSessionManager.onMediaEnded(context, tabId)
+                }
+            } catch (e: Throwable) { }
             val remaining = currentTabs.value.filter { it.id != tabId }
             if (remaining.isNotEmpty()) {
                 if (_activeTabId.value == tabId) {
@@ -402,6 +441,9 @@ class BrowserViewModel(application: Application) : AndroidViewModel(application)
 
     fun closeAllTabs() {
         viewModelScope.launch {
+            try {
+                com.example.media.MediaSessionManager.stopPlayback(context)
+            } catch (e: Throwable) { }
             if (_isPrivateMode.value) {
                 repository.clearPrivateTabs()
                 privacyManager.cleanPrivateSessionData()