Hplay

Most music apps want an account, a subscription and a connection. Hplay wants a folder.

You point it at music that is already on your device and it plays it, with a wheel you spin instead of a list you scroll. Cover art, albums, artists, playlists, search, a sleep timer, a vinyl view that spins while the song runs, and five different screen looks. Nothing is uploaded anywhere. There is no sign-in, because there is nothing to sign in to.

Nothing about your listening is sent anywhere: no account, no analytics, no telemetry, and your music never leaves the device. It is not a no-network app, though — when it starts it fetches a tag-reading script and checks for a newer version, it fetches a catalogue when you open Get More, and it checks a supporter code when you redeem one. The questions below say exactly what and when.

It behaves like a music app should on a phone. It holds the lock screen with the cover art on it, puts controls in the notification shade, takes the volume keys, pauses when you pull your headphones out, and keeps playing with the screen off.

Version

43.0 Engineer

Runs on

Android 7+

Screen looks

5 light to paper

Demo tracks

20 51 minutes

Accounts

0

Price

Free

Download it here. No account, no waiting list, no form.

It is not on the Play Store, so you install it yourself. Android will warn you about an app from outside the store — that warning is about where the file came from, not about what is in it, and you will get it for any app that is not on Play. It is still an alpha, so tell me when something goes wrong; that is what the feedback page is for.

Every build stays up under its own number, so you can go back to one that worked for you. Each has a .sha256 next to it if you want to check the file arrived whole. latest.json says what the newest one is.

Once you have it

No music handy? Take the twenty demo tracks below, drop them in a folder, and point the player at that.

Five ways to light the screen

Twenty tracks, six made-up compilations, 51 minutes. Built to give the player something real to chew on.

Testing a music player with three songs tells you nothing. So these were written and synthesised from scratch for Hplay: proper tags, embedded cover art, varied lengths, loud ones and quiet ones. They are not recordings of any real band, and no real artist is involved. The artist names, the track names and the sleeves are all invented. Yours to download, keep and play anywhere.

Released under the name HostLabo Tapes. Use them for whatever you like, including testing your own things. A credit is welcome but not required.

Photographs taken while carrying the thing around.

This page aims to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA. Here is honestly where it stands.

What has been checked

Every piece of text on this site was measured against what is actually behind it, in the light theme and the dark one, and all of it clears the 4.5:1 contrast the standard asks for — including text over gradients, measured against the worst part of the gradient rather than an average. Everything you can operate has a name a screen reader can read out, a visible focus ring, and a target at least 24 by 24 pixels. Each page has one main heading, headings in order, a skip link, and proper landmarks. The page works at 320 pixels wide, which is what 400% zoom comes to, without anything being cut off or scrolling sideways. It survives a reader's own stylesheet forcing wider line, letter and word spacing. Nothing is conveyed by colour alone, animation respects a reduced-motion setting, and the light and dark themes both follow your system setting unless you change it here.

What has not

None of the above was tested with a real screen reader by somebody who uses one every day, and that is the test that counts. The photographs have written descriptions, but a description is somebody's opinion of a picture and mine may not be the useful one. The demo tracks are music with no words, so there are no captions or transcripts; if that is wrong, tell me. This is a one-person alpha, so it is checked by a script on every change rather than audited by anyone qualified.

The app itself

Hplay the Android app is a separate thing from this page and has not been through the same check. It has a text size setting, a high-contrast screen mode, a reduced-motion setting and a haptics switch, but it is driven by a scroll wheel, which is a demanding thing to operate. If it does not work for you I would genuinely like to know, because that is fixable and worth fixing.

Tell me when something does not work

Email hostlabosupport@gmail.com with what you were trying to do and what got in the way. You will get a reply from a person. If something here stops you using the page, say so and it goes to the front of the queue.

Last checked 20 September 2026, against WCAG 2.2 AA, using automated measurement of the rendered pages.

People who bought a coffee. They get their name here, their name in the app, a rank on the Discord when there is one, and a skin. Nothing else, because nothing else is held back.

Nobody yet. You could be first.

Bug reports, ideas and complaints are all welcome. The fastest way is email.

I made Hplay because everything now is too much.

Every app wants an account, a subscription, a feed and your attention. A music player should want a folder. So Hplay opens on one screen, with one wheel, and nothing to set up before it plays something.

Simple was the point. Thin was not. Underneath it there are stations built out of what you actually replay, six ways to watch the sound, a theme system that colours the icon on your home screen, and an accessibility screen with real controls in it rather than a toggle and an apology. Nothing is in your way. Nothing is missing either.

— Iwo