RootlessJamesDSP

System-wide JamesDSP implementation for non-rooted Android devices

Limitations • Spotify patch • Downloads • Credits

This app uses libjamesdsp which is written by James Fung (@james34602).

This app has several limitations that may be deal-breaking to some people; please read this whole document before using the app.

Limitations

Apps blocking internal audio capture remain unprocessed (e.g., Spotify, Google Chrome)
Cannot coexist with (some) other audio effect apps (e.g., Wavelet and other apps that make use of the DynamicsProcessing Android API)
Increased audio latency

Apps confirmed working:

YouTube
YouTube Music
Amazon Music
Deezer
Poweramp
Substreamer
Twitch
Spotify ReVanced (Patch required)
Apple Music
Vinyl Music Player
...

Unsupported apps include:

Spotify (patch for Spotify exists)
Google Chrome
SoundCloud
...

Tested on:

Samsung Galaxy S20+ (Android 12; OneUI 4.0)
Stock AOSP emulator (Android 10-13)
Google Pixel 6 Pro (Android 13)
Google Pixel 6a

Spotify support patch

Note This patch is universal and may also work with other apps than Spotify.

You can only use Spotify with this application if you patch the Spotify app. The setup is very easy:

Download and install the ReVanced manager APK
Install the unpatched Spotify app
Open ReVanced Manager, select Spotify and enable the remove-screen-capture-restriction patch.
Start the patching process and install the patched APK once it is done.
You can now use Spotify with RootlessJamesDSP.

Patching other unsupported apps

The remove-screen-capture-restriction patch is universal and can also be used with custom APKs other than Spotify. The patch cannot remove capture restrictions for apps that use the native AAudio C++ API for playback.

Download and install the ReVanced manager APK
Open ReVanced Manager, tap on 'Select an application' and press the 'Storage' action button in the bottom-right corner.
Select your APK using the file picker.
Enable the remove-screen-capture-restriction patch.
Start the patching process and install the patched APK once it is done. Make sure to uninstall the unpatched app if it is installed, otherwise you will run into a signature conflict during installtion.

Warning If the patched app crashes on startup (or refuses to work properly), it is likely that the app uses signature checks or other protections against tampering. In that case, additional patches that disable these anti-tampering checks would need to be created by hand.

Differences to other rootless FX apps

Regular rootless audio effect apps on the Play Store all essentially work the same way: Android has several default audio effects built into its operating system that these apps can use without any special permissions. Here's a list of those: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/audiofx/AudioEffect.

Being restricted to these default built-in audio effects is problematic if you want to implement any advanced custom effects such as Viper or JDSP, because Android does not allow apps to access & modify the audio stream directly.

To work around this problem, RootlessJamesDSP uses a bunch of tricks to gain full access to the audio stream of other apps. This is done via Android's internal audio capture. This allows RootlessJamesDSP to apply its custom audio effects directly without relying on Android's built-in effects.

Unfortunately, these tricks are not 100% reliable and introduce some limitations. Apps such as Spotify block internal audio capture (they don't want people to record their songs), and because of that, RootlessJamesDSP cannot directly access the audio stream of that app. This is the reason why a special patch is required to disable this DRM restriction inside Spotify's app. Patches for other apps with these DRM restrictions do not exist, but are possible to do.

Translations

This application can be translated via Crowdin: https://crowdin.com/project/rootlessjamesdsp

Not all languages are enabled at the moment in Crowdin. To request a new language, please open an issue here on GitHub.

Downloads

This app is available for free on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.timschneeberger.rootlessjamesdsp

Also available on F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/me.timschneeberger.rootlessjamesdsp/

Using Root

This app focuses on a rootless implementation, but it can be made to work with the magisk module too. See here for details.

All the limitations mentioned above are not relevant for the magisk/root version.

Credits

JamesDSP - James Fung (@james34602)
Theming system & backup system based on Tachiyomi

Translators

_{Tim Schneeberger (ThePBone)} _{22321 words}	_{Oleksandr Tkachenko (netrunner-exe)} _{13732 words}	_{Rex_sa (rex07)} _{3543 words}	_FrameXX _{3518 words}	_FlavioPonte _{3455 words}	_Add000 _{3445 words}
_{Choi Jun Hyeong (Gokwu)} _{3438 words}	_fankesyooni _{3316 words}	_{Beruanglaut (beruanglaut)} _{3168 words}	_{Federico Di Lorenzo (federico.dilo)} _{2903 words}	_{MajorCanel (hasandgn37)} _{2679 words}	_{Marcin Petrusiewicz (marcin.petrusiewicz)} _{2360 words}
_{zhiq liu (liziq)} _{1950 words}	_{Alondra Márquez (TecitoDeMenta)} _{1796 words}	_{Jontix (jont4)} _{1730 words}	_{Alessandro Belfiore (SerAX3L)} _{1228 words}	_{Gary Bonilla (TheGary)} _{1030 words}	_kyunairi _{888 words}
_{Gyuri Gergely (roccovantechno)} _{714 words}	_Nlntendq _{684 words}	_{Ali Yuruk (pizzawithdirt)} _{639 words}	_{eurodyke (illegalval)} _{575 words}	_{Loui's (Louis_Unnoficial)} _{513 words}	_{Criss Santiesteban (ianpok17)} _{470 words}
_Mr-Ojii _{457 words}	_tomechio _{358 words}	_IrepY _{310 words}	_Na7M _{306 words}	_{MES-mitutti (MES-INARI)} _{288 words}	_medi421 _{274 words}
_{adrian_ek} _{268 words}	_{Alessandro (Alebello10)} _{250 words}