Since there seem to be a stream of questions about Google Play and Samsung and FiiO, I figured I'd list a few home truths about the M15 and M11/M11 Pro, since they're all based on the same SoC and nothing we say or do or ask here is going to change that.
For their part, @JamesFiiO and @WianFiiO have been very open and honest about these players' support (or lack thereof) of Google Play services, and what this means for FiiO users. This has never been a secret. If you bought the M15 and are expressing surprise about its lack of Google Play support, a bit of reading up before dropping $1300 on a music player goes a long way.
So...here's my abbreviated summary (and feel free to chime in if something's changed since I was last in the FiiO camp**):
1. The M15 uses the same Samsung 7872 SoC first introduced with the M11. This is a super-fast SoC, one of the fastest on any current Android DAP.
2. The Samsung 7872 SoC is limited to Android 7 support. This is a result of Google's Play Services policy, and would require Samsung to update their SoC support for the latest Android versions. To date Samsung has shown no inclination to update their now 3-year-old SoC, and likely never will.
3. That means unless someone develops custom firmware for the M15 that supports Google Play services, the M15 will not support Google Play services. Ever. Period.
4. This does NOT mean the M15 will not support current and future Android apps. In fact, chances are it will support new Android apps for many years to come via sideloading, as it does currently.
5. It does, however, mean that the M15 will not, and likely never will, support Android apps that require Google Play services for verification. The most famous example of this, in DAP-land, is UAPP (USB Audio Player Pro), arguably one of the best third-party Android music library and playback software.
6. UAPP, like Plex, require an active Google account and support for Play services to verify payment/subscription details. There is NO workaround. There are no 'cracked' APKs that bypass this 'limitation'. Trust me, thousands have tried, thousands have failed.
7. Forget about using UAPP on the M15. Move on. Use Neutron (if you have to), or just learn to live with FiiO Music - which is excellent as long as you understand its limitations (like lack of Album Artist sorting, or Tidal integration, or PEQ, or any other cool UAPP features everyone keeps asking FiiO for).
8. In case you think this is the worst thing in the world, just remember that A&K's sideloading support is even WORSE than FiiO's (you can only run whitelisted apps on their so-called OpenApp service). So no UAPP and no Plex on any A&K DAP, even the SP2000.
9. If you want a fully open, fully compatible Android DAP, HiBy and iBasso are currently your only two options (that I'm aware of).
Hopefully the above makes sense and clears up any ongoing confusion with regards Google Play support on the lastest FiiO DAPs and specifically the M15.
PS. To clarify one other thing I read in this thread, the HiBy app does NOT support Tidal or Tidal offline. Even UAPP, which supports Tidal and MQA, does NOT support Tidal offline. Only the official Tidal app supports Tidal offline.
**I am no longer in the FiiO camp. Consider this a public service message.
thank you very much for your summary and that is 100% correct . of course we will try to see if we can use aother new Soc which is fast enough and still can supports Google service . but plz understand that is quite difficult cause this market is too small and the Qualcomm will not support such a tiny company like FiiO.
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