Install and use Vesqen

Open Settings → Updates. Vesqen checks when you open it, at most once a day, and when you tap Check for updates. It downloads a new version only when you tap Download and checks its SHA-256 and signature; then tap Install and Android asks you to confirm. The first time, Android asks you to allow Vesqen to install apps: allow it, come back and tap Install again. Every version is signed with the same key, so you can also install a newer APK over the current one and keep your playlists, favorites and settings. 1.0.0-beta.1 has no update check and has to be updated this way once.

Each release lists the APK’s SHA-256. Compare it with the SHA-256 of the file you downloaded. You can also check the signing certificate with apksigner verify --print-certs; its SHA-256 must be 74:3E:96:FC:B7:1D:C5:81:88:49:68:19:A0:01:A2:7C:D8:8D:90:91:62:C5:AE:92:9C:87:BF:A2:9A:B8:62:93. Android refuses to install an update signed with a different key over Vesqen.

Phones sold in mainland China show this notice for any app without an ICP filing in China. We have seen it on Huawei, Honor, vivo and iQOO phones. Most apps from GitHub or from outside China get it, and Vesqen isn’t in Chinese app stores, so it has no filing. The notice means only that no filing record was found. If the APK came from the Vesqen website or GitHub Releases, or its SHA-256 and signing certificate match the previous answer, tap Continue installing. On vivo and iQOO, tick the box that says you understand the risk check result first.

On vivo and iQOO phones, each app has its own Lock screen notifications switch, and it can be off for Vesqen. Open the phone’s notification settings, choose Vesqen and turn on Lock screen notifications. The lock screen then shows the playing track with previous, play/pause and next.

SYSTEM MIXED means the audio takes Android’s normal playback path, where the system may mix it with other sounds, resample it or add effects. Most apps play this way, including through the phone speaker, wired headphones and Bluetooth. Vesqen shows a BIT-PERFECT status only when Android’s own evidence supports it.

Strict USB output needs Android 14 or later, a phone whose system offers Android’s bit-perfect output path, and a USB DAC with a matching bit-perfect mixer profile for the file you’re playing. Many phones don’t offer that path even on Android 14 and later, and Android 13 and earlier don’t have the official API at all. A later version will try to support these phones with Vesqen’s own USB output, though we can’t promise it yet. If a condition fails during playback, Vesqen stops and tells you why. It doesn’t switch to system output on its own.

No. The phone re-encodes the audio with a Bluetooth codec such as SBC, AAC or LDAC before sending it, so Vesqen always marks Bluetooth as SYSTEM MIXED.

No. Playback and your library never use the network. With a connection, Vesqen sends usage statistics at most once a day, and the version from GitHub checks for updates. You can turn both off in Settings.

ACTIVE means Android reports that the AudioTrack, the mixer setting and the output route all match the current file. That’s evidence from the Android side. VERIFIED needs a signed record from measuring the output with external equipment, and the app checks that the record matches your app, phone, DAC and format exactly. No setup has a VERIFIED record yet.