Frequently asked questions
What is BollyTube?
BollyTube is a Bollywood / Indian music discovery app family for Android. Browse curated charts and playlists, search tracks, save favorites and playlists, get recommendations, and play on phone, Android TV, Wear OS, and Android Auto / Automotive.
Is BollyTube affiliated with Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, or Billboard?
No. BollyTube is an independent music discovery app. Names of charts or playlists that reference other services describe curated discovery content only and do not imply any affiliation with Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Billboard, or other third parties.
Which devices are supported?
Phone: Android 8.0 (API 26) and higher.
Android TV, Wear OS, Automotive: supported on compatible devices via their respective BollyTube apps / media experiences. Feature sets vary by form factor.
How does the floating music player work?
On phone, BollyTube can use a floating overlay player so you can keep listening while using other apps. It may require the system “display over other apps” permission. You can resize/reposition the player and use audio-only mode when available in Settings.
Can I switch to the in-app YouTube player?
Yes. In Settings you can choose between the floating default player and the in-app YouTube player experience. Some playback behaviors depend on YouTube’s player policies and your device configuration.
Why can’t I play music with the screen locked?
Playback while the screen is locked can be restricted by YouTube / player policies and by the path you use (overlay player vs in-app player vs Auto/TV audio path). If a mode doesn’t allow lock-screen playback, that is typically a platform policy limitation rather than a local playlist problem. For help with your device, email charanastudios [@] gmail [dot] com.
Do I see YouTube ads?
When playback goes through YouTube-controlled surfaces, advertisements and restrictions are controlled by YouTube/Google, not by BollyTube. We cannot remove those ads.
How do favorites, playlists, and artists sync?
Sign in with Google to sync library data (favorites, followed playlists/artists, and related user music state) through Firebase. The same account restores your library when you switch phones. Some recent/recommendation data may also be cached locally for speed.
How do recommendations work?
Recommendations are generated from signals like recently played and favorite tracks, expanded with related music discovery and ranking heuristics. They refresh in the background and can be force-refreshed from recommendation playlists where the app exposes pull-to-refresh.
How often are charts and playlists updated?
Curated catalog data is maintained in our backend content database. Popular chart-style sections are refreshed on an ongoing basis (often daily for top/trending-style lists; other collections may update less frequently).
Can I import playlists?
On phone, you can import YouTube playlists (via playlist URL/ID extraction) into your library where the import flow is available. Support for other third-party services depends on what the current app version exposes.
Does BollyTube work with Android Auto and Wear?
Yes. Android Auto is available from the phone app’s media service. Wear OS can play locally or act as a remote for the phone companion. Automotive has a dedicated media browser experience on supported cars.
Where do artist images come from?
Artist cover thumbnails used in the apps are hosted on this website under /images/{artistId}.png so BollyTube does not need a separate paid image CDN.
How do I contact support?
Email charanastudios [@] gmail [dot] com. Include your device model, Android version, and app version when reporting a bug.