Improve mobile playback UX: swipe seek gesture + autoplay next episode

[D-Simpackuser]

Summary

Improve the mobile playback experience by adding:

Horizontal swipe gestures for seeking (fast forward / rewind)
Optional autoplay for next episode / next item

These features would reduce interaction friction during fullscreen playback and provide a smoother media consumption experience on touch devices.

Comment

1. Swipe left/right on screen for seeking
   Current behavior

Currently, seeking requires:

tap screen
open playback controls
drag the progress bar manually

While functional, this interrupts the fullscreen viewing experience on mobile devices.

Suggested behavior

Add optional horizontal swipe gestures:

swipe right → fast forward
swipe left → rewind

This interaction model is commonly used in:

YouTube
VLC
MX Player
Infuse
other Jellyfin mobile clients
Possible UX behavior
configurable seek interval:
5s
10s
30s
continuous scrubbing gesture
overlay feedback UI:
seek offset
target timestamp
Benefits
smoother one-handed interaction
faster timeline navigation
improved fullscreen usability
fewer interruptions while watching content
2. Autoplay next episode / next item
Current behavior

After playback finishes, the next episode/item must be started manually.

Suggested behavior

Add an optional setting such as:

Settings -> Player -> Autoplay next episode

Possible functionality:

automatically start next episode after countdown
configurable delay:
3s
5s
10s
cancel button before autoplay begins
Benefits
better binge-watching experience
improved TV/mobile/tablet usability
behavior consistent with modern streaming platforms

Basic Example

Example playback workflow:

User watches a TV series episode
Swipe left/right to quickly seek during playback
Episode finishes
Countdown overlay appears
Next episode automatically starts unless cancelled

This would create a much smoother continuous playback experience.

Drawbacks

Possible considerations:

gesture conflicts with existing brightness/volume gestures
additional gesture sensitivity tuning may be required
autoplay behavior should remain optional to avoid changing existing workflows
TV platforms may require separate interaction handling

However, these concerns could likely be mitigated through configurable settings.

Unresolved questions

Some implementation details that may still need discussion:

Should seek gestures be enabled by default?
Should horizontal gestures work on the full screen or only certain regions?
Should autoplay apply only to episodes or also movies/playlists?
How should gesture conflicts be prioritized on touch devices?

Implementation

• I would like to implement this myself!