Screenly - Screenly Changelog Episode 12 - Edge Apps, Enterprise Security, New Hardware Support, and More!

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Screenly Changelog Episode 12: Edge Apps, Enterprise Security, Screenly Playground, New Hardware Support, & the Interactive Digital Signage Contest 2025

Welcome back to the Screenly Changelog! In Episode 12, we’re joined by special guest Salman Faris, who covers Customer Success and Edge App development at Screenly. Alongside Viktor Petersson and Daniel Mountcastle, the team takes a deep dive into the power of our developer-first Edge Apps platform, enterprise security for digital signage, and our expanding hardware support. Catch the full conversation by watching the full episode or read the highlights below.

Unlocking custom content with Screenly Edge Apps

A core focus of this episode is the Screenly Edge Apps framework, our developer-first platform for creating custom digital signage content and applications. Instead of locking users into a fixed set of integrations, Screenly Edge Apps provides the tooling for developers to build exactly what they need and edit code line-by-line.

Salman, who has been at the forefront of building out our library of open-source apps, highlights the platform’s ease of use. Thanks to thorough documentation and publicly available examples on GitHub, developers can create and deploy custom digital signage applications in a matter of hours. This developer-centric approach empowers users to move beyond simple content loops and build truly dynamic, value-driven signage solutions.

Built-in security and simplified development

In this episode, the team discusses the often-underestimated technical complexities of deploying digital signage securely. A key feature of the Edge Apps framework is its built-in secret management. This allows developers to securely handle sensitive information like API tokens, which are encrypted on the device. Even if a player is physically compromised, credentials remain protected. By handling the heavy lifting of security, app distribution, and device management, Screenly allows developers to focus on the value-add business logic of their applications, not the complex infrastructure required to run them.

New in the Screenly Edge App Playground

Salman covers several new Edge Apps now available in the Screenly Playground:

Strava Activity Tracker Edge App: Born from an internal initiative to promote fitness at Screenly, our Strava Edge App displays a leaderboard from a company’s Strava club, fostering team engagement and friendly competition.
CharlieHR Edge App: To help our remote team stay connected, the CharlieHR Edge App shows employee anniversaries, birthdays, and who is away for the day.
Sonar Dashboard Edge App: The Sonar Dashboard Edge App uses Bluetooth beacons to provide an approximation of footfall in a given area. While not a precise measurement tool, it offers a cost-effective way to gather impression and dwell-time data for signage content without the high cost and privacy concerns of camera-based solutions.
Fake Dashboard Edge App: The simple but powerful Fake Dashboard Edge App displays dummy data, allowing teams to prototype and champion new signage use cases without needing to complete full data integrations first.

You can use these ready-to-go Edge Apps out of the box or you can customize them to work for your specific use cases. They’re all open source, and it’s entirely up to you.

Leveling up the developer experience

To make building custom apps even easier, the Screenly team is developing reusable components for Edge Apps. By migrating to modern frameworks like Vue, we are establishing best practices for Edge App development that save developers time and effort. These components can be easily dropped into new projects, ensuring consistency and accelerating development. This allows our partners and customers to build on top of our work instead of having to reinvent the wheel with each new app.

A significant portion of the conversation focuses on the critical state of enterprise digital signage security. Importantly, Viktor warns that many vendors can achieve security certifications while running their players on outdated, vulnerable software. This is because most compliance audits don’t scrutinize the security of the media player itself, creating a dangerous blind spot for buyers.

Digital signage players can be a prime target for attackers, who can use them as a stepping stone to pivot into a company’s core network. The risk isn’t just pranksters showing embarassing content. It’s sophisticated actors establishing a persistent foothold for data access or ransomware attacks. Enterprises must look beyond compliance checkboxes and demand robust and actively-maintained device security.

Screenly Anywhere & expanded hardware support

Reinforcing our commitment to hardware flexibility, Screenly now runs on more platforms than ever. In addition to our flagship Screenly Anywhere tool, which allows you to display digital signage screen content on any web browser, we now offer apps for:

These apps allow businesses to deploy Screenly on hardware they already own, reducing costs and simplifying implementation across diverse environments.

Interactive Digital Signage Contest 2025 & connecting with us

Salman announced the Interactive Digital Signage Contest 2025, hosted by Seeed Studio. With Viktor serving as a judge, it’s a great opportunity for developers to showcase their skills. The deadline to apply is August 15th, and the grand prize is a trip to Shenzhen, China! Learn more and apply now at the link here.

Also, Screenly’s very own Viktor Petersson will be at Black Hat USA and Def Con 33 in Las Vegas this week, so be sure to reach out if you’re around!

That’s all for now! Stay tuned for future updates, and thank you for joining us for the Screenly Changelog Episode 12.

Want to start building digital signage apps with Screenly? All our open-source Edge Apps and documentation are available on the Screenly Playground on GitHub.

Interested in secure, scalable digital signage solutions? Explore Screenly and start your 14-day free trial today.

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