The Deezer mobile music service has relaunched its Android app with a predictive search function and a mini music player so users can control the app while doing other things.

The company, one of Frances most successful tech start-ups, focuses on bringing local artists to a global audience by providing editorial recommendations from the different countries it serves. The company also has deals with the five major record labels.

Users can discover new hot tracks found by the Deezer team, hear music listened to by their friends or search for artists alphabetically. The apps themed radio stations are based on a particular style of music, an artist and related songs, or are sponsored and branded by festivals, blogs and other media outlets. These channels can generate songs by acts playing at a festival, for example, or recommend tracks that are similar to a users regularly played music.

Registered but not regular?

Deezer says it has 26m registered users in 182 markets, of which 9m are monthly unique visitors to the freemium app and 3m are paying, ad-free subscribers. Spotify, probably one of its better-known competitors, says it has just 10m registered users, with 3m paid subscribers. Deezers catalogue boasts 20m tracks – beating Spotify by 5m. Both companies have recently acknowledged the limitations of counting registered, but not necessarily regular users, as well as the churn associated with such abundant digital services.

The updated app is still in beta.