Beta 1

Frog Reader BETA 1

2026-10-11 · Android 8.0+ · Version code 4 · GPL-3.0-only

FrogReader's first public beta brings a personal reading hub, a reading queue, separate reading histories, new page-turn renderers and a substantial publisher rendering update. This release covers the changes since ALPHA 3.

Install and upgrade

Download FrogReader-BETA-1.apk from the Beta 1 release assets. The accompanying SHA256SUMS.txt records the APK checksum.

Export a backup in Settings → Backup before upgrading. Beta 1 keeps the application ID and signing certificate used by the published Alpha 3 APK, so it can update that installation while retaining app data. Existing per-book settings and appearance choices are preserved; Welcome runs on new release installations rather than replaying after an update. Backup format remains 2.

This APK retains the original Android Debug certificate for update compatibility. The release build requires an explicit legacy-signing opt-in; source builds can instead use an external signing key or produce an unsigned release. A differently signed installed copy cannot be updated in place with this APK.

What's new

• A personal reading hub. Editable profile name/avatar, last-read time, weekly activity, streak and daily reading goal, with direct access to the queue, log and saved passages.
• Reading Queue. Prioritize books with drag ordering, notes and optional file attachments. Start reading directly from the queue, or remove a book with Undo. Attached files enter the library when you start them.
• Reading Log. Keep one record per reading, including paper books and books read in another app. Record status, exact or partial dates, half-star ratings, reviews and covers. Filter/sort history, reorder eligible same-date entries, and add/edit through full-screen forms.
• Rereads and safe history. Continue an abandoned reading or start a fresh one without losing the old record. Browse completed books without altering history. Completion saves on exit, even without a review. Active progress and abandoned stopping percentages are shown in the log; deletion and Undo respect newer readings and annotation edits.
• Quotes & Bookmarks. Search and manage saved passages, edit notes, copy/share, delete with Undo and return to the text. Quote colors support nested and overlapping highlights.
• New reading controls. Floating/Classic layouts and Slide, Stack, Page curl or None page turns. Paper curl follows the finger, supports cancellation and rapid consecutive gestures, and mirrors for RTL books. A page-counter toggle and per-chapter remaining-page choice give control over the footer.
• Chapter-aware progress. Expanded active-chapter segments, live captions, haptics and a readable linear fallback for densely divided books.
• Typography fixes. Independent settings for each book, bundled IBM Plex Sans alongside Literata, and publisher heading alignment without the retired global centering override.
• More faithful publisher rendering. Structural CSS, whitespace, hidden text, embedded inline fonts, poetry, image bounds and dark artwork handling. Long dialogue tables retain their rows; supported narrow table layouts stack cleanly. Native MathML fractions/roots/scripts and above-base ruby readings share layout geometry with pagination and selection.
• App polish. Welcome setup, refined Light/Beige themes, unified Book Info/Edit, library/reader motion, dock/Add transitions, route-aware predictive Back and themed notifications with accessible timeouts.
• GPL 3. Application code now uses GPL-3.0-only, with offline in-app license access. Bundled fonts, libraries and other external resources keep their own licenses and notices.

The full changelog includes the storage, parser, performance and compatibility changes.

Known limits

Beta 1 remains a prerelease. Dedicated Statistics, Achievements and profile-wide search are disabled Coming soon controls; profile activity, goals, the queue, log and saved passages work now.

PDF, KFX, DRM-protected books, full fixed-layout EPUB/KF8 rendering, vertical writing and embedded audio/video are unsupported. CSS, MathML and ruby support are bounded native subsets with readable fallbacks. Paragraphs containing native inline objects have documented justification/line-breaking compromises. See the EPUB audit for rendering details.

JVM checks, release assembly and native desktop previews do not establish physical-device gesture smoothness, full-book visual fidelity, TalkBack behavior or performance across Android vendors. No new device interaction testing is claimed for this release.

Verification

• Local JVM suite: 1,579 passed, 5 skipped, no failures or errors.
• Debug and optimized release assembly succeeded; R8 code optimization and resource shrinking ran for the release APK.
• Debug and release Android lint completed with 0 errors. Existing warnings remain (dependency advisories, unused resources and API/style suggestions).
• Seven native About previews were checked, including narrow and large-text layouts. Licence viewer headers were checked; full asynchronous text loading and physical-device interactions were not visually verified.
• The release APK's version, non-debuggable manifest, alignment, signature and packaged licence texts are checked before upload. Its certificate matches the published Alpha 3 APK.

Source and license

The application is licensed under GPL-3.0-only. See third-party notices for bundled external material. Source for this binary is available at the exact beta-1 tag, including build instructions and pinned dependencies. GitHub provides the matching source ZIP and source tarball.

Please report bugs or feedback via Telegram (@knitipka), Signal (direct message), Email (knitipka@proton.me) or GitHub Issues. Including diagnostic info from the app (Settings → About → Copy diagnostic info) and any sample book file (any source, public or pirated) that triggers the bug is welcome and appreciated.