Chotki for macOS — 1.0 beta (build 34)

macOS, 1.0 beta, build 34. This supersedes the macOS build in 1.0 beta, build 30.

Signed and notarised. Open the disk image and drag Chotki onto Applications. macOS opens it without sending you to Privacy & Security: the app is signed with a Developer ID and notarised by Apple, and the notarisation ticket is stapled to both the app and the disk image, so this works offline too.

Paused rules and stood-down days are greyed and marked. A paused rule stays on Home, greyed and marked "Paused", on the days it would have fallen; a day stood down is greyed and marked "Stood Down". "Pause This Rule" and "Stand Down for This Day" are ticked items in the right-click menu, and choosing a ticked one undoes it. A paused rule is not reminded of, and does not stop a day from being settled.

What a pause does to the record. Days before the pause stay as recorded. The day you pause counts if it was kept; if it was due and nothing was recorded, pausing stands that day down, so it can never read as a miss. The days between pausing and taking the rule back are not counted at all. The day you take it back, and every day after, count. Pausing and undoing on the same day leaves the day as it was.

Reset record. On the Progress view. It asks "Are you sure?", then erases every recorded day and starts every rule in force again from today, so nothing in the past can read as missed. Paused rules stay paused. It also deletes the automatic backups, so that "cannot be undone" is true; backups you exported yourself are not touched.

• macOS: Chotki-1.0-beta-build-34.dmg, one universal binary, Apple Silicon and Intel, bundle version 20034, macOS 13 or later. The Intel half is built and notarised but has not been run on an Intel Mac. To replace an earlier build, drag this one over it; your record is kept.
• This release is macOS only. The Android and Windows downloads are unchanged.

SHA-256: Chotki-1.0-beta-build-34.dmg cc0da28d6747a5fe6dbaddee77703c0656743cdecfd9c109db1e48de71ea679d

Chotki is an independent project. It is not affiliated with or sanctioned by any church, parish, jurisdiction, or community. It is not a spiritual father and is not meant to stand in for one.

To give new and existing Orthodox Christians a way to build their practice before they find a spiritual father, to encourage finding one, and to facilitate that relationship once one is found.

Nothing is switched on until you choose it, except old-style dates.

Chotki for Linux — 1.0 beta

Linux, 1.0 beta. Two Flatpak bundles of org.chotki.Chotki, one x86_64 and one aarch64. Each file is a single architecture. Ubuntu GNOME is the supported desktop.

Install the file that matches the machine:

flatpak install --user chotki-1.0-beta-x86_64.flatpak

flatpak install --user chotki-1.0-beta-aarch64.flatpak

The first install fetches the Qt runtime org.kde.Platform 6.10 from Flathub. That runtime is the library set inside the sandbox. The session stays GNOME. If Flathub is not already configured:

flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

On Ubuntu, install Flatpak first if the command is missing: sudo apt install flatpak. A double-click opens the file in GNOME Software after sudo apt install gnome-software-plugin-flatpak and a log-out. Ubuntu App Center leaves a .flatpak alone. Once installed, Chotki is in the app grid.

The record is kept in the Flatpak data directory. These files are this GitHub prerelease. Flathub is a later step.

• x86_64: chotki-1.0-beta-x86_64.flatpak
• aarch64: chotki-1.0-beta-aarch64.flatpak

SHA-256:

• chotki-1.0-beta-x86_64.flatpak 836b6811df3f7027547493de45faa76e4f5a2572f6ce8d90bd6ee238c0aaa333
• chotki-1.0-beta-aarch64.flatpak 0150e181889f12af26e1deae2ea0451cdf027352fdd27436e87c0f678d16ac0e

This release is Linux only. The macOS, Android, and Windows downloads are unchanged.

Chotki is an independent project. It is not affiliated with or sanctioned by any church, parish, jurisdiction, or community. It is not a spiritual father and is not meant to stand in for one.

To give new and existing Orthodox Christians a way to build their practice before they find a spiritual father, to encourage finding one, and to facilitate that relationship once one is found.

Chotki 1.0 beta (build 30)

Android and macOS, 1.0 beta, build 30. This supersedes 1.0 beta, build 29.

The church calendar now ships inside the app. Fasts, feasts, tones, commemorations and the appointed readings for 2026–2031, under both the Old and the New Calendar, are in the download, so those days need no network at all. orthocal.info is asked only for dates after 2031. Scripture is the King James Version with the Apocrypha, public domain; long readings break into paragraphs by the Bible's own marks, and Orthocal's Composite readings, whose translation is not public domain, now show the King James text of the chapters they cite. Requests to orthocal.info now say who is asking.

The prayer rope is a ring. The count sits in the middle, and the 33, 50 and 100 choices remain. Between every ten knots is a larger red bead, where one crosses oneself; the first bead is both where the count begins and where it ends. A knot ticks, the knot before a bead gives a lower tock, and the chime sounds as the count returns to the first bead. The chime now fades away rather than stopping. On the phones, "Start again" has moved to the bottom right, away from Count.

Also: a link back to today ("← Today" or "Today →") beside the month or week heading once the calendar has been moved away from today; the day's picture scrolls with the day, and rests above the bar when there are no rules yet. On Android the reminder banner is gone and the app no longer asks about battery saving; notifications are asked for once, on the first launch, and managed in Settings.

• Android: Chotki-1.0-beta.30.apk. Package org.chotki, versionName 1.0 beta, build 30, versionCode 30. Install this over the previous signed build. The version code is higher, so the existing record is kept.
• macOS: Chotki.zip is one universal binary, Apple Silicon and Intel, bundle version 20030. The Intel half is built and has not been run on an Intel Mac. Signed by its author, not notarised by Apple.

SHA-256: Chotki-1.0-beta.30.apk eb9a27f2e2bf994260e1de2bc0e3dcc42d5f9ffe5573e14e949bc3a8fa2ae5a7 · Chotki.zip 9595d1cc3ea08b6b51cd669e668dcfdc318d387596746fa18ad350247a1d9d88

Chotki is an independent project. It is not affiliated with or sanctioned by any church, parish, jurisdiction, or community. It is not a spiritual father and is not meant to stand in for one.

To give new and existing Orthodox Christians a way to build their practice before they find a spiritual father, to encourage finding one, and to facilitate that relationship once one is found.

Nothing is switched on until you choose it, except old-style dates.

Chotki Windows x86_64 — alpha RC3 build 35

Windows alpha testing release candidate

Windows remains in alpha testing. alpha-rc3-build35 is a release candidate for testers, not a beta or stable Windows release.

This x86_64 Windows 11 build carries the church calendar for 2026–2031 inside the app (see the 1.0 beta, build 30 release), the ring prayer rope with its beads and the lower tock, and a chime that fades out. The Reading sections now open on first launch: a first-run session used to leave them unresponsive until Chotki was restarted.

The optimized UI suite, physical mouse and keyboard checks, package integrity checks, and the paced installed-app lifecycle review passed on a Windows 11 ARM64 VM under Prism. Native x86_64 hardware and broader user acceptance remain to be tested.

Download and extract Chotki-Windows-x86_64-alpha-rc3-build35.zip, then run the included installer in PowerShell:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install-windows.ps1

The installer creates current-user Desktop and Start menu shortcuts. Updates preserve the separate practice record. The ZIP includes an integrity manifest and dependency notices.

ZIP SHA-256: 258d72887904f9619fb8d1db55db1a0341d021435ea5f9dcb7555a64ce07fa67

Chotki Windows x86_64 — alpha RC2 build 34

Windows alpha testing release candidate

Windows remains in alpha testing. alpha-rc2-build34 is a release candidate for testers, not a beta or stable Windows release.

This x86_64 Windows 11 build removes the experimental page crossfade and sliding sidebar that caused visible flicker. Navigation now uses a single batched redraw. It also includes the recent Reading layout, scrolling, time-picker, and icon refinements. The Mac app remains the visual and behavior reference, and further parity work is expected.

The optimized UI suite, physical mouse and keyboard checks, package integrity checks, and paced installed-app lifecycle review passed on a Windows 11 ARM64 VM under Prism. A synthetic tray focus assertion was intermittent and passed on rerun. Native x86_64 hardware and broader user acceptance remain to be tested.

Download and extract Chotki-Windows-x86_64-alpha-rc2-build34.zip, then run the included installer in PowerShell:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install-windows.ps1

The installer creates current-user Desktop and Start menu shortcuts. Updates preserve the separate practice record. The ZIP includes an integrity manifest and dependency notices.

ZIP SHA-256: 1580564083b73bbfb1523333a9ef2a4173d355f7e08da22f5c246c50e036ed0f

Chotki Windows x86_64 — alpha RC1 build 30

Windows remains in alpha testing. This is the first x86_64 release candidate (build 30, alpha RC1), for testers; it is not a beta or stable Windows release. The newer alpha RC2 build 34 supersedes it.

The first Windows x86_64 release candidate brings Chotki's existing practice, Home calendar/cards/artwork, prayer rope, received prayers, readings, Psalter, glossary, Library, Progress and Settings to Windows. It uses the same ChotkiCore decisions and portable record format as the Mac app.

The Windows tray has four commands: Open Chotki (Home), Silence/Enable notifications, Settings, and Quit. Closing the window keeps Chotki in the tray. Reminders use native Windows notifications with Complete and Snooze actions.

Validation covers the explicit x86_64 build, every bundled DLL's architecture, SQLite and resource bootstrap, the complete optimized desktop suite, physical mouse/keyboard and accessibility, native notification delivery/activation, and packaged startup/single-instance/animation/login/close/Quit behavior on the Windows 11 ARM64 VM under Prism. This candidate is for testing; ARM64 native builds remain deferred.

Download and extract the Windows ZIP, then run the included installer in PowerShell:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install-windows.ps1

Installation is for the current user and creates Desktop and Start menu shortcuts. Updates preserve the separate practice record. The payload includes its integrity manifest and dependency notices.

Chotki 1.0 beta (build 29)

Android and macOS, 1.0 beta, build 29. This supersedes 1.0 beta, build 23, and the local Android build 28.

The rope and the cross play when Chotki is opened from a quit state — a force-stop, or a phone or Mac that was restarted. Returning to an app that is still in memory does not play them. The welcome is still shown only once.

• Android: Chotki-1.0-beta.29.apk. Package org.chotki, versionName 1.0 beta, build 29, versionCode 29. Install this over the previous signed build. The version code is higher, so the existing record is kept.
• macOS: Chotki.zip is one universal binary, Apple Silicon and Intel, bundle version 20029. The Intel half is built and has not been run on an Intel Mac. Signed by its author, not notarised by Apple.

Chotki is an independent project. It is not affiliated with or sanctioned by any church, parish, jurisdiction, or community. It is not a spiritual father and is not meant to stand in for one.

To give new and existing Orthodox Christians a way to build their practice before they find a spiritual father, to encourage finding one, and to facilitate that relationship once one is found.

Nothing is switched on until you choose it, except old-style dates.

Chotki 1.0 beta (build 23)

Android 1.0 beta, build 23. This is the current Android release. It supersedes 0.1.14-rc1.

The package is org.chotki, versionName 1.0-beta.23, versionCode 23. Install this apk over the previous signed build; the version code is higher, so the existing record is kept.

Chotki is an independent project. It is not affiliated with or sanctioned by any church, parish, jurisdiction, or community. It is not a spiritual father and is not meant to stand in for one.

To give new and existing Orthodox Christians a way to build their practice before they find a spiritual father, to encourage finding one, and to facilitate that relationship once one is found.

Sideload Chotki-1.0-beta.23.apk. Android 8 or later. Nothing is switched on until you choose it, except old-style dates.

Chotki 0.1.14-rc1 — the redesigned day

A release candidate, not a release. Cut from the android-0.1.14 branch, which has not been merged into main. It supersedes 0.1.13-rc2 on Android. This build is Android only; macOS is unchanged.

Opening

The mark is drawn once, before anything else. The knots come in from the lower left, around to the lower right, and the cross appears between them. Then a welcome, centered, which says what Chotki is and is not, asks what to call you, and continues.

That name, and a spiritual father's name, can be changed later in Settings. Thirty days after the welcome, and again thirty days after "Not yet", the app asks whether a priest or spiritual father has been found. A stored name ends the question. A rule marked as given by him then reads "Given to me by [that name]". Clearing the name returns those marks to "GIVEN BY A PRIEST".

The day

One week sits at the top. A grip beneath it opens the month, and reading the rules does not fold the month shut. A great feast is gold, a Sunday is ochre, and a fast is violet. The selected day is outlined in gold, not filled.

When a fasting rule is due, or fasting is set to observed, the day states what the calendar marks and what is customarily set aside. It does not say what to eat. Fasting and feasts still default to shown, not observed.

A day with nothing on the rule offers "Create your first rule". A saying of the fathers sits at the foot of the day, on a public-domain picture chosen for that date.

Prayers and reading

The prayers are a menu. A counted prayer keeps the rope. A rule that is read scrolls, fading at the top and the bottom. Reaching the count of the Jesus Prayer, or the last line of morning or evening prayers, marks that rule. It does not unmark it. Starting again clears the count and leaves the mark.

The day's readings are always shown, with a rule's own readings first. Scrolling to the end of one marks it, when it is on the rule.

The bar

Rule, Prayers, Reading, Progress, and a Settings gear. The glossary is not on the bar. It is reached from a word, and from Settings.

Getting it

Android: Chotki-0.1.14-rc1.apk, Android 8 / API 26 or later. Signed by its author, so Android will warn you twice and you may install anyway. Installing over 0.1.13 keeps your record.

Chotki 0.1.13-rc2 — the redrawn interface

A release candidate, not a release. Cut from the revamp branch, which has not been merged into main. This supersedes rc1, which was missing the last three corrections. It carries the redrawn Android interface and the parts of that work which live in core/ and therefore reach macOS as well.

The day

Rules say where they lead, in words, on a line under the title: go to rope, go to prayer, go to reading, go to psalter. This used to be a small glyph at the far right of the row that named no destination. A rule whose whole text is a single counted prayer now goes to the rope with the count already running rather than to a page holding one short paragraph.

A rule that leads nowhere but can still be explained carries its glossary entry on its own title.

A rule can be marked given by a priest or spiritual father, in the editor, under "Who suggested it?". It is a label and changes nothing else: no scoring, no scheduling, no control. A rule under obedience is still yours to pause or remove.

The calendar

It opens to a full month when you ask it to, by the grip beneath the grid, and the choice survives leaving the screen. It used to fold itself the moment the rules below were scrolled, so reading your rules took the month away.

A horizontal swipe anywhere on the grid steps a week, or a month when it is open. The arrows still work and are still the larger target.

Feasts and fasts colour the date and add a dot beneath it, where you have asked to see them in Settings. Hidden means hidden: the calendar looks like an ordinary calendar.

The library

Six folding sections on one screen, in order: Services, Prayer, Reading, Fasting, Life, Custom. One open at a time. Inside Custom, in order: the way to write a new rule, the caution about doing it alone, then your rules.

Every rule the library offers now has a glossary entry behind it. Three had none at all: almsgiving, spiritual reading, and the blessing of food. A test now fails on the fourth.

Rules that are not daily say when they fall, the akathist being weekly on Saturdays and therefore looking, from a Wednesday, like a rule that never arrived.

Reading

The prayers are framed by a drawn border in the app's own parchment at eleven per cent: four corner pieces with the rules between them fading in at both ends. Navigation sits outside it. The ornament is drawn rather than imported, in the same way and the same weight as the bar's icons.

Text passes behind the border rather than across it. A band of the page's own ground at each end, drawn under the ornament and over the words, so a line arriving at the top dissolves before it reaches the frame and a line rising into view fades in through the lower band. Nothing is clipped and nothing reflows.

The same border is on macOS, from the same numbers.

Moving about

A subsection slides over the screen that opened it rather than replacing it. Tapping away or dragging down dismisses it.

Both platforms

The rope destination, the glossary entries, the priest's mark and the library order are all decided in core/ and are on macOS too.

What this is not

The first screen and the README no longer describe Chotki as inspired by anyone. It is an independent project by an Orthodox Inquirer, written because its author has no spiritual father within reach of where he lives. The welcome screen now says plainly that no application is a spiritual father and cannot stand in for one.

Still open

• An akathist has no text in the app. Adding it means a verbatim public-domain translation, and a paraphrased akathist would be worse than none, so it is waiting rather than guessed at.
• The border is on the prayers only. Whether the Psalter and the day's readings should carry it is undecided.
• iOS has none of this yet.
• The Intel slice of the macOS build is present and signed. It has never been run on an Intel Mac, or anywhere else.

Getting it

Android: Chotki-0.1.13-rc2.apk, Android 8 / API 26 or later. Signed by its author, so Android will warn you twice and you may install anyway. Installing over 0.1.12 keeps your record.

macOS: Chotki-0.1.13-rc2.zip, macOS 13 or later, universal. Signed by its author rather than notarised by Apple, so macOS refuses it until you allow it in Privacy and Security.