ReadBear
By
@Tulis
- 21 Devlogs
- 112 Total hours
A cute and chill CBZ, PDF, EPUB Android-native reader that’s ridiculously configurable - for free!
Ship #1
Pending review
ReadBear
A cute&chill CBZ, PDF, EPUB reader that’s ridiculously configurable!
Your companion for reading your PDFs, EPUBs and CBZs! Configure it the way you want: reading layout, theme, language, spacing and many more!
Challenges
I learned Kotlin along the way (came from programming in Java) so it was a little bit funky at first. It was also my first time programming in a declarative library (UI directly in the code) and powered by states. But it is amazing now, and I’d like to think that I learned how to write native Android apps thanks to this challenge!
Techstack
The app is written in Kotlin with Jetpack Compose and is avaliable on Android. It uses Hilt and some libraries for extracting metadata from various formats! I also created a custom fork of Reorderable for this project, check it out here.
How to download?
Download it from F-Droid, Obtainium, and directly from Github releases.
Thanks so much!
Thanks for the ability to participate in this amazing project and challenge, and thanks for voting on this project!
Devlog 21
Final devlog before shipping!
- updated README
- updated website and licenses
- fixed some bugs
- prepared workflow for shipping
There won’t be another devlog, this is prob last 
Thanks for enduring with me on this journey, it was a fun one! And I got to learn compose and kotlin development!
Please help me get this app on Google Play!
I am looking for testers to apply to the Play store! Sign up for testing here
Devlog 20
What did I do in such time?
- created project page here
- adding my app to google play! now in closed testing!
- set up mkdocs, and Github Actions with that
- getting ready to ship!
- fixed some bugs
- updated READMEs, logos and art
What will I do next?
- add my app to google play
- get ready to ship
- fix some critical bugs (there aren’t any just joking hihihi
)
See you in the next one (one of last 
!)
Devlog 19
What did I do?
- I created a fork of Reorderable (a kotlin compose library for easy reordering), and added custom hover events
- you can now a add books to folders
- you can now move books around (change order)
- there will be a custom animation on hover (now just a red box
) - I am in the process of adding ReadBear to google play! (it’s hard and they require a lot of data )
What will I do next?
- continue adding CRUD to folders
- add custom animations
- continue with the google process
We are getting closer and closer to a ship!
Thanks and see you in the next one!
Devlog 18
100H ON READBEAR! YUPIIIII 
What did I do?
- FOLDERS WORK NOW! please see the video to give me some dopamine
- folders took:
- 5 commits
- 400 lines added, 1200 lines removed
- adding whole file migration system
- 15+ hours
- I am so happy the folders work (kinda)
What will I do now?
- continue with art
- customization
- finishing crud on folders
F-Droid: v0.8.1
GitHub: dev branch
Please spread the Beary News (100+ hours)
See you in the next one!
Devlog 17
I am so sorry for no devlogs!
What did I do?
- i am still working on folders! they require a whole ui rewrite unfortunately!
- i got in contact with an artist, we are preparing some new logos and backgrounds! check samples in the pictures
- a lot of files changed (and I mean a lot - see in pictures)
- got everyting i18n-ated (all changelogs etc)
- file migrations (and custom screen!)
What I will do next?
- folders. I will hopefully finish them to the next devlog!
- work on the custom logos and backgrounds!
F-Droid: v0.8.1
Github: v0.8.1
Logo author: Castellon Artz
Devlog 16
What did I do in all this time?
- a lot of in-between things - for example githooks with tests (I pushed a bad build to f-droid, I need to learn on my mistakes
) - a huge db migration - i am working on folders
- dates are in the ui (last read time, created at)
- you can now edit booktype-specific data
- working on folders! (a hugely big amount of work :<)
What am I doing next?
- folders, snippet folders
- probably more tests
- update languages
- add some icons (a nice artist reached out to me!)
See you in the next one!
Devlog 15
What have I been cooking in this much time?
- snippets! they are so pretty, you can zoom, see them pinterest-style, edit (with validation) and the cherry on top - you can now edit the selection!
- a lot of code updates and refactors
- added dates to DB (will add to UI in a sec!)
- file rename (almost all files had to be changed )
- fixed a lot of random bugs
- fixed fdroid logo
What will I do next?
- some suggestions from my friends :>
- fix bugs
- notes!
- local rating!
- local saving!
- a lot of customization!
Devlog 14
What have I done? (I am so happy )
- I FIXED A BUG THAT WAS THERE FOR OVER A MONTH. It turns out I really had to thing outside-the-box (gosh I am so funny - cause yk - jetpack compose has boxes). The bug was caused when you press the back button quickly as it fades (as on video)
- a huge code refactor
- removed a bunch of bugs
- added viewing snippets, and saving them
- again i would want to empathize how happy I am and how much work the first one took XD
- got my website verificated with my signature
- I added an abstraction layer to menu - to help extend it further
What I am working on?
- snippets (going back to the source)
- editing snippet details
Thanks so much for reading this, I am so happy rn. 
Devlog 13
What changed?
- my code. really, most of the changes are to the quality of the code
- fixed covers not changing
- fixed editing (still working on it)
- added empty pages info (a pretty card)
- split pdf reading into 3 files (much more readable and maintainable code)
- moved navigation bar hiding/showing into separate file
- fixed random bugs
- still debuging the random empty page bug!
What I am working on next?
- debuging random bugs!
- my todolist (currently bookmarks/editing)
I also released the next version on F-Droid, with the updated logo!
Devlog 12
What changed?
- I moved out of vibecoded pdf library (sorry to say that, but it was terrible)
- snippets work now! there won’t be quotes as selecting in cbz’s and pdf is hard/non existable on mobile, but you can have cool snippets!
- attributions in snippets
- database migrations
- debuging, debuging and a lot of additional debuging
- fixed some bugs
On what I will focus next?
- modifing snippets/deleting viewing
- a lot of code optimisations!
On F-Droid: v0.7.2
Devlog 11
What changed?
- my app is now on F-Droid and the logo is clear (not blurry from my skill issue)
- new navigation menu
- zooming CBZs!
- working on quotes!
- fixed a library that i use for pdfs (hopefully they will accept the change XD)
- thinking how to do quotes for image-pdfs
What I will focus on next?
- quotes
- bookmarks
Release: v0.7.2
On F-Droid: v0.7.2
Please spread the beary news!
See you in the next one
Devlog 10
What changed?
- my app is now on F-Droid!
- we have tasty themes
- automatic translation credits
- fixed repo authors
- my icon on F-Droid is blurry
What am I doing next:
- bookmarks
- quotes
- support for more formats?
Thanks for sticking with me :)
If you have any thoughts on themes (adding more!), create an issue!
Release v0.7.0
F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/pl/packages/dev.tulis.readbear/
Devlog 9
MY APP GOT MERGED TO F-DROID!
Yes, as you can see, I am a bit happy :)
What changed:
- a lot of small changes to get my submition accepted
- you can select theme mode (dark, light, system)
- translation credits are now automatically added with GitHub actions
- added shrink options, my apk is now only ~25mb instead of 50mb!
- working on custom themes - catppuccin!
- relases are now stable! data migrations will be now in the repo
What I am working on next:
- bookmarks and quotes
- collections/folders
- movable order of books (this is gonna be hard)
- adding the app to Google Play (at the end)
Thanks for sticking with me! I am so happy that I got into F-Droid, after the merge in around 1-2 days you can go search ReadBear! (I will add the badge too)
Relase: v0.6.3
Devlog 8 (a huge two i am so funny hahahahaha)
What changed?
- epubs! (oh the horrors, this was so hard)
- three languages now: Polish, English and Russian
- i am in the process of adding my app to F-Droid (like it to help me!) Merge Request
- a lot of improvements to GitHub actions (caching, 4m build time reduced to ~30s!)
- reproducible builds and signing
- tasteful theme selection
- we don’t talk about the red cover.
What is going on next?
- improving epubs
- we talk about the red cover.
- adding it to F-Droid
- adding the app to google play store :)
Devlog 7 (a huge one 
)
What changed?
- a beautiful new vector logo!
- app info page and proper versioning
- tests on github actions on translation
- fix translation to properly use plurals
- working on polish translation
- Gradle build now bundles translation credits from Weblate
- settings on pdf reader and an abstraction layer before it (easier future coding)
- fix a lot of bugs and
memory leaks(who said that?) - added a bunch of customization options
- added a split page function for funky pdfs
What I will be working on next?
- Epubs
- Fixing visual bugs
Release v0.3.0
See you in the next one!
Devlog 6
What I changed?
- added a configurable reading layout option for PDFs
- added a new book info page (so pretty!)
- fixed bugs and i18n issues
- there will be English, Russian, Polish translations!
- fixed code quality (a lot!)
What am I doing next?
- Epubs
- More configurable options for PDFs and Epubs!
Thanks for reading!
Release v0.2.0
Devlog 5
(sorry for so little devlogs, hackatime was down 
)
What changed?
- Releases! Now the actions build and sign the app for releases (prereleases for now but yes)
- Pdf support!
- Full db rewrite
- More configurable options (and even more coming)
- A lot of bug fixes
- Got weblate set up for translating
- Bookmarks for PDFs
- A lot of metadata and info page!
What am I doing next?
- Epubs - it is confirmed and doable :)
- More custom features and themes
- Make the info page human?
Release: v0.1.0
See you in then next one!
Devlog 4
What have I changed?
- I created a Github actions builder that publishes the latest version to artifacts (releases later, as they are not ready XD)
- created lovely art and letterpaper (banner) also this tasty background changing depending on the theme)
- I am in the middle of completely changing the db structure to accommodate PDFs and EPUBs
- many code optimisations
I will focus on?
- PDFs for now
- more themes
See you in the next one!
Devlog 3
What have I done?
- full i18n-ation (every text is in strings file, so it can be translated), english as of now (russian and polish are coming)
- you can zoom the panels so you can adore all the details
- settings now has tabs so more options can be added
- settings popout extends all the way instead of a akward middleway
- settings are actually saved when pressing the “Save” button (yes they were discarded when saving, and saved when pressing somewhere else 🤭)
What I will be working on?
- hopefully epubs
- removing all the bugs 🐛
- making it even more customizable (custom backgrounds and themes are coming!)
See you in the next one!
Devlog 2
(omg I am writing this third time, I need to copy it this time)
What I changed?
- added bookmarks (auto remembering where you last read)
- added beautiful coffee theme
- added customization options
- added rereading (am I the only one to reread books/mangas all the time?)
- fixed bugs and memory leaks (memory leaks in an android app, I know)
On what I will focus now?
- writing more frequent devlogs
- I18N - aside from polish, english and probably russian
- maybe EPUBS 💀
- fix some annoying bugs (such as the cover sometimes not changing)
I created a Github repo!
See you in the next one!
Devlog 1, what it is?
ReadBear is a cute app for reading Comics (.cbz) and hopefully EPUB books! It is written in Jetpack Compose and will be Android only.
What have I done?
I made importing the comics/mangas through file, adding it to database and indexing for reading. You can click on the comic/manga and start to read it! There is some customising options but not that many as I would like in the finished product
This is my first Android app!
I really love the Material Design and UI so I am happy to use Compose! This is my first time in Kotlin (coming from Java) so it is a bit confusing, but I like it!
Ooopsies! I forgot to create a project and post devlogs on this app!