Private Android alpha
You're early. Here's the honest version.
Thank you for testing Quillode. This page is the part most beta invitations leave out: exactly what works today, what is still rough, and what we're asking of you. We would rather you arrive with accurate expectations than be quietly disappointed.
Android only · sideloaded, not on the Play Store · invite code required
Human voices only · no payments in the alpha · nothing you import leaves your phone
It's an alpha, not a preview
This is unfinished software you install yourself. Expect rough edges, occasional crashes, and features that change between builds. It is not a polished demo of a finished product.
Your reading may be lost
Bookmarks, notes and progress live on your device. A reinstall, a failed update, or a bug can lose them. Please don't make Quillode the only home for anything you would be upset to lose.
Nobody pays for anything
There are no purchases, subscriptions or payments in the alpha. Premium features are unlocked by your invite code. If you are ever asked to pay inside this build, something is wrong — tell us.
What works today
All of this is built and tested on real devices.
- A curated public-domain library where the narration and the written words move together, highlighted as you listen.
- Download whole books for fully offline listening and reading.
- Import your own audiobooks — single files or multi-file sets — and play them with chapter navigation, speed control and a sleep timer.
- A dual scrubber on your own audio: scan a zoomable waveform without moving playback, then mark a moment or a passage.
- Trim a bookmark's exact start and end by eye and by ear, then keep it with a note, a colour and a reaction.
- Import your own EPUB and read it, with your progress remembered per chapter.
- Mood beds and ambience — licensed music and nature sounds layered under the narration, with independent volumes.
- Turn a passage into an illuminated quote card to share, where the source rights allow it.
- Background and lock-screen playback, so the app doesn't stop when your screen does.
What's still rough or missing
Known, tracked, and deliberately not hidden from you. If you hit something here, you don't need to report it — though you're welcome to tell us how much it bothers you.
- Android only. There is no iPhone or iPad version, and no date for one.
- No accounts. Your unlock is tied to your device, not to a login, so nothing syncs between devices.
- The app is a large download — around 300 MB — because the music and voices ship inside it. That will shrink before launch.
- Images inside imported EPUBs can be cut off at a page break.
- Only one of the visual themes has its full artwork yet; the others are colour palettes for now.
- Updates are not automatic. The app tells you a new build exists and you install it yourself.
- Some imported audio files won't open at all, depending on where you picked them from — a limitation in how Android hands files to apps.
- No Arabic or Spanish yet. Both are planned, neither is in this build.
What we ask of you
Read something you actually want to read.
- Use it for real reading, not just a poke around. Ten minutes of genuine listening tells us more than an hour of clicking.
- Report bugs from inside the app — the ? icon, then Report a bug. It attaches the context we need.
- After a proper session, use the beta feedback form for the bigger picture: what worked, what annoyed you, and whether you would keep reading.
- Tell us when something feels wrong rather than broken. "This is confusing" is as useful as a crash.
- Please don't share the APK or your code. Codes are bound to one device and we'd rather spend the time building than policing.
- Only import audio and books you lawfully own.
You are not obliged to give feedback on a schedule, and you can stop at any time without explaining why.
Human voices only. Every narrator you hear on Quillode is a real human being. We will never put a synthetic voice in your ears and call it narration.
Your code and your device
Worth reading once, because the one-device rule surprises people.
- Your invite code unlocks the premium features for the alpha. It is bound to the first device that uses it.
- Reinstalling on the same phone works fine — the code still recognises it.
- Entering it on a second device will be refused. That is intended, not a bug.
- Changing phones? Email us and we'll release the binding. It takes a minute and we're happy to do it.
- We may revoke a code that is being shared around. We'd much rather not.
When a new build is ready, the app shows an update notice on the home screen. If you think you're behind, tap the refresh icon beside the version, or fully close and reopen the app — a warm app doesn't always notice straight away.
What we do with your data
The short version: as little as we can get away with.
- The audiobooks and EPUBs you import stay on your device. We never upload them.
- Your bookmarks, notes and reading positions are stored locally, not on our servers.
- There is no transcript export or sharing in this build.
- We keep privacy-minimal records — enough to run unlock codes and see that the app is working, and no more.
- Your device isn't identified by anything we can read back to you: the code binding uses a hashed device value.
- We don't sell anything to anyone, and there is no advertising or third-party tracking in the app.
- Want your data gone? Ask us, and uninstalling removes everything held on your device.
Questions, bug reports, a new phone, or a request to be removed — [email protected]. We read everything, and we answer.