Dogeared Open the web app
Official Android app

Dogeared, on your phone.

The same app you already use — same shelf, same journal, same stats — installed properly on Android, with its own icon in your app drawer.

Download the APK →
Free · No account required · Works offline
Heads up — this doesn't look like an Android phone. The download below only installs on Android. On iPhone or iPad, open the web app in Safari and tap Share → Add to Home Screen. On a computer, just use the web app in your browser.

Installing it

Dogeared isn't on the Play Store yet, so Android will ask you to confirm a couple of things along the way. That's normal — here's the whole flow.

  1. Tap the download button

    It takes you to the latest release on GitHub. Tap the file ending in .apk to download it.

  2. Chrome will ask if you're sure

    You'll see something like This type of file can harm your device. Tap Download anyway. Android shows this for every app downloaded outside the Play Store, whoever made it.

  3. Open the downloaded file

    Tap the download notification, or find it in your Files app under Downloads.

  4. Allow installs from this source

    The first time only, Android sends you to a settings screen. Turn on Allow from this source, then press back. If you don't see this, skip ahead — you're already set.

  5. Tap Install

    Play Protect may show one more Install anyway prompt. Confirm it, and Dogeared lands in your app drawer.

  6. Open it and sign in

    If you use Google sign-in on the web, use the same account here and your shelf appears exactly as you left it.

Is it safe? Android keeps warning me.

Those warnings mean "this didn't come from the Play Store" — not "this is dangerous". Android shows them for any app installed directly. The APK is built in public from this repository's source code by a GitHub Actions workflow you can read, and it's signed with a key that the site itself vouches for. If the file had been tampered with, Android would refuse to install it over the real one.

Is this different from the web app?

No — and that's deliberate. The Android app is the same Dogeared, same screens, same everything. What you get is a real app icon, a proper fullscreen window with no browser bar, and reading-session notifications in your system tray.

Will I lose my books and journal entries?

No. If you were already using Dogeared in Chrome on this phone, the app picks up exactly where you left off — it's the same storage. And if you use Google sign-in, everything syncs regardless of which device or version you're on.

Can I use the web app and the Android app together?

Yes. Sign in with the same Google account and they stay in step — start a book on your laptop, finish it on your phone.

How do updates work?

Mostly automatically. Improvements to Dogeared itself reach the app as soon as they go live, with nothing to reinstall. Every so often there's a new APK for app-level changes — you'd download it the same way, straight over the old one, and nothing is lost.

Why not the Play Store?

It's on the list. For now, downloading it here keeps Dogeared free and independent.