Hey everyone!

I’m thrilled to announce that HandyReader 1.19.260710 (Build 23) is officially live and ready for download!

This release has been a real labor of love. If you’ve ever worried about losing your carefully curated library — your reading progress, bookmarks, highlights, notes, vocabulary, and reading stats — when switching phones or reinstalling the app, this one is for you. The long-awaited full backup & restore is finally here, and it’s everything I wanted it to be. I’ve also packed in smart book deduplication, file relocation, OPDS download improvements, smarter cross-device sync, and a big batch of under-the-hood performance work.

Let’s dive into what’s new!

What’s New?

Full Backup & Restore

This is the headline feature. With a single tap, you can now back up your entire library — book information, reading progress, bookmarks, highlights, notes, bookshelves, vocabulary book, and reading statistics. Everything travels with you.

When restoring, HandyReader intelligently matches books already on your device, so you’ll never end up with duplicate imports or lost reading records. Cover images are synced too, so your library looks exactly the way you left it. Switching phones is now completely worry-free.

Smart Book Deduplication

Duplicate imports have always been annoying, so I built a deduplication mechanism based on file content (SHA-256). When you import a book, HandyReader automatically recognizes if it’s already in your library. During sync and restore, existing copies are matched first, preserving your reading progress and status.

Book File Relocation

Books get moved or renamed — it happens. Now, when a book file is moved or renamed on your device, you can simply re-link it without having to re-import it. If a file ever goes missing, HandyReader shows a clear “broken link” warning with convenient options to fix it right away.

OPDS Download Enhancements

When downloading books from OPDS catalogs, you can now choose where they’re saved — either in HandyReader’s internal storage or in a public folder — so your files end up exactly where you want them.

Improvements

A Smoother Reading Experience

• Faster large-chapter loading: Books with very large chapters now load noticeably faster, so your reading stays smooth and uninterrupted.
• Haptic feedback on text selection: Long-pressing to select text now gives a subtle haptic nudge — a small touch that makes interaction feel a lot more satisfying.
• Quicker reader startup: I’ve optimized the reader’s startup logic, so books open faster than before.
• Smoother PDF paging: The PDF reader now uses a sliding-window caching mechanism for much more fluid page turns, and it auto-adapts to your device to prevent out-of-memory crashes.

TXT Parsing Upgrade

• TXT files now use a byte-offset index, so reopening a book you’ve already started is dramatically faster.
• Encoding detection has also been improved, correctly recognizing many more text encodings.

Home Screen Batch Operations

I’ve completely reworked multi-select in your library. There’s a new floating quick-action menu that lets you batch edit, favorite, move, and delete books. Managing a large library is now a breeze.

Smarter Cross-Device Sync

Building on the sync work from the last release, reading progress now syncs across devices with timestamp-based conflict resolution, so an older progress never overwrites a newer one. Sync strategies are now separate for audiobooks and text books, since they behave so differently.

Other Changes

• Better FB2 compatibility: Enhanced encoding support for FB2-format books.
• Stability: Squashed various crashes and stability issues across the app.

Wrapping Up

This release is all about peace of mind. Your library — your progress, your highlights, your notes — is now safe, portable, and free of duplicates. Whether you’re switching phones, restoring after a reinstall, or syncing across devices, HandyReader has your back. Combined with the performance improvements across TXT, PDF, and large-chapter books, I hope this makes every reading session a little smoother.

What’s Next?

For the next release, I’ll be focusing on the most-requested improvements to reading settings:

• Text Alignment Options: Align your text exactly how you like it.
• Per-Book Reading Settings: Let each book remember its own reading preferences, so different books can have different setups.
• Smarter Typography: Further optimizing the typesetting/layout algorithm for cleaner, more consistent rendering.
• Dual-Column Reading & Large Screen Support: If time permits, I’d love to add a dual-column reading layout with better adaptation for tablets and large screens.

Looking a bit further ahead, here’s what’s on the roadmap:

• WebDAV Auto Backup & Sync: Cross-device automatic backup and sync via WebDAV, so your library stays safe without you lifting a finger.
• Book Collections: Group and organize books into collections right within your library.
• Calendar Reading Statistics: Visualize your reading habits on a calendar view.
• More PDF Features: A broader set of PDF reading and management capabilities.

Download Now

Grab the latest build and let me know what you think!

• GitHub Releases (v1.19.260710): https://github.com/EucWang/HandyReader/releases/tag/v1.19.260710
• Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wxn.reader

Note: If the update hasn’t hit your Google Play Store yet, it’s likely still in review and will be available very soon. In the meantime, you can always grab the APK directly from the website download page. Requires Android 6.0 or higher.

Happy reading!