FBReader 3.5 for Android: a big update is coming

Today, we announce the most significant update of FBReader for Android in 2023. FBReader 3.5 RC 1 is out. RC is short for “Release Candidate”. If no critical issues are found in the next few days, it will be renamed 3.5. As for today, the app is available to download from our site. We will gradually release it to the Play Store and AppGallery users in the coming days.

It is not 3.2 but 3.5, as it includes too many new features. Almost all essential changes from the beta are included in this release.

• The new text view includes
  • Vertical (continuous) text scrolling
  • Colours support
  • Rendering of all Unicode characters
  • Tweaks for e-ink devices
• The app looks better on newer devices and newer OS versions, including Android 14
• The thumbnail library view (a.k.a. the bookshelf plugin) is built-in in both Premium and Free editions; you can switch back to the “classic” view if you prefer
• The cloud sync is faster and more stable
• The app notifications are split into several channels; you can turn the channels off or on separately
• The app opening of password-protected PDFs
• The release includes a lot of fixes and performance improvements

3.5.* series will work on Android 5.0 and newer.

We updated the plugins accordingly. Since this version, we have changed the plugin numbering scheme to avoid confusion. The plugin has the same number as the main app it is built for.