Home

Free and open source Audiobookshelf Android client

$$7771
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 6, 2026 20:03

Hi all, The other day, I posted here asking about recommendations on audiobooks servers and clients for iOS, and I got so many nice and very helpful responses from you all. I really, really appreciated the sense of community and help that you all showed me. Some of you mentioned Android clients and I checked them out since I do have an Android phone and the iOS one was for my wife. I appreciated the two Android clients I saw, the official ABS and Lissen but they weren’t what I was looking for (with the utmost respect to their developers of course).

A kind soul here recommended the app Still for iOS. I checked it out and it was such a nice app. The wife loved it too. I was bummed that it was iOS only. So, I decided to make one for Android (with the help of AI for transparency of course). I’ve been working on it nonstop for over 2 weeks now. When I say nonstop, I mean I stay up until 1AM daily working on it. I’ve got something working really well now.

I wanted to share that with you all in the hope that someone will find it useful. It’s completely free and open source (GPLv3). Completely private. Nothing leaves your device beside the calls the app makes to your own server. I won’t ask for donations or anything. I just want to share. I welcome any feedback and contributions.

Get it here and let me know.

https://lemmy.world/post/43932317
Reply
$$7791
https://feddit.org/u/prenatal_confusion posted on Mar 6, 2026 20:41
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43932317

Thanks for your work!

That being said they will hate it. If any ai Ia involved they will dismiss not only it but you and it’s a really irritating habit that is starting to emerge.

https://feddit.org/comment/11883075
Reply
$$7792
https://lemmy.ml/u/ashenone posted on Mar 6, 2026 20:43
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43932317

How would a dummy like myself install this app on Android?

https://lemmy.ml/comment/24376878
Reply
$$7797
https://lemmy.world/u/p_consti posted on Mar 6, 2026 20:54
In reply to: https://lemmy.ml/comment/24376878

Click on the release (green thingy after description) and download apk

https://lemmy.world/comment/22518811
Reply
$$7798
https://feddit.org/u/prenatal_confusion posted on Mar 6, 2026 20:54
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43932317

Try obtanium if you want to automate updates, otherwise just download the APK and open the file.

https://feddit.org/comment/11883257
Reply
$$7799
https://feddit.org/u/prenatal_confusion posted on Mar 6, 2026 20:54
In reply to: https://lemmy.ml/comment/24376878

Try obtanium if you want to automate updates, otherwise just download the APK and open the file.

https://feddit.org/comment/11883263
Reply
$$7800
https://lemmy.ml/u/ashenone posted on Mar 6, 2026 21:01
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22518811

Thanks!

https://lemmy.ml/comment/24377179
Reply
$$7807
https://lemmy.zip/u/illusionist posted on Mar 6, 2026 21:24
In reply to: https://feddit.org/comment/11883263

I’m not sure what could happen but I wouldn’t do that with a brand new app like this

https://lemmy.zip/comment/25083333
Reply
$$7813
https://piefed.social/u/tripping335 posted on Mar 6, 2026 21:40
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43932317

I’ve been using the official ABS app in Android for a while now and am curious what exactly makes it fall short?

I’m a software developer and it would have to be severely lacking for me to invest the time in sitting down and create a new one, even with AI tools. But that may be more of a disadvantage.

Sounds cool though, I haven’t seen Still and it would be nice with some screenshots.

https://piefed.social/comment/10423482
Reply
$$7816
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 6, 2026 21:55
In reply to: https://feddit.org/comment/11883075

That’s ok. I’m very much upfront about it. I’m not selling and making money, nor will I ever even ask for donations. I use AI for building things only for myself and literally have never shared with anyone before because I know some folks just don’t like it. But this one was too good not to share. It’s out there, and those who hate AI aren’t forced to use it. Is that fair?

https://lemmy.world/comment/22519677
Reply
$$7819
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 6, 2026 22:00
In reply to: https://piefed.social/comment/10423482

Functionality wise, the official one works no problem. It’s the UI. I’m a visual person and like eye candy. I liked how the iOS app Still looked, so I thought why not? Wanted to have fun with it. That’s all :)

https://lemmy.world/comment/22519733
Reply
$$7820
https://awful.systems/u/smiletolerantly posted on Mar 6, 2026 22:02
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43932317

Why are there no screenshots in the README.

Yes I know I can just install the app, but for an app that primarily seems to define itself by its UI improvements over the established competitor, the screenshots are the deciding factor in the question “Should I download and install this?”, and no screenshots defaults to “no”.

https://awful.systems/comment/10689016
Reply
$$7822
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 6, 2026 22:05
In reply to: https://awful.systems/comment/10689016

I agree with you 100%. This is on me. I’ll be putting screenshots there as soon as I get home. I just kept hammering at the app and forgot about the screenshots. Good call out.

https://lemmy.world/comment/22519787
Reply
$$7824
https://lemmy.ca/u/escapeVelocity posted on Mar 6, 2026 22:07
In reply to: https://piefed.social/comment/10423482

No plaza stop button on the notification menu when the phone is locked

https://lemmy.ca/comment/22070320
Reply
$$7826
https://lemmy.world/u/gdog05 posted on Mar 6, 2026 22:12
In reply to: https://feddit.org/comment/11883075

I can’t speak for everyone with my comment here. I really, really hate the side effects of the AI bubble. Where they force it into every fucking element of life. And honestly, I hate even that it’s being called AI. I hate that it’s made traditional algorithmic services worse like Google Now for example. And I hate the lack of privacy it’s brought.

That said, I have no problems with someone using it to complete a project with it. I think it could potentially raise a potential device security concern in a case like this. And probably wouldn’t partake in the app because of that. But I use my own self-hosted LLMs all the time. It helps me format things, saves me time with searching and researching when I want an answer, not knowledge.

There are many rational reasons to dislike and avoid “AI”. As well, there’s many irrational people. And there are some good uses for the technology.

https://lemmy.world/comment/22519903
Reply
$$7867
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 6, 2026 23:38
In reply to: https://awful.systems/comment/10689016

Screenshots are.

https://lemmy.world/comment/22521096
Reply
$$7868
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 6, 2026 23:39
In reply to: https://lemmy.ml/comment/24376878

You got it running? You good?

https://lemmy.world/comment/22521107
Reply
$$7909
https://aussie.zone/u/vividspecter posted on Mar 7, 2026 01:10
In reply to: https://feddit.org/comment/11883075

If any ai Ia involved they will dismiss not only it but you and it’s a really irritating habit that is starting to emerge.

It’s perfectly understandable. It used to be that a project that had the appearance of a significant amount of work and polish put into it could be reasonably trusted. With the rise of LLMs, that assumption has gone completely out the window as people can churn out appealing looking slop in record time. In addition, LLMs are dominated by the most transparently evil tech companies in existence, and the fully open models aren’t yet good enough, and are still built on the backs of the absurd amount of energy usage used to train the models.

That all being said, I don’t think the OP is being malicious and I appreciate the disclosure but I’d give this project a year of maintenance before I would reasonably trust it.

https://aussie.zone/comment/21791051
Reply
$$7920
https://lemmy.world/u/Passerby6497 posted on Mar 7, 2026 01:40
In reply to: https://piefed.social/comment/10423482

am curious what exactly makes it fall short?

The podcast playback is sorely lacking. It can’t play more than one episode without having to select the episode, which makes playlists kinda pointless unless it’s just following one storyline in a podcast that runs more than one concurrently. It also doesn’t seem to support defaulting listing order other than newest, and the next episode is always the latest, despite the current playback order

https://lemmy.world/comment/22522629
Reply
$$7969
https://feddit.org/u/prenatal_confusion posted on Mar 7, 2026 04:03
In reply to: https://lemmy.zip/comment/25083333

Is a different issue and I agree with you that I wouldn’t just install this.

https://feddit.org/comment/11888275
Reply
$$7982
https://lemmy.world/u/oyzmo posted on Mar 7, 2026 05:27
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43932317

Good work! And thanks for the Still iOs tips 😊

https://lemmy.world/comment/22524722
Reply
$$8001
https://awful.systems/u/smiletolerantly posted on Mar 7, 2026 06:25
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22521096

Awesome! And good job, looks great!

https://awful.systems/comment/10692568
Reply
$$8016
https://piefed.social/u/tripping335 posted on Mar 7, 2026 06:57
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22519733

I can understand that. Even coming up on my first decade working as a dev I still love it an occasionally do some projects on my spare time. LLMs have made hobby projects so much more achievable and there’s something very rewarding being able to make something yourself.

Thanks for the screenshots, looks good!

https://piefed.social/comment/10428374
Reply
$$8018
https://piefed.social/u/tripping335 posted on Mar 7, 2026 07:00
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22522629

Oh, I don’t listen to podcasts so I wasn’t aware it was this lacking. Understandable wanting something else in that case.

https://piefed.social/comment/10428390
Reply
$$8044
https://lemmy.zip/u/baner posted on Mar 7, 2026 08:02
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/post/43932317

Looks awesome, any chance that you put this on fdroid?

https://lemmy.zip/comment/25092060
Reply
$$8187
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 7, 2026 13:35
In reply to: https://lemmy.zip/comment/25092060

Thank you. I was actually thinking of that. I’ll need to find out how and then will go for it for sure.

https://lemmy.world/comment/22529388
Reply
$$8188
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 7, 2026 13:37
In reply to: https://awful.systems/comment/10692568

Thank you

https://lemmy.world/comment/22529421
Reply
$$8189
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 7, 2026 13:37
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22524722

Of course :)

https://lemmy.world/comment/22529426
Reply
$$8190
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 7, 2026 13:40
In reply to: https://piefed.social/comment/10428374

Thank you and absolutely. And I feel even better when the people I share my work with, like it.

https://lemmy.world/comment/22529458
Reply
$$8404
https://lemmy.zip/u/baner posted on Mar 7, 2026 20:39
In reply to: https://lemmy.world/comment/22529388

Please do it, there is a big part of the foss community that only install apps from fdroid, including me.

https://lemmy.zip/comment/25102733
Reply
$$8903
https://lemmy.world/u/DonutsRMeh posted on Mar 8, 2026 16:46
In reply to: https://lemmy.zip/comment/25102733

Request has already been submitted to their gitlab page :)

https://lemmy.world/comment/22547823
Reply