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Tandem for Android

Tandem for Android requires a Tandem server that you, or someone you know, runs. It is not a bookstore and it has no library of its own — it reads the ebooks and audiobooks on a server you point it at, and without one it has nothing to sign in to.

Get the app

Get it on Google Play

First-run screen asking for a server

The app ships with no server address built in. The first screen you see asks for one: enter your server's address (for example https://tandem.example.com), tap Check connection, then Continue to sign in. You can change the server later from Account → Server URL; doing so signs you out of the old one, but anything you downloaded from it is kept and comes back if you switch back.

Try the demo

Don't have a server yet? The same first-run screen has a Try the demo button that signs you in to a public demo server with no typing required: address https://demo.tandembook.com, account demo, password tandemdemo. It holds five public-domain books, already transcribed and synced, and the account can read and listen but can't change anything in the library.

What it does

Home screen with continue listening

  • Offline downloads. Download a book's ebook, its audio, or both, and read or listen with no connection. A downloaded file never touches the network again.
  • Streaming when not downloaded. Press play on any audiobook and it starts whether or not it's on the device — the app streams it from your server, with seeking that works over the stream.
  • Background playback with lock-screen controls. Audio keeps playing when you leave the app, and the lock screen and notification shade get title, author, cover, and transport controls.

Audio player screen

  • Android Auto. A browse tree in the car with your library and a Continue Listening tab, so you can pick up a book from the driver's seat.
  • Cast. Send audio to a Chromecast. Casting needs the book downloaded first, since a cast receiver plays from your phone's own copy over the local network.
  • A guided walkthrough. A five-minute tour on first sign-in — and any time after that from Account → Help → Replay the walkthrough — that points at the real controls: opening a book, the reader's switch to audio, the player's switch back, and where downloads and your library filters live.

The guided walkthrough pointing at Continue Reading EPUB reader with the switch-to-audio control

Reading position is shared with the web app through the server: the portable coordinate is a chapter and a sentence within it, so the same book opens at the same place whether you were last reading on your phone or in a browser.

Privacy

The app talks only to the server you configure. The one outside call it makes on its own is the reader's Define action, which sends the selected word to a dictionary service — nothing else leaves the device, and nothing is sent while you're simply reading or listening. Full details: privacy.md.

Build it yourself

The app isn't only distributed through Play — you can also build and sideload it yourself; see docs/android.md for the steps.

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