Mogu Reader — Manga & Manhwa Reader for Android

Mogu Reader is a focused, ad-free Android reader for manga, manhwa, manhua, and other page-based comics. It reads local comic files and can browse supported online sources. It has no accounts, analytics, ads, or trackers.

Current app version: 2.10.0 (versionCode 24). Android 8.0 (API 26) or newer is required.

Install and updates

Download the APK from the latest release and open it. Android will ask you to allow installing from this source the first time.

After that the app keeps itself current: on launch it quietly checks this repository's latest release (at most once every six hours) and, when there is a newer version, offers to download and install it. You can also check on demand from Settings -> Updates -> App version.

Android does not let an ordinary app install silently, so the final step is always a system confirmation. Updates only install over an existing copy when both APKs are signed with the same key, so always install the APK from a release here rather than one built locally.

Version 2.0 implements the imported Tome Glass design canvas with an ambient glass backdrop, floating navigation, continue-reading hero, comic import sheet, featured sources, grouped history and settings cards, glass chapter rows, and floating reader controls. The original Claude Design sources are preserved under design/claude for traceability.

What it reads

• CBZ, CBR, ZIP, and RAR comic archives
• Image files and image folders, including chapter subfolders
• PDF files rendered as comic pages
• Downloaded and streamed chapters from supported online sources

New EPUB and TXT novel imports are intentionally unsupported. Existing legacy novel rows are left untouched in the database and hidden from the manga library, so updating the app does not delete user data.

Reader

• Vertical webtoon scrolling, left-to-right pages, and right-to-left manga pages
• Auto-scroll with adjustable speed
• Fit-width comic rendering without page cropping
• Pinch and double-tap zoom in paged mode
• Page seek, chapter navigation, volume-key paging, focus mode, and screen-on option
• Exact chapter and scroll-position resume for local and online reading
• Bounded image decoding and a small streaming cache for long chapters

Sources

The Discover screen gives AquaReader and MangaDex dedicated featured cards. Its integrated feed uses the same main catalogue sources as the desktop app:

• MangaDex, through its public API
• WeebCentral
• Asura Scans
• Flame Comics

Additional manga/manhwa sources and official website shortcuts are available from Discover → Sources. AquaReader is included as an in-app website source because the site currently rejects direct catalogue requests; Mogu Reader does not pretend that search, imports, or downloads work when the source blocks them.

Source websites can change or become temporarily unavailable. Mogu Reader shows source errors, limits concurrent requests, times out stalled calls, and lets the user open the website when an integrated chapter is unavailable. It does not bypass logins, paywalls, DRM, or other access controls.

Library and downloads

Library layouts

The layout row above the library switches between four presentations, and the choice is remembered across restarts:

• Grid — the adaptive cover grid (default)

• Shelves — horizontal rails, series first and then grouped by comic format

• List — a dense single-column view with progress on each row

• Cards — a browsable deck for picking up something to read

• Import individual comic files or a complete folder through Android's file picker

• Group chapter files and image subfolders into a series

• Search, sort, filter, tag, follow, and track reading history

• Stream online chapters or download unread chapters for offline reading

• Check followed series for new chapters in the background

• Export and restore app data with ID-safe merging

Removing a local library entry never deletes the user's original file. Mogu Reader only deletes downloaded files inside its own private download directory.

Build and install

The project targets Android SDK 34 and Java 17.

.\gradlew.bat :app:assembleDebug :app:testDebugUnitTest :app:lintDebug

The build output is:

app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk

Install or update it on a connected Android device with:

adb install -r app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk

The convenient copy at the project root is mogu.apk.

Architecture

Mogu Reader is a single-module Kotlin app using Jetpack Compose, Room, DataStore, Coil, WorkManager, OkHttp, and Jsoup. Local format readers live under data/source, online integrations under scraper, and the Compose UI under ui.

The Room schema retains legacy enum values for safe upgrades and backup restores, while all visible queries and new imports enforce the manga/manhwa-only product scope.

Privacy and permissions

Online browsing and chapter downloads require INTERNET and network-state access. Notifications are optional and are used for downloads and followed-series updates. WorkManager supplies the wake-lock and boot permissions needed to reschedule those checks. Local reading works offline after content has been imported or downloaded.

Building

./gradlew assembleDebug          # debug build
./gradlew assembleRelease        # signed release (needs keystore.properties)
./gradlew testDebugUnitTest      # unit tests

keystore.properties holds the release signing key and is deliberately not in this repository. Without it the project still builds, but falls back to the debug key and produces an APK that cannot update an official install.

To check that the online sources still work against the live sites:

./gradlew testDebugUnitTest --tests '*LiveSourceReadTest*' -DliveSources=true

It walks catalogue -> series -> chapter -> page images for every source and reports which ones are readable and which can page past the first screen.

Releasing

scripts/release.sh 2.10.1 "What changed"

Bumps the version, builds a signed APK, pushes the commit and tag, and publishes a GitHub Release. Installed copies pick it up on their next launch.