Novel DR · Full Changelog

v4.1.20 (rev495)

July 28, 2026

🛡️ “Stability & Recovery Patch”

[ Compatibility ]

Verified compatibility with Android 8–14 for the updated crash-reporting stack.

[ Warning ]

A small number of Android 13 devices may experience a one‑time delay on first launch while crash‑reporting hooks reinitialize. This resolves after the first successful app open.

[ New Features ]

Auto-Backup: optional toggle in Backup & Restore; silently creates backup on close/background. Auto-backups (tagged "auto", latest 3 kept) reuse the manual export pipeline and auto-clean older ones.
Per-novel write lock: prevents concurrent saves (e.g. progress autosave during app resume) from colliding on the same file.
Automatic cleanup of orphaned `.tmp` files from interrupted atomic writes.
Low-storage warning before novel download: warns if <200 MB free, shows exact free space, allows cancel or continue.
Update-available badge: a dot on the Settings tab icon when a newer version is available.
Backup size estimate: the "Label this backup" step now shows estimated size (before compression).
Automatic chapter download retry: failed chapters retry up to 3 times, then skip; all skipped chapters retried again (3 attempts each) at the end before finalizing.
"Recently Added" tag on library cards: unread novels added in the last 24 hours show "Recently Added" instead of "Unread", reverting automatically after 24h.
"Last Read: Xd" tag: novels with reading progress not opened in 2+ days show the days since last read, replacing the normal status badge.

[ Fixes ]

Fixed a race condition where overlapping saves sharing the same temp filename caused a moveAsync rejection.
Fixed orphaned `.tmp` files left by failed atomic writes, which previously wasted storage over time.
Fixed the library card "Continue" button: it now jumps directly to the reader at the last-read chapter. Novels without progress still show "Read" and open the detail page.
Fixed the reader's close button returning to the library instead of the novel detail page when opened via "Continue". It now always returns to the detail screen.
Fixed auto-scroll speed changes requiring pause/resume to apply. Adjusting speed while auto-scroll is running now takes effect immediately.

[ Changes ]

Changed default library tab on app open from "All" to "Reading".
The filter tab bar now auto-scrolls to keep the active tab centered, whether selected by tap or swipe.

[ Improvements ]

Atomic file writes now serialized per destination path, queuing overlapping writes to avoid races.
Failed library writes now clean up partial state automatically.
Improved the chapter list empty state on the novel detail screen with an icon, clearer text, and a "Go to Updates" button.
Minor internal cleanup across reader, settings, and library context files to reduce any usage and tighten type coverage.

v3.7.55 (rev411)

July 16, 2026

📖 "Sentry Overhaul"

✨ [ NEW ]

ZIP‑only backups — New backups are now always created as a single .zip file, built via a streaming, memory‑safe export (chapters written in bounded NDJSON parts, covers compressed and copied directly) rather than one giant in‑memory JSON blob.
Dual‑format restore — The restore flow supports both ZIP (v5+) and legacy JSON (v4 and earlier), from the on‑device backup list or the file picker.
Share button restored — The backup completion alert now includes a “Share Backup” button to instantly share the generated .zip file.
Native crash reporting (Sentry) — Native crash capture wired in at app launch, plus Session Replay (10% of normal sessions, 100% of sessions that hit an error).
Novel Cover compression — Covers are resized/compressed via expo-image-manipulator before being packed into the backup, instead of embedded as raw base64.
Check for Updates — Added the button Check for Updates in the Settings to manually check if there's a new version or the update was skipped.
Notif Bell Update — Added a Notif bell icon just on top of the Reload button; it will only appear once there's a new update or has been manually triggered by the Check for Updates in the Settings tab.
Chapter Deletion — Added a chapter deletion system that deletes chapters properly and have the same flow as deleting a novel in the Library tab.
Self Updater Implementation
- Implemented downloadApk using expo-file-system's createDownloadResumable.
- Added an update modal UI component, it looks like a notification bell, to notify users when a new version is available, showing version info, changelog, and a download/install action.
- Implemented downloadApk using expo-file-system's createDownloadResumable, with progress tracking for the modal's download state.
- Implemented installApk using FileSystem.getContentUriAsync + expo-intent-launcher to trigger the Android package installer directly from the app, and for Android 7+ compatibility.
- Added the REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission to app.config.js, since Android blocks "install from unknown sources" for sideloaded apps without it.
- Connected downloadApk / installApk into useUpdateChecker.ts so the update flow triggers automatically on version check.
Chapter Limiter
- Added a shared useChapterLimiter hook and ChapterLimitModal component.
- Thresholds: caution at 200 chapters, danger at 250+, hard cap at 300.
- Wired into both add.tsx and updates.tsx.

⚡ [ IMPROVEMENTS ]

Consolidated code — Removed collectAppData() and exportBackupJSON(), replaced with a single exportBackup() function for the streaming ZIP export.
File picker extended — Now accepts both application/json and application/zip MIME types, making it easier to import any backup.
Silent skip guard — Update's chapter-skip logging (SKIPPED: already fetched this run / SKIPPED: already in library) no longer prints per‑chapter — the skip guard now runs silently in the background.
Faster stuck-loop detection — Added a consecutive-skip counter (MAX_CONSECUTIVE_SKIPS = 5) that breaks the update loop immediately once 5 chapters in a row are skipped without a real download, instead of waiting on the much higher ITERATION_CEILING (maxCh × 5 + 50).
Clear stop message — When the guard trips, the log now shows a single clean line: “STOPPED: Update has stopped without downloading anything new. The source's "next chapter" link likely nonexistent.”
Progress-aware reset — The skip counter resets to 0 the moment a real chapter (new or gap-fill) actually downloads, so long legitimate resume runs over already‑downloaded chapters aren't falsely flagged as stuck.
Battery drain fix
- Traced excessive battery usage to splitSentencesWithLineBreaks and TTS highlight matching running on every single render frame.
- Fixed useMemo and a ttsToRenderKeyMap for O(1) lookups, for TTS render optimization.
Update checker fix
- Fixed a bug where the app could never actually tell what version was currently installed, so it kept thinking every release — even older ones — was a new update.
- The update check now correctly recognizes the version you already have, so you won't get repeat "update available" prompts or be offered a downgrade disguised as an update.

🗑️ [ REMOVED / REPLACED ]

Removed JSON backup path — The old exportBackupJSON() and its supporting code are no longer used.
Old single‑blob JSON export path removed — the original collectAppData() (full library + chapters + base64 covers built in memory, then double‑copied via JSON.stringify) is gone; this was the likely source of the OOM crashes on large libraries.

v3.1.0 (rev322)

July 4, 2026

🎨 "Reader Refresh"

✨ [ NEW ] — Margins presets (Compact, Comfortable, Spacious), 11 reader backgrounds (Parchment, Night, Forest, etc.), custom gallery images as background, tap-to-jump progress bar, TOC search with dynamic results.
⚡ [ IMPROVEMENTS ] — Reworked skipping logic to match Update tab, reduced skip delay from 200ms to 50ms, floating control panel as bottom‑sheet overlay, TTS highlight map precomputed with useMemo, reading progress saved every 3s via debounce, TTS scroll follows highlighted sentence, background preferences persist, auto‑scroll stops when TTS starts and vice versa.
🐞 [ BUG FIXES ] — Cover corruption, cover extension always saved as .jpg, rare TTS crash on chapter switch, text color on gradient backgrounds, "Next Chapter" preloading failure, TTS continuing after chapter change or app backgrounding, sentence splitting now uses only sentence-ending punctuation, proper handling of dialogue and line breaks.
♿ [ ACCESSIBILITY ] — Haptic feedback, visual press feedback on touch targets, long‑press instructions in TTS guide, "Scroll to Top [ ↑ ]" button in reader.

v2.7.4 (rev260)

June 8, 2026

🐛 [ PATCH FIX ] — Deduplication for LightNovelWorld to prevent repeating phrases when scraping chapters; fixed cover fetcher for LightNovelWorld.
✨ [ NEW ] — Lightweight fetch helper for faster skipping, Credits button and modal in Settings (displays authors in a scrollable view).
⚡ [ IMPROVEMENTS ] — Reworked skipping logic to match Update tab (25%/50%/75% milestones instead of every 30 chapters), reduced skip delay from 200ms to 50ms, reworked display modals for Developer Profile and Credits.
🗑️ [ REMOVED ] — Old skipping logic, redundant second navigation loop, stale code from previous skipping logic, duplicated emoji prefixes in Activity Log.

v2.5.18 (rev250)

May 21, 2026

⚙️ [ NEW/PATCHED/IMPROVEMENT ] — Automatic data migration fix for first‑run crash; migration now runs every launch to check for existing files; "Read" button on unstarted novels; refreshLibrary via Reload button and pull‑to‑refresh; Smart Text Formatting in reader; floating TTS button with status box, sentence highlighting, symbol‑to‑speech (e.g., → becomes "to"), better short‑word support (min 2 chars), proper line break preservation, circular URL detection, max chapter cap raised from 3000 to 5000, 6 themes (Dark, Light, Sepia, AMOLED, Warm, Slate), Report Issue / Feedback button with auto‑filled device info.
🐛 [ BUGFIXES ] — TTS button position and z‑index, quote handling, paragraph formatting, chapter titles now show real names instead of "Chapter X", TTS voice preferences loading.

v1.4.4 (rev175)

May 13, 2026

Fixed the doubling of chapter title of FreeWebNovel (e.g., "Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Prologue").
Fixed missing chapter titles for domains like AllNovel, ReadNovelFull, Novelfull, & Novelbin.
Fixed stray commas when trimming titles for ReadNovelFull.
Improved the downloader to utilize the new chapter title fetcher mechanism.

v1.4.3 (rev171)

May 11, 2026

✨ NEW — Overhauled Library UI (author, cover, source, progress, continue button), robust synopsis extraction for new domains, PDF Letter export option, new supported domains: NovelFull.com, AllNovel.org, NovGo.net.
⚡ IMPROVEMENTS — LibraryContext handles new fields, junk filter for new/old domains, update and download scraper support for new domains.
🐞 BUGFIXES — Synopsis extraction for new domains, "Content not available for this chapter", dysfunctional Synopsis' See More/See Less, spacing of synopsis, minor bugs and patches.
🗑️ REMOVED — Redundant 'Clear' button in Activity Log (duplicate of Clear Button).

v1.4.0 (rev147)

May 7, 2026

✨ NEW — Migrated library storage from AsyncStorage to expo-file-system for better persistence; automatic data migration on first launch with visual progress; multi‑location data recovery after updates; individual chapter file storage for 3,000+ chapters support; manual refresh button and pull‑to‑refresh; swipe gesture support for filter tabs; search filtering by title/author with batch selection; complete backup system saving all novels and progress to a single file; real‑time Activity Log; 5 export formats (TXT, EPUB, DOCX, RTF, MOBI); animated initialization screen on first launch.
⚡ IMPROVEMENTS — 85% RAM reduction with individual chapter file storage; enhanced chapter number extraction to support decimal and Roman numerals; cleaner milestone progress (25%, 50%, 75%); optimized chapter list with FlatList virtualization.
🐞 BUGFIXES — Table of Contents out‑of‑order chapters; gear icon crash (removed recursive settings calls); data loss when updating from previous versions; duplicate chapter entries when updating novels; autoscroll not working with smooth continuous scrolling; chapter flashing when navigating (persisting previous content); backup not saving all chapters from multiple novels; reader settings not persisting; progress bar not updating correctly during max chapter limits.

v1.3.11 (rev137)

Apr 28, 2026

Added swiping gesture to change tag filters (All, Unread, Reading, Completed), ascending/descending TOC button, Page AutoSort (merges missing chapters automatically).
Improved author metadata fetcher for LightNovelWorld, fixed "Go to Updates" button and unresponsiveness of buttons.

v1.3.10 (rev131)

Apr 25, 2026

Added Duplicity Guard to check for existing novel before download.
Improved Novelbin scraping with junk filters, streamlined title fetching. Fixed Author scraper for Novelbin and download freeze when downloading an existing novel.

v1.3.9 (rev128)

Apr 21, 2026

Updates tab now downloads/saves novel covers locally, refreshes covers if changed on source, and updates author/synopsis when source changes.
System Action Required warning card is now clickable, opens Android settings for managing unused apps.
Batch delete confirmation with item count display, "Starting Chapter" input field added next to "Max Chapters".
Improved skipper for smoother skipping and resuming from specific chapter, better error handling and duplicate detection during updates.
Fixed: Batch Restore default for imported backups, dysfunctional Restore system, missing Fetcher in Update tab, Starting Chapter field, Delete tab only deleting one file, minor bugs.

v1.3.8 (rev118)

Apr 15, 2026

Added support for LightNovelWorld (scraper for author, cover, synopsis, chapter content), About Developer tab with GitHub and website links, Import File function to Backup System.
Improved Skipper Code functionality, increased value presets for AutoScroll, Line Spacing, and Font Size, Download Tab now downloads cover locally.
Known issues: Delete Tab only deletes one file, missing Starting Chapter field in Update tab, missing Fetcher in Update tab, dysfunctional Restore in Import, Batch Restore not default.

v1.0.3 (rev055)

Apr 13, 2026

Full support for NovelBin and FreeWebNovel; library filters (All, Unread, Reading, Completed), search, batch delete via long‑press; long‑press novel cover to update reading status.
AutoScroll with presets, Updates tab search, Skipper (skip existing chapters), Traverser (resume downloads), Backup & Restore system, 2‑prompt warning for novel deletion.
Improved Download tab stability, FreeWebNovel now shows author, cover, and synopsis. Fixed icon of Update tab, full FreeWebNovel support, Author & Synopsis extraction.

v1.0.2 (rev36)

March 27, 2026

Activity Logs are now visible; stabilized downloader & update lifeline code.
Planned: Modify Update tab icon, full FreeWebNovel site support, improved Author & Synopsis extraction.

v1.0.1 (rev16)