Releases

What changed

Every release, in short — the seven most recent open, and the fifty before them a click away. The full notes, including why a bug happened, are in the changelog.

1.5.10 4 October 2026

Future date checklist reminders & deep linking, Scripture Psalms reader with highlights, and web guide styling

Added

  • Future Date Journal Checklist Restriction. Browsing to future dates in the Journal now permits checklist-only entries with an informative liturgical notice banner, reserving prayer reflections and freeform text for the present day while supporting advance task and discipline planning.
  • Checklist Reminder Deep Linking. Tapping a checklist reminder notification directly opens the target entry and date in the Journal, bypassing onboarding screens.
  • Scripture Psalms in Library Codex. Accessing Psalms (መዝሙረ ዳዊት) from the Books & Scripture hub now opens the full 150-psalm Scripture Reader with verse selection, 4-color highlighting, bookmarks, personal notes, and verse copying, while keeping the dedicated prayer psalter for devotional hours and Home screen reading.

Changed

  • Web User Guide & Liturgical Manual Polish. Polished and unified the standalone web guide (guide.html) with responsive sidebar navigation, real-time search, bilingual Amharic/English toggles, and seamless site integration across all pages.

1.5.9 4 October 2026

Home Psalter button polish, Wudase Maryam stability, and web manual redesign

Changed

  • Home Psalter Button Label. Polished the Home screen Psalter button label to always display መዝሙረ ዳዊት (Psalter) accompanied by the daily psalm range caption (የዕለቱ መዝሙር / መዝ ፩–፴) instead of the generic range prefix.
  • Web User Guide Redesign. Completely redesigned and styled the web User Guide & Liturgical Manual (guide.html) with a responsive 2-column documentation layout, sticky sidebar, real-time search filter, bilingual Amharic/English toggle, Expand/Collapse controls, Ge'ez numeral table of contents, scrollspy, and unified website navigation.

Fixed

  • Wudase Maryam Home Navigation. Fixed an app crash when opening Wudase Maryam from the Home screen by hardening horizontal pager key and page bounds, clamping initial page indices, and ensuring explicit daily section parameter routing.

1.5.8 4 October 2026

Light mode default, Library codex structure, Church books typography polish, and Journal refinement

Changed

  • Default Light Mode Theme. Configured light mode (Sacred Ivory / Parchment) as the app-wide initial default theme upon first launch across settings and theme resolution.
  • Library Codex Architecture. Reverted Library screen to its clean canonical single ቅዱሳት መጻሕፍት entry pointing to the full 81-book canonical structure, keeping the signature ReadingHeroCard.
  • Books Page Typography Harmonization. Standardized typography across Church book shelves (ShelfRow and BookRow in BookShelfScreen.kt) to titleMedium and bodySmall, eliminating bold reading serif weights on navigation buttons.
  • Journal Day Refinement. Removed daily feast names from Journal entry cards and headers to keep prayer reflections clean and focused on personal devotion.
  • Web User Guide Integration. Synchronized liturgical user manual (guide.html) with website navigation and site generator.

1.5.7 4 October 2026

Interactive heatmap day inspection card, direct Horologium reader jump, and habit management flow

Added

  • Interactive Day Inspection Card. Selecting any day on the Ethiopian year heatmap displays an inspection card detailing canonical hours and habits kept on that date, active fasts, day navigation chevrons, and a direct button to view the day's journal entry.
  • Direct Horologium Reader Jump. Long-pressing any canonical hour strip item (or tapping an hour chip in the day inspection card) opens the Horologium reader directly to that hour's prayers (hour/{hourId}).
  • Discreet Habits Management Button. Added an አስተካክል (Manage) text button in the Habits section header for direct access to habit configuration.
  • Daily Discipline Guidance & Checklist Integration. Added guidance in habit creation advising daily disciplines for habits and Journal checklists for periodic tasks, backed by optional scheduled checklist reminders.

1.5.6 3 October 2026

Unified home hairline dividers, HeroCard feedback in settings, horizontal journal day strip, and liturgical UI audit

Added

  • Horizontal Journal Day Strip. Replaced the 30-day square grid on the Journal screen with an interactive, horizontally scrollable day strip showing Ethiopian weekday names, Ge'ez numerals, fasting status, written entry indicators, and smooth auto-scrolling to today.
  • Unified Today & Desert Father Hairline. Merged the Today (ዛሬ) journey row and Desert Father saying (የአበው ምክር) on the Home dashboard into a single hairline block sharing a middle divider line to eliminate duplicate parallel rules.
  • HeroCard Settings Feedback. Adopted the canonical Gitsawe HeroCard design for the Settings feedback card with liturgical contrast across both light and dark themes.

Fixed

  • Liturgical UI Component Audit. Closed accessibility and touch target gaps across Manage Hours, Marks, Penance, Search, About, and Special Habits.
  • Journey Screen Integrity. Preserved the canonical 4-column canonical hours grid and responsive heatmap on the Journey screen.

1.5.5 2 October 2026

Settings feedback card, journey day and hours horizontal scrolling, clock picker alignment

Added

  • Prominent Feedback Card on Settings. Replaced nested text list item with a dedicated, illuminated liturgical hero card in Settings featuring deep emerald gradients, gold accents, and a high-visibility *"Share your thoughts"* action pill.
  • Horizontal Journal Day Strip. Replaced the 30-day square grid on the Journal screen with an interactive, horizontally scrollable day strip showing Ethiopian weekday names, Ge'ez numerals, fasting status, written entry indicators, and smooth auto-scrolling to today.
  • Interactive Heatmap Cells. Made Ethiopian year heatmap density cells directly clickable to select and inspect dates, integrating a calendar picker icon.

Fixed

  • Clock Time Picker Unalignment. Fixed horizontal alignment and right-edge dial clipping when setting prayer alarms and reminder schedules across all dialogs.
  • Content Provenance & Typography. Updated Synaxarium and Wudase Maryam digitization attributions and added Abba Garima to web typography credits.

1.5.4 2 October 2026

Distraction-free prayer mode, universal reading progress bars, and Mahlet screen redesign

Added

  • Distraction-Free Prayer Mode. Integrated system bar immersion and soft auto-hide of headers for Hourly Canonical Prayers, Psalm of the Day (Psalter), and Wudase Maryam. Hides the status bar (clock, battery, notifications) and controls after 3 seconds of stillness or upon scroll, with seamless tap-to-reveal interaction.
  • Universal Reading Progress Bars. Added subtle 2dp golden reading progress indicator across all scripture and devotional readers: Psalter, Sinksar, Scripture, Wudase Maryam, Melkea/Mahlet, Shelf Books, and Gitsawe lectionary passages.
  • Mahlet List Screen Redesign. Streamlined Mahlet feast index with header action search icon, refined Ethiopian month pills with Ge'ez count badges, and accessible 48dp liturgical service buttons for vigil (ዋዜማ) and dawn (ማኅሌት).
13 earlier releases, 1.5.3 back to 1.0.0

1.5.3 2 October 2026

Settings hub reorganization, daily quote bookmarks, and UI card refinements

Added

  • Settings Category Hubs. Reorganized settings into 4 structured category hubs (Preferences, Notifications, Records, Appearance) with live status subtitles.
  • SinqCard Containers & Semantic Leading Icons. Enclosed settings and spiritual records rows into styled SinqCard containers with leading icons (Paid, VolunteerActivism, FavoriteBorder, Bookmarks, FormatListBulleted, CalendarMonth).
  • Desert Fathers Daily Quote Bookmarking. Added bookmarking support to daily quotes with direct bookmark navigation and journaling from bookmarks.
  • Daily Quotes Source Attribution. Added attribution citing catenabible.com in the contemplation sheet and share intents.

1.5.2 2 October 2026

Compact lockscreen keyguard widget support and dimensions optimization

Added

  • Compact Lockscreen Widget Support. Configured targetCellWidth="2", targetCellHeight="1", and reduced minimum height in widget provider metadata, allowing the Desert Fathers saying widget to qualify for compact lockscreen widget trays (e.g. Samsung One UI 6.1+ under-clock widget editor and Android keyguard pickers).

1.5.1 2 October 2026

Guaranteed lockscreen quote notifications, on-by-default quote reminders, and streamlined home layout

Added

  • Guaranteed Lockscreen Visibility for Daily Quotes. Upgraded daily quote notification channel to IMPORTANCE_DEFAULT with silent sound and non-intrusive priority, guaranteeing display on Android lockscreens across vendor skins (Samsung One UI, Pixel, Xiaomi) where low-importance silent notifications are suppressed.
  • On-by-Default Daily Quote & App-Start Sync. Switched daily quote lockscreen reminder to enabled by default and added automatic sync on application startup.

Changed

  • Streamlined Home Dashboard. Removed the Annual Reading plan progress card from the Home screen, restoring spacious vertical hierarchy and focus to the canonical prayer hours (NowCard), daily scripture lectionary (GitsaweCard), and the hairline Desert Fathers contemplation row.

1.5.0 2 October 2026

Desert Fathers Daily Quotes, Lockscreen widgets, privacy-first lockscreen notifications, and multi-year rotation

Added

  • Desert Fathers Daily Sayings (የአበው ምክር). Bundled 844 canonical sayings from the Desert Fathers (*Apophthegmata Patrum* / ዜና አበው) covering 124 Desert Fathers and Mothers with full Amharic and Ge'ez titles.
  • Continuous Multi-Year Rotation. Implemented an advancing multi-year progression ensuring consecutive years never display the same sayings on the same day (~2.31 years of unique content).
  • Lockscreen & Home Widget. Created an offline Android AppWidget with widgetCategory="home_screen|keyguard", with ongoing public lockscreen notification fallback for devices without lockscreen widget support.
  • Home Contemplation Row & Sheet. Added an ultra-compact hairline row on Home (☩ የአበው ምክር · [Author] →) opening a contemplation sheet with sharing and direct spiritual journaling.
  • Privacy-First Lockscreen Notification Policy. Explicitly configured notification visibility across the app: only Daily Quote and Daily Gitsawe are visible on the secure lockscreen (VISIBILITY_PUBLIC); prayer alarms, habit streaks, breath prayers, and reading reminders are strictly quarantined (VISIBILITY_PRIVATE and VISIBILITY_SECRET).
  • Notification Schedule & Settings. Added on/off toggle and custom time picker in Settings allowing users to customize when the daily quote refreshes.
  • Reading Plan Visuals. Refined reading plan overview with visual section badges, part headers, and bookmark markers.

1.4.2 30 September 2026

Sinksar punctuation setting, streamlined prayer list divider, and content fixes

Added

  • Sinksar Word-Colon Setting. Added setting toggle in Appearance & Reading allowing readers to toggle traditional wordspaces (፡) while preserving clauses and sentence stops (፦, ፤, ።).

Changed

  • Prayer List Divider. Replaced separate Living and Departed section headers with a quiet thin dividing line between categories.

Fixed

  • Meskerem 21 Sinksar. Corrected commemoration paragraph alignment and readings for Meskerem 21.

1.4.1 30 September 2026

Streamlined 3-section settings hierarchy and first-run alert choice on home

Changed

  • Unified 3-Section Settings. Reorganized Settings into Appearance & Reading, Prayer & Reminders, and Data & About with inline font picker, text size stepper, prayer level selector, and direct alert styling.
  • Home Screen Alert Choice. Presented the 3-option reminder style choice (Alarm, Vibrate, Notification) directly on the Home screen for first-run installs and updates.

1.4.0 30 September 2026

Preserved Ethiopic punctuation, top bar language selector, streamlined onboarding, and reminder setup

Added

  • Ethiopic Punctuation Preservation. Preserved traditional wordspaces (፡) and punctuation (፦, ፤, ።) across the entire Synaxarium and Melkea corpora, with full normalization in search and rubrication.
  • Top Bar Edition Selector. Relocated Amharic and Ge'ez language switches to the top app bar in both Sinksar and Wudase Maryam, keeping bottom control bars minimal and focused.
  • Reminder & Battery Setup. Introduced a permission verification sheet and a Home notice bar ensuring reliable background prayer notifications.
  • Three-Choice Alert Styling. Added onboarding selection between full audible ringing, discreet vibration only, and silent banner notifications.

Changed

  • Streamlined First-Run Onboarding. Merged overview presentation directly into profile setup and retired the redundant post-install What's New tour overlay.

1.3.2 30 September 2026

Refactored stepper components and trimmed redundant interactive modifiers

Changed

  • Inline Chapter Stepper. Inlined liturgical hour stepper directly into vertical reader, eliminating redundant single-caller wrapper layer.
  • Pruned Redundant Modifiers. Cleaned duplicate minimumInteractiveComponentSize calls on IconButton and edition toggle capsules, relying on native Material 3 sizing contracts.

1.3.1 30 September 2026

UI/UX accessibility, touch targets, and standardized button design system

Added

  • Standardized Button System. Introduced unified SinqPrimaryButton, SinqOutlinedButton, SinqDestructiveButton, and SinqStepperButton design tokens with Material 3 styling and color-scheme awareness.

Changed

  • Touch Target Compliance (48dp Minimum). Enforced minimum 48dp interactive boundaries across edition toggles, date steppers, and navigation controls to eliminate tap misses.
  • Button Prominence & Hierarchy. Elevated primary commit and confirmation actions in dialogs and forms across habits, vows, penance, tithe, and reading plans while preserving subdued text styling for dismissals.
  • Vector Icons. Replaced raw text glyphs with accessible Material vector symbols across reader steppers, settings, and journal navigation.
  • Semantic Destructive Actions. Applied semantic error coloration to irreversible deletion and reset confirmations.

1.3.0 29 September 2026

Unified reader navigation, embedded Melkea hymns, and liturgical punctuation

Added

  • Embedded Melkea Hymns. Integrated መልክአ ማርያም and መልክአ ኢየሱስ directly into Wudase Maryam as navigable pages.
  • Unified Reader Control Bar. Single-line docked bar in Wudase Maryam and Sinksar with a scrollable portion track and hairline divider.

Changed

  • Minimalist Edition Toggle. Replaced bulky swipe/button toggles with a clean, single-action liturgical pill displaying the target language without decorative emojis.
  • Liturgical Punctuation & Strophes. Restored traditional Ge'ez punctuation (፦, ፤, ።) and stanza numbering across Melkea hymns.

1.2.1 29 September 2026

Codebase refinement and performance optimizations

Changed

  • Removed Unused Scaffolding. Cleaned out dead and unreferenced models, repositories, and preferences.
  • Regex Optimization. Hoisted and precompiled regular expressions in offering amounts entry.

1.2.0 29 September 2026

Complete bilingual Sinksar across all 366 days in Amharic and Ge'ez

Added

  • Full 366-Day Sinksar. Complete bilingual parallel editions for every day and month of the Ethiopian year.
  • Reader UI. Numbered narrative paragraphs, Arke salutations, and liturgical red rubrication.
  • System Integration. Deep integration with lectionary, search, and bookmarks.

1.0.0 26 September 2026

Official Google Play release with structured liturgical corpus, 81-book Bible, and modern reader

Added

  • Structured Liturgical Corpus. 32 canonical Melkea strophic hymns, unified 25-office Seatat (Horologium) with speaker roles (Priest, Deacon, Congregation), and 181 feast orders of Mahlet.
  • Complete Canonical Scriptures. Full 81-book Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, complete Psalter (መዝሙረ ዳዊት), and liturgical calendar lectionary (ግጻዌ).
  • Refined Reading & Liturgical UI. Automatic rubrication in traditional red ink, speaker indicators, anatomical focus kickers, custom Ge'ez typography, and offline prayers.
  • Target SDK 36. Optimized for Android 16 (API 36) ensuring the app meets the latest Google Play standards for security, battery life, and performance.
  • Google Play Integration. Direct in-app privacy policy access, Google Play rating and feedback, and responsive notification scheduling.

Everything before this

Every release back to the first is recorded in the changelog, and each one has its signed APK on the releases page.