Earlier today I pushed an open source version of Mimi Reader to GitHub. It has all of the ads and Crashlytics removed, but otherwise it’s the same app.
To build it, you may need the YouTube API library. It’s not in maven so it’s a static jar file that you can get from Google. Just drop it in the /libs directory after cloning the project. After that, open the project in Android Studio and build it.
The last few releases have included a lot of visual and backend changes. For whatever reason this is the one I decided to call 5.0.
What can you expect in the 4.9 and 5.0 versions?
Those are some of the new user-facing features. However, behind the scenes a lot more has changed. The largest is the integration of RxJava into my database access. Instead of using the ORMLite library, I have switched to a combination of ActiveAndroid with SQLBrite. This combination gives me a lot more control without losing the convenience of model objects. It should also provide a much better base to add more features that will require persistent storage. My plan is to implement thread hiding in a future release.
I just updated the app on the Google Play Store. It should be available in the next 24 hours.
With the 4.8 release, I changed how 4chan API requests were made from the app. The old system was called Volley. I used it throughout the app for most of the network requests. Everything from API calls to basic image downloading was done through Volley (backed by OkHttp). The app now uses a couple of libraries that are more specific but better at their jobs. The first library I implemented is called Retrofit. It makes all of the API calls incredibly easy. The second library is called Glide. It handles the basic image downloading so I don’t have to do it manually through Volley anymore.
Retrofit has a couple of different ways to implement it. The first is through a basic set of callbacks. Those work fine, but I decided to go with RxJava instead. With it I can do processing in the background easily and bring the results back to the main thread to be displayed.
The switch to Retrofit with RxJava and Glide has increased performance significantly. I’m still finding little areas of improvement, but the loading time for network calls has decreased significantly.
The 4.8.3 release has a few extra additions:
It’s up on the play store now. I’m fixing bugs for a 4.7.2 release shortly.
The latest update just fixes a bunch of bugs and rounds out some features. There isn’t anything new, but it should be more stable.
Mimi 4.7.0 Beta 2 [Download]
The latest update to Mimi adds a couple of new features as well as some much-needed updates.
To use the new tabbed layout, go into the settings and choose it from “Layout Type” option. This should also open things up for more layouts in the future. A decent amount of the work in adding a new layout type was in making things more modular.
Mimi 4.7 Beta 1 [Download]
Another beta is out. This one fixes bugs related to making new posts.
The beta version of Mimi was removed from the Play store a little while ago. I’m no longer able to update it. The market version is fine, but the beta is gone. Instead of starting a new beta, I’ve decided to just release the apk and let people have at it.
Installing an apk requires a certain level of technical ability, but there are a ton of tutorials online.
Changelog
This update is only for the free version. Ads in the gallery and between full threads are significantly reduced.
I also threw in a few fixes for crashes.
As many of you know and have commented on, the 4.5 versions of Mimi have a new ads system. I honestly thought people would prefer it over the banner ad that took up space on every page. There are less places within the app that have ads now than when the banner was being shown. The only difference is placement and size.
Whatever my excuses are, it doesn’t change the fact that the perception is that there are too many ads in the app. I get the message and I’m working on fixing it.
My goal is always primarily to have a fun app that people enjoy using. Ads are included to give my time value and motivate me to keep making improvements. As much as they are hated, ads have kept me working on the app for almost 3 years now.
I just wanted to let you know that I hear what you’re saying about ads and I agree with you. Next time I’m at my dev computer I’ll reduce the number of ads.