search

ahrm / sioyek

Sioyek is a PDF viewer with a focus on textbooks and research papers
https://sioyek.info/
GNU General Public License v3.0
7.15k stars 236 forks source link

Android port #840

Open ykonstant1 opened 1 year ago

ykonstant1 commented 1 year ago

I read in an earlier issue that you are planning to port Sioyek to Android and iOS devices. I find that a very exciting prospect, because I use an android tablet to read papers and having all the niceties of Sioyek (especially the overview!) would be amazing. I would like to know if there is any progress on that port, and/or what the major pain points are.

Thanks!

ahrm commented 1 year ago

Android port is pretty much done: https://twitter.com/Ali_Mostafavi_/status/1645025689265995776 (it doesn't look like the screenshot now though XD we have a special touch UI now). However, the iOS port is holding me back a little because of some bugs and I want to release the android and iOS version simultaneously so it might be a little longer.

ykonstant1 commented 1 year ago

Understandable; I have heard horror stories about iOS development. This is very exciting news nevertheless, and I am looking forward to the ports!

HakonHarnes commented 1 year ago

+1 Also very exited for this! Didn't know you were also working on an iOS version. Are you planning on synchronizing highlights and bookmarks between the desktop/mobile apps or will it be kept locally only?

ahrm commented 1 year ago

In the android version it is possible to synchronize the database using dropbox and and an app called FolderSync. I don't know if it is possible on iOS and even on android it is pretty inconvenient. I am thinking about implementing a specialized server-side syncing mechanism but if I do it will be a paid subscription service because of server upkeep costs. I am curious if there is any demand for that at all?

HakonHarnes commented 1 year ago

I am curious if there is any demand for that at all?

Yes. When reading papers for my master's thesis I used to read papers on my iPad and annotate them there, then import them on my computer later. I tried the embed_annotations command but it didn't work that well for me. If I were to read it again on the iPad I would have to embed the annotations from Sioyek, add more annotations on the iPad, export it again, and re-extract the highlights. Quite the hazzle with syncing between devices!

In the android version it is possible to synchronize the database using dropbox and and an app called FolderSync. I don't know if it is possible on iOS and even on android it is pretty inconvenient.

An iOS app I use called "HeavySet" does it in a similar way - but it uses Google Drive or iCloud I believe. Maybe you can get some inspiration from there?

I am thinking about implementing a specialized server-side syncing mechanism but if I do it will be a paid subscription service because of server upkeep costs.

This would be the preferred way but more complex of course. You'd also need some sort of authentication and authorization mechanisms. I would recommend looking into Amazon Web Services (AWS) if you go this route. They have some fairly reasonable (always) free tiers, like 25 GB of storage with DynamoDB and 1 million AWS lambda function calls. If you exceed 25 GB you will of course have to pay, but you'll only pay for what you use.

I would lean against not doing server-side syncing as it will complicate stuff a lot, and I'm unsure how many users actually need cross-device syncing. To be fair, I don't even need it at the moment - I was just curious.

zetashift commented 1 year ago

In the android version it is possible to synchronize the database using dropbox and and an app called FolderSync. I don't know if it is possible on iOS and even on android it is pretty inconvenient. I am thinking about implementing a specialized server-side syncing mechanism but if I do it will be a paid subscription service because of server upkeep costs. I am curious if there is any demand for that at all?

Hopefully it's possible with Syncthing as well! I use syncthing to sync my notes and it's been pretty painless. A subscription service sounds like a fine solution for people not wanting to do the manual work themselves.

PilgrimRy commented 8 months ago

This would be amazing. Geez, i wish i was a more capable programmer and could contribute.

ouboub commented 4 months ago

Hi are there any news related to the iOS release? Since I use my iPad for teaching and research very much, that would be a game changer! Ok, I will buy you a coffee first :) Uwe Brauer

ahrm commented 4 months ago

Hi, I did make some progress on the iOS port but I don't want to give a timeline because it probably will be wrong. It definitely will come out at some point though.