this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2026

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Gander: an offline file viewer for Android with an empty permissions page. MIT on GitHub, and now on Play too. (github.com)

submitted 3 days ago by mokshablr@lemdro.id to c/android@lemdro.id

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

GitHub · Google Play

Opens PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, photos, video, audio, Markdown and code, all rendered on the device. About 5 MB, one build for every processor, Android 8.0 and up.

Search works in every document type. PDF text selects, copies and reads aloud to a screen reader, and there is a night mode that turns the paper black and leaves most photographs alone.

Its permissions page is empty and the manifest has no INTERNET so it can't open a network connection. Files reach it through the system picker, an Open-with intent, or a folder you grant once. The About screen asks Android what the app requests and shows you the result.

Not an editor. Legacy .ppt does not open. Complex PowerPoint renders approximately.

I will be in the comments today, so ask away, including why it isn't on F-Droid yet.

top 14 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] straussbelial@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Good idea but AI slop. Good luck mantaining it

[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The README is full of slop, what about the code?

[–] mokshablr@lemdro.id 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Fair question. A lot of it(the README and code) was written with AI assistance under my direction, and every push runs with a the test suite in CI.

The no-permissions claim doesn't depend on trusting that tho.. the build fails if a permission is added, the About screen on the app also shows what Android says the app requests(isnt hardcoded), and it's open-source MIT licensed, so the code is there to read.

If you find something bad in it, you can open an issue and I'll definitely be there to look into it.

[–] uuj8za@piefed.social 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So it's AI code. Got it.

[–] HodorPlease@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So it's AI ~~code~~ slop. Got it.

[–] Epp@lemmus.org 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

So ~~it's AI code~~ the people saying it's slop are slop. Got it.

[–] davidgro@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Ok then, why not on F-Droid yet?

[–] mokshablr@lemdro.id 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

F-Droid is the one I actually want. The request has been open since July (https://gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp/-/issues/4138) but nobody from F-Droid has reviewed it yet, which seems to be normal there.

The one thing I expect review to bring up is that the renderers are vendored as minified JavaScript, and I've offered to swap in unminified copies or build them from source. Meanwhile, the APK on GitHub releases works with Obtainium.

[–] KaKi87@jlai.lu 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Put a "Get it on Obtainium" button on the README

[–] mokshablr@lemdro.id 6 points 3 days ago

Done, thanks! The README's install section now has a one-tap link to add Gander to Obtainium: https://github.com/mokshablr/gander#install

[–] Psychodelic@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Hey, this thing is pretty great!!

Legit no permissions! Very neat

[–] mokshablr@lemdro.id 4 points 3 days ago

Thank you! Gander was built with a privacy-first approach since the beginning.

[–] undrwater@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

System TTS or built in?

Any root functions?

[–] mokshablr@lemdro.id 2 points 3 days ago

System. Gander has no TTS of its own.. it uses TalkBack or whichever screen reader you're on to read the document, PDF text included.

And no root functions, it's a viewer and asks for no permissions at all!