Building in public. Every update, every improvement.
October 24, 2025
v0.0.8 - AI Chat Reliability & Telugu Responses 🎉
Fixed
- AI Chat now responds in Telugu! Fixed issue where AI was responding in English
- Added Telugu language instruction to ensure proper responses
- Better understanding of Bible context in your current location
Reliability Improvements
- Switched to stable, production-ready AI model (gemini-2.5-flash-lite)
- Automatic retry when AI service is busy - you won't see errors anymore!
- Fixed app crash when AI service returns errors
- Better error messages in Telugu when something goes wrong
Performance
- Added timeout protection (won't hang forever if connection is slow)
- Faster error recovery
- More stable under poor network conditions
Technical
- Backend deployed to Vercel with automatic updates
- Retry logic: 2 automatic retries with exponential backoff (1s, 2s)
- HTTP timeout: 30 seconds max wait time
- Error messages now in Telugu for better UX
- Model: gemini-2.5-flash-lite (stable, production-ready)
October 24, 2025
v0.0.7 - AI Chat Production Release 🎉
Released
- AI Chat Assistant now in production!
- Full version (0.0.3-full) available on Play Store with AI features
Added
- AI Chat Assistant powered by Gemini
- Multi-turn conversations about Bible verses, theology, and scripture
- Persistent chat history (all your conversations saved locally)
- Markdown-formatted AI responses
- Chat list with multi-select delete
- Message timestamps in 12-hour format
- Keyboard shortcuts (press Enter to send messages)
- Smart auto-scrolling (only when at bottom of conversation)
Technical
- APK size: 5.2 MB (signed, minified release build)
- R8/ProGuard optimization enabled
- Production keystore signing
- Version code: 3
- Room Database for chat persistence
- Material 3 Expressive components
October 20, 2025
v0.0.6 - Architecture Refactor
Fixed
- Fixed all padding and spacing issues throughout the app
- AI Chat input bar now has proper height without excessive padding
- Removed visible color seams between app bars and content
- All screens now have seamless, professional appearance
Changed
- Major architecture refactor following Google's "Now in Android" best practices
- Migrated from 5+ nested Scaffolds to single top-level Scaffold pattern
- Improved visual consistency across all secondary screens
Technical
- Removed all nested Scaffolds (architectural best practice)
- Single Scaffold pattern with proper window insets
- Performance improvements from fewer compositions
October 19, 2025
v0.0.5 - AI Chat Improvements
Changed
- Renamed "AI Assistant" to "AI Chat" for better clarity
- Implemented standard Android multi-select pattern for chat list
- Long-press any chat to enter selection mode
- Select multiple chats and delete them at once
- Visual feedback with checkboxes
Fixed
- Fixed subtle layout jerk when entering selection mode
- Improved accessibility with proper touch target sizing
Technical
- Migrated to Material 3 ListItem component for better standards compliance
- Follows Material Design patterns used in Gmail, Google Photos, and Files apps
October 17, 2025
v0.0.4 - Material 3 Expressive Upgrade
Changed
- Major Material 3 Expressive upgrade across the entire app
- Bible screen now features collapsing app bar that expands/collapses as you scroll
- Smoother navigation animations between Bible and AI Chat tabs (crossfade instead of slide)
- Updated all screens to match Material 3 design specifications
Fixed
- Fixed status bar color to match app bar (edge-to-edge display)
- Fixed app bar height issues across all screens
- Improved color consistency throughout the app
Technical
- Updated to Material 3 Expressive (Compose Material 3 1.4.0-alpha06)
- Implemented LargeFlexibleTopAppBar for dynamic reading experience
- Proper edge-to-edge implementation with window insets
October 10, 2025
v0.0.2 - Play Store Release Ready
Play Store Preparation (Basic Version)
- Created upload keystore for Google Play App Signing
- Enabled R8/ProGuard minification and resource shrinking
- APK size optimized: 16MB → 4.5MB (72% reduction)
- Removed all permissions (INTERNET, RECORD_AUDIO, ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE)
- Clean version number: 1.0 (removed -basic suffix)
- Privacy-first approach: Zero permissions, zero data collection
Bug Fixes
- Fixed: Chapter changes now reset to verse 1
- Fixed: App now saves and restores exact verse position on restart
- Fixed: Book changes now reset to chapter 1, verse 1
- Removed: Verse highlighting (basic version only, kept for full version)
Privacy & Legal
- Created comprehensive privacy policy (zero data collection)
- Added privacy policy link in About screen and website
- Repository made private
Version Strategy
- Basic v1.0: Simple Bible reader, zero permissions (Play Store ready)
- Full v2.0: Voice navigation with AI (future release)
Build Variants
- Created two product flavors: basic (v1.0) and full (v2.0 with voice nav)
- Removed dev-only features (Room analytics, debug metrics, audio debugging)
- Both flavors share same package ID for single Play Store listing
App Icon & Splash Screen
- Adaptive icon with beige background (#F5E6D3) and transparent Bible foreground
- Monochrome icon for Material You theming (Bible silhouette with cross cutout)
- Android 12+ SplashScreen API with system-controlled background
- Proper sizing: App icon (16dp padding), Splash icon (24dp padding)
October 9, 2025
Voice Navigation Improvements
Critical Fix: Audio Quality
- Increased sample rate from 16kHz to 44.1kHz (matching iOS)
- Switched from VOICE_RECOGNITION to MIC audio source (raw input)
- Target: Match iOS 60%+ success rate
TTS Pronunciation Fix
- Added number-to-Telugu word conversion (1-99)
- Fixed pronunciation: "3:16" now reads as "మూడు అధ్యాయం పదహారు వచనం"
- Prevents TTS from reading numbers as "3 to 16"
UX Improvements
- Stop TTS before starting new recording (prevents feedback loop)
- Added audio recording preservation for debugging
- Debug metrics screen with success rate tracking
October 8, 2025
Voice Navigation - Edge Case Handling
Core Validation & Defaults
- Auto-defaults: "Genesis" → Genesis 1:1, "Matthew 5" → Matthew 5:1
- Two-layer validation: Gemini AI + middleware against USFM files
- Invalid reference handling with actual limits in Telugu
- Intent detection (navigation vs unrelated questions)
Error Handling
- Short audio (<2 seconds) shows error without sending to Gemini
- No internet detection with "Try Again" button
- Noisy audio prompts Gemini to ask user to repeat clearly
- Hardcoded Telugu error messages with chapter/verse counts
Conversation Context
- Multi-turn conversations for extracting complete information
- Context preserved until successful navigation
- Ambiguous requests: "Peter" → AI asks "1 పేతురు లేదా 2 పేతురు?"
Development Analytics (DEV ONLY)
- Local Room database for tracking navigation metrics
- Debug metrics screen with success rate, latency, error breakdown
- Audio file preservation with timestamped filenames
- Pull script for extracting recordings from device