Carry the entirety of Wikipedia in your pocket with Kiwix for Android

Translate this post

An Android tablet displaying the Kiwix app showing a Wikipedia article
The Kiwix app empowers Android users to download and view large sets of Wikipedia content on their devices while offline.

Kiwix isn’t just Yet Another Wikipedia app. Once you install it on your Android device, you can actually use it to download the whole website, and access its millions of articles even when you’re offline (or when you don’t want to use your data plan). You can also download smaller (and custom) selections of pages, if you’re short on storage space.
Providing access to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites to as many people as possible is one of the Wikimedia movement’s core goals. While their regular desktop, online version is enough for most users, it is inadequate for many others.
This is the reason why, throughout the movement, Wikimedians are working to diversify and facilitate access to Wikipedia and its sister sites:

  • Kiwix is a software that allows users to browse full snapshots of Wikipedia (and numerous other resources) from a personal computer that isn’t connected to the internet.
  • The Wikipedia Mobile App allows smartphone users to browse Wikipedia on mobile devices, save articles and much more.
  • The Wikipedia Zero initiative allows cellphone users in Africa and Asia to access parts of Wikipedia without incurring data charges.
  • The Kiwix-plug empowers African students to access full snapshots of Wikipedia and Wikisource right from their campus, on their own laptop or phone.

Kiwix for Android is the latest innovation in this series: This app, available from the Google Play Store or from the Kiwix website, allows users of Android-powered devices to browse offline content from Wikipedia and its sister sites.
The market of Android-powered devices is exploding. It is not limited to mobile phones and tablets, but it also powers TV, appliances, “USB computers” and an increasing range of cheap computers.
In places where connectivity is a difficult (at least 30 countries on the sole African continent), the only way to access Wikipedia content is Kiwix Desktop, but it still requires a computer and electricity. Cheap Android devices might spread more quickly, and we really want to facilitate access to free content everywhere.
That said, Kiwix for Android can also be just as useful to Westerners who want to walk around with the entirety of the world’s largest encyclopedia in their pocket (if they have a big enough SD card), accessible at no cost or data fees.

Where do I get it?

It’s very easy to use:

  1. Download the app from the Google Play Store, and launch it;
  2. Click on the “Open” button, select a ZIM file from the list (from your device or SD card);
  3. That’s it! You’re already browsing offline content.

If you don’t already have a ZIM file, Kiwix leads you to its online repository so you can download one. You can also use any of the Books created on Wikipedia.
Being a mobile version of a feature-rich desktop software, the Android version is lightweight. It provides access to the most essential features: opening and reading a ZIM file, search with auto-completion on article titles, in-page search, random navigation, zoom in & out, and access to the mobile-friendly ZIM file catalog.

How does it work?

Kiwix for Android uses a native Android user interface in Java (which offers a nice look & feel) and is built on the Kiwix and libzim C++ code. We combine these tools using the Java Native Interface.
It’s very easy to improve the app. Just download the code from our code repository and read the COMPILE file. You don’t even need to compile the C++ code: it’s available as a pre-compiled file. You can directly start hacking the UI and easily rebuild the APK package file.

What’s next?

This is the beginning of Kiwix for mobile. This Android version was developed during a one-week hackathon sponsored by Wikimedia CH (Switzerland) and our focus was on providing a stable and comfortable experience.
Our strategy for mobile development is not set in stone. We have some ideas but are also expecting feedback from users. Give it a try, and tell us what you want: new features, new paradigm, new platform target, etc.: We’ll try to make it happen.
Beside the Kiwix app itself, we are also working to provide more content in the ZIM format, so that every Kiwix-enabled device can become a large library of free content.

About Kiwix

Kiwix is an offline content reader working with ZIM (OpenZIM) files. It works on Windows, Linux, Mac and now Android. Additionally, it is available as a Web Server solution and powers the Afripedia Plugs.
Renaud Gaudin, Kiwix Developer

Archive notice: This is an archived post from blog.wikimedia.org, which operated under different editorial and content guidelines than Diff.

Can you help us translate this article?

In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?

12 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Any advantages over Aard Dictionary?
Aard dictionary works great, see http://aarddict.org

[…] The app can also be used to download special selections of pages. Wikimedia’s Renaud Gaudin writes: […]

You know, If you’d make an easy to use Android app, that would keep me updated for instance once a week when I have Wifi. I’d pay between 5 and 10 dollars for that each year. Because, well it is still available free, but if you don’t need internet any-more. It is a service. A good service. There is simply no other way to access such a vast research of quality information, off-line. I would definitely pay for it, even yearly. And I hope other would too. That would kind of end your financial problems. (And the surplus you can… Read more »

[…] fundación Wikimedia ha publicado un post en su blog, recomendando otra app para descargar los millones de artículos contenidos en la Wikipedia en un […]

[…] l’idée vous fait envie, alors cette application présentée par la Wikimedia Foundation est faite pour vous : Kiwix. Le nom vous dit peut-être quelque chose […]

[…] “Kiwix isn’t just Yet Another Wikipedia app. Once you install it on your Android device, you can actually use it to download the whole website, and access its millions of articles even when you’re offline or when you don’t want to use your data plan. You can also download smaller and custom selections of pages, if you’re short on storage space.” (via Wikimedia blog) […]

[…] Kiwix app has been officially endorsed by Wikipedia. Wikipedia posted a link to Kiwix on its blog a few days ago and recommended it to any users looking to bring the famous encyclopedia with them […]

Really very nice android application.One great feature is that it’s working without internet. Big thank you for share this post.

I like the app a lot, perfect solution for any Android user.

Integratedcommunications.Upei.Ca
Carry the entirety of Wikipedia in your pocket with Kiwix for Android — Wikimedia blog

Wikimedia CH has now released a Wikivoyage-focused Android app based on Kiwix: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikivoyage

few months ago the offline mobile version has been removed from google playstore which was requiring almost 3.60 GB space,i was having that application but unfortunately i have lost the offline version,and nowadays the offline version is not present at playstore…so may i know what is the problem..and is there any possibility to get it again?