A Substack reader built for e-ink. Full paid articles, clean typography, no distractions.
Works on any Android e-ink device (Boox, Bigme, Dasung, etc.). Published under GPL v3.
Grab the latest APK from GitHub Releases and sideload it. The app checks for updates automatically and will prompt you when a new version is available.
Requirements: Android 9+ (API 28). Optimized for e-ink but works on any Android device.
Substack delivers full article content (including paid posts) via email. re:ink connects to your inbox via IMAP and pulls articles directly.
- In Settings (gear icon in the top bar), go to Email Inbox and tap Set up email inbox
- Choose the Gmail preset or enter IMAP details manually
- Enter your email address and an app password (not your main password)
- Tap Test & Save
Gmail app passwords: myaccount.google.com/apppasswords (requires 2FA enabled). Any IMAP provider works — just enter the server details manually.
Subscribe to Substack newsletters using the email address you connected. When the app syncs, it automatically creates a feed for each publication and pulls in full article content — including paid posts.
Sync runs automatically every 4 hours on WiFi, or tap Sync on the Home screen to trigger it immediately.
Articles appear in the Home tab (unified unread feed) and the Feed tab (per-feed browsing). Tap an article to open the reader.
You can also add RSS feeds for non-Substack sources. In Settings > Feeds, tap Add Feed and enter a title and RSS URL. Note that RSS only provides free preview content for paid Substack posts — email is the way to get full articles.
- E-ink optimized UI — grayscale theme, no animations, bold typography designed for e-ink refresh rates
- Full paid content — email ingestion delivers complete articles, not truncated RSS previews
- Customizable reader — choose font, size, line height, margins, and alignment. Scroll or paginate with volume keys. Details
- Read-later queue — save links from articles for later. Content is extracted automatically using multiple fallback strategies
- Cross-device sync — sync read state, feeds, and preferences across devices via a self-hosted server. Setup guide
- Cloud queue — send articles to your e-ink device from your phone via an iOS Shortcut or any HTTP client. Setup guide
- Auto-update — checks GitHub Releases daily and prompts when a new version is ready
- Privacy-first — no analytics, no tracking. Email credentials encrypted locally (AES-256-GCM). Data only goes to services you configure.
Requires JDK 17 and Android SDK.
./gradlew assembleDebugRelease APKs are built automatically by GitHub Actions when a version tag (v*.*.*) is pushed.
I built this for my own use and it does what I need, but I'd love for others to get value from it too. Bug reports, feature requests, and PRs are all welcome — especially if you want to improve areas like RSS feed support. Open an issue to get started.