Wikimedia Apps/FAQ/Android
General
Where can I download the app?
You can find our app on the Google Play Store: open the Play Store app on your device and search for "Wikipedia".
If your device does not use Google services, you may also find the app on other third-party app stores such as F-Droid, or by downloading the latest APK directly.
What is the difference between the Android app and the mobile web version of Wikipedia?
The Wikipedia App provides an optimized and streamlined experience for searching and reading Wikipedia content. Being a native app, it allows articles to load faster, and with less data usage. It also delivers a more responsive interface that is more consistent with other Android apps that you love. It adds features that are not available (or not possible) in the Web version of Wikipedia, such as saving pages to the device for later reading, and sharing content and images from articles to your favorite social media apps.
How do I donate to Wikipedia?
You can donate at any time by going to the "More" menu in the main screen and selecting Donate. We accept donations through a variety of payment methods, including Google Pay (GPay). Unfortunately we cannot currently accept donations using your Google Store credits.
I already donated; why I am getting asked to donate again?
Due to our strict privacy guidelines, we don't connect your usage across devices. This means you may see a donation request in the app even if you have previously donated within a browser or on your desktop.
Please select "I already donated" option to let us know you're a donor, and dismiss the banner for the remainder of the campaign.
Do I need to be connected to the Internet to use the app?
You do need a connection to download articles, and to use the Explore feed. However, if you save articles to your reading lists, they will be available for later reading, even without an internet connection.
What devices are supported?
Our app works on all Android devices running version 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher.
General features
Where is my reading history?
Reading history is in Search. You can browse or clear your reading history from the Search tab.
Home Feed
The Home Feed is the main landing experience in the Android app. It replaces the previous Explore Feed and provides both community-curated and personalized content.
What are the two tabs in the Home Feed?
The Home Feed includes two tabs:
- Community
- For You
Each tab offers a different reading experience.
What is the “Community” tab?
The Community tab highlights content curated from Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects. Much of the content is repurposed from Wikipedia's main page.
It includes:
- Featured Articles
- In the News
- On This Day
- Top Read
- Picture of the Day
The content is the same as the previous Explore Feed, with a refreshed layout.
What is the “For You” tab?
The For You tab provides personalized reading suggestions based on your interests and reading activity.
It includes:
- Recommended articles based on your selected interests
- Continue Reading
- Because You Read
- Places of Interest
- Random articles
The feed refreshes daily with updated suggestions.
How does the app decide what appears in the For You tab?
Recommendations are based on:
- Interests you selected
- Articles you read
- Your reading lists
- Your recently viewed location in Places
Can I change my interests later?
Yes. You can update your interests and feed preferences at any time from Settings.
Go to:
Settings → Home Feed → For You → What's driving your feed → Your interests
Can I choose which tab opens first?
Yes. During onboarding, you can choose whether the app opens on the Community tab or the For You tab by default.
Can I customize the Home Feed?
Yes. You can:
- Update your interests
- Hide modules
- Dismiss content
These settings can be changed at any time.
Does the Home Feed use AI-generated summaries?
No. Content shown in the Home Feed comes directly from Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects. The feed does not generate article summaries using LLMs or generative AI.
How can I remove content I don't want to see from my feed?
Remove an individual card using the three-dot menu and selecting Hide card. This will hide that article on that device indefinitely.
Remove an entire module by using the three-dot menu and selecting Hide module, or in Settings.
If you continue to have issues with the content shown in your feed, contact (android-support@wikimedia.org).
Do I need an account to use the Home Feed?
No. The Home Feed works without creating or logging into an account.
Why does the For You tab change every day?
The For You tab refreshes daily to provide updated reading suggestions and encourage discovery of new topics and articles.
Can I turn personalization off?
You can change or remove your selected interests and customize the modules shown in your feed from Settings at any time.
Why am I seeing an article in my feed that I removed from my History?
After clearing your history or removing a single article from your history, pull down on the For You feed to refresh it. After the refresh, you should no longer see articles that have been removed from your history.
Activity Tab
- Q: Did the app introduce additional tracking?
- A: No, the activity tab relies on the app's locally stored "History" function, and publicly available editing data. Your reading history is only ever stored on your device and can be cleared at any time.
- Q: Can I still access my History?
- A: Yes, reading history is still available to all users. We've moved your reading history into the "Search" tab. There is also a more comprehensive timeline at the bottom of Activity that includes your reading, editing, and saving history. You can clear reading history from the Search tab, or the Activity tab at any time.
- Q: Will my private data be shared?
- A: No. Only public edit data is used externally; reading and donor data remain on your device.
- Q: How can I customize the tab?
- A: Click the overflow menu and go to Customize. Use the toggle controls to hide or show modules as you prefer.
- Q: Why may modules be empty?
- A: Empty modules include call to actions encouraging engagement (e.g., “Learn about editing” if no recent edits), which are triggered if there is no reading or editing activity or if all modules have been disabled.
- Q: Why isn't my editing data updated?
- A: Your editing insights are only updated once per day. Our current API has limitations, but we are working on a solution that will provide more real-time updates in a future release.
- Q: I noticed a bug or have a feature request, now do I report it?
- A: Create a task and tag the iOS App board or send an email to iOS-support@wikimedia.org.
Search
You can search Wikipedia from any of these locations in the app:
- By tapping the "Search" icon in the bottom toolbar in the main screen.
- While reading an article, by tapping the "Search" icon in the top toolbar.
Search within an article
From your toolbar, or from the top-right menu (three dots), select "Find in page". You will be able to type text to search within the current article, and the search results will be automatically highlighted and scrolled into view.
What is the “Discover” recommended reading list?
Discover is a personalized reading list that recommends Wikipedia articles based on your interests and activity in the app.
How do I set up Discover?
Under the Saved tab, you can customize Discover by selecting your interests and choosing how many article recommendations you would like to receive.
How does Wikipedia recommend articles?
Recommendations may be based on:
- Interests you selected
- Articles you previously saved
- Articles you previously viewed
How many recommended articles can I receive?
You can receive up to 20 recommendations at a time in Discover.
How often are recommended articles updated?
Recommended content may refresh daily, weekly, or monthly depending on your preference. You can choose your preferred update frequency in the Discover settings menu.
Can I save recommended articles?
Yes. You can save recommended articles to your reading lists for later reading.
Can I receive notifications for recommended articles?
Yes. If notifications are enabled, the app can notify you when your Discover list has been updated. You can manage notification preferences at any time from Settings.
Can I turn recommendations off?
Yes. Discover can be turned off in Discover settings. You can also change your interests and recommendation preferences at any time from the app settings.
How can I customize the feed?
If you don't want to see a particular card in the Explore feed, you can tap the overflow menu on that card (three dots at the top-right), and tap "Hide this card".
You may also tap the overflow menu on any card (three dots at the top-right) and select the "Customize the feed" option, which will allow you to choose which types of cards to show, the order in which they will appear, and the languages for which they will be shown.
Year in Review
What is the Year in Review?
The Year in Review is a feature on the Wikipedia Mobile Apps that leverages locally stored data and publicly accessible data to show you insights on your relationship with Wikipedia over the year. This feature adheres to the Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy, and was designed with your privacy in mind.
What time period does it cover?
The data referenced in the 2025 edition of Year in Review covers the time period of - . Some insights cover a shorter time frame.
How was this calculated?
- If you are logged-in, Year in Review shows insights that are personalized to your device and your Wikipedia account. Some insights require being logged-in to your account to view.
- Each time you view or save an article in the app, the article and related metadata is stored locally on your device. This information allows us to show you your “History” within the app, and make relevant reading recommendations. This metadata also allows us to calculate reading insights for Year in Review.
- Your reading insights are calculated from the data on your current device, and therefore will not include any articles you've read on different devices, or articles you have cleared from your History.
- Your reading history is not shared or stored on servers to create the Year in Review.
- Editing insights related to your username are sourced from publicly accessible editing and pageview records.
| Insight | How it works | Time frame covered |
|---|---|---|
| Minutes reading | Each time you view an article in the app, the app records the duration of how long you spent on the article locally on your device along with other metadata, so we can suggest other articles based on what you’ve read. We total this for the year to show your total minutes reading. | For iOS users: May 2025 - November 2025
For Android users: January 2025 - November 2025 |
| Total articles read | Each time you view an article in the app, the article title is stored locally on your device along with other metadata, and shown in “History”. Year in Review totals the number of articles currently in “History” this year on your device. This includes articles read in all languages. | January 2025 - November 2025 |
| Your top articles | Based on articles currently stored in your “History”, we select up to 5 articles that you have read this year, with the most frequently visited articles shown at the top. This includes articles read in all languages. | For iOS users: January 2025 - November 2025
For Android users: April 2025 - November 2025 |
| Reading patterns | Each time you view an article in the app, the app records a timestamp locally on your device, so we can place it correctly in your “History”. We use the timestamp to calculate additional insights like your favorite time to read, favorite day to read, and month you did the most reading. This includes articles read in all languages. | January 2025 - November 2025 |
| Your most interesting categories | Each time you view an article in the app, the app records any categories associated with that article locally on your device. We select up to 5 categories that you have visited articles within, with more frequently visited categories at the top. Categories with shorter names have been filtered out, to improve the experience. | May 2025 - November 2025 |
| Articles you read are closest to | Each time you view an article in the app, the app records any geographic coordinates associated with that article locally on your device. We look for the biggest cluster of articles nearby a single country. | For iOS users: January 2025 - November 2025
For Android users: April 2025 - November 2025 |
| Articles saved | This is the total number of articles your account has saved to reading lists within the app during the year, across all languages. Articles that have been unsaved are removed from the total. | January 2025 - November 2025 |
| Total edits | This is the total number of edits you have made this year across all projects. The total includes reverted edits, and edits made outside the article namespace (user, talk, etc). | January 2025 - November 2025 |
| Views on edits | This is the total number of views that articles you've edited have received in the past 2 months. We calculate this using your username, and the Growth Tools Special Impact Module. It includes articles that you've edited in your last 1000 edits. The pageviews are from the previous 60 days before you access Year in Review, and not limited to a single calendar year.
These views are only for edits made on the language Wikipedia you have set as your primary language in the App. |
The prior 60 days |
| Contribution status | When you make a donation using the App, standard information is recorded by Wikimedia Fundraising so that your donation can be processed, according to the Donor Privacy Policy. The App also stores limited information locally on your device to remember that you made a donation. No personal details or payment information is stored locally on the device. Year in Review recognizes that you have recently donated, and can show you a Thank You message. Your status as a donor is not associated with your Wikipedia username on the App at any time. | January 2025 - November 2025 |
How can I turn on the custom app icon?
-
For Android devices, navigate to Settings and turn it on under App icon. -
For iOS devices, turn the icon on from the Year in Review, or in Settings > App theme > App icon.
Why can't I see the custom app icon?
The custom app icon is available to those who have made edits in the past year, and those who have made in-app donations. Contributions made on other platforms or other devices will not be registered. If you are having difficulty, please reach out to our support emails at iOS-support@wikimedia.org, and android-support@wikimedia.org.
How does the Year in Review reading list work?
The Android App is offering a trial Year in Review reading list this year. If you opt-in to create the list, the app will gather a reading list with up to 25 articles. These articles will be the ones you spent the most amount of time reading during the past year. Once the reading list is created, you can delete or modify it at any time like a normal reading list. Each time you view an article in the app, how long you spent on the article is recorded locally on your device. This information and your most read articles are never shared or stored anywhere other than your device.
How can I remove personalized insights from Year in Review?
- If you would like to hide the Year in Review and clear all reports associated with it, navigate to Settings > Year in Review, and turn off Year in Review. You may still turn it back on, and your insights will be recalculated. If you would like to clear the data that the insights are based on, complete the instructions below first before turning off Year in Review.
On the iOS App
-
Open the ‘Year in Review’ item within Settings. -
Turn off the toggle to disable the feature and clear reports.
On the Android App
-
Turn off the toggle in Settings to disable the feature and clear reports.
- You can also take these steps to further remove the data that Year in Review is based on
- Clear reading insights about total articles read, and day of the week: At any time, you may clear your reading history using the "Clear" option in "History".
- Clear saved reading list insights: Open Settings > Article storage and syncing, and “Erase saved articles”. This will remove saved articles from your device, and from all devices if you have syncing turned on.
- Clear editing insights: Editing insights cannot be permanently cleared, as they are sourced from publicly and permanently accessible data. If you log out, your total edits will no longer be visible on your device within Year in Review.
- Clear donation insights: At any time, you may clear your device's local donation history using the "Clear donation history" option in Settings. Please note that this only clears the device's local donation history for donations made using the Wikipedia App. Information about past donations is still retained by Wikimedia Fundraising according to the Foundation Donor Privacy Policy.
Reading Challenge
How do I install the Widget?
- On Android Devices, long-press on your home screen until a menu pops up. Tap on Widgets, and then search for "Wikipedia". Tap on the Wikipedia App, and then long-press on the Reading Challenge widget to drag it onto your home screen.
- On iOS Devices, long-press on your home screen until a menu appears at the top. Tap Edit > Add widget. Search for "Wikipedia" and then tap on the App. Swipe through widgets until you see the Reading Challenge and then tap "Add Widget".
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How do I join the challenge?
Follow the instructions above for installing a widget, and then tap "Join challenge" on the widget. Then tap "Join challenge again" in the app again.
Can I still use the app without joining the challenge?
Yes. Participation is optional and does not affect normal use of the Wikipedia app.
Do I need an account to participate?
Yes, an account is required so the app can track your reading streak.
What counts as a reading day?
Opening any Wikipedia article in the app counts as a reading day.
What happens if I miss a day?
If a day is missed, the streak ends. If it's still before the end date of , you may restart a streak.
What are the prizes?
The prize is a 15% discount to the Wikipedia Store.
How can I access the prizes?
Once you have reached 25 days, tap on the widget to open the prizes screen.
Promo code is applied automatically at checkout when you open the Add items to your bag, and then the discount code is applied automatically. If not please reach out to us through the support email from within the app and we will follow with you from there.
How long will I be able to access the prizes?
The prizes will be available until 28th of July. If you apply the badge within Activity, it will remain available after the challenge concludes.
Places
How do I find articles near my current location?
On the Places tab! The first time you visit Places, you’ll be asked for permission to access your location. If you grant this permission (which will be used only for Places search) the Places map should center on your current location and load the most popular places near you.
Do I have to share my location to use Places?
No. The location permission is requested only for seeing Wikipedia articles near you. If you do not grant this permission, you are still welcome to explore the map by scrolling and zooming anywhere in the world, or search for places by name. If you don’t grant the location permission, but later want to enable it, you can go to the “App info” screen for the Wikipedia app, then tap “Permissions”.
Can I get directions to a location on the Places map?
Yes. To do this, tap a place marker on the map to see its preview, then tap the overflow menu (three dots), and select “Get directions”.
Why isn’t a specific place shown on the map?
The Places screen only shows locations that have a Wikipedia article. Wikipedia is huge and ever growing, but it is not exhaustive. Not all articles have been tagged with their geographic locations, not all notable locations have articles yet. Try searching for your location by name on the Places tab, or zoom closer into the area to narrow your search on the map.
Reading lists and offline reading
To save an article for later reading, tap the "bookmark" icon in the bottom toolbar:
This will automatically make the article available for reading offline, i.e. even when you are not connected to the internet. When you bookmark articles, they are saved to a default reading list called "Saved", but you can also create different reading lists of your own, and categorize your saved articles however you like.
Articles saved to a list are made available offline by default so that you can read them later. If you do not want certain articles to be available offline, you can go to the reading list, and press-and-hold the specific article. You will then see a list of options for that article, which includes an "Available offline" checkbox. You may access all of your reading lists by tapping the "Saved" button on the main screen.
When you are logged in to the app, your reading lists are automatically synchronized to your Wikipedia account, so that your lists will be restored if you install the app on a different device, or uninstall/reinstall it on the same device. Your reading lists will also be available if you log in to the iOS version of the app. However, at the moment your reading lists are not accessible from the desktop or mobile web version of the Wikipedia website.
For users to prevent accidental deletion or restore their reading lists on the Wikipedia mobile app for Android:
- Make sure you are logged in.
- Go to “More” -> “Settings”, in the “Syncing” section, make sure the “Reading list syncing” is on.
- Go back to “Saved” and click on the “Refresh sync” in the top-right overflow menu to manually sync your reading lists to the server.
Readability and themes
When reading an article, tap the "Theme" button in the bottom toolbar. There you will see numerous options, including:
- Increase or decrease the text size for reading articles.
- Change the color theme between Light, Sepia, Dark, or Black. (The Black theme is particularly useful for devices with an OLED display, since it will save battery power by keeping most pixels black.)
- Whether to "Match system theme". Since Android itself now supports a light and dark theme, the app can automatically adjust to the system setting. If you do not want to match the system theme (i.e. if you want to use the Dark theme in the app, but keep the device in the Light theme, you'll need to unselect "Match system theme").
- Whether to dim images. When using the Dark or Black theme, dimming images may be an additional benefit for distraction-free reading.
In-article conveniences
- Tap the "Contents" button at the bottom (or swipe from right to left anywhere in the article) to see the table of contents for the current article. Tap on any section in the table of contents to jump to that section in the article.
- Tap on references (superscript numbers) to see a popup that describes the reference in detail.
- Tap any image to view it full-screen; pinch to zoom the image, or swipe left or right to view other images that appear in the article.
Games
Q: How to access games?
A: On Android, From the bottom bar, tap “More”, then select “Games”.
A: On iOS, from the Explore Feed.
Q: Where do the events come from?
A: All the events are real and sourced from each language Wikipedia’s "Days of the year" pages. They’re curated from history and matched by date—so if you're playing on May 14, all events happened on a past May 14.
Q: How is my score saved?
A: Your score and history are saved locally on your device. They are not tied to your Wikipedia account or shared with anyone.
Q: Can I play past or future games?
A: Once you’ve played today’s game you can access the game archive from the results page which will give you access to past games. Past games may be slightly different than they appeared on the day they were first published to account for updates to the Wikipedia page related to the day of the year.
Q: Can I share my score?
A: Yes! You’ll have the option to share your score at the end of each game.
Q: Do I need to sign in to play?
A: Nope! No login required—just open the app and start playing.
Q: Which languages is the game available in?
A: The game is currently available in English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Turkish.
Editing
General
To start editing any article, tap on the "pencil" icon next to one of the section headings in the article. Note that some articles are protected from being edited by anonymous users or users with too few edits.
Wikipedia articles are formatted using MediaWiki formatting, also known as wikitext. When you edit a section of an article in the app, the wikitext syntax will be automatically highlighted to assist with formatting.
- Do I have to be logged in to a permanent account to edit?
- No, you can edit without creating a permanent account or logging in, but note that depending on which language Wikipedia you are editing, you will either be assigned a temporary account or your IP address will be associated with your edits. If it’s assigned your IP address, then your IP address will be visible to anyone who looks at the edit history of the article. Please note that some Wikipedias disallow editing of articles in the Main namespace if you are not logged in.
- Can I upload pictures?
- Not yet in the Android App, but you may upload an image using the Commons App, or Mobile Upload Wizard, and then add the image to the article from the app.
- Can I view the Talk page or Edit history of an article or page?
- Yes, access the Talk page or Edit history can be accessed from the top-right overflow menu (three dots), or from your toolbar.
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Overflow menu -
Talk page -
Edit History -
Select two versions for comparison -
Viewing the difference between two versions
Suggested edits
If you are keen to start making contributions to Wikipedia, the app provides you with various types of editing suggestions, presented as a continuous feed that you can swipe through. Go to the main screen of the app and tap the "Edits" button at the bottom to see the types of suggested edits that are available. These include:
- Article descriptions: Add short descriptions to articles that are missing descriptions. These descriptions are shown when searching Wikipedia on your desktop or mobile device, and in various places in the app.
- Article images: Review a feed of suggested images and add a relevant images to articles without any.
- Image captions: Add captions to images on Wikimedia Commons that are missing captions. These captions are shown when tapping on images in articles to view them full-screen.
- Image tags: Add tags to images on Wikimedia Commons. These tags will be used to make images more searchable and better structured.
- Edit patrol: review a feed of recent edits along with their quality score. Take actions: leaving messages on talk pages, thanking, undoing or rolling back edits.
For answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Suggested Edits, please see Android Suggested Edits.
Contribution history
You can view your own contribution history by going to the main screen and tapping the "Edits" button at the bottom. This will show you the total number of edits you've made so far, your current edit quality (based on how many of your edits were reverted), among other statistics. To see more details about each of your previous contributions, tap on the statistics card. This will show a full-screen list of each of your edits.
Notifications
If you are logged in to your account, you can receive notifications about your account activity. These notifications will automatically pop up along with other system notifications in your device's status bar. The types of actions for which notifications are sent include:
- Message(s) left on your User Talk page.
- Another user thanking you for an edit you made.
- One of your edits being reverted.
- Security notices regarding your account.
To see all of your current notifications, tap the bell icon in the top toolbar.
To choose which notifications pop up in your system status bar, tap the overflow menu (three dots) in the Notifications screen, and select "Notification preferences".
Troubleshooting
If the app does not seem to be receiving notifications correctly, please consider these suggestions:
- Make sure that you are logged in to your account in the app. Try logging out and back in.
- Make sure you have notifications enabled in the app. Go to the Notifications screen (from the "More" menu on the main screen), then tap the overflow menu at the top right, then select "Notification preferences". Make sure that the "Poll notifications" option is turned on.
- Make sure you haven't denied the app to show notifications from the system status bar. Android allows you to selectively allow and deny notifications to be shown from any app that tries to show them. To make sure that the Wikipedia app is allowed to show notifications, go to your system Settings, then go to "Apps and Notifications", then look for the "Notifications" selection. This should show you a list of all apps that could show notifications, along with a switch to enable or disable notifications for that app. Make sure that the switch is enabled for Wikipedia.
Languages
Wikipedia content exists in more than 300 languages, and you can select one or more of those languages to be used in the app.
When the app is first installed, it defaults to the system language of your device. If you have more than one keyboard language installed, the app should automatically detect those languages and add them to its list of languages.
Set/change Wikipedia language
To change the Wikipedia language, go to the "More" menu in the main screen, tap "Settings", then select "Wikipedia languages". From there you can add, remove, and rearrange your preferred languages. (Your topmost language will be used by default when searching Wikipedia.)
Read an article in a different language
When reading an article, you can tap the "Language" button in the bottom toolbar to see other languages in which this article is available. (Note that not all articles will be available in all languages.)
Privacy and Security
Does the app track me? Do you use my data?
Yes, some of your actions within the app are tracked anonymously, so that we can continue to improve our features.
When you read an article, the article title is saved locally on your device in your reading history. Metadata about the article is also stored, including categories, time spent on article, articles visited before and after, and the article subject's coordinates (if available). You may clear your history at any time within the "Search" tab, and the metadata will also be cleared. This information is not stored anywhere else except your device.
When you make a donation using the App, standard information is recorded by Wikimedia Fundraising so that your donation can be processed, according to the Donor Privacy Policy. The App also stores limited information locally on your device to remember that you made a donation from that device, and allows us to personalize your experience. No personal details or payment information is stored locally on device. Your status as a donor is not associated with your Wikipedia username on the app at any time. You can clear your locally stored donation history at any time in Settings > Delete local donation history.
How does "Wikipedia Year in Review" work?
Wikipedia Year in Review is a feature that leverages both the data stored locally on your device as a part of normal app usage, and publicly accessible editing data to show you insights on your relationship with Wikipedia over the year. Learn more about how this feature uses your data. If you would like to hide the Year in Review and all clear reports associated with it, navigate to More > Settings > Year in Review, and turn off Year in Review.
What information do usage reports contain?
Various kinds of data are collected, the specifics of which can seen on the event logging page. For example, it records the average delay between typing a search term and receiving search results, or the number of times the Share button is clicked, or whether the font size was increased or decreased. This data cannot be used to personally identify you. This is all used to better understand user engagement, and guides us to improving and enhancing the features that the app offers.
Why does the app need the Identity permission (GET_ACCOUNTS)?
This permission is required so that the app can integrate with your user account on Wikipedia, so that your reading lists and other preferences will be synchronized between devices when you are logged in.
Why does the app need the Photos/Media/Files permission (WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)?
This permission is required because the app allows you to save images that you browse to your local device. It's also required so that the app can temporarily save images for sharing via other apps (as in Share a fact).
Why does the app need the Full Network Access permission (ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, ACCESS_WIFI_STATE)?
This permission is used by the app to determine the state and quality of your network connection, and adjust certain aspects of its performance accordingly (e.g. loading lower-quality versions of images when on a limited connection).
Why does the app need the Startup (Boot Completed) permission (RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED)?
The app provides a feature that lets you receive notifications on your device about your Wikipedia account.These can be notifications about articles that you've edited, messages on your Talk page, thanks from other editors, etc. This can be turned on if you login to your account and enable notification polling. The service that checks for notifications runs in the background, and needs to restart itself automatically if your device itself is restarted. This is why the app needs to receive an event when your device initially boots up. If you do not enable the Notification polling feature, then the Startup permission is not used for any other purpose.
Is the connection between the app and Wikipedia encrypted?
Yes, all network traffic from the app is performed over HTTPS.
Does the app require Google services?
No, Google Play Services are not required for the app to work properly. However, when they are available, the app will use Google services for certain features, such as push notifications. No user information or personal data is sent to Google.
Troubleshooting
I'm blocked from logging in or editing, what should I do?
If you have not made any edits to Wikipedia, but still find yourself blocked from logging in, creating an account, or making edits, it probably means that your IP address has been blocked, not "you" specifically. When you use your device on a mobile network, or on a shared WiFi connection, your IP address may be shared with many other users. These other users might have made unconstructive edits to Wikipedia, which resulted in blocking the IP address. Sometimes an entire range of IP addresses might be blocked, and your IP address might simply fall into that range. Also, public proxies and VPNs are generally blocked, too. If your IP address is blocked, try joining a different WiFi network.
Note that the Wikimedia Foundation does not administer the blocking of IP addresses; instead, this work is done by a global community of volunteers and administrators. For information about blocking and appealing a block on English Wikipedia, please see the information page at Help:I've Been Blocked.
My edits are being reverted / I disagree with certain administrative actions
There is no central authority over Wikipedia. The Wikimedia movement is based in part on the premise that good articles are achievable through the checks and balances editors provide for each other. When editors disagree on how to achieve these goals, they must resolve disputes through consensus, drawing on the wider community where necessary. You can read more about the dispute resolution processes on English Wikipedia at w:WP:DR.
How do I report a typo or other error in an article?
Wikipedia is the world's largest encyclopedia that anyone can edit! If you see a typo or other error in an article, click the "pencil" icon or highlight any text and tap "Edit here" from the popup menu. This will show the wikitext of the article which you can then edit and save.
If you make lots of edits, we recommend you log in to your account, so that you can keep track of your work, talk to other editors and join the worldwide Wikimedia community.
I see vandalism in an article. What should I do?
If you see text or images in an article that are clearly vandalism, you can always edit the article by tapping the "pencil" icon to the right of the article section that contains the vandalism. You can then remove the offending text and publish the edited content.
I see information that is biased or factually incorrect. What should I do?
If you see text in an article that may be incorrect, biased, or generally low-quality, you can join the discussion about that article on the corresponding Talk page for the article. You can access the Talk page by scrolling near the bottom and tapping the "View talk page" link.
Miscellaneous
Reporting bugs
- If the app crashes, it will automatically send a crash report to us, assuming you installed it from the Google Play Store, which provides automatic recording of crashes.
- If you see a bug (not a crash) or have a suggestion or feature request, you can send us feedback here.
Who develops the Android app?
Check out our team page to learn more.
I am an Android developer. May I contribute?
Of course! Check out our app hacking page.
Getting in touch
For any other inquiries, please email us at: android-support
wikimedia.org
