Android app
Renota for Android
A floating ball that reads the screen and answers, in any app.
Some reading happens where you cannot select text: a scanned page, someone else's PDF viewer, a screenshot. Renota puts a small floating ball over any app. Frame a region, and it recognizes the text on the device, sends it to your model, and shows the answer in a panel you can copy from.
Why it stands out
Works over any app
Frame a region or the whole screen. The accessibility service only captures when you ask it to.
Offline Chinese OCR
Recognition runs on the device with ML Kit, so the screenshot itself is not uploaded anywhere.
Same actions, same library
Understand, analyze, challenge, translate, who/what, connect — with the knowledge base shared with the desktop apps.
What it does
Region and full-screen capture
Drag a box or take the whole screen, then choose an action. Surrounding text becomes context.
Multimodal option
If the page is a formula, a table or a diagram, send the image itself to a vision-capable model instead of OCR text.
Entry points everywhere
Selection menu, share sheet, clipboard, translation intents and dictionary lookups can all start a request.
Encrypted API key
The key is stored with Android's system keystore (AES-256-GCM) rather than in plain preferences.
Background sync
Clips saved on the phone appear on the desktop apps and vice versa, when cloud sync is enabled.
Built for one-handed use
The ball can be moved, resized and made translucent, and it remembers where you left it.
How to use it
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Enable the floating assistant
Grant the accessibility permission once. The ball stays above other apps after that.
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Frame what you want to read
Tap the ball, choose region or full screen, and confirm. Text is recognized on the device.
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Ask, save, share
Pick an action or type your own question; save the answer as an insight or the text as a clip.
What the app can see
It captures only when you start a capture, and sends only the recognized text to your model.
- The accessibility service does not read screen content in the background and never captures on its own.
- OCR runs locally; screenshots are not uploaded unless you choose the multimodal option.
- The knowledge base is a local SQLite file; Android backup is disabled for it.
Get the app
Download the APK from the releases page and install it. You will need to allow installs from your browser or file manager.
Requirements: Android 11 or newer. An API key from any OpenAI-compatible provider, or Anthropic.
Android app questions
Why does it need an accessibility service?
Android has no other way to draw over other apps and take a screenshot on demand. The service only acts when you tap the ball.
Is there a Play Store version?
Not currently — the floating assistant relies on permissions that store policy does not allow for this use case, so it ships as a sideloaded APK.
Does OCR need the network?
No. Chinese text recognition is bundled and runs offline. The model call afterwards does need a connection.
Which Android versions work?
Android 11 (API 30) or newer, since taking screenshots programmatically requires it.
Can I use it without the floating ball?
Yes — the selection menu, share sheet and clipboard entry points work without the overlay enabled.