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Getting started

Stable and Nightly

These pages describe the app as it is now, in the Nightly build. Anything it has that the newest stable release doesn't yet is marked Nightly. The end of each page says when it was last changed, and which stable release was the newest then.

Installing

The app isn't on the Play Store. Download it from the home page, or from the releases on GitHub:

  • Stable releases are the tested ones. Each has its own version.
  • The development build (Nightly on the home page) is the newest state of the app, rebuilt with every change. It has the newest features, and may have bugs.

Open the downloaded .apk on your phone to install it. Android asks once whether your browser (or file manager) may install apps; allow it. A newer build installs over an older one, stable or development alike, and your settings and sign-ins stay. Going back to an older build means uninstalling first.

Android 10 or newer is needed.

What you're installing lists everything the app asks your phone for and connects to, and how to check that a download is the real one.

Signing in to Pixeldrain

Pixeldrain is built into the app. Open ⋮ at the top right → Settings → Account (in a stable release, the gear at the top right), and sign in in one of three ways:

  1. Username (or e-mail) and password. If your account has two-factor authentication, a field for the code appears when it's needed.
  2. A login link by e-mail: press E-mail me a login link, then paste the link from the e-mail.
  3. An API key, from your Pixeldrain account page, under API keys.

The app keeps the session (or the key) encrypted on the device; your password isn't stored.

Adding another host

Open Settings → Hosts. Under Add a custom host, pick the kind of host (WebDAV, S3, SMB, or REST API): a form opens with everything that kind needs, with the usual values already filled in. Change the address (and anything else that's different for you) and press Add host. Then enter your sign-in on the host's card, which appears in the list above.

Someone may also have given you a config, a short piece of JSON describing a host. Paste it into Or paste a config and press Add host, or Review first to see it in the form before adding it.

Everything about hosts

Finding your way around

  • The host switcher, in the middle of the top bar, shows the host you're using, with a badge saying whether it answers. Tap it to switch to another host.
  • The tabs at the bottom move between the screens the host offers: Files, Lists and Filesystem on Pixeldrain. With more than five, the last place is More, with the rest. On a wide screen (a tablet, a phone on its side) they're at the side instead. With Swipes navigation Nightly, there's no bar: swipe sideways across the screen, and a row of dots at the bottom says where you are.
  • The magnifier at the top left searches the screen's files.
  • ⋮ at the top right Nightly has what the screen does (Select, and under New: upload, a new folder), how its list is shown (Sort by, View), and Settings.
  • Outside the app Nightly: long-press its icon for shortcuts to Upload, Files and Filesystem, add the Upload tile to Quick Settings, or Share files to it from any other app.

The next page goes through each screen: The screens.