v1.2.0
May 2, 2026
This is our biggest update since launch — focused on speed, finding the right book, and making it easier to get help when something breaks. If you've been waiting on a reason to come back to Decipher, this is it.
What's new
A whole new way to find books — Curated for Learners
Browsing 70,000+ books is exciting, but if you're learning Spanish from scratch, you don't need Don Quijote on day one. We hand-picked 44 books across 7 languages and tagged each one with a difficulty level (1 Beginner → 5 Advanced). Filter by level, see why each book works for learners, and pick something that'll actually move the needle for you.
Every curated book includes a short note explaining why it works for language learners — written by someone who's been there.
Languages with curated picks: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch.
Sort books your way
You can now sort the Gutenberg library by Popular, Newest, or Oldest. Look for the sort pills in the top right of the browse screen.
Premium upgrade is here
The free tier is still genuinely usable — 30 word lookups per day, 30 saved vocab words, 3 page-reads per day. But if you're reading every day, you'll want unlimited access. We added a one-time $6.99 Premium upgrade that removes all daily limits forever. No subscription, no recurring charges.
If you've been on a previous version with a promo code, your premium status carries over — you don't need to do anything.
Faster everything
We rebuilt the way book covers and metadata load. Behind the scenes:
- Book covers now cache aggressively to your device — second visits are instant
- Library data is cached at the edge globally, so you're never waiting on a slow upstream server
- We pre-fetch the next page while you browse, so pagination feels instant
- The browse screen no longer freezes when you switch languages — you'll see a clear loading indicator
Bug reports and feedback in the app
Found a bug? Got an idea? Settings → Support → Report a bug (or Send feedback) opens a form right in the app. Tell us what happened, optionally drop your email, and submit. No more bouncing out to your email client.
A cleaner reader
Several quality-of-life improvements to the reading experience:
- Larger header icons with bigger touch targets — the lock, chapters, TTS, vocab, and settings icons are all easier to tap
- Flashcards now have their own icon in the reader header — direct access without going through Vocabulary first
- Vocabulary, Chapters, and Settings are now full-screen instead of partial overlays — no more peeking at the book behind a half-open panel
Fixes
- The book detail popup wasn't opening on some screens. Now it does.
- Curated book covers were sizing too large when only a few books matched a difficulty filter.
- The download button in the book details modal sometimes got cut off on smaller phones — now it stays pinned to the bottom regardless of content length.
- Clearer empty-state copy on the Vocabulary and Flashcards screens — explains that you save a word by tapping it AND picking a highlight color (not just tapping).
What's next
Working on PDF support for v1.3.0 — tap-to-translate and side-by-side translation for any DRM-free PDF. Great for foreign-language documents, contracts, manuals, and anything else that doesn't come as an EPUB.
If you have ideas, send them via the new in-app feedback form. We read every one.
— Danny / Cadmus Lab AI LLC cadmuslab.ai · @CadmusLab on YouTube · dannypedraza.substack.com