Try Dante before it launches

The Android beta is open: you can use all of Dante, free, before anyone else. Three steps, five minutes.

The first run downloads 240 MB

Dante listens to reading aloud with a speech model that runs entirely on your phone: nothing you read leaves the device. That model is downloaded once, the first time you open the app, and you cannot use the app until it finishes. After that it works offline.

Before you start

Android 8.0 or later
A real Android phone (emulators do not count for Google)
A Google account, the same one in the group and in Play
~300 MB of free space
Wi-Fi recommended for the first launch
A quiet spot: this involves reading out loud

How to get in

Do the steps in this order. If you open the testing link before joining the group, Play will tell you that you are not a tester.

Join the group

It is public: you join yourself, no approval needed.
Join the group
Accept the test

With the same Google account you used to join the group.
Accept the test If Play says the test does not exist, it is still rolling out: try again in a while.
Install from Google Play and open the app

The model download starts on its own and shows the progress. Let it finish. Then you pick the language and you can start reading.

What is most useful to hear about

Anything, but these four above all:

Whether the microphone heard you fine, or you had to shout
Whether the result (the words in green, amber and orange) matched how you actually read
Whether any text felt far too easy or too hard for the level it claims
Anything that broke, got stuck, or simply did not make sense

If something goes wrong

Play says I am not a tester

You are not in the group, or you opened the link with a different Google account. Go back to step 1 and check which account the Play Store is signed in with.

The app does not show up in Play

Usually propagation. Wait a while, clear the Play Store cache and try again.

The download failed

The connection dropped. The app tells you and offers Try again: the download resumes where it stopped, it does not start over.

It asks me to confirm on mobile data

You are on a metered network. It is 240 MB, so Wi-Fi is kinder, but you can go ahead anyway if you want.

I do not have space

You need about 300 MB free. Free some space and try again.

Dante did not mark any words

If the microphone did not pick anything up, Dante does not invent a score: it asks for the reading again. Get a bit closer to the phone and read out loud, unhurried.

Is it the same as the iPhone app?

Almost. Same app, same texts, same games and the same speech engine. The difference is that Android has no cursor following the reading word by word as you go: the whole evaluation appears at the end, on the result screen.

Is it listening all the time?

No. The microphone opens only when you tap the button to start reading, and closes when you finish. The audio is analysed on the phone and is never stored or sent anywhere. The only connection the app makes in its whole life is downloading that model the first time.

Contact

If something breaks, scores oddly or simply does not make sense, email me at greatdanecode@gmail.com. That is exactly what it is for. You can also read the privacy policy.