# copymanga: a third-party Android client for Copy Manga, and what it actually ships > The fumiama/copymanga app is a Kotlin Android reader for the Copy Manga service that covers browsing, reading, downloading and subscriptions, and deliberately stops there. Here is what the README documents, where it is thin, and who should skip it. **fumiama/copymanga** — 拷贝漫画的第三方APP，仅提供基础功能，更多丰富功能请移步官方版本 - Repository: https://github.com/fumiama/copymanga - Stars: 4,330 · Forks: 111 - Language: Kotlin - License: GPL-3.0 - Published: 2026-09-23 · Updated: 2026-09-23 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/fumiama-copymanga ## What copymanga is for, and who it is not for copymanga is a third-party Android application for the Copy Manga service, written in Kotlin. The README states its scope in one line: it provides basic functionality only, and points users to the official version for anything richer. That sentence is the whole design brief. The app exists so that an Android user can browse the catalogue, read chapters, and keep local copies, without the official client. The feature list is finite and worth reading literally. Browsing covers the home page, categories, rankings, downloads, subscriptions, history, tags and authors. You can view, search and read manga, and reading progress is recorded both locally and in the cloud, with the README noting that the cloud side is not accurate to the page. Downloads, updates, login, logout, subscribe and unsubscribe round out the list. Everything else in the official app falls under a section the README titles unimplemented features. There is no partial credit there. So the audience is narrow on purpose. Someone who wants a lighter client with local files, and who does not mind that the rest of the official app is absent. Anyone expecting parity should not install it and then file complaints; the README already answered them. ## How the client is wired: official API, Material Design, mainland route The README says the new version uses Material Design together with the official app's API. That is the architecture in one sentence: this is a client, not a scraper of rendered pages. Requests go to the same backend the official application talks to, which is why login, subscriptions and cloud progress can work at all. The README gives a piece of history that explains the current shape. At some point the official service closed H5 access, and later reopened it. From version 2.0 onward the application was rebuilt, and the API-based approach replaced whatever came before. That matters for anyone reading older issues or forks: advice written for the pre-2.0 design may not apply. One concrete default is stated plainly: the app uses the mainland route by default. The README does not document a settings screen for switching routes, so treat that as a fixed default rather than a configurable one. That is a real constraint for users outside the mainland, and the documentation is silent on what happens to latency or reachability in that case. The download format is the other structural decision. Files are webp images packed per chapter into a zip. That choice makes the output portable: the README says the zips can be opened by this app or by other manga reading applications. It also means the app is not maintaining a proprietary library format, which is the main reason to prefer it over a reader that locks downloads inside its own database. ## Installing copymanga on Android and running a first download The README does not include build-from-source instructions for the Android app. It points at F-Droid instead, with the badge linking to the package page. That is the distribution channel the project advertises, so the practical install path is the store listing rather than a Gradle build. If you want to build it yourself, the repository layout is a standard Android project: settings.gradle, build.gradle, gradle.properties, the gradlew wrapper scripts, and the app module. The README does not document the required Android SDK version, the JDK, or any signing steps, so a local build is guesswork until you read the Gradle files. The repository ships gradlew and gradlew.bat at the root, so the wrapper is the entry point for a local build; the README does not state which task to run or what artifact it produces, so check the app module's build configuration before assuming anything. Once installed, the first real task is a download. Open a manga, choose a chapter, and start the download. The README describes the result: webp images packaged per chapter as a zip, stored under the following directory. ```text ./Android/data/top.fumiama.copymanga/files ``` That path is the one thing to verify after your first download, because it is also how you move the library elsewhere. The README adds a verification step: long-press a manga directory to run an error check on what you downloaded. Use it. The same README says downloads are slow and prone to errors, and attributes this to circumstances beyond the project's control rather than to tuning. Whether or not you accept that explanation, the check exists for a reason. Reading progress is written locally and to the cloud. The README states the cloud record cannot be precise to the page, so expect chapter-level sync when you move between devices. ## The download pipeline is the weak point, and the README says so Most project READMEs bury limitations. This one puts the download problem in the feature list, with a pointed aside that it is definitely not a matter of optimization. Whatever the cause, the user-visible behaviour is stated: slow transfers and frequent errors. That has consequences the README does not spell out. A zip is built per chapter, so a failure partway through a chapter means the chapter is incomplete rather than the whole library being broken. The long-press error check is the intended way to find those gaps, which implies the app cannot always tell you automatically. If you are downloading a long series, plan for verification passes rather than a single bulk job you trust. There is a second limitation hiding in the format. Webp images in a zip are fine for reading and portable to other apps, but they are not a re-encoded archive you can shrink further without another tool. The README does not offer image quality settings or format conversion. What you download is what you get. The third limitation is scope. The README's unimplemented section is not a roadmap with dates; it is simply everything in the official app that is not listed. There is no statement about whether those features will arrive. Reading the repository as a plan for future parity would be a mistake. ## Where copymanga sits against Tachiyomi-style readers The related searches around this project include Tachiyomi copymanga and copymanga tachiyomi, which is the comparison people actually make. The difference is architectural. Tachiyomi and its forks are general readers: one application hosts many sources, and each source is an extension. copymanga is the opposite arrangement. It is a single-purpose client for one service, with the service's own API baked in and its own Material Design interface. That trade-off cuts both ways. A single-service client can implement account features that a generic reader cannot easily expose, and this one does: login, logout, subscribe and unsubscribe, plus cloud reading progress tied to your account. A generic reader with an extension usually cannot do account-level sync because the extension model is built around fetching content, not around a session. On the other side, a generic reader gives you one app for many sources and a download library that other sources feed into. With copymanga, the zips under ./Android/data/top.fumiama.copymanga/files are the library, and the README notes other manga reading applications can open them, so you are not locked in at the file level even though you are locked in at the app level. The honest framing: if Copy Manga is the only thing you read, the dedicated client gives you account features a generic reader will not. If it is one of several sources, running two apps is friction you have chosen. ## Maintenance, licence and the cost of upgrading The repository is not archived. Its last push was on 2026-07-15, which is the same timestamp as the web1.6.0 release. The previous release, web1.5.3, is dated 2025-07-06, and web1.5.2 the day before that. So the release history shows a long quiet stretch followed by a single tagged release in July 2026. That is the pattern to weigh, not a claim about how busy the project is. The upgrade cost is low in one respect and awkward in another. Because downloads are plain zips of webp files in a public-ish directory, an app upgrade does not invalidate your library; the files do not depend on the app's internal database. The awkward part is the API dependency. The README already records one instance where the official service changed access and forced a rewrite from 2.0 onward. Any future backend change lands on this client, and there is no documented fallback. The licence is GPL-3.0, per the LICENSE file at the repository root. For someone installing the APK from F-Droid, that is mostly a distribution question. For someone forking the app or shipping a modified build, GPL-3.0 carries source-disclosure obligations that differ from permissive licences, and the README does not discuss them. That is a licensing question for a lawyer, not something to settle from a README. ## Conclusion Adopt copymanga if you want an Android reader for Copy Manga that keeps downloads on your own storage and are content with the feature list the README spells out. Do not adopt it if you need the official app's full feature set, or if slow and error-prone downloads are unacceptable for your library. Before relying on it, check the F-Droid listing at https://f-droid.org/packages/top.fumiama.copymanga for the current build, and confirm that ./Android/data/top.fumiama.copymanga/files is where you expect downloaded zips to land. ## FAQ ### Where do I download the copymanga APK? The README links to F-Droid, at https://f-droid.org/packages/top.fumiama.copymanga, as the place to get the app. There is no other distribution channel documented in the README. ### Where does copymanga store downloaded manga? The README states downloads go to ./Android/data/top.fumiama.copymanga/files, with each chapter packed as a zip of webp images that other manga reading applications can open. ### Does copymanga sync my reading progress? Yes, the README says progress is recorded both locally and in the cloud, but notes that the cloud record cannot be accurate to the page. ### Why are copymanga downloads slow or failing? The README lists slow and error-prone downloads as a known behaviour and attributes it to circumstances outside the project's control rather than to optimization. It suggests long-pressing a manga directory to run an error check on what you downloaded. ### Does copymanga include all the features of the official app? No. The README has a section for unimplemented features that covers everything in the official app not listed in its own feature list, and it directs users to the official version for anything richer. ## Sources - [fumiama/copymanga on GitHub](https://github.com/fumiama/copymanga) - [Issues](https://github.com/fumiama/copymanga/issues) - [License: GPL-3.0](https://github.com/fumiama/copymanga/blob/main/LICENSE) - [README](https://github.com/fumiama/copymanga/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/fumiama/copymanga/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/fumiama-copymanga