Install the mobile app
Working on a laptop instead? See the desktop app (macOS · Windows).
AfriAnnotate has a mobile app for Android and iPhone / iPad that connects to whichever cloud your team already uses. Annotators can label from a phone or tablet with the same accounts, projects, and roles they have on the web.
Get the app
Requirements: Android 8.0 or newer, iOS 15 or newer.
The links above are placeholders until the listings are published — they will not resolve today. While the apps are in testing, the coordinator sends you an install link directly; follow that email instead. This page will carry the real store links as soon as they go live.
Self-hosting AfriAnnotate for your own team? A hoster can also distribute their own build — see Distribution for the channels available to operators.
Sign in
- Open the app.
- The login screen is the same one you see on your team's web URL — your existing email + password work.
- After login the app routes you to your projects. Pull-to-refresh anywhere to re-sync.
What works on mobile
| Feature | Mobile | Web |
|---|---|---|
| Browse projects | ✓ | ✓ |
| Label tasks (text, image, audio) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Submit annotations | ✓ | ✓ |
| Review queue | ✓ | ✓ |
| Comments + notifications | ✓ | ✓ |
| Profile, password, sign-out | ✓ | ✓ |
| Create projects | — (intentional) | ✓ |
| Invite members | — (intentional) | ✓ |
| Org / Platform admin | — (intentional) | ✓ |
Annotator surfaces only. Operator tasks live on the web.
What works offline
The app ships the full SPA in the install bundle — it opens with no network — and has a real offline engine for annotation work:
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Download for offline: each project card has a download toggle (owner must have enabled Allow on mobile). It pre-fetches the task list, existing annotations, drafts, task media, and a Listen validation pack into on-device storage. Resumable if interrupted.
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Annotating offline: submits, edits, drafts, and Listen votes queue in an on-device outbox and replay to the cloud in order when connectivity returns. Replays are idempotent (a UUID stamped into every create dedupes double-sends), and editing an annotation you created offline is safe — the queue rewrites its temporary id to the real one during sync.
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Sync status: the menubar shows an offline pill, a cloud pill with the queued-write count, and — if the server rejects a queued write (e.g. the project was removed or disabled for mobile) — an amber warning pill. Tap it to review each failed write and retry or discard it. Rejected work is never silently deleted.
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Sign-in: requires network the first time. A live session in device storage keeps later launches working offline; if it fully expires while offline you'll need connectivity to sign in again.
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Storage management: account menu → Offline storage shows device usage, cached media size, queued/failed writes, and each downloaded project with a per-project Remove download. A media cache limit (default 500 MB) evicts the oldest unused media first when exceeded — annotations and queued work are never evicted.
Joining new Discover projects, first sign-in, and account changes need connectivity. Projects you didn't download (or browse while online) show an empty state offline.
Troubleshooting
I can't find the app in the store. The listings are not published yet (see the note above). During testing the coordinator sends you an install link directly — use that email. Also check that your device meets the minimum version: Android 8.0+, iOS 15+.
The install email never arrives (during testing). Check spam, then ask the coordinator to confirm your address is on the tester list — corporate mail filters often block these. On iPhone the invitation goes to the Apple ID email, which may differ from your work address.
App opens to a blank screen. Force-quit the app and re-open. The pre-boot SPA assets are cached locally but the cloud connection happens on first launch — if the cloud was unreachable mid-launch, you can get into a bad state. A full restart fixes it.
Login bounces between login and home. Sign out (sidebar → Sign out), force-quit, re-open. The signed-out state on the cloud and the cached state on the device occasionally disagree after an interrupted sign-in; a clean cycle resets both.
Updating to a new release
- Android: Google Play updates the app automatically. To update now, open Play Store → your profile → Manage apps & device → Update available.
- iPhone / iPad: the App Store updates automatically. To update now, open App Store → your profile → scroll to the app → Update.
Each release is versioned app-vX.Y.Z (see Release notes).
You can check the installed version in Android: Settings → Apps →
<your-platform-name>, or iOS: the app's own account menu.
Test builds do not install themselves. Open the installer link the coordinator sent you and tap Update before each round, or you may be testing an old build.