kiwix

App

Kiwix is an offline browser for Wikipedia, WikiMed, Wikivoyage, Stack Exchange, TED Talks, Project Gutenberg, etc.

About kiwix

Kiwix JS Offline Browser packaged for Ubuntu Touch

The whole Wikipedia - and far more - at hand wherever you go! You don't need Internet!

The world has a connectivity issue.
In many places internet can be slow, unreliable or even censored. Kiwix is an offline solution that allows you to access educational content like Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Stack Exchange, Project Gutenberg, TED talks and many others on any computer or smartphone - without the need for a live internet connection.

Recent Changes

## Release Kiwix JS v4.4.0

Released on *2026-08-22*

Headline changes since v4.3.0: jQuery and Bootstrap's JavaScript bundle have been removed entirely (saving some 150KB of minified JavaScript) and accessibility support added throughout; several security hardenings around the settings that may be supplied in the app's URL and around archive source verification; fixes to the Library fallback for older browsers and to clearing the app cache on reset; and the "Bypass AppCache" option is now called "Developer Mode". Detail is given per interim update below — those updates were pushed only to the browser-extension PWA.

* FIX: Tooltips in French no longer show a literal " " before a colon
* FIX: Follow HTML redirects in Restricted mode
* DEV: Renamed the "Bypass AppCache" option to "Developer Mode" in the UI and info
* DEV: Removed three dead translation keys
* DEV: Fixed flaky Gutenberg author search tests
* DEV: Pinned every GitHub workflow action to an immutable ref, so that our workflows no longer track moving branches
* DEV: Added a Dependabot configuration for the GitHub Actions ecosystem

### Interim update Kiwix JS v4.3.4

* SECURITY: The security prompt regarding the source of an archive now appears consistently in ServiceWorkerLocal mode
* FIX: The content injection mode is now validated against the modes the app actually supports
* FIX: Users who had already chosen ServiceWorkerLocal mode are no longer shown the mode-change alert they had answered before
* FIX: In browsers without the ServiceWorker API (e.g. IE11), the "ServiceWorker API not available" dialogue no longer reappears indefinitely when the app is forced into ServiceWorker mode
* FIX: The "Developer Mode" setting no longer blocks a switch to Restricted mode, and can now be turned off from Restricted mode
* FIX: The "Developer Mode" setting is now shown in every mode in which it is effective, and is hidden only in browsers with no ServiceWorker API
* DEV: Added unit tests covering the trust setting and validation across the content injection modes
* DEV: Added e2e tests, run in IE Mode, covering the app's recovery from ServiceWorker mode in a browser that cannot support it

### Interim update Kiwix JS v4.3.3

* SECURITY: Settings supplied in the app's URL are no longer saved permanently, apart from the few the app passes between its own windows
* SECURITY: `noPrompts`, which suppresses dialogues for the automated test suite, now opens an unverified archive in Restricted mode rather than in ServiceWorker mode
* FIX: The Library no longer reports "All library servers are currently unreachable" in browsers that cannot run the modern library (e.g. IE11)
* FIX: Refreshed the emergency list of download mirrors, removing dead and redirecting entries and adding those currently advertised by the Kiwix catalogue
* FIX: Corrected obsolete download.kiwix.org links in the About section
* DEV: Library server checks now time out instead of leaving the user watching the loading animation indefinitely
* UPDATE: Removed the jQuery dependency entirely, together with Bootstrap's JavaScript bundle
* ENHANCEMENT: The navbar toggle button now has a translatable name, so screen readers no longer announce it as an unlabelled button
* FIX: The Table of Contents button no longer reports itself as expanded while its menu is closed
* DEV: Replaced Bootstrap's collapse and dropdown plugins with native equivalents that keep ARIA state and keyboard navigation in sync
* DEV: Added an automated accessibility check (`npm run test-e2e-a11y`) and included it in the Windows CI job
* DEV: Added unit tests for the Firefox OS DeviceStorage archive scan, a path not reachable by the e2e suite
* DEV: Added unit tests covering which settings may be supplied in the app's URL
* DEV: E2E tests no longer rely on `noPrompts` to get past source verification, and two ineffective `await`s on checkbox state are fixed
* DEV: Updated CONTRIBUTING for the AI era
* DEV: Multiple security updates to dependencies

### Interim update Kiwix JS v4.3.2

* CRITICAL UPDATE: Fix failure of Service Worker to discover remote PWA in Chromium extensions
* ENHACEMENT: Prevent glaring white flash on startup by pre-applying dark theme
* UPDATE: Update javascript-libzim binaries to v0.95
* UPDATE: Update main library URL so CORS is detected
* FIX: Typo in URI parameter in settingsStore which prevented state passing between local extension and PWA
* FIX: Properly clear App Cache and IndexedDB on app reset
* FIX: Allow more permissive CSP to frame kiwix.org sites in library iframe
* DEV: Rename SSH key secret, and adapt to new destinations for releases and nightly packages
* DEV: Fix breaking IE11 test
* DEV: Fix Windows CI by installing IEDriver explicitly and disabling Selenium Manager
* DEV: Update CodeQL actions to v4
* DEV: Add Docker Compose configuration and documentation
* DEV: Multiple security updates to dependencies

Permissions

Networking
Webview
Content Exchange
Content Exchange Source

Community Built

This app has been released under the GNU GPL v3 license.It is developed in the open and you can review the source code.

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Info

Published Date
Jul 16, 2017
Updated Date
Aug 22, 2026
Current Version
4.4.0
Total Downloads
6,035
Latest Version Downloads
68
Supported Architectures
all

Reviews

ChromiumOS-Guy

Reviewed Aug 23, 2026 for version 4.4.0

you need to make it unconfined or set the default folder path to the local app path not the system app path which is read onlg

Formosa288

Reviewed Mar 10, 2026 for version 4.3.0(older version)

not working under UT20.04 nor 24.04 on Vollaphone 22,cannot click the zim link..

ruudfiers

Reviewed Jun 16, 2025 for version 4.2.0(older version)

Cannot select the archive files. The select file button doesn't trigger a file-browser screen

Muming Lu

Reviewed Apr 27, 2025 for version 3.11.0(older version)

Works well on my Xperia X

outeh1

Reviewed Apr 13, 2022 for version 3.4.0(older version)

Works

stemy2

Reviewed Apr 12, 2022 for version 3.4.0(older version)

I have to manually upload the ZIM files, but i have no idea where to find them.