You’re getting this link because I’d love your help. Spectacled is my new family of apps for journals, notes, and tasks – and it’s now far enough along that it needs what I can’t produce on my own: real people, real devices, real everyday use.
No experience with testing needed. Install it, use it the way you’d normally use a notes or to-do app, and tell me what feels wrong, confusing, or broken. Every “hm, that’s odd” is worth reporting – small annoyances are exactly what I miss after staring at this thing for months.
It takes about five minutes to get started.
What is Spectacled?
Three apps, one shared foundation:
spectacled Journals
Time-based entries for logging and reflection.
Your personal timeline, stored on your CalDAV server – no lock-in, no tracking.
spectacled Notes
Free-form notes for ideas and knowledge.
Write without structure and keep everything under your control, synced via open standards.
spectacled Tasks
Structured to-dos with priorities and progress.
Plan and track your work while your data stays where it belongs – on your own server.
They run on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, and in the browser, and they all look and work the same way.
What makes them different: there’s no Spectacled account and no Spectacled server. Your entries are stored in open standard formats (iCalendar’s VJOURNAL and VTODO) and synced over CalDAV to a server you choose – your Nextcloud, your Baikal, your Radicale, or whatever else you already use. I never see your data. Spectacled is just the app on top of it.
Before you start: you need a CalDAV account
This is the one prerequisite, so it’s worth saying up front. Spectacled has no account system of its own – it syncs to a CalDAV server that belongs to you.
If any of this sounds unfamiliar, start with the get started guide – a full walkthrough with screenshots, from installing the app to seeing your first entry sync.
No account yet? Register with Murena – free
Murena is a European, privacy-focused provider whose cloud runs on Nextcloud, so it speaks CalDAV out of the box. A free account is enough for the beta and takes a couple of minutes:
- Create the account at murena.io and choose the free plan.
- Confirm your email address, then sign in at murena.io once so the account is fully set up.
- Add it in Spectacled – open the app, add an account, and enter:
Server:https://murena.io/remote.php/dav
Username: your full Murena address, e.g.you@murena.io
Password: your Murena password – or, with two-factor authentication on, an app password created under Settings → Security - Pick a collection to sync, or create a new one (see the tip below).
The Get started page shows each of these steps with screenshots.
Still stuck? Write me – I’ll help you figure it out, or set you up with a test account for the beta.
You can install the apps and look around without an account, but the interesting part – sync – needs one.
⚠️ A tip for the beta:
Create a new, empty calendar/collection for testing rather than pointing Spectacled at the notes and to-dos you rely on every day. It’s beta software: I don’t expect it to eat anything, but I’d rather you didn’t find out the hard way.
Join the beta on Android (Google Play)
Pick the app you’d actually use – or all three, they’re independent. Once it’s installed, the Get started guide takes you through connecting your account.
🎁 Testing is free. The apps are paid apps on Google Play, but as a beta tester you don’t have to pay for them. You have two options:
- Google Play promo code: I’ve set aside 100 promo codes per app, valid until November 30. Request a free code for each app you want to test here: Get your promo codes. First come, first served.
- Direct download: download the APK for free from GitHub. See Join the beta on Android (Direct download)below.
💙 Want to support Spectacled? You’re very welcome to simply buy the app on Google Play instead of using a code. Or, if you’d rather, make a donation. Either way, it helps fund the development, and buying the app leaves the codes for others.
If you go with Google Play, joining takes three steps, in this order:
- Opt in to the test program with the “Become a tester” link.
- Redeem your promo code: open the Play Store, tap your profile picture → Payments & subscriptions → Redeem code, and enter the code or follow the link on the promo code page. This gives you the app itself for free.
- Then install from the Play Store link. The store link only shows you the beta after step 1 – if you see “not available in your country” or nothing at all, step 1 hasn’t gone through yet.
Make sure you’re signed in to Play with the same Google account for all steps.
spectacled Journals
spectacled Notes
spectacled Tasks
Updates then arrive automatically, like any other app.
Join the beta on Android (Direct download)
If you don’t want to or can’t use Google Play, you can download the latest APK packages directly from GitHub. Pick the app you’d actually use – or all three – right from the downloads page.
APK builds don’t update themselves, so it’s worth checking back now and then.
If you want to use a tool that notifies you when updates are available, please check out Obtainium.
Join the beta on iPhone and iPad
Beta versions for iOS are distributed through Apple’s TestFlight app.
Install TestFlight from the App Store first:
Then open the invitation link on the device you want to test on:
spectacled Journals
spectacled Notes
spectacled Tasks
TestFlight notifies you when a new build is ready – please keep it reasonably up to date, since old builds expire after 90 days.
Join the beta on Windows, MacOS and Linux
Direct downloads for all three apps and all desktop platforms.
Desktop builds don’t update themselves yet, so it’s worth checking back now and then.
Join the alpha (!) in the browser
You can also try Spectacled without installing anything through the web app. Because browsers block direct CalDAV requests, the web version needs a small proxy configured under Settings → Proxy server before sync works.
NOTE: The web-app is still considered alpha and should only be used for testing purposes!
What would help me most
Just use it normally – that’s genuinely the most valuable thing. If you’d like a bit of direction, these are the areas I’m least sure about:
- Setting up your account. Did you get from “app installed” to “my entries are showing up” without getting stuck? Where did you hesitate?
- Everyday use. Creating, editing, deleting entries. Categories, due dates, sub-tasks, attachments.
- Sync. Do changes show up on your other devices – and on your server’s own web interface? What happens when you edit the same entry in two places, or make changes while offline?
- The little things. Wording that reads oddly, buttons in strange places, missing translations, text that’s cut off, anything that looks broken on your screen size.
- What’s missing. If something you’d expect from a notes or to-do app isn’t there, I want to know.
And please tell me when something works well, too – that’s useful information as well, and much nicer to read.
How to send feedback
Two ways, both fine – pick whichever is less effort for you:
Best for anything quick, vague or half-formed: a screenshot, a question, “the sync button confuses me”. You don’t need to be sure it’s a bug.
Best if you have a GitHub account and want to follow along: pick Bug report or Feature request, and you’ll be notified when it’s fixed.
If we’re already in touch on any other platform, then please feel free to contact me over there too!
It’s worth a quick look through the open issues on GitHub first – if someone’s already reported it, a 👍 or a comment with your details is just as helpful as a new report.
What to include
Don’t let this stop you from writing – a one-line email beats a report I never get. But when you have it to hand, this is what saves me the most time:
- What happened, and what you expected instead
- How to reproduce it – the steps you took, if you can retrace them
- A screenshot or screen recording, which often says more than a paragraph
- Your device (e.g. Pixel 9, iPhone 16) and OS version (Android 16, iOS 26.5, Windows 11 …)
- Which app (Journals / Notes / Tasks), its version number (Settings → About), and where you installed it from
- Which CalDAV server you’re syncing with (Nextcloud, Baikal, …), if it’s sync-related
Please don’t send passwords, tokens, or the contents of private entries.
If a problem only shows up with a specific entry, describe it or send a redacted screenshot – I never need your credentials, and GitHub issues are public.
Good to know
- This is beta software. Expect rough edges, the occasional crash, and features that aren’t finished yet. That’s the point – you’re seeing it before it’s polished.
- Your data stays yours. It lives on your CalDAV server, in an open standard format. Spectacled has no backend, no account, and no analytics that phone home to me.
- Leaving is easy. On Android, use the same opt-in link to leave the test programme; on iOS, remove the app from TestFlight. No explanation needed, no hard feelings.
- Updates come often, sometimes several a week. If something was broken yesterday, it’s worth checking whether it still is.
- Spectacled is open source (AGPL-3.0) – you’re welcome to look under the hood.
Thank you
Testing takes time and patience, and you get an unfinished app in return. I genuinely appreciate it – Spectacled will be a much better app because you took the trouble to tell me what’s wrong with it.
Questions of any kind: patrick@techbee.at.
– Patrick