ReteClock

An old Android phone in a drawer is still a perfectly good screen with a perfectly good clock in it. reteclock is for exactly that: plug the phone into a charger, put it on a stand, and it shows the time in large digits with the weekday and the date.

Old phones are hard to use for much else. Signing in to a Google account stopped working on Android 2.3.7 and older in 2021, Google Play services stopped shipping updates for Android 4.4 KitKat in 2023, and most apps now require a much newer Android. A phone that can no longer install anything can still show the time.

So reteclock asks for nothing: no account, no network, no runtime permission. It runs on Android 2.3 and newer, and it is built and verified against Android 4.4.

Features

* Full-screen 24-hour clock with seconds, weekday, month, day and year.
* Two layouts. Wide screen: a large HH:MM on the left, with seconds, weekday, date and year in a column on the right. Tall screen: hour and minute stacked, then the weekday with the date, then the year and the seconds.
* The hour and the minute are as large as the screen allows. Space is reserved for the smaller lines first and everything left over goes to the big time, so nothing is ever clipped. They arrive bold, and you can turn that off.
* Keeps the screen on while the clock is shown.
* Burn-in protection: the drawing moves a few pixels every minute, when the displayed minute changes anyway, and works its way around a wide disc over a couple of hours, so an OLED panel does not burn in.
* Starts when the charger is connected, and shows over the lock screen when started that way. This can be turned off.
* Works as a system screensaver (Daydream) on Android 4.2 and newer, and from a desk dock.
* Your own fonts. Add a font file and the clock draws in it — TrueType (.ttf), OpenType (.otf) or a collection (.ttc), with anything the device cannot read refused on the spot. The file goes through the system picker and is copied into the app, so reteclock still asks for no storage permission, and the font keeps working if you move or delete the original. Keep several: the settings screen lists each one's size and the total they occupy, and any of them can be deleted.
* A font for each field. The hour, the minute, the seconds, the weekday, the month and day, and the year each take their own font, and their own bold, italic and underline. Sizes stay worked out by the app.
* The clock does not fidget. Each field is sized from the widest text it could ever show, so 11:11 is drawn at the same size and in the same place as 88:88 and nothing shifts as the digits change.
* Your own pictures, in one pool. Each image is ticked as a background or as the text fill — the digits become a window onto it — or held on hand, unused; a select-all tops each column. The backgrounds take turns: an animated GIF plays through once, a still holds for a time you choose, one cross-fades into the next, and six fit modes cover every shape. The text images cycle on the same rules. Sort by name or date, rename (001, 002 … makes the name sort your order), arrange by hand, or select many and delete together.
* How much room the time takes is yours: two sliders — its share of the width in landscape, of the height in portrait.
* Your colours: the text and the background, each from a palette — and never the same colour, so the clock cannot vanish into itself.
* Settings, reached from the menu a long press on the clock opens — or with the Menu key, or a remote's centre key held down: show seconds, date format, colours, the fonts, images and sliders above, and start-when-charging.

Built small and plain

Java and the Android framework only. No AndroidX, no support library, no Kotlin runtime, no third-party dependency, a single classes.dex, and an APK of about 490 KB. It holds two normal permissions — WAKE_LOCK, to keep the screen on, and VIBRATE, which only the timer uses. Both are granted at install and neither is ever requested at runtime.

The name

rete is Latin for

Is ReteClock free to download?
Yes. The APK file linked from this page is free. The developer may offer in-app purchases once installed, but obtaining the installer itself costs nothing.

What Android version does ReteClock require?
Android 4.1+ or newer. Installing on older devices may cause crashes or refuse to install.

Is ReteClock safe to install?
We link to the exact APK published by reteclock contributors. We do not modify the file. Still, as with any sideloaded app, scan it with a reputable antivirus before opening it, and only grant permissions the app genuinely needs.

How do I update ReteClock?
Install the newer version on top of the old one — Android will keep your data. If the signature differs, uninstall first (you may lose local progress).

Why is the app not installing?
Common causes: not enough storage, an older Android version than 4.1+, or a conflicting build already installed. Free up space, check your OS version, and uninstall any previous copy before retrying.

1. Tap the Download APK button above and save the file to your device.
2. Open your device Settings → Security (or Apps → Special access → Install unknown apps) and allow your file manager or browser to install unknown apps for this one file only.
3. Open the downloaded com.reteclock.apk file from your Downloads folder.
4. Tap Install and wait for Android to finish.
5. Open «ReteClock» by reteclock contributors and grant only the permissions it actually needs.
6. Revoke the "unknown sources" permission once you are done installing.

Note: this page hosts or links to the installer only. The application name, icon and description are provided for identification. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.