UnicodeMap for Android

About this program

Android UnicodeMap lets you browse Unicode characters by range and search for them by name, display them (when Android has the font) and copy them to the clipboard. It can also decode a string of Unicode characters to names.

I wrote this because Android doesn't offer a way to enter exotic Unicode characters (in the en-US locale, which I use, it is limited to accented Latin characters). Unfortunately it isn't very good as an input method. This app is just the list of Unicode characters, arranged by block: you can browse through them, enter them in a dedicated text field, and copy that field to the clipboard (it works a bit the way Gucharmap does). There is also a primitive search feature (to search on the character name). Of course, Android will only properly display a minuscule fraction of the characters, but those that are not properly displayed still “work” in the sense that you can copy them around or whatever.

This is a very basic and limited program, and not much data is available (essentially, only the character name, its code point and its general category). The list of characters, on the other hand, is complete: the latest version has the full Unicode 6.1 character set (all 110 181 of them). In particular, the program is not limited to the first plane of Unicode (aka, 65536 codepoints): you can copy-paste cuneiform if you like.

Getting it

UnicodeMap is installable from ~~the Android Market~~ Google Play.

You can also get the source code or the compiled .apk directly from the android/ directory on my FTP site. The source code with history can also be obtained using Git: see here.

The ultra-ultra-FAQ about boxes / missing characters

I've gotten loads of email asking me: Why are so many characters displayed as squares? or variants thereof: Many characters are missing! — I can't see most of the Unicode. — All I see are boxes. — and so on.

So, here's the short answer:

No, you didn't do anything wrong, and, yes, I agree it's frustrating.
Yes, it's a font problem (UnicodeMap doesn't actually draw the characters, Android does).
No, I don't know where to find better fonts, or more complete ones (although I've been told that Cyanogen(mod) has better fonts than stock Android, but I really don't know; there are zillions of variants and customized builds of Android and I have no idea how complete they are).
No matter what you do, no font whatsoever contains all Unicode characters. There are 110 181 characters in Unicode 6.1 (including controls but not private use area, noncharacters or surrogates), most of them are extremely rare. Even the Unicode consortium does not seem to have a font covering the most very obscure Chinese ideographs; furthermore, some scripts have insanely complicated combining rules. It is ridiculous to think that a phone should be able to display them all, or even a large portion of them.
I don't know how to query Android for the characters it can display, so I can't get rid of the rectangles, and even if I could, it would take a very long time and anyway I certainly don't want that. The very point of this app is to list all Unicode characters and their basic properties, not the particular subset which your phone can display. If you're after that, you probably want a different app (though I can't suggest one.)
But most importantly, even if a character does not display correctly, you can still use it! You can copy and paste it and use it normally: search things in a search engine, send them in instant messaging, whatever you might use a character for. Conversely, if a character on a Web page does not display correctly, you can copy it in my app and use the decode feature to identify it. If you're messaging with someone, what matters mostly is what their phone can display, not yours, and I obviously can't detect that… In fact, generally speaking, the whole point of entering a character on your phone is not just to display it, so it would make no sense to limit character to those the phone can display.
I can see how having an easily accessible list of relatively common Unicode characters could be useful. I might try to work on that at some point, but don't hold your breath. If you're in a hurry, get the source code, write the feature and send me a patch: that's what Free Software is all about.

What's new in each version?

Version 0.0.4

The main change in this version is that the Unicode database has been upgraded to version 6.1.0 of the Standard (previously 5.2.0).

Also added were a couple of buttons on character description popups (to copy the character alone to the clipboard, or to copy its name).

The app should now work propery with any screen size (e.g., tablets).

Version 0.0.3

This version added a shortcut on CJK characters to view Unihan data on the the Unicode Consortium's website.

Also new in version 0.0.3 was a (probably badly named) decode feature, which takes a Unicode character strings and shows the names and numbers of the characters in question.

Version 0.0.2

Version 0.0.2 added some support for CJK ideographs and Hangul syllables (though you still can't search for them), but it's not very useful; the Unihan database is far too large to include in an Android app.

Also new in version 0.0.2 was: the ability to find a character by its number, the display of the character category, and data from Unicode 5.2.0, along with a number of more minor features and bugfixes. (Also, the app should now behave correctly when the screen is reconfigured. There's still one bug which really annoys me, however: if you use text filtering in lists—by typing letters on the keyboard, assuming you have one—and then cancel the filter, the previous position is lost.)