Trawl

Find anything on your phone by what’s in it.

You remember what a file showed or said, not what it’s called. Type the receipt from the phone shop or that funny dog video, and Trawl finds the photo, screenshot, document, video or voice note. Offline, and private.

Download for Android See what it finds
  • No internet permission
  • 64-bit Android 11 or newer
  • No account
Trawl’s own screens. The searches and files are examples.

Search the way you remember things

Trawl reads everything on your phone once, then finds it by what it shows, says or contains. Five kinds of files, one search box.

Photos

Photos, by what’s in them.

Type what you see in your head. Trawl looks at every picture, so birthday party finds the cake, the candles and the people celebrating, even when the file is called IMG_4021. It reads the words in pictures too.

birthday party
A white birthday cake with gold letter candles spelling Happy Birthday, all lit.IMG_4021.jpg An older woman smiles at her birthday cake while a man in a party hat hugs her from behind. A young Black man with golden locs laughs at a party, with gold and black balloons behind him.

3 found

Screenshots

Screenshots, by the words on them.

The wifi password someone sent you, a booking code, a payment message. Trawl reads the text in every screenshot, so a few words you remember are enough.

wifi password screenshot
Documents

Documents, by what they say.

Receipts, letters, forms, school reports, slides, even scanned pages. Trawl searches the words inside, so you don’t need the file name or the folder.

the receipt from the phone shop
  • PDF
  • Word
  • Excel
  • PowerPoint
  • OpenDocument
  • ePub
  • CSV
  • RTF
  • Text
Receipt_0412.pdfPDF · Download · 3 days ago
Videos

Videos, by what happens in them.

Trawl looks at what’s on screen in your videos and listens to what people say in them. Describe the moment, and it finds the clip, even the one from three years ago.

that funny dog video

Speech in videos is understood in English for now, and in long recordings only the first part.

A small dog catching a teddy bear in its mouth.

2 found: the high five, and the one with the teddy bear.

Voice notes

Voice notes, by what was said.

Trawl turns speech into words on your phone, so the voice note about the rent is one search away. It shows where in the note the words were said.

voice note about the rent

English speech for now, and in long recordings only the first part. Other languages are coming.

at 0:42 Ama · PTT-20261003-WA0007.opus

“…and the rent is due on Friday, so can you send your half by Thursday? The landlord said…”

Quick search

Find it without leaving your chat.

A friend asks for that photo. Open Quick search over the app you’re in, find it, share it, and you’re back in the conversation.

  1. 1
    Pull down quick settings and tap Quick search, or use the home-screen widget.
  2. 2
    Type what you remember: beach trip.
  3. 3
    Tap the photo and Share. The panel closes and your chat is still there.

Trawl has no internet permission. It collects nothing.

Android only lets an app go online if it asks to. Trawl doesn’t ask, so your files, your searches and what it learns stay on your phone.

  • No internet permissionIt can’t send anything anywhere.
  • No accountNothing to sign up for or sign in to.
  • No ads, no analyticsNobody watches what you search.
  • Signed modelsTrawl checks the models file is genuine before using it.
  • Private previews blurredPhotos that may be private stay blurred until you tap them.
  • Delete everythingOne button removes all Trawl has learned. Your files stay.
  • Reports only if you send themYou read a problem report first, and you press Send.
  • No trackers here eitherThis website sets no cookies and loads nothing from other sites.
By the numbers

Numbers from a budget phone.

Trawl 1.0.0 on a Samsung Galaxy A06 with 4 GB of memory, not a flagship. Every number links to how we measured it.

The search models

The part that understands your files.

Trawl’s search runs on models: files that let your phone recognise what’s in a photo and what a sentence means. They come as one separate download.

  • You choose when to spend the data.Download them once, on Wi-Fi if you can, or get the file from a friend.
  • Updates without reinstalling.Better models can arrive as a new file. The app stays as it is.
  • Checked as genuine.Every models file is signed by Crane AI Labs. Trawl refuses one that has been changed.
Most phones

Standard

670 MB

For phones with 3 GB of memory or more.

  • Photos in full detail
  • Words in documents and screenshots
  • Speech in videos and voice notes
  • Blurred private previews
2 GB phones

Lite

304 MB

For 64-bit phones with 2 GB of memory. Trawl uses it only on those phones.

  • A quick look at photos
  • Words in documents and screenshots
  • No speech search
  • Blurred private previews

Not sure? Inside Trawl, Get the models picks the right one for your phone.

Download Trawl

Most phones need Trawl for 64-bit: the app, then its models. Most people only need the first button: inside Trawl, Get the models opens your browser on the right file for your phone.

Preview: the download links are not live yet.

Trawl 64-bit

For most phones

1The app

Trawl for Android, as an APK file you install yourself. For 64-bit phones with Android 11 or newer.

Download TrawlAPK · about 47 MB

2The models

Only if you want to download them somewhere else and copy the file across. Otherwise Trawl’s Get the models does it for you.

Standard · 670 MBRecommended: 3 GB of memory or more Lite · 304 MBOnly for phones with 2 GB of memory

Trawl Go 32-bit

For Android Go phones

Finds files by their names and the words in them, including the words in photos and screenshots. It’s small, and it needs no model download. It doesn’t search by meaning or listen to recordings: those need a 64-bit phone.

Download Trawl GoAPK · about 21 MB · Android 11 or newer

Which one is mine?

Almost every phone from the last few years is 64-bit, so start there. If Android says “App not installed”, or your phone says Android Go (many itel phones and some 2 GB phones), you need Trawl Go.

To check, open Settings › About phone. The wording differs by brand.

Where Trawl runs

  • Android64-bit phones, Android 11 or newerAvailable now
  • Android GoTrawl Go, for 32-bit phonesAvailable now
  • WindowsYour PC’s files and foldersComing soon
  • macOSYour Mac’s files and foldersComing soon
  • LinuxYour home folder and drivesComing soon
  • iPhoneThe photos and folders you chooseComing soon

Install it in six steps

  1. Download the appTap Download Trawl. If your browser asks whether to keep the file, tap Download or Keep.
  2. Open the fileTap Open when it finishes, or find trawl.apk in Files › Downloads.
  3. Allow installs, onceIf Android says it can’t install apps from this source, tap Settings, turn this on, then go back.
  4. Tap Install, then OpenFollow Trawl’s first pages and allow access to your files, so it can search them.
  5. Tap Get the modelsYour browser downloads one file: 670 MB, or 304 MB on a 2 GB phone. Wi-Fi is best.
  6. That’s itWhen the download ends, Trawl adds the models by itself and starts learning your files. Search works within minutes.

Got the models file from a friend over Bluetooth, a sharing app or a memory card? In Trawl, tap Choose the file. You can turn Allow from this source off again afterwards. Only install Trawl from this page.

What your phone needs

Android
Android 11 or newer, on a 64-bit phone. For 32-bit Android Go phones, there’s Trawl Go.
Memory
2 GB or more. 64-bit phones with 2 GB use the lite models.
Free space
About 1 GB with the standard models, about 500 MB with lite. The index grows with your files.
Internet
Once, to download the models. After that, never.

Languages

You can search in all of these. English works best today; the others are getting better. Trawl’s screens come in all of them except Ateso and Lugbara, which are coming; Runyankole and Acholi are in preview.

  • English
  • Luganda
  • Swahili
  • Runyankole
  • Acholi
  • Ateso
  • Lugbara
  • Kinyarwanda
  • French
  • Portuguese
  • Arabic
  • Amharic
  • Hausa
  • Yoruba
  • Somali
  • Zulu
  • and more, getting better

Questions

Will it work on my phone?

If your phone is 64-bit and runs Android 11 or newer, yes. Most phones sold in recent years are 64-bit. Android Go phones (often 2 GB, many itel models) are usually 32-bit: they need Trawl Go (see Download), which finds files by name and by the words in them. If Android says “App not installed”, the phone is most likely one of these.

Will it use my data bundle?

Only once, when your browser downloads the models (670 MB, or 304 MB for lite). Trawl itself has no internet permission, so it can’t use data at all.

How long until it finds everything?

File names and words in documents work within minutes. Photos get a quick look while you use the phone, and the full reading, which gives the best matches, happens while it charges. Trawl shows how far it has got.

Will it drain my battery?

It shouldn’t. The heavy work waits for the charger, and on battery Trawl only does light work.

Which should I get, standard or lite?

Standard, unless your phone has 2 GB of memory; then lite. Trawl’s Get the models picks for you, and a file for the wrong kind of phone is refused, so you can’t get it wrong.

Can I delete what Trawl has learned?

Yes. Settings › Delete everything Trawl knows removes it all. Your own files stay exactly as they are.

Why isn’t it on the Play Store?

It will come to the Play Store later. Until then, install it from this page.