The 7 best mobile apps for reading books
Table of contents
15-03-24Read Time: 10 min
Mobile reading apps are a treasure trove for book lovers. On Google Play and the App Store, you can find tools for every need – from standard readers with lots of useful features to specialised mobile platforms where large communities of readers and writers are forming. Sooner or later, all book lovers, even the most dedicated paper book fans, will come to read on a smartphone. If you are still looking for your ideal reading app, here is an overview of some popular services.
PocketBook Reader
With the free PocketBook Reader mobile application, you can read anything in electronic format – from books and textbooks to magazines and comics. If you prefer to listen, there are audio books. It supports 26 popular formats: For books (fb2, pdf, epub, djvu, mobi, txt, docx, etc.), for comics (cbz and cbr), for audiobooks and podcasts (mp3, m4b). If you like, you can use the built-in predictive text, dictionary and translator, create bookmarks, write notes and share them with friends in Messenger. It is important to note that PocketBook Reader is not just a reader. The application includes a large shop where you can buy almost any book online, even the most fashionable novelties.
All your content, including books, audio, notes and bookmarks, is stored in the free cloud. You can quickly sync with Dropbox, Google Books and Google Drive to create a single library of all your saved books. Find a book by barcode with the built-in ISBN scanner. You can find the file you need on your device and add it to the library in seconds using the application’s intelligent search function. There are settings for sorting, filtering and creating collections of books and audio in the library.
What are reviews saying about PocketBook Readers? Users praise its ease of use, wide range of settings, intuitive interface, easy navigation and many useful tools. Book files open quickly and without delay, even if they contain images, audio and video fragments. The design of the application is minimalist, but stylish and pleasant for the reader. You can choose interface themes, set day or night modes, change the background and brightness, install widgets on the home screen for one-click access to libraries. For a more comfortable reading experience, users can choose font size and style, text formatting, and page scrolling animation. Everything you need for a comfortable reading experience.
Moon+ Reader
Bookmate is a smartphone library of thousands of books from around the world in 13 languages in text and audio format for children and adults. The database is not limited to specific formats or genres – you can find modern and classic literature, popular science, novels and short stories, comics and magazines, prose and poetry. If a particular work is not available in the app, you can download the file yourself in epub and fb2 formats – downloaded books are available online and offline.
The app gives readers personal recommendations and analyses their preferences. The more you use the platform, the more accurate the recommendations become. To find interesting books, you can use thematic shelves collected from experts, media sources and just book lovers. Users can save quotes, make notes and create their own book selections. Standard reading settings are available – choose fonts, themes, backgrounds, text formatting options. Audiobooks and prompts can be listened to at different speeds. Book selections, reading progress and positions, personal settings – all synchronised between mobile devices and the user’s computer. Materials are available both online and offline, making reading accessible in all situations.
Millions of users around the world share positive experiences with Bookmate. People are pleasantly surprised by the size of the library, the fairly democratic subscription price, and the concept of the application itself, which turns an ordinary reader into a large book community. The service unites readers on the principle of social networks – users can share impressions, quotes and interesting findings, get likes and recommend books to friends.
Payment is on a subscription basis – one payment allows you to use all the books in the library for a month or a year. There are several subscription options – book, audio and premium. For active readers, this is cheaper than buying e-books individually. To get started, you can try out Bookmate’s features for free in the trial version.
Bookmate
Bookmate is a smartphone library of thousands of books from around the world in 13 languages in text and audio format for children and adults. The database is not limited to specific formats or genres – you can find modern and classic literature, popular science, novels and short stories, comics and magazines, prose and poetry. If a particular work is not available in the app, you can download the file yourself in epub and fb2 formats – downloaded books are available online and offline.
The app gives readers personal recommendations and analyses their preferences. The more you use the platform, the more accurate the recommendations become. To find interesting books, you can use thematic shelves collected from experts, media sources and just book lovers. Users can save quotes, make notes and create their own book selections. Standard reading settings are available – choose fonts, themes, backgrounds, text formatting options. Audiobooks and prompts can be listened to at different speeds. Book selections, reading progress and positions, personal settings – all synchronised between mobile devices and the user’s computer. Materials are available both online and offline, making reading accessible in all situations.
Millions of users around the world share positive experiences with Bookmate. People are pleasantly surprised by the size of the library, the fairly democratic subscription price, and the concept of the application itself, which turns an ordinary reader into a large book community. The service unites readers on the principle of social networks – users can share impressions, quotes and interesting findings, get likes and recommend books to friends.
Payment is on a subscription basis – one payment allows you to use all the books in the library for a month or a year. There are several subscription options – book, audio and premium. For active readers, this is cheaper than buying e-books individually. To get started, you can try out Bookmate’s features for free in the trial version.
Librera Reader
Librera Reader is a free mobile application designed to read books in popular formats pdf, epub, fb2, mobi, djvu, txt, rtf, azw, html, xps, tiff and others. This is a fairly simple and minimalistic programme, but that’s how it is attractive to users – it takes up little space, works quickly, has many useful options and a pleasant modern design. You can read without ads in the paid version of Librera Reader PRO. In total, the application has been downloaded by more than 10 million readers, reviews about Librera are predominantly positive.
The application has basic functions – the choice of interface theme, fonts and page background, night and day modes, different ways to play the list of books and covers, support for all screen orientations. Text display parameters are customisable to the user’s needs – font size and style, page formatting, full screen mode, brightness adjustment. Librera Reader automatically scans files on the device and forms a library sorted by title, author, genre. The application has a built-in file manager and an option to convert documents to another format.
The reader can make notes, bookmarks, add books to favourites, create comments, copy text fragments. There are tools for working with pdf documents – you can make thumbnails on pages and convert files to txt format. These functions are quite standard, but Librera attracts users with specialised chips – for example, the program has a tool for reading sheet music with automatic scrolling of the sheet music. For those who learn foreign languages, the voice-over and word translation options will be useful.
Booknet
Booknet is fundamentally different from ordinary readers. This application is a mobile version of the literary platform of the same name, bringing together readers and modern authors. Any user can register and publish their work. Books are published both in their finished form and in parts as they are created. Readers await the release of new chapters, leave comments, communicate with authors and add interesting works to their personal libraries. Many books first find their readers on Booknet and then go to publishers.
Today, users have access to more than 13 thousand modern works in Ukrainian in various genres. The Booknet administration is working to make the service a lively and active community: it is encouraging interaction between writers and readers, holding literary competitions and developing a handy mobile application. Writers can maintain their blogs to get closer to the public.
If we think of the app as a reading tool, it has all the basic features, including narration and extensive personal settings. Books can be selected by genre or reviews with ratings. The Booknet app is free to download. Thousands of books are available free of charge, and some works require a paid subscription. Reviews of Booknet are overwhelmingly positive, and reading is available both online and offline.
Librarius
Librarius is a Ukrainian mobile application for online and offline reading of e-books in various genres, from classics to non-fiction. In addition to world literature, the platform offers a wide range of licensed Ukrainian books. The database is constantly updated with new releases and bestsellers. The application is relatively young, but it has already established itself as an interesting platform with a wide range of functions, a large library and a successful concept. The audience of Librarius is growing and the platform is receiving a lot of positive feedback.
Users browse and read books, create personal libraries and add books to their favourites. Books are available under different conditions: some can be read for free, others can be bought at an affordable price. There is a compromise option – rent an e-book from Librarius for 2 weeks at an affordable price. Before buying or renting, you can read 10% of the work for free to familiarise yourself with the author’s style, content and genre.
The application has a reasonable search – it is possible to find the desired book even with imprecise key queries. Links to interesting finds can be shared on messengers and social networks. The reading interface is quite convenient and functional – there are options for bookmarking, text selection, font and background selection, day and night mode. Overall, the combination of a large library and convenient functionality makes Librarius a popular and promising reading tool.
Wattpad
Wattpad is another exceptional mobile application for reading enthusiasts. It is not just a convenient, functional tool for finding and reading books. It is a large international community of more than 100 million users – readers and writers from all over the world. Wattpad allows aspiring and experienced writers to share their work and receive feedback from readers.
The app is popular with book lovers looking for new literary experiences. It offers works in a variety of formats and genres in more than 50 languages worldwide. Readers create libraries of their favourite books, read online or offline, communicate with peers and authors, and leave comments and reviews. The application has a comfortable interface, a well-structured catalogue, clear navigation and all the necessary features for comfortable reading. Millions of modern works are available for free, which is one of the reasons for the popularity of the service and the many positive reviews about Wattpad.
Undoubtedly, this is just the beginning of worthy mobile apps for book lovers. We hope our review will help you make your choice and get more value and enjoyment out of reading.
