Bookish Applications For Your iPhone (and Possibly Android)

    I was always an avid reader growing up, I loved participating in the AR competition, summer reading programs, and I was an active member of my high school's book club. But as it always does, life got busy once I started college. At this point reading felt like a chore because all I was reading was hefty textbooks about practical things such as chemistry, biology and math. I would still sift through my college library's fiction section, but it left much to be desired. Fast forward a few years when I started working, I would always hear my coworkers talking about the books that they were reading, and they would sit and read on their Kindles. And just like that the spark came back, a little darker and more morally gray, but she was back in full force. I got myself a kindle and started making the most use of my three-month free trial of Kindle Unlimited (KU). 

How to Track Your Reading:

    With that came the question of how was I going to track all that I was reading? Because the number of times I would redownload and start reading a book I had previously finished happened more times that I would like to admit. So, to the app store I went, in desperate need of a way to track my reading. 

Goodreads:

    I tried Goodreads but it initially was not for me. I appreciated that the entire app was free, and there were no locked features (that I found). And that my Kindle books and reviews would automatically link to the app. I was also reading a lot of physical books which meant I was manually inputting them into Goodreads anyways. Overall, this app just visually left me unexcited, so I went on the hunt for other booktrakers.

        But now as an ARC reader, I have slowly transitioned back to GoodReads, because that's where the reviews are needed the most. 

Bookmory:

This led me to download  Bookmory. I will start by saying that I use the free version of the app, which I find has all the features unlocked that are useful to the average reader. Overall, I found Bookmory to be much more pleasing visually. But the first hiccup that I encountered was you had to manually put in your books and ratings. Which honestly isn't a big deal breaker as the app automatically reminds you at 8am to update your booklog. But I recently found that you can inport data from GoodReads and other similar applications. One of the things that I love the most about Bookmory was the built in book calendar. I am very much a visual person, and I loved being able to see how my reading mapped out in a calendar format.

    One feature that Bookmory just added is called Rewind. It is similar to Spotify's wrapped as it collects all of your data and creates a neat little story to review your reading year. once again as a visual person I absolutely loved this. 

So What to Choose?

    Each application has its own pros and cons; I will insert a chart what I have found for each application that way you can see if either would be a good fit for you.

What Other Book Applications do I use?

    Now this is the main reason for this post. Recently while out thrift shopping, I have purchased multiple copies of the same book because I could not for the life of me remember if they were already on my shelf. I had tried to keep up with what I had purchased by taking pictures, but that was taking up way to much room on my phone. I debated buying one of the little library scanners that I kept seeing on TikTok but did not want to invest money into something that may or may not work. So as always, I went to the App store, filtered for the free to use applications, and here are my top picks.

Bookbuddy:

    This was the first application that I downloaded. It had a easy to use ISBN scan function where you could individually or batch scan in books, mark them as read or unread, as well as you could add if you loaned out books and to who you loaned it to. 

    Now, the first downfall to this app is that the free version only allows you to add 50 books. Doesn't matter if you scan them in or individually search them by title or ISBN. Now you do have the option for a one time $9.99 payment, and that unlocks unlimited books. Which honestly isn't terrible for what you get with the app,  but I was looking for an app that would track my shelves that was completely free.

Bookshelf:

   Bookshelf was my next app I tried and ultimately liked the best. It has the ISBN scan function, you could add if you lent out the book(and to who), mark it as read/unread, mark if you sold/donated the book, if your book is signed, and so much more. The functionality of the app is simple to use, and is pretty straightforward. 

     Now it does have a PRO feature that you can pay by month ($2.99), year ($19.99) or pay a lifetime payment ($59.99). But in my opinion you do not need it for the app to be functional. 

What's included in PRO is:

• Advanced note editor: steal and organize notes more comprehensively 
• High quality image uploads and online image search for book covers
• Flashcards to summarize key points
• Scan save and share quotes
• Duplicate books
• Priority support
• Pick next book
• Multiple filters
• Statictics
• No adds

    I feel like if you were using the app for bookclub purposes or if you were in college and reading books for reports that some of the paid features could be helpful. But for what I need the free version is perfect. Also I haven't had a problem with adds popping up or being a problem so far. 

Wapping up:

    While I still have both on my phone, I really only use the Bookshelf app to track books on my shelf. I love its features, ease of use and the fact that it's free to input unlimited books. 

    I would like to mention that if you have any special edition books from book boxes like FaeCrate or Twisted Fiction you will not be able to scan these books into either application in as they do not have a ISBN. So for these books I manually searched the titles, added them to my shelf and under the notes wrote in which edition I had. 

    I know this was really long winded but I really hope it helps all of my bookish friends out there. So take what I have given you and get to tracking your reading and what's on your shelves!

 — From the shadows with love, MorallyGrayGhoulette