Along with the developments of technology, even reading habits have changed over the years! The way we enjoy the art of writing is a far cry from what it used to be. The digital age entices us to turn our hobbies into a scoreboard, to compare with peers. This novel form (see what we did there?) of appreciating the things we do in our leisure has led us to the gamified experience. Welcome to the era of apps! Any activity you can think of, there is an app to support it. So it is about time we unveiled the best reading apps; it is, after all, a hobby that women reportedly enjoy more than men.
We have listed out three reading apps for you with features unique to each of them. They are quite accommodative in regard to remembering what you’ve read, what you want to read or what you disliked. Each of these apps will give you an enriching reading experience. So hop on without any delay!
StoryGraph: the reading app of track records
What started off as a mere web platform in 2019 to record books and get recommendations, has been developed into an app that keeps a track of your currently-reading, read, to-read, and did-not-finish shelves. The app aims to show how your reading develops over time, using charts and graphs. It uses that to help you pick better books. The app requires the user to fill up an extensive questionnaire to set up an account. You need to fill in information about your reading preferences, along with the styles you dislike. This helps to curate the recommendations you’ll be receiving later.
The uniqueness of the app lies in its features. The graphical representations of the books you’re ‘currently reading’ or have ‘read’ are excellent ways for a user to find out if they’re reading too much or too little in a particular month or year.
The recommendation tab asks for suggestions like ‘what are you in the mood for?’, and you can choose from options like ‘adventurous’, ‘sad’, and ‘hopeful’. You can select the pace, genre, and even number of pages. You can also choose not to make public the books you own or those already in your to-read pile. Based on your answers, the app recommends underrated or lesser known books. This app is definitely one of the best reading apps out there and goes well with its tagline that says—”Because life’s too short for a book you’re not in the mood for”.
Bookshelf: the reading app that understands your goals
This is a free reading app which is from VitalSource and is slightly similar to StoryGraph. There is an option to import Goodreads data here as well. But since Bookshelf mostly follows popular reads and trends, this app is not great with diversified recommendations. You can set daily or yearly reading goals and number of pages to keep you on track. There is even an option to set a timer so that you can meet your daily requirements.
You can take notes on the ‘Cards’ tab and as you accumulate them over quite some time, some of them are randomly picked up and delivered to you daily to remind you of important things/ideas you may have noted down. The Mastery Quizzes also help you in this regard. They are excellent for non-fiction, particularly instructional books. The books in this app also have links to Bookshop.org and Amazon, where you can buy them.
The major drawback of this app is with the categorisation as the user has to go through each book’s particulars and tick the correct categories. These categories are based on title, author, and reading status:
- To Read
- Reading
- Finished
- Abandoned
Goodreads: the reading app that sniffs out the latest titles
For as long as we can remember, Goodreads has always been a favourite of bookworms. It is an Amazon-owned reading app that recommends popular books in genres that you like. It also keeps a tally of the books you read and informs you about your stand in the reading community. The user-interface might be a bit dull for a new user, however, the social aspect of it is usually a welcome feature.
The app allows you to set a yearly goal and mark the books you read along with the date to add them to your list. The header feature is an interesting feature which has a recommendation list and is based on readers’ reviews. You can also vote for your favourite reads for the annual Goodreads Choice Awards. As of now, there’s a ‘Readers’ Most Anticipated New Books of January’ of the newly published books that many readers have put in their ‘want to read’ list. Apart from that, there’s another yearly list called ‘Most Anticipated Books of the Year’. As the app keeps a track of the trend as well as your pace, it is amongst the most used reading apps out there.
All of these apps are fun and highly recommended, based on personal experience. Tell us about your experience if you have used any of these or some other reading apps.
