Leave a Review SimplyE
Still broken after several years
First off, I’ve posted reviews of this app before, but the App store seems to have lost each one. I’d like to give one star to this App store for also being terrible.
Now, for the app: after *several years* of use (unfortunately the other library apps don’t seem to have access to the entirety of NYPL’s catalogue), two issues STILL persist even now:
1) Bookmarks are broken. I just read Frankenstein, a 213-page book. Every single bookmark I made after page 58 was gone the next time I opened the app. So I had to search through the book every single time I went back to it to find my place after page 58. Absurd.
2) Reserves (or maybe notifications) are broken. I had two books on reserve: Kara Swisher’s Burn Book, and Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, both very popular apparently. They both simply disappeared from my reserves list and now I have to go to the back of the line and wait another 13 and 10 weeks respectively to check them out. It’s possible they were available and the app just never notified me even though I have notifications turned on and it has notified me of books becoming available before. Sometimes it simply just cannot do the basic functions it was designed for. Ridiculous.Show lessmktev
Can’t return read books from loan list
A couple of months ago, I would have rated SimplyE 5 stars. But the last update (January 2024) seems to have caused a serious glitch. This is preventing my Apple device, using version iOS17.3.1, from removing recent loans which I’ve finished. In the past, loans were automatically returned from my account when they expired. Or I could manually return them. Neither is happening now.
To try to solve, I’ve updated the app and my device’s OS. I’ve deleted and reinstalled Simply E and rebooted my device. The ebooks which I want to return are still showing.
Therefore the app is preventing me from requesting new holds. Hope this can be solved. Thank youShow lessTina M24
Confusion with bookmarks & audio
At first, this app seemed perfect for my needs. I mainly use it to listen to audiobooks while riding the subway. My other library app, Libby, is problematic on the subway because every 10-30 seconds there’s a break in audio transmission, resulting in the loss of several words. When it happens every ten seconds it really impacts the listening experience. But it turns out SimplyE is even worse, because this app loses bookmarks with e-books, and if I pause an audio book, when I resume it plays the book both from where I left off and from the beginning! At the same time! Why they scrapped Overdrive I don’t know. That app was perfect in almost every way. The only thing I couldn’t do with it was to have the same audiobook on my phone and my tablet...Show lessPygmy G.
I Love this App
I LOVE Simply E and recommend to friends and strangers alike. The only thing I would suggest to the developers is please please please add a wishlist or saved feature. I want to save many books for later that I don’t necessarily want to check out at the same time as I find them. I have come across so many interesting books I wish to check out it the future but can only request to “get” them or “reserve” them immediately. Many times I already have several books in my reserved list and I do not want to be overloaded with multiple books that I have to consume in a 3 week period. Please add this feature!Show lessLeahjkelley
Issues are getting worse 😤
I first downloaded the app in Sept 2022. At first everything was great. It was becoming one of my favorite apps. It would lose my place when I read or skip a few pages, but I overlooked that. I was still happy with having use of this app. However, it’s been a steady decline now. The bug fixes are not working. I have two books that are still showing available for download, but I’ve already read these books and returned them in December. Two current books are ready for download, but it keeps crashing and I get a message that it can’t download. So frustrating as these books I’ve been waiting weeks for and now I’m unable to read them. 😔 I’ve reported the issues but no feedback.Show lessDeeTX45
Good selection of books with a functional app for free
The fact that this many books are available all for free on a functional app is amazing. Thanks to SimplyE for making this happen. I don’t have enough money to support my books addiction but SimplyE makes it possible.
However, there are a few annoying bugs that I would love if you guys could fix. Sometimes when I skip a bunch it loses my place. Also, some audiobook titles don’t have chapter names.
Otherwise, thanks for the amazing app!Show lessWrn2001
'Look Up' dictionary feature stopped working
i have the latest version of both ios and the simplye app and for some reason the app no longer allows me to look up words in the iphone internal dictionary. it used to work but now it doesn't. very annoying and inconvenient. furthermore the app is very bad at keeping track of your page, sometimes even changing mid read. this usually happens when you have the menu buttons visible at the borders of the screen and then tap to remove them, the page layout resets. also very annoying and inconvenient.Show lessrayben27
Jumpy
This app is a great way to get audio books but I find when I listen to audio books and lock my phone, the timer isn’t correct and when I hit pause it actually stops the book and restarts it from the beginning. When I hit play, the book continues from the beginning but then also continues from where I paused at the same time so two voices are speaking and I have to force quit the app in order to play it again. I love supporting the library and also having this to get books on the go but this isn’t great.Show lessawpz
Very grateful to have a free app and support NYC libraries!
The app overall is great and when I’ve run into bugs (like being unable to return a book) the response time is very fast! There are a few outstanding bugs/features I’d like to see but I don’t think they impact the experience substantially.
1. Occasionally the app loses my place and kicks me back to the beginning of a chapter or another arbitrary place in the book. Not too disruptive because I can usually find my way back to where I ended.
2. Echoing other reviewers - I would love a likes or tbr feature. I try to request or borrow books as soon as a friend tells me about them so I don’t forget but when I have a long list of checked out and waitlist books, I either can’t borrow them or I take the opportunity away from someone who is available to read the book right now by borrowing it.
3. This is a very nice to have and I’d be willing to pay for a freemium version of the app, but enhanced reading tracking. I’d like to have a way to see my lifetime read or go back and browse through my previous reads.Show lessHeyCharissa
I want to love this app
I love that this app links with my NYPL account and lets me listen to audiobooks for free, but there are so many glitches. It often has issues downloading titles, which makes me need to put the book back on my waitlist and wait weeks for my turn to download it again. It also has no way to track the books you’ve read or downloaded in the past (which would be so helpful for tracking my reading goals) or to like or save books for a “to read” list. Since you can only have a few books on the reservations waitlist at a time, this feature would be so helpful. Between the glitches and lack of features, I can’t give this app more than 3 stars but it’s still a really nice option and helps me use my library card more.Show lessannadigiuseppe
