Leave a Review cloudLibrary
Frustrating, slow, and horrid searching
While I enjoy checking out books without needing to travel to the library, the frustrations with this app come very close to negating the convenience. After checking out a book and then trying to download it to begin reading, I often most try many times to get the download to begin. Usually it requires quitting and relaunching the app multiple times and still it takes repeated attempts to download. This is on WiFi or full strength 5G. The search function is horrid. I literally just now searched for a book that I currently have checked out and it says no results found. Advanced search does no better. I can search for an author whose book I have checked out and it can’t find the author, either. If you want to just browse instead of searching and you’re okay with five minutes of frustrating clicking and relaunching to download one book, you might be okay with this app. Trying to quickly select a new book and begin reading or searching for books by a favorite author and this app will have you reaching for your car keys to drive across town to the library instead.
More than a year later, searching is still horrible. Searching a database is nothing new. Programmers have been doing it since the 1950’s. It’s a shame that this app is still so bad at it.Show less24922:)
Too many iseues
I would like to rate this app 5 stars but the bugs keep showing up and I am about ready to give up. I like the ability to filter search results and the ease of checking out or returning a book, but the core job of the app is to read books, not try and find where you were when you swipe to go to the next page and end up a chapter plus ahead and all you can do is swipe backwards and hope you recognize the page you were on last. Or everytime you open a book, it gets to the start of the chapter you were reading but not the page you were actually on and while you swipe page by page, suddenly the 1st issue happens and you are a chapter ahead.
I have reported my problems to the library and they have tried to help but so far nothing has worked, including deleting and reinstalling the app. Please fix this problem!!
Thank you.Show lessFed Up in Sarasota
Horrible reading experience, nothing to recommend
If I could give this app 0 stars, I would. I’ve updated, reinstalled it, and it makes no difference. CloudLibrary is, by far, the worst reading experience I have ever encountered, and I’ve read on hoopla digital.
The glare cannot be contained, the text options are limited, and there’s no margin spacing.
The real reason this app deserves zero stars, however, are the skips. I touch to turn the page (which is a nightmare, even when it just turns one page, if it turns), and it skips forward or backwards, randomly.
This does not remember where you are, and when you close the app/webpage and bookmark it, even, none of that exists when you reopen.
I spend at least twice as long trying to find my page (which takes forever) than I do reading, and that’s not an exaggeration. I spent 20 minutes this evening trying to find my page. My bookmark was not where I placed it (believe me, I double checked). It is nearly impossible to track where you are in the book.
Each time I’m forced to use cloud library (when there is no other option but to buy, and usually I buy) and I say to myself, “Surely it will be fixed this time…” but no, it’s never fixed.
What a terrible app for reading this is.
It may be fantastic for everything else, but I’m a reader, and I can’t believe my library replaced overdrive with this monstrosity.Show lessmixedupfiles
Lacks ability set book filters
Sep 2022: forced to use only this app by my library but it is stable now. Cannot set filters for type (ebook), genre, audience, etc. Able to find titles.
Mar 2022: app crashes whenever opened. I tried deleting and reinstalling.
2021:There is much need for improvement in this app. For now my library offers this, Libby and Overdrive. The one thing this app does well is to sync books between devices. What is truly confounding is that many of the books I search for on Cloud are NOT available but when I go to Overdrive they are. For 3 months now, I used used both apps to find the same title in my same public library. Cloud found 3 titles of the 42 that I entered, while Overdrive found them all! The Cloud help menu is lame I had to email my library to find out how to enlarge text font. Cloud had no option to renew- Overdrive does. In Cloud the books just disappear with no notice while Overdrive gives a countdown so you know how many days are left before I need to renew. The filter menu is extremely limited and less intuitive compared to Overdrive. I must admit that when Overdrive entered the picture back around 2008 (?) I found it extremely difficult to configure and use but at least a Help Menu existed to walk me through what it did and didn't do. By 2012 it had improved significantly and by 2014 I really began to enjoy Overdrive. Perhaps Cloud will see the same improvements in time, but for now I see no advantage to waste my time using it.Show lesssandimacd
Locked out of app
I had this app on my iPhone. When I installed it on my iPad, I had to type in a password or pin. I thought I had created the password or pin and entered a few of my commonly used passwords. There was no button to push for “forgot password “. After a few tries, I got locked out of my account. I’ve tried everything, but I can’t get signed in again. After using Google, I found out the pin is the last four digits of your library card. I’m not sure why you have to use a pin like this… Something people won’t remember. The owner of the account should be able to create their own pin or password if you’re going to require one. These are just library books, it’s not high security, why do we need a password? I would love to get back into my account again. Any help would be greatly appreciatedShow lessmary Puppins
Was great, but now getting worse
I love how easy it is to search and borrow books from my library and save titles for later. However, as time goes on the app gets more and more glitchy and works less consistently. Most times it says I don’t have any saved titles though I know I do. Occasionally, my list will actually show up. I have no “history” despite having borrowed dozens of books. And if I don’t lock my screen orientation and I accidentally tip it (from portrait to landscape then back to portrait) I will have lost my place in the chapter and I have to figure out where I was. Or sometimes my scrolling will jump me to the next chapter. It’s getting very frustrating to use this app, which is unfortunate because it used to work better. Please do something to make it work more consistently!
Also, I don’t know if this has to do with the app, or how a book is created for it, but I recently borrowed an audio book (it was the only available format for that title) and it had no chapter markings. I would have liked to be able to jump back and listen to certain sections again, but I couldn’t find a way to do that.Show lessTurtlegirl88
Walking books
I listen to books while I walk. Not especially happy to exercise, but I want to listen to the next chapter, so I walk. Before I know it, 30 minutes is gone and my walk is over. I never thought I would like to “listen” to books being read, but love it now. I can sew or cook and still listen.
Love holding a book until I used this app. Being able to adjust the font size and having it lit up makes it so easy to read at night in bed. No more heavy books on my lap.
Best of all the books are FREE from the library. Some books may not be available right away, but placing a book on hold is easy. It doesn’t take long before the book is available.
I always suggest the app to friends in hopes they will enjoy it as much as I do.Show lessGR8CYCLE
Thoughts
It would be nice books would be available sooner. Particularly, nonfiction. Many of the books, particularly the technical nonfiction books are in smaller print which is more difficult to read, particularly for an older person. I really like to read the books on electronic devices because the print can be increased in size, back lighted, listened to as well as read and displayed on a TV screen that is really excellent when you want to exercise on an stationary bike or elliptical. The ability to read, listen and copy specific memorable phrases or sentences help enable the memorization of certain facts. I would like to see an approach with the cloud reader similar to the samples offered in the Kindle software. I usually same a book on the Kindle and then download it using the Cloud Library. I can’t afford to pay for all of the Kindle versions or I would probably do that. Anyway, I love the Cloud Library and think that the Auburn Library does an excellent job of selecting newer books. Appreciate much. Regards, Terry JohnsonShow lessmurry1898
Issues!
I wish there was a way to delete the (audio)book then download it again without returning the book to the library. I seem to recall one of the apps in the past having that option, even an option to download individually chapters. I’ve had glitches with the past two books in the past two days not playing huge chunks of the book at all. No way around it. I had to download it to my son’s phone to finish the 15th hour of a 16 hour new book. Very frustrating! It would take 3 months to get it back on the waitlist. Now, 5 minutes into another new release, “playback error”. I’ve asked for help in the past but had no response so I won’t bother. I spend hours on this app while working around the house when it’s working. I’ll hope for another update before this book expires.Show lessRodneysla
Update
May 2021
Just updated and they still haven’t fixed the page numbers!!!
That being said- I still use the app to read every single day. Have been using it for years and reading amazing books for free! Just please fix the page numbers!!!,
April 2021
New update made the pages all wrong - fix that!
There still is no lock for the screen orientation and I really miss that.
As for the basics, I can borrow books for free. There are tons of choices in all sorts of genres. What more could you want!
Sept. 12
There’s been another update. There’s still no screen rotation lock, which I used ALL the time.
You still can’t see how many pages are left in your chapter.
Summer:
I’ve been using this app for many years. I’ve had no problems with this app until now.
I’m very disappointed with this update. They’ve removed the feature where you can lock the screen rotation while reading. Every time I open the app and my book, I have to find the page where I left off despite having bookmarked the page. The indicator that I have a new message never goes away no matter how many times I open it and read the only message there from 9 months ago.
I gave this update one star since giving zero isn’t an option.
FIX THIS!Show lessMommy123456
