Leave a Review cloudLibrary
Glitches in new update are driving me crazy
I have been using this app for the past year or so and loving it! Especially during Covid when our library has been closed. But a new update just came out which had a lot of promise. But it’s been glitchy and it’s driving me crazy! I’ll be reading or listening to a book and it interrupts me with “we’ve book marked where you left off, want to go there?” I say “no” because obviously I’m reading or listening where I want to be. But today it kept interrupting and giving me this same message over and over. Also, it switches between “scroll” mode and “flip/turn pages” mode on its own while i’m reading and then freezes. I have to close the app altogether and reload in order for it to correct. Then it does it again a bit later. Please developers correct these glitches!Show lessCravinchoc
Inconsistent
Choosing books is not difficult in the app. That is however, the only thing that works, at least on an Apple product.
The app does not keep track of where you are in a book. If you put the ok down and want to come back to it, the app says that page 1 is where you left off. Since there is no way to skip ahead, you have to page through the book until you find your place.
The app takes hours to load when it has to be updated. All in all, it is inferior to other library apps I have used. Unfortunately, my library has chosen to use this one, so I am stuck with it. I don’t know if there is any incentive, then, for the app to upgrade itself!Show lessReader51942
New app change to BOOKMARKS is terrible!
I would have given thus app a 5-star rating BEFORE the recent major update.
My biggest complaint is about a feature I use constantly - bookmarks. They no longer appear at the top of the page unless you tap the center of the page first. Why that extra step??? Now if I go back a few pages to look something up, I can’t just easily navigate back to the bookmarked page. I have to tap in the center of every single page. So stupid.
Even worse, when you tap on e page it frequently advances forward or backwards and you can’t tell where you are since there are no bookmarks anymore.
And when I open the book I have no idea if I’m on the right page or not because I don’t see my bookmark.
You used to be able to simply tap the top right corner to place a bookmark, and now you have to go through the extra step of tapping in the center and then tapping on top, and then, instead of being rewarded for your effort by a bookmark showing up, you still have to keep tapping the center to see it. And it just makes the icon black so it isn’t even an obvious bookmark like before.
Please make it the way it used to be where you can just tap ONE TIME in the upper right corner, and then leave the darn bookmark there so we know it’s there!!!
People who actually read books regularly on this app are the only ones who should be allowed to mess around with it.
I also want the brightness adjustment within the app.Show lessOdysseyNNYer
False “furthest point” pop-ups
Its location tracking is poor. After a restart, or even just after not using the app for a few hours, it opens to the start of the chapter I’m reading instead of to the page I’m reading. If you take it up on the offer to go to your furthest point read, that is where it takes you - or to the last page of the previous chapter.
And right now it’s popping up dialogue boxes to take me to my “furthest” point about once every 30 seconds, making me hit No over and over, which is so annoying that I’m here writing my first ever app review. It normally does this every now and then - but it’s gone into overdrive. Fun times!
Also, I don’t know if it’s how my local library did their set-up, or if it’s inherent in the system, but I was reduced to scrolling through their entire catalogue of several thousand history books, because there was no meaningful way of refining my search to my more specific areas of interest.Show lesstmesis6
Latest Update DO NOT UPDATE
My C/L just updated on my iPad Pro and It is the pits. I have been trying to find help And nothing. It is as if they are avoiding me. And they should be - it doesn’t scroll, change pages, have page numbers at the bottom, have a scroll bar at the bottom - all the things I liked about the program. It scrolls endlessly down and you have no idea of where you are or what page you are on and the it seems to jump around and you have to hunt to find where you were. My wife was going nuts. I finally went too an older iPad that is too old to be upgraded, thank the gods, and it is back to the older app. It is great. Exactly what the app should be, before they started messing with it. It was such a great app. Please roll everything back.Show lessRLT23
Unreliable
A decent enough reading app but it’s wildly unreliable. Recent updates actually took away functionality that I was using - like the ability to lock rotation. Why on earth would you take that away? Also the Library Message section now always had an exclamation point/notification, even though there aren’t any library messages. Also the fun new thing it started doing with the last update is not returning to the last page you were on and instead returning to the beginning of the chapter you’re on. Every now and again, it un-downloads my books, won’t actually return or renew items after I tap on the option to do so. It’s buggy and I really wish the library I paid taxes to used Libby bc that app isn’t nearly this unreliable.Show lessyolaleah
Good App
Overall, this is a great app. It is a fantastic resource in these times of the pandemic. As a free library reader, it solidly does the job.
I do find it frustrating when features are taken away in a way that removes the option to use it the way it was before. Tying the brightness to the device brightness probably sounded like a good idea. However, now the lowest setting is at least 5 times brighter than I used to use (low system beightness combined with low app brightneds). It would be better if when the developers change a feature, they need to add a setting to allow the old functionality. How about a prompt or setting that says ‘Would you like to tie the brightness to the screen brightness?’. Then, if I say yes, fine. If I say no, let me use the original functionality which was working fine for me.Show lessstoneumbrella
Please Restore Previous Version!!
This is the 1st time I have reviewed an app. Like all the other recent reviewers, I have used and loved this app for years without complaint. Then it suddenly updated and it is now making me crazy with problems! “Migrating data” loops, asking if I want to save my place, not saving my place when I close it and then reopen, and several times now, when I turn the page, it randomly jumps way back a chapter or two. The text sizing is also annoying now, when I increase the text size to avoid wearing glasses, the chapter title font becomes huge and takes up a whole page with some overlapping text. This is all within the same book I was reading before the update. And finally, what happened to the bar at the bottom that told me what chapter/page I am on and had a scroll bar so I could easily scroll through the book? PLEASE restore the previous version!!Show lessYo yo yo it's neighbor Billy
Unstable app
I have used this app religiously for years; I use it on one of my devices daily. I usually love this app, especially because at least for my library, there are no monthly limits on borrows. However, in the past 1-2 months, I’ve had more problems than not! It won’t recognize that I have books checked out, when I know I do. I’ll check the history, and it’s blank; I check for my saved books (easily over 200 of them) and it will tell me there are none. Generally I have uninstalled/reinstalled (annoying but simple) the app, and it’s fine.
Today I kept getting a (new to me) error that I wasn’t connected to the internet when I can see my WiFi signal has full bars and other devices (tv) are clearly connected. I disconnected WiFi to run off 5G and had the same “no internet connection” error. I even deleted and reinstalled the app, and when I tried to sign in with my card number and PIN, got told it was “unable to log me in”.
Why has this app been so unstable lately? PLEASE fix this as this is my primary distraction during “stay at home” orders!Show lessEmiwieg
Buggy and feature poor
My library system had been using Kindle as an option for consuming loaned volumes. Compared to the Kindle app for iPad iCloud is thin gruel. The dictionary and search features are lobotomized. For example, only single words can be highlighted, and that w difficulty. If one wishes to search a phrase, one must copy the phrase into a browser and search from there. Following footnotes is MUCH more difficult; attempting to tap an icon typically results in the screen from which a book may be closed. Having finally reached the footnote, attempting to return to the page from which the footnote branches typically takes several attempts. All this is very frustrating and has me wishing my library had never made the change. PLEASE fix this buggy, frustrating app.
Updated review: Almost one year later, CloudLibrary remains a bug-infested piece of junk. If you are a librarian or other professional, DO NOT go this route. You and your clients will regret it, if you do.Show lessSadaunhe
