Doesn’t work
I get about 5 minutes of audio book playback then the app dies every time. I reached out to the developer and will update this review if i hear back
Response from developer
You can long press on the text ^^
Love the app
The latest update broke viewing chapters in CarPlay. I can still view them on the phone. I also noticed a delay when starting books in this newest update that wasn’t there before.
Great app
Saw some people complaining that it’s $5. This price is absolutely worth it. It’s an open source app that is filling the gap left by another open source project. A one time payment to support this project is entirely reasonable.
This app integrates well into iOS and is regularly updated to improve the UX and maintain functionality with the backend that’s not directly under the maintainer’s control.
This app integrates well into iOS and is regularly updated to improve the UX and maintain functionality with the backend that’s not directly under the maintainer’s control.
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Love it
Sometimes presses play instead of “skip 30 seconds back”, touch targets might need some refinement.
Great App. Wish it had a Widget with the play-pause/open-book buttons
I love the app. One thing I thought was missing was the ability to clear the cache, in case I updated the metadata of some book that was currently being played. However, the option is available, it just isn’t visible on the main page. I had to go to the rightmost (search) view, and the settings button was there.
The one feature that I miss vs other audiobook apps like Libro.fm or Audible or podcast apps like Pocketcasts is a widget. I wish it had a widget similar to Pocketcasts, that would take you to the book/podcast if you click on the album artwork, and had a button to play/pause the current book/podcast.
The one feature that I miss vs other audiobook apps like Libro.fm or Audible or podcast apps like Pocketcasts is a widget. I wish it had a widget similar to Pocketcasts, that would take you to the book/podcast if you click on the album artwork, and had a button to play/pause the current book/podcast.
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Wonderful and easy to use
It needs one little thing, though. A search function when you are on offline mode. I currently have like 40 titles on my phone, loads with similar names, and I missed a search function to avoid having to go over the list again and again!
Other than that, couldn’t think of anything to improve it!
Other than that, couldn’t think of anything to improve it!
Best on store, but not better than official app
Happy to support this developer, but I ran in to consistent issues with the app. Local books frequently wouldn’t play, organization in the app is non-existent, and navigation of library is obtuse. I found myself having to stop the app frequently, and finally just went back to side loading the official app for ABS.
Not a bad app, and if you’re just trying to keep things local for trips without coverage it’s a reasonable option, but otherwise not a great ABS client.
Not a bad app, and if you’re just trying to keep things local for trips without coverage it’s a reasonable option, but otherwise not a great ABS client.
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Response from developer
Could you open a GitHub issue so that I can better understand your feedback?
immediately crashes
after working for a couple weeks, it suddenly and repeatedly crashes. even uninstalling and reinstalling doesn't help. server continues to function and stream podcasts as expected, even while I write this review. but the app does not work.
Response from developer
Please open bug Report on GitHub in something is Not working so i can fix it
Disappointing
I expected a lot more from a $5 app that is written to take advantage of the latest iOS features. While the interface generally looks nice, it is actually less user friendly and less functional than the first party Audiobookshelf app (beta is unfortunately full and it’s not yet on the App Store). Just in the first week of use, I noticed a number of issues that really need to be addressed:
* Mysterious slowdowns that bring the app to a crawl such that force closing and restarting the app was the only option (encountered while queuing multiple downloads)
* Mostly unusable search; searching anything other than author just doesn’t work (searches for title and other metadata just run indefinitely, never returning results)
* The interface, while pretty, is just not at all intuitively designed. Finding settings was difficult, for example
* Mysterious slowdowns that bring the app to a crawl such that force closing and restarting the app was the only option (encountered while queuing multiple downloads)
* Mostly unusable search; searching anything other than author just doesn’t work (searches for title and other metadata just run indefinitely, never returning results)
* The interface, while pretty, is just not at all intuitively designed. Finding settings was difficult, for example
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Response from developer
Hey, there is some work being done to address these issues. ShelfPlayer's offline system has already been rewritten to offload work from the UI thread. There are many other useful changes coming. But I hope you can appreciate that large updates like this take their time, and it won't be ready available next week. The search functionality was broken due to me some breaking API changes from ABS, a fix will be released soon. If you have any other UX ideas please send them to git@rfk.io. I can understand why you are not happy with the app, but pleas give it another try after the next update is released!
Why is SIRI the first option in car play?
Why is this even a thing? I turned off SIRI in the options, but it still shows up in the app. Why are my audiobooks sorted by download time instead of my last listened to, or why isn’t there a option to sort by that in the settings?
I’m going back to plappa, at least I don’t get the unwanted SIRI prompt and my books are sorted in a reasonable format.
I’m going back to plappa, at least I don’t get the unwanted SIRI prompt and my books are sorted in a reasonable format.
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Response from developer
I will implement sorting offline items by the date they were last played at, it’s a good idea
