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
Developer Response
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 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.
Developer Response
I will implement sorting offline items by the date they were last played at, it’s a good ideaThe only thing that would make this app even better would be adding Apple Watch support for offline listing when I don’t bring my phone with me. I’d gladly pay a few dollars more for the option of taking my books with me on my watch.
I have been a long time user/tester for the “official” ABS app and compared to it, ShelfPlayer is about 100 years ahead of it. Actual working Siri integration, a working CarPlay implementation, and just a clean easy to navigate UI.
Spend the few bucks, you will never look back!
I just wish I had found your app a bit sooner. Definitely a sold app if you want to move over to Audiobookshelf from other selfhosting options (like Plex who ended Podcast support no sooner than a few years after starting it).
I downloaded this yesterday and am super impressed! It has a very nice looking interface that is both pleasant to look at and extremely functional. Though a relatively small thing, I particularly like the more books by author and more books in the series that show up under a a book. Also, I can’t over state how exciting it is to have real CarPlay support for books from Audiobookshelf. Add on that this app is truly open source and it’s pretty hard to beat. I highly recommend this app… and already have done so to friends.
I’m very happy with this app! It does exactly what I need it to, seamlessly connects to my Audiobookshelf server, and allows for offline listening.
The developer has done a fantastic job with this one and appears to respond quickly when users need help.
Can I use Chinese?
Developer Response
I don’t speak Chinese but if you want to contribute translations take a look at https://github.com/rasmuslos/ShelfPlayer?tab=readme-ov-file#licensing--contributing I might also added Chinese translations in the future, but then I will have to find someone that I can pay to translate for me.I’m so impressed how well put together and smooth and full-featured this app is. It is easier to use and more stable and better integrated into iOS than Patreon or Stitcher or even Apple’s own podcast app. It’s working beautifully with my AudioBookShelf server and I couldn’t be happier with it. Amazing work!!
The audiobooks section is great. However. The podcast options are mostly only available on the app, not much on the carplay. Way way better than the app audiobookshelf app.
Developer Response
Can you describe your problem? Head over to https://rfk.io/support.htm if you want to send over a bug report.
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