# BookBuds: Read with friends — user reviews > 36 indexed App Store user reviews of BookBuds by Starter School, rated 4.30/5 from 152 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookbuds-read-with-friends/id6755941845/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookbuds-read-with-friends/id6755941845.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 98 · 4★ 25 · 3★ 11 · 2★ 7 · 1★ 11 ## Newest reviews (14 of 36) ### 3/5 — App problems *2026-06-11* Honestly I love this app it’s so fun and makes me read so much more however, it keeps logging me out of my account and like a month or two ago made me create a new one. So I restarted re added all my friends did everything now today it logged me out and is again forcing me to create a new account. I have no idea how to fix this and when I reached out to try and get it fixed at first I was getting emails back but then they just ghosted me. This is very disappointing to me because of how much I love this app. I’ll Probubly make a new account so I really hope i don’t get logged out again. ### 2/5 — To many pop up adds *2026-04-01, version 1.0.35* I’m enjoying the app, but then a pop up add opens every time I open the app. I do not enjoy this. Especially when I am constantly selecting the x. The same add shows up Every time I open. It’s very repetitive. ### 3/5 — Only for apple *2026-03-24, version 1.0.33* My friends cant use this ### 2/5 — Seemingly no free options *2026-03-18* Definitely needs some polish, and despite saying on the store page that core features are free, I found myself forced to pay for a membership if I wanted to proceed after account setup ### 3/5 — Nice *2026-02-20* Nice app ### 3/5 — Great app, needs work *2026-02-03* Since there’s nowhere to submit feedback in the app and the developer seems responsive to reviews. I wish there was a way to edit time. I accidentally fell asleep while reading and my time kept going and there was no option to delete it 😭 ### 4/5 — Mega für Book Lovers *2026-01-26* Richtig süße App! Leider funktioniert die Lagerfeuer Funktion aktuell nicht. Und es wäre schön, wenn es eine Funktion gäbe, die die Lesezeit Statistik anzeigt. Für Tage, Wochen und Monate. ### 2/5 — user error or glitch? *2026-01-25* i've been trying to add books to my lists on there and nothing is generating in the search bar. i know i can manually add things but i was hoping there would be the convenience of using the search bar. on top of that it's hard to find your friends accounts and add them back unless they tell you they sent a request. i want to love this app its so cute however im struggling. if its human error on my part understood but it seems straightforward and user friendly so im not sure why things aren't working on my end. **Developer response:** Hello, sorry about this bug our books library was temporarily down due to our provider having issues. This is fully fixed now and should work smooth, could you please check? we also have our discord linked in the leaderboard page so if you ever run into any other issues, or have feature requests you can ping us there :) happy reading! ### 4/5 — Great but some bugs! *2026-01-24* I love this app, me and my friends use this all the time! But recently if I try to add a book to my list, or search up a book it will tell me no books found. No matter what the book is. And I know they have this book because I have seen it. I can only add it manually which is a bit annoying. I’ve deleted the app and redownloaded it, got it on a new device and it still won’t work! ### 3/5 — New and promising, but still has issues *2026-01-08* I like it, it’s a great way to connect with long-distance friends over books, I just wish there was an option if your book isn’t listed. A couple of books I read aren’t there whenever I change or choose my book, and I can’t go back and change the ones I finished for whenever they do get added. I think there should be a way to list a book if the one you’re reading isn’t on there. I get that it’s a new app, and it definitely has potential, this is just an issue I came across. **Developer response:** Hello! thank you so so much for the feedback and support, it truly means alot. Regarding the ability to add books manually, this feature is now available in the latest version thanks to all of your feedback :) you can easily add books, their authors, and their cover photos to your "Reading", "Finished", "TBR" or "DNF" lists. hope you like it. do let us know what you think, your feedback keeps us going!! happy reading :) ### 4/5 — Whoops! *2026-01-07* In love with this app, my friends and I are having so much fun, however, we keep on forgetting to stop our timers😭😭 Would there be a way to cancel a reading session instead of adding the data towards the book? A couple of my favorite reads also don't happen to appear in the search☹️ ### 2/5 — Keine Freunde ohne Handynummer *2026-01-04* Da ich sehr aktiv Social Media nutze hab ich viele Bookies aber ich möchte nicht jedem meine Handynummer geben. Aber nur nach dem Benutzernamen suchen geht leider nicht ### 4/5 — Great reading app *2026-01-01, version 1.0.7* I was recommended this app from a friend and I absolutely love it so far- I enjoy the simplicity of the app! I think the only things I would enjoy should there be an update would be to get rid of the icons around the bonfire when no one else is on, then when they are also in a reading session, their icon will just appear. Also to be able to see books that friends have previously completed when you click on their icon. But otherwise a great app that I have been throughly enjoying adding to the rotation! ### 2/5 — Lagerfeuer *2025-12-31* Leider verschwinden meine Freunde immer vom Lagerfeuer und ich kann sie nicht wieder hinzufügen. Auch kann man Fehler nicht korrigieren. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Great Idea, Poor Execution / AI & Moneygrabbing *2026-04-22* Fairly certain this app is coded with AI or the assets are AI generated. The idea is good. It could use more features, but genuinely this could have replaced Goodreads for me. However they introduced 3 popups for the paid version every time you open the app, even in the middle of reading sessions; I joined the Dev’s discord to point out this bug. Multiple people did. Lo and behold, the Dev turned it back on due to a “dramatic drop in revenue” and then told me to stop asking about it (despite the fact it had been a while since I even asked and that I wasn’t the only one having issues). I deleted the app after that because what’s the point if the dev won’t listen to community feedback? Now after a bit I downloaded it again to see if maybe it’s been updated, and now it’s completely unusable. Big screen roping me into a free trial with no way to cancel, and a weird gif with a buggy popup. Can’t even program an app right but begging for money. What absolute money-grabbing garbage. ### 1/5 — The constant popup for upgrade was a turn off. *2026-04-11* Saw this app and truly wanted to give it a try, but constantly getting the popup for upgrade with no option to close. Good thing I didn’t recommend to people. ### 1/5 — absurd amount of ads *2026-04-02, version 1.0.35* there is actually no reason there should be five full screen ads to click through every time the app is opened. also, found out that the devs are asking influencers to do undisclosed ads which is completely illegal. ### 1/5 — Cannot get past the buy now ads *2026-03-18* I wanted to try this as another group reading app, but every time I open the app- ad that I’m only supposed to see once. Then I click anything and - ad I’m only supposed to see once that I can’t exit out of. I love the idea of this app, but I can’t even attempt to use the free side of it because the ads won’t stop. ### 1/5 — So frustrating and poorly designed. *2026-03-16, version 1.0.32* I rarely write reviews but I am quite disappointed in this app. Every time I open the app, I’m prompted to pay for their annual plan. I decline. I’m given a discount, I decline again. The features and functionality are poorly designed; no way to simultaneously switch between books that you are reading. No profile privacy features. The app seems to be poorly designed and likely developed by AI. ### 1/5 — The app is broken *2026-02-13* I downloaded this app and tried to make an account but it won’t let me. All I can see is the sign in screen and have tried on multiple devices. I tried restarting my phone downloading and uninstalling the app, nothing. **Developer response:** Hello, there was a worldwide outage from our server providers (supabase) for several hours that day. Really sorry about that, we had sent out emails and posted stories on our socials about this. This was unfortunately out of our control, but everything has been back up and running for several days now. Please let us know if you're able to access it and everything is working well? ### 1/5 — Too Stressful *2026-01-24* I tried so hard to use the app with my friend but every time I tried to log in it wouldn’t let me search up the books I’ve read or add any on my finished file, it made me so sad and frustrated!! ### 1/5 — Funktioniert nicht *2025-12-23* Leider passiert nichts weiter nach der Eingabe der Telefonnummer. Auch den Code nochmal zugesendet bekommen, funktioniert nicht. ### 1/5 — not off to a strong start *2025-12-23, version 1.0* was excited about this app when i heard about it but it’s not off to a strong start can’t even create an account & why is there not an option to sign up via email? ### 2/5 — Just getting worse and worse *2026-04-14* I really liked this app in the beginning and still use it almost daily. But the Pop-Ups at the start when you open the app get more and more obnoxious. They’re even more annoying than at the beginning. You have to klick though them every single time before you can deny their offers. It takes time and is just damn unnecessary. Makes me not even want to track my time anymore. Other than that, if you have „too many“ books in your TBR list, they’ll just randomly erase some of your books so when you want to switch, it’s not entirely impossible the next book you want to read isn’t in your list anymore. Just these dann adds in the beginning man, so incredibly annoying and just ruining the whole app. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great read *2026-04-15* A great way to read with friends and keep track with each other and hold each other accountable! ### 5/5 — Game changer reading *2026-01-21, version 1.0.22* Thanks so much for reply and absolutely love the updates :) thanks so much. Reading so much more and it's my me time and enjoying the precious time I manage to read. This is amazing Love it Hoping future can download to tablet I don't have apple and to wait for phone to charge if it died when reading Don't worry if not I deleted all my reading apps and kept this Page bound and good reads I have so many apps this has everything could dream of :) game changer Thanks so much ### 5/5 — Amazing!! *2026-01-14, version 1.0.11* Love this app!! The only problem I’ve had is that most of my friends are using android phones so I am pretty much on my own, but apart from that it’s such a great idea for a reading app! ❤️ ### 5/5 — Loving it! *2026-01-11, version 1.0.11* Love it so far 🙂 ### 5/5 — Bonfire circle *2026-01-04* I can tell once this app really gets going it’s going to be great! One thing that I would prefer to happen next is actually being able to see friends in my bonfire circle. Keep going guys you’re doing great!!! ### 5/5 — Incredible new app that’s GROWING!!! *2025-12-31* This app is amazing for being entirely new, with updates coming out constantly to fix bugs and make improvements. The developers really take feedback into consideration and are working so hard to bring this app to its full potential. I am already obsessed as it is but can’t wait to see where it goes! **Developer response:** Hello!! Thank you so much for the positive feedback, this really made our day :) pls let us know if you ever run into any issues and/or if you have any feature requests that you'd want us to build in the app. happy reading!! - saif (founder) ### 5/5 — Great app *2025-12-26, version 1.0.6* Love it ### 4/5 — Pop up ads *2026-04-12* The ads that pop up when I open the app are really annoying. It happens every time and takes at least a minute each time to get through them all. Otherwise I love the app and being able to grow my reading streak as I record my reading time. It’s fun to do with friends. ### 4/5 — Pop ups *2026-03-12* I love this app, I’ve had it since around new years and use it as my reading time tracker but the pop up messages that show up when you first open the app is really annoying. I do not want to open a gift nor purchase anything the second I open the app. Greatly annoying and makes me want to throw my phone into the garbage disposal. Please just do a side bar button thing instead of a full page pop up please. But love the app other than that one gut raging feature. Keep up the good work!❤️ ### 4/5 — Great for a while *2026-02-12* I just got the app a few days ago and it was great at first. Very cute app. But now it has logged me out and won’t let me log back in. It keeps saying there’s an unexpected error. I’ve updated the app and my password is correct. Hopefully it’ll work tomorrow and is just being weird. **Developer response:** Hey, sorry about that! There was a worldwide outage for our server providers that led to this issue. We had sent out emails, and posted on our stories about this. Apologies for the inconvenience, this was totally out of our control and impacted most apps worldwide. Everything has been back up and running for several days now, could you please try again and let me know if everything works well? --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-04.*