# Bookshelf: Book Tracker & List — user reviews > 390 indexed App Store user reviews of Bookshelf by Alexander Gerrese, rated 4.60/5 from 4,095 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookshelf-book-tracker-and-list/id1469372414/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookshelf-book-tracker-and-list/id1469372414.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 3,211 · 4★ 543 · 3★ 163 · 2★ 53 · 1★ 125 ## What do users think of Bookshelf? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🤩 Excellent book tracking features - 📚 Unlimited book storage - 💻 Clean and intuitive interface - 🔍 Powerful search and discovery - 📝 Detailed notes and quotes - 📊 Comprehensive reading statistics - 🤖 Helpful AI-powered recommendations **Cons** - 🔒 Limited free features, requires premium subscription - 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs - 🔄 Sync issues between devices - 📚 Incomplete book database - 🔍 Unreliable barcode scanning - 🕰️ Restrictive reading session limits on free version **Commonly reported bugs** - Books disappearing from library after updates - Reading progress not syncing correctly - Inconsistent behavior of reading mode and session tracking - Search function frequently returning incorrect results **Most requested features** - Add ability to import/export data - Implement better sorting and filtering options - Allow customizable book covers and collections - Add support for audiobook tracking - Integrate with other reading apps and services ## Newest reviews (16 of 390) ### 4/5 — Reading Sessions *2026-08-08, version 2.18.18* Wish I was able to have more than 3 reading sessions with the free version but overall an awesome app. ### 4/5 — Great tracker! *2026-08-08, version 2.18.18* Love using this to track my reads but would love to be able to change the progress from pages to minutes for audiobook formats. ### 2/5 — Missing title image in collections *2026-08-04* As the title said, i can add photos but it is not visible when i open that collection. Its so frustrating after i paid lifetime subscription. Also several bugs, because of those i turned off iCloud feature 🤦‍♂️ ### 2/5 — Not functioning properly *2026-07-28, version 2.18.18* I’m a lifetime subscriber who has seen the app degrade over time. Reading sessions don’t work. The app won’t track anything, and the sessions can’t be manually entered either. It is hit or miss which books it works for. The developer asks for feedback, says he’ll support the product, by multiple support tickets over the last year have gone ignored (except for the auto email that says he’ll get to you shortly!). I’m giving two stars for the idea. Sadly execution is not there. Don’t be like me. Use the free version. Or better yet, find an app that works as promised. ### 3/5 — Not worth the money *2026-07-21, version 2.18.18* Good idea but not free, have to enter everything in every time you add and it’s not worth it. I like that you can add if it’s paperback or hardcover but that’s about it ### 3/5 — Would be so much better if it imported from Audible *2026-07-08, version 2.18.16* No way am I going to try to manually import all of my audiobooks. It’s too much work. This app is reasonably acceptable but I wish it imported the correct book format from Amazon. It isn’t 100% accurate when scanning the barcodes, so usually have to edit the information. And take photos of book covers. Those often don’t come over, even through the designer says he’s made a change. ### 3/5 — Avis *2026-07-02, version 2.18.16* Bonne appli en général, mais beaucoup de difficulté depuis le début de l’année à entrer et sauvegarder le temps depuis lecture et de pages lues. ### 3/5 — Good but NOT Great *2026-07-01, version 2.18.16* Love the ease of use to track books that I have and what I need/want. Wish it would auto collect series together, similar to the authors. Wish there was a website I could log into on my PC to help with buying next set of books and to stack on there as well. Wish it could communicate with my library to show what I can borrow from them as well. Once again, good app but would like more. Especially if I were to put money into it. $30/year (rounding up) is too much just to manually put more than 3 series together. ### 4/5 — Minor Suggestion *2026-07-01, version 2.18.16* I like how easy it is to scan a bunch of books. I wish there were a way to add tags to a book or to add the book to a collection when adding it for the first time. It would save a lot of time as one collects books or when updating one’s library. ### 2/5 — Where do I read the books I’m deleting this app *2026-06-20, version 2.18.14* Um where do I read this book ### 2/5 — Subscription Based *2026-06-12, version 2.18.14* A great app, but the fact that a subscription is required for most things and you can’t even record every time you read is a let down. ### 3/5 — Bewertung *2026-05-26* Die App sollte mehr Jugendbücher anzeigen. ### 3/5 — i would rate it higher but *2026-05-15, version 2.18.10* recently, i’ve been coming across a bug. i’ve tried to send in reports, but either my emails haven’t been sending, or they haven’t been responding to my bug reports, so i thought to come here. i started out loving this app. it’s really interesting to see my reading speed, good to track books i’ve read and are currently reading. however, every time i try and log my progress into a book, it does not register. i’ve tried typing the page number i stopped on, using the little ring thing, closing and opening the app. but it doesn’t work. i would love to use this app again because it’s super helpful, but this is making me try and find other apps to track my book progress and whatever. ### 2/5 — Missing photo in collections *2026-05-12* As the title said, i can add photos but it is not visible when i open that collection. Its so frustrating after i paid lifetime subscription. Also several bugs, because of those i turned off iCloud feature 🤦‍♂️ ### 4/5 — At One Time… it was perfect. *2026-05-08, version 2.18.10* I used to LOVE this app. It was my go-to for tracking my reading sessions and cataloguing my library. But now, it’s loaded with issues. I can no longer pause and resume reading sessions from my lock screen like I used to. It works for a bit but then just stops appearing. I constantly have to re-enter dates from reading sessions as they seem to randomly disappear. Thankfully I also use another app (one which creates stat cards when you finish a book which I upload onto social media), so I always have a backup of my sessions. Hopefully the issues get sorted as I would happily re-review this and give it the 5 stars that - until recently - it deserved! ### 3/5 — Sync issues, and a little complicated *2026-04-12* I really like the app, but when adding previous read work, you can't select the date of the reading session without saving that you read first.l, and it doesn't set the dates from start to finish automatically using the reading sessions, you have to update manually. I like using apps through multiple devices, and sync doesn't really work properly. Sometimes all my books look fine and a while later, the covers are mixed up so I have to go and fix everything again. It's happened a couple of times. Even though I delete things, do a backup and restore on other devices, content I already deleted pops up again. I couldn't find filtering options in the library, only sorting. Hopefully, the app will improve soon so I can try using it again. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — You have to Pay to Use *2026-08-06, version 2.18.18* They let you get all the way through to logging onto Amazon or Goodreads then tell you it will cost you to go further. Scam! ### 1/5 — Very disappointed *2026-07-25, version 2.18.18* Take my info before letting me know how much it costs. And then no way to delete my information. Pretty scammy ### 1/5 — Not good *2026-06-08, version 2.18.13* I’m sorry but this app is awful and I just cancelled my sub, I was so excited about it too. Now I have to find a new app. You keep updating it and it messes up constantly. Just not worth it ### 1/5 — Wurde das mit KI programmiert? *2026-06-02* Die ganze App hat den Anschein, als wäre sie mit KI gemacht worden. Tausend Schreibfehler, mal „Sie“, mal „Du“. Sie könnte eigentlich ganz nett sein, aber man hat das Gefühl, man hat den Kundenservice eines großes Unternehmens vor sich, bei dem in Asien sitzende Menschen per Google Translate antworten. Ich mein, hier geht es um eine App für Lesende! Da sollte der Anspruch schon etwas höher sein. Die selbe Kritik gibt es offensichtlich schon seit 1-2 Jahren, also gehe ich davon aus, die programmierende KI interessiert es nicht. Ich finde zudem keine Möglichkeit, meinen Account zu löschen! ### 1/5 — SCAMMED into subscription! *2026-05-01* I was offered a 7 Day Free Trial within the app and accepted the offer. Despite being advertised as a FREE trial I was charged 35€ for the yearly subscription without EVER receiving a free trial! I have now requested a refund several times, but the free trial is not visible ANYWHERE. I do not want to be scammed into a year long subscription. This is not okay and the app developer has purposely hidden the 7 day free trial I was shown when I accepted. ### 1/5 — Update deleted everything! *2026-04-27, version 2.18.10* This had been a wonderful app to track reading progress etc. I specifically used it to manage a large list of "to read" books. I updated the app and presto five years of reading, notes & information gone. No books listed. No data. Well done bookshelf. Terrible app ### 1/5 — Be warned: app no longer working *2026-04-15, version 2.18.10* The app now “fails to save” reading sessions. I reached out to the developer two weeks ago about the same issue. No response, no resolution. I’m a paid “gold” subscriber. ### 1/5 — Terrible no value app *2026-04-05, version 2.18.10* You don’t allow more than 3 updates to what page I’m on… ### 1/5 — Eh… *2026-03-25, version 2.18.10* I like the idea of this app, and its first impression is good, but it’s unusable. I imported my library from StoryGraph, which worked well, but now I can’t do anything. I can’t use the reading mode feature, I can’t adjust the progress of any of the books I’m reading. The app seems to be broken. Tapping the “try gold” button to upgrade doesn’t even work! ### 1/5 — Reading list is just gone?? *2026-03-05, version 2.18.10* My app was glitching and nothing would show up when i searched booked titles so i checked if there was an update. After updating the app ALL the books i had on my “to read” list are gone. Super disappointing because this was my go to app when I was at the bookstore and couldn’t remember book reccs I saw and wanted to read. Will probably end up deleting the app and just note my To Reads in my notes app….. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Very useful and easy to navigate *2026-06-18, version 2.18.14* I found this app a couple years ago when I was looking for an app that could be just for my personal use to keep track of all the books I own physical copies of. I have a decent sized personal library of about 1500 books, and I read 75-80 books a year. I wanted a place to track it all that was just for me, and that’s how I found Bookshelf. I eventually got into the reading tracking feature - it’s fun to see how many pages I read per hour😄 I also really enjoy putting in favorite quotes from the books I’ve read, notes about the story, etc. Imho, this app is perfect if you just want a solo, nonsocial private log of your reading, what you own, and your reading speeds, etc. Intuitive, easy to use, easy to add books to, etc. I haven’t always had the paid version, but personally for $30 a year I’ve found it well worth it. I’m very impressed that a single person runs this - I’ve always been able to count on it and it doesn’t glitch or anything. Love this app!! ### 5/5 — Incredible App and Developers *2026-06-17* This app helped me get back into reading after years of not doing it. It has so many features but the one that had me hooked is the timed reading logs and stats. Knowing how much I time I have left to read and at what reading pace I go has been top notch. Also had an issue and in my case they responded within 5 minutes requesting more info which I provided and gave me a solution within 5 minutes after sending the additional information. Also has an area for future ideas that you can suggest to be implemented. Each one has a reviewing, coming next update, or implemented to track what already being suggested or has been added. This type of caring for its users is what puts them above all other book keeping apps. I already bought into the yearly subscription but will now go for the lifetime upgrade, when I can. ### 5/5 — Bookshelf *2026-06-04, version 2.18.11* Best reading log available! ### 5/5 — This is great *2026-05-29, version 2.18.11* So useful!!! ### 5/5 — Great way to track my reads *2026-05-08, version 2.18.10* I love this app. It helps me recall the titles and authors of all the many books I have read. ### 5/5 — A very good way to track the books you’ve read and also want to read. *2026-04-11* I have used this app for years, and am very happy with how it works. By writing a little review after each book finished I give the book extra credit and more thoughts to what I thought reading it. ### 5/5 — 蔵書・読書記録に最適のアプリ *2026-04-07* 長い間こんなアプリを探していました！ 保管場所、ジャンルなど本を自由に分類できます。 しかも、読書用タイマー、メモ、手入力の読書記録機能もあり、本の管理から読書までこのアプリで全て完結できます。 アプリのUIもよく、感覚的に利用できました。 Kindleとのデータ連携は試していませんが、電子書籍の購入が増えてきた今、最強のツールになるかと！ 自分の中で思索を深めたい読書家にぜひ使って欲しいです。 ### 5/5 — Best Book Tracking App *2026-03-25, version 2.18.10* This app is great ! I have been subscribed for two years and I love it. The app looks way better than Goodreads and has neat little features. The dev is doing an amazing job. ### 5/5 — Please fix *2026-03-13* Love this app. But the synchronisation between Kindle and Bookshelf doesn’t work. Still have to add books downloaded on Kindle manually to the application, and of course, no selected fragments in Kindle are also displayed in Bookshelf. Please fix. ### 5/5 — Love this app *2026-03-01, version 2.18.10* I got this app just to track what books I own. But now that I have started using the reader timer and tracking the pages I’ve read, I have been enjoying it even more. Thanks for creating this app and the updates you continue to make! --- *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 2026-09-01.*