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Bookshelf

Bookshelf

by VitalSource Technologies, Inc.

78K ratings
542 reviews
#104 in free Education
📚 Education
📚 Books
Free

Details

  • Released
  • Updated
  • September 15, 2010
  • July 30, 2026

Features

Developer

VitalSource Technologies, Inc.
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Bookshelf screenshot #1 for iPhone
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Bookshelf screenshot #8 for iPhone
iphone
ipad
📉no. 104
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About

Access and study your digital textbooks on your iPad or iPhone. This app allows for offline reading, note-taking, flashcard creation, and customizable reading settings. Sync your progress across devices for a seamless study experience.

✓Offline reading
✓Customizable highlighters and notes
✓Flashcard creation
✓Personalized reading settings
✓Read Aloud feature
✓Cross-device syncing
Show original description

What users say

Summarized from real user reviews of Bookshelf. Based on 78K reviews and a 4.7/5 average, it highlights the 5 positives and 6 negatives reviewers mention most about this Education app.

Positive things

  • 📚Convenient access to textbooks
  • 🔍Useful search functionality
  • 📚Offline reading capability
  • 🔖Bookmark and note-taking features
  • 🔊Text-to-speech option

Negative things

  • 🐛Buggy highlighting and annotation tools
  • 🖋️Lack of Apple Pencil support
  • 📚Restricted functionality compared to other e-book apps
  • 🔍Inconsistent search and navigation experience
  • 🔋High battery consumption
  • 🤖Poor text-to-speech quality
See all reviews

What's New in Bookshelf

11.4.1

July 30, 2026

* Additional crash fixes * Highlighting performance has been improved, especially for users with large highlight collections * Smoother scrolling and zooming in PDF books, with significant stability improvements (iOS only) * Improved app stability with fixes for crashes across all platforms * Stylus annotation support has been removed to improve overall reliability * Improved navigation when deep linking to specific figures and headings in EPUB books

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Charts

Top Free

📉 104-6

Education

This app dropped -6 positions in Education chart.

Last updated on October 9, 2026.

User reviews

Most RecentHighest RatedLowest Rated

App still crashing

I downloaded the update version 11.4.2 and now I can’t open the app. It keeps crashing. Please fix immediately!
HonestReviewer’sViewHonestReviewer’sView

La voz es fea

Es un poco difícil comprender por la voz irreal.
NeissalizNeissaliz

Bookshelf sucks

Vital source doesn’t allow you to own your books anymore and they use this janky app to make you do it. They dont even take the time to get a half decent AI reader either.
Critical Thinker____7Critical Thinker____7

Eeehh

I’m enjoying listening to the textbook throughout the day. The issue is it takes me back pages. If I’m in the car and change to anything else it doesn’t save my spot. For example, I was listening to page 85 and had to put an address in and went ahead put on music.
Well when I went back I was on page 50.
Sometimes I don’t even know what page I am on since I’m listening and have my phone down.
It’s a very big inconvenience if I don’t notice right away to re listen to an old chapter
Show more
SugheyGISSugheyGIS

Can’t open the app

The app was great. What happened to it lately. I cannot access the app
aalmana1979aalmana1979
See 537 more reviews

Developer apps

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User experience

🐞

Reported Bugs

4 issues

Frequent crashes and freezes

Bug

Issues with page loading and scrolling

Bug

Inconsistent behavior when switching between devices

Bug

Unreliable text-to-speech functionality

Bug
✨

Requested Features

5 requests

Improved highlighting and annotation tools

Feature

Apple Pencil support for note-taking

Feature

More customization options (e.g., font, layout, night mode)

Feature

Seamless cross-device synchronization

Feature

Enhanced search and navigation features

Feature

FAQ

What does the Bookshelf app do?

The Bookshelf app provides a digital-first study experience for your VitalSource textbooks on your iPad or iPhone. It allows you to access, read, and study your textbooks anytime, anywhere, with features designed to enhance learning.

What are the key features of Bookshelf?

Key features include downloading books for offline reading, customizing highlighters and adding notes, creating flashcards with text and images, personalizing reading settings like font and background colors, and using the Read Aloud feature to listen to your books.

Is Bookshelf free to use?

The Bookshelf app itself is free to download and use. However, you will need a VitalSource Bookshelf account and access to one or more VitalSource textbooks to utilize its full functionality.

What are the system requirements for Bookshelf?

To use Bookshelf, you need a VitalSource Bookshelf account, access to VitalSource textbooks, and an iOS device running iOS 17 or later.

How does Bookshelf help with studying?

Bookshelf aids studying by offering features like offline access to textbooks, the ability to highlight and take notes directly on pages, creating flashcards for active recall, and personalizing the reading experience for better comprehension. The cross-device syncing also ensures your study progress is always up-to-date.