BookShelves eBook Reader

BookShelves eBook Reader

EPUB, PDF & Comic Book Library

19 ratings
34 reviews
Free
In-App Purchases

Details

Released
February 9, 2026
Updated
October 26, 2026

Features

BookShelves eBook Reader screenshot #1 for iPhone
BookShelves eBook Reader screenshot #2 for iPhone
BookShelves eBook Reader screenshot #3 for iPhone
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BookShelves eBook Reader screenshot #5 for iPhone
BookShelves eBook Reader screenshot #6 for iPhone
BookShelves eBook Reader screenshot #7 for iPhone
BookShelves eBook Reader screenshot #8 for iPhone
BookShelves eBook Reader screenshot #9 for iPhone
BookShelves eBook Reader screenshot #10 for iPhone
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About

This app allows you to read EPUB, PDF, and comic books with access to over 1.5 million free public domain books. Organize your library, customize your reading experience with multiple themes and fonts, and sync your progress across devices.

✓1.5 million+ free books
✓EPUB, PDF, and comic reader
✓Customizable themes and fonts
✓iCloud sync across devices
✓Smart library management
✓Highlighting and note-taking
✓Export highlights
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What's New in BookShelves eBook Reader

1.0.42

October 26, 2026

Discover -- Explore free books like never before. The new Discover home page brings every catalog together on beautiful shelves, with one search across all of them and the same easy filters you know from your Library. Highlights -- Highlighting feels effortless. Mark any word or passage, including italic, bold and linked text, and every highlight stays exactly where you made it. Your notes are protected with a quick confirmation before you delete them. Search -- Find any passage in a flash. Search takes you straight to the right spot, in page and scroll mode alike. Scroll Mode -- Your place stays put as you adjust text size and fonts, and reaching the last page marks the book Finished. Sync -- Pick up exactly where you left off: BookShelves keeps your latest reading position in step across iPhone, iPad and Mac. iPhone & iPad -- Sort your library your way in grid or list view, and enjoy uninterrupted reading with a screen that stays on while you read. Mac -- New menu bar commands put reading and library tools one click away, and Page Up, Page Down, Home and End glide through PDFs. Import -- Bring in your whole collection at once: hundreds of books from the Files app in one go, EPUBs up to 2 GB, and older Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean text files with every character in place. OPDS -- Browse catalogs page after page, with live progress as your books download. iCloud -- Books in iCloud download and open more reliably, and BookShelves lets you know when iCloud Drive needs to be turned on. Pro -- Your Pro features stay with you, even when you're offline. Performance -- Large libraries feel snappier on Mac, plus many refinements throughout the app.

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Subscriptions & In-App Purchases

$9.99

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Events

Read more about Now in 33 Languages

Now in 33 Languages

Read in your language with full app translation

Jul 7, 2026 — Aug 6, 2026

User reviews

Dateien Verwaltung mangelhaft

Eine epub Datei steckt in der App und kann nicht mehr geteilt werden. Da kann man doch gleich bei Apple Bücher bleiben. So sehe ich keinen Mehrwert in der App. Sie sieht aber ganz ok aus und die Bedienung ist auch schlüssig.

Response from developer

Danke für die ehrliche Bewertung. Sie haben recht: Auf iPhone und iPad liegen Ihre Bücher zwar als normale EPUB- und PDF-Dateien vor, aber im eigenen Speicher der App, und dort gibt es noch keine Möglichkeit, eine Buchdatei zu teilen oder zu exportieren. Auf dem Mac können Sie jedes Buch aus der Bibliothek in den Finder ziehen und erhalten die Datei samt bearbeiteter Metadaten. Das Teilen von Büchern auf iPhone und iPad steht auf unserer Liste.

Eternal loading wheel

After importing one small book that only had 4 chapters and a TOC, it took minutes to open. After it finally opened, I swiped to the publisher’s page and the text rendering (headers, fonts, etc) were very poor and inaccurate. When I then swiped into Chapter 1 to test further, another loading wheel appeared. After waiting another minute and the chapter still had not loaded, I closed the app and uninstalled. My phone is hot now as I write this review. Uninstalling ASAP
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Response from developer

Sorry, that is a bug, not how the reader should behave. A four-chapter book should open in a moment, and minutes of loading with the phone heating up means something in that book stalled the layout. If you are willing to email the file to hello@getbookshelves.app, we will find what went wrong, including the headers and fonts on the publisher's page.

UIも素敵で概ね満足だが…。

右から左へページを送る設定にしても、いったんファイルを閉じると次に開いたときには左から右になっている。
あと、ページ送りのアニメーションが右から左と左から右とで同じなため、見にくくなってしまっている。
それ以外は使いやすく高評価!

Response from developer

アップデートのお知らせです。バージョン1.0.42から、PDFとEPUBの「右から左」の設定が本ごとに保存され、閉じて開き直しても保たれるようになりました。ただし日本語と中国語のEPUBでは、縦書き表示との兼ね合いで、今のところ本を開いている間だけ有効です。PDFでは、バージョン1.0.40から「右から左」のときのページ送りのアニメーションが逆向きになりました。ご報告ありがとうございました。

For English users only.

Good app but no language filtering in online libraries. If you want to get non English free books, you will need to get them elsewhere.

Response from developer

Thank you for the review. Discover does have a language filter, though it is easy to miss: tap the filter icon (a circle with three lines) at the top of a source and choose Language. Project Gutenberg offers ten languages, including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Polish. Aozora Bunko adds Japanese books, and Biblioteca Nacional de España adds Spanish, Catalan and Galician.

No feature to export books.

Even pro users will be locked into the app, as the sync does not produce folders like obsidian. It just sends the files to a black hole. Export does not do any good either

Response from developer

Thank you, that is fair. Your books are stored as standard EPUB and PDF files, but in the app's own storage rather than a browsable folder, and there is no proper export on iPhone and iPad yet. On the Mac you can drag any book from the library to Finder and get the file with your edited metadata included. Getting books out on iOS is on our list.

Developer apps

FAQ

What devices does BookShelves support?

BookShelves is available on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It offers seamless iCloud sync, allowing you to start reading on one device and continue on another.

Does BookShelves have ads?

No, BookShelves is ad-free, providing an uninterrupted reading experience. This allows users to focus on their books without any distractions.

How many free books are available on BookShelves?

BookShelves offers access to over 1.5 million free books, including public domain classics and premium editions. You can discover works from sources like the Internet Archive and Biblioteca Nacional de Espana.

Can I organize my books on BookShelves?

Yes, BookShelves provides smart library management features. You can create custom shelves, use color-coded tags, and filter your collection by title, author, or tag.

What reading formats does BookShelves support?

BookShelves supports EPUB, PDF, CBZ, CBR, and CB7 formats. It can also auto-convert MOBI, AZW3, KF8, and KEPUB files to EPUB for reading.

Is BookShelves suitable for users with dyslexia?

Yes, BookShelves includes the OpenDyslexic font among its 8 bundled fonts, along with adjustable line spacing and text justification to enhance readability for users with dyslexia.

How does iCloud sync work in BookShelves?

iCloud sync automatically updates your entire library across all your devices. This includes books, reading progress, shelves, tags, ratings, highlights, notes, and reader preferences.

What is the age rating for BookShelves?

BookShelves has an age rating of 17+. This is based on its content and features, and it is recommended for mature users.