# Bookship: a virtual book club — Reading with groups or friends

> Social reading app for virtual book clubs and shared reading experiences. (iPhone/iPad app by The Hawaii Project, LLC.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookship-a-virtual-book-club/id1249506408 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [The Hawaii Project, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1249506407)
- Category: Books, Social Networking
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.10/5 from 30 App Store ratings · 17 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 15.6 · 105 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2017-07-17
- Data updated: 2026-08-24
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookship-a-virtual-book-club/id1249506408/reviews.md

## What is Bookship?

Bookship is a social reading app for sharing your reading experiences with friends, family & co-workers. Chat, share thoughts and observations with your book club. Post photos of a favorite passage. Have Bookship extract a quote from a photo of a page you're reading. Create Groups & Calendars to manage your meetings. A mobile-first, camera-ready, emoji-friendly experience!

Whether it's reading a great novel with your best friend across the country or a neighborhood book club, or a business book with your co-workers, Bookship is your virtual book club companion. Build better relationships through books, and enrich your reading experience along the way.

Read classic books right inside the app. Browse classic books from Project Gutenberg, Standard eBooks, and other sources. Use our built-in eReader to read the book, sharing notes and comments with your friends RIGHT INSIDE THE book. Look for the "Read Free!" tag on the top left of the cover art for the book to see books you can read for free.

Bookship provides unique book discovery and recommendations, with a special emphasis on books that are topical and perfect for book clubs! Get great ideas for your next group reading or book club! Browse by genre, with books being talked about by the leading book tastemakers. Keep a Reading List by using our Saved Books feature, so you can come back to interesting books later and keep track of what you’ve read.

Key features:
* Browse unique book recommendations from leading tastemakers, book reviewers, best-seller and awards lists
* Invite friends, family, co-workers to read a book together
* Post & react to comments, photos, links, video
* Video chat with your group right from Bookship. No more scheduling, invites, and waiting rooms. Completely secure, free, and private by default - or open it up to anyone?
* Groups - keep your group member lists & Group-specific TBRs inside the app. 
* Polls - run a vote to see which books your group should read.
* Calendars - schedule your Group meetings & automatically send reminders.
* Write reviews when you finish your books and share them with the world!
* Get alerts when your friends post; keep in sync by sharing your location in the book
* Tag your comments as spoilers - they're hidden from others until they open them
* Use the Virtual Highlighter to highlight passages (and extract quotes!) from physical books, and share them with friends.
* Keep & manage your To Be Read List (TBR) by saving interesting books you find in the app. 
* Use our handy barcode scanner to remember books you find in a bookstore
* Read classic works for free right inside the app! Tens of thousands of classic works are available.
* Social Reading lets you highlight and comment right inside the book, and share with your group.
* Share readings on social media and websites to open them to the public!

Bookship Premium is a monthly subscription that helps you get the most out of your reading and your reading groups. 

* Book Briefings provide curated content about your book - reading guides, author interviews & reviews. Great for getting ready for your book club meeting!
* Bookship Premium enables groups with more than 5 members. (Groups with 5 or fewer members are free.)
* Ad-free experience. Bookship Premium is guaranteed ad-free and helps us keep Bookship going!

Bookship Premium is $2.99 per month in the U.S. Prices will vary by your location. Get started with a 2-week free trial!

Privacy Policy: https://www.bookshipapp.com/privacy
Terms of Service: https://www.bookshipapp.com/terms

## Key features

- Virtual book club discussions
- Share thoughts and photos
- Built-in eReader for classic books
- Book discovery and recommendations
- Group management and scheduling
- Video chat with reading groups
- Quote extraction from photos

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bookship Premium | $2.99 | per month |


## Recent user reviews (10 of 17)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookship-a-virtual-book-club/id1249506408/reviews.md

### 2/5 — Not a good club space

*2026-07-17*

This isn’t a place to create a club and have a dedicated club page, you can start discussions on each book and share with people you know or who are on the app. Also, buggy af.

**Developer response:** Hi, Our ui model is centered on individual books and Readings, more so than just a "club", but if you create a Group, there is a dedicated group chat that is independent of any book. Look for the chat bubbles at the top right of the main page. But we understand that might not be what you are looking for. Any reports of bugs with details would be very much appreciated so we can correct them!
Thanks! (info - at - thehawaiiproject dot com )

### 4/5 — Love!

*2026-02-22*

A great way to keep thoughts together when reading with a friend! The spoiler feature is wonderful so you don’t accidentally see what happens before you get there!

**Developer response:** ❤️ Thank you!

### 5/5 — Staying connected with friends

*2026-02-22*

I’ve ran a number of book clubs using the app to keep in touch with friends far and wide!

**Developer response:** Thank you!!

### 5/5 — Love it

*2026-02-21*

We’ve been using this app for our book club for a few years now and we love it! It works well across all platforms, gives alerts, lets us chat without having to exchange numbers, etc. There has only been one or two times that it hasn’t had the book we were reading but it wasn’t surprising since they were pretty obscure titles. Just get it! You won’t regret it!

**Developer response:** Thank you, we appreciate the kind words!

### 5/5 — Perfect for book clubs

*2026-02-19*

Our friends have scattered far and wide but we still like to have Bookclub once a month. Bookship makes that so very easy. A great app that can be used on a desktop, iPad or mobile phone. It has so many aspects to it and has become a great part of our club. Highly recommend.

**Developer response:** Thanks so much! We're glad you are enjoying it!

### 5/5 — So easy to use!

*2026-02-18*

We love this app for book club! It lets us see what our thoughts are chapter by chapter with helpful things like spoilers so those who read slower don’t have to worry about spoilers! Love this app!

**Developer response:** Thank you Crystie!

### 5/5 — I love this app!

*2026-02-17*

This app is so great for all book readers!

**Developer response:** Thanks Gracie! Glad you are having fun with it!

### 5/5 — SO UNDERRATED 💯💯

*2025-03-24, version 10.2.3*

This is by far the best book app I have come across. You get to join book club and sometime even meet with the authors. And the best part, it's all FREE!!!!

### 1/5 — Does Not Work

*2024-12-29*

This app does not function at all. I can download, create an account, and that’s all. After that, nothing works.

### 5/5 — The best app

*2024-08-21, version 10.1.1*

I love this app as it’s everything I want as a bookworm.

## Frequently asked questions about Bookship

### What is Bookship?

Bookship is a social reading app designed for sharing reading experiences with friends, family, and co-workers. It allows users to chat, share thoughts, post photos, and even read classic books together within the app.

### Can I read books directly in Bookship?

Yes, Bookship allows you to read classic books directly within the app. It provides access to tens of thousands of classic works from sources like Project Gutenberg and Standard eBooks.

### How does Bookship help with book clubs?

Bookship facilitates virtual book clubs by offering features like group creation, calendars for scheduling meetings, polls for book selection, and in-app chat for discussions. You can also share notes and comments directly within the book.

### Does Bookship have ads?

Yes, Bookship contains advertisements. As a free app with in-app purchases, advertisements are part of the user experience.

### What are the subscription options for Bookship?

Bookship offers a premium subscription called Bookship Premium for $2.99 per month, which includes a 14-day free trial. This subscription aims to enhance the reading and group experience.

### Is Bookship suitable for younger readers?

Bookship has an age rating of 12+, making it suitable for teenagers and older. Parents should consider this rating when deciding if the app is appropriate for their children.

### How often is Bookship updated?

Bookship was last updated on March 7, 2026, with version 10.7. This indicates a recent update, suggesting ongoing development and support for the application.

### What devices does Bookship support?

Bookship is available on iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices, providing a mobile-first experience for users across Apple's ecosystem.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 10.8.5 — 2026-08-04

This update contains defect corrections and performance improvements

### 10.8.2 — 2026-07-25

This version corrects issues with images in Group Chats, and contains other minor defect corrections.

### 10.8.1 — 2026-07-07

This version corrects defects related to posts that contain references to books.

### 10.8 — 2026-05-12

This version includes improvements to the integrated eReader, including better menu display and independently controllable screen brightness in the reader. It fixes defects related to embedded Youtube video display, and image uploads for comments.

### 10.7 — 2026-03-07

This version contains performance improvements and minor defect corrections. It also removes Facebook login for all users and removes App Tracking, which was previously required for Facebook login.

## Apps similar to Bookship

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Bookum: Discuss & Review Books](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookum-discuss-and-review-books/id6444262886) | 4.3 (13) | Free | Books |
| [Booky Call - Book Discovery](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/booky-call-book-discovery/id1585746170) | 4.1 (64) | Free | Books |
| [Byzans, chat about books](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/byzans-chat-about-books/id1438086209) | 4.5 (20) | Free | Books |
| [Literal: An Addictive Reader](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/literal-an-addictive-reader/id1484519222) | 4.8 (32) | Free | Books |
| [Book Club by BookMovement](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/book-club-by-bookmovement/id971265430) | 4.0 (211) | Free | Books |
| [Copper Books](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/copper-books/id1557778850) | 4.7 (39) | Free | Books |

## More apps by The Hawaii Project, LLC

- [TBR: Book List Reading Tracker](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tbr-book-list-reading-tracker/id1614072233)

All apps by The Hawaii Project, LLC: https://appshunter.io/developer/1249506407

## Related topics

[book club by bookmovement](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/book-club-by-bookmovement) · [online book club](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/online-book-club) · [bookworm reads club](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/bookworm-reads-club) · [aardvark book club](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/aardvark-book-club) · [the book club](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/the-book-club)

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*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 2026-08-24.*