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Bookshop.org User Reviews

Bookshop.org: Buy & Read Books
📚 Books

Customer Experience

Positive experience30.0% of reviews
Neutral30.0% of reviews
Negative experience40.0% of reviews

~ Based on 10 written reviews from the US App Store.

Is Bookshop.org Safe?

Bookshop.org: Buy & Read Books appears mostly safe based on user ratings. AppsHunter Safety Score for Bookshop.org is 84/100.

This assessment is based on 40 user ratings, with an App Store average of 4.5/5.

Safety Analysis

89.7% of ratings point to a safe experience
3.4% of ratings suggest some concerns
6.9% of ratings point to a risky experience

~ Based on 29 App Store ratings for Bookshop.org.

Is Bookshop.org Legit?

Bookshop.org: Buy & Read Books has limited verification signals. AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Bookshop.org is 58/100.

Based on 58 of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.

Top reviews

Most RecentHighest RatedLowest Rated

Doesn’t save place

Every time I pause my audiobook it starts replaying from a previous place. Seems like lots of other reviews mention the same issue and it hasn’t been fixed.
L6283L6283

Response from developer

We're sorry to hear about the issue you've experienced with the app losing your place - we know it's terribly frustrating! The good news is we have introduced several updates that should have resolved this issue with the most recent version of the app. Thank you for helping us support local bookstores!

Sync issue

I love the mission and ethos. And for a year, the app worked great, but recently, when reading a book and picking it up later, I sync back to the wrong place, and I have shuffled through 15 pages to find my place.

If this can be fixed, I’ll gladly change my review. Everything else about the app is great
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jacobvollrathjacobvollrath

Response from developer

We're sorry to hear about the issue you've experienced with the app losing your place - how frustrating! The good news is we have introduced several updates that should have resolved this issue with the most recent version of the app. Thank you for helping us support local bookstores!

Good except

It keeps losing my place
Phil SRGPhil SRG

Response from developer

We're sorry to hear about the issue you've experienced with the app losing your place - how frustrating! We have introduced several updates that should have resolved this issue with the most recent version of the app. If you continue to experience those challenges, please don't hesitate to email us at help@bookshop.org so we can troubleshoot further. Thank you for helping us support local bookstores!

Forgets your place

This app works for reading but forgets your place if you dare to quit. Additionally it forgets your place if your device switches from portrait to landscape mode which is incredibly frustrating. As soon as I've read the books I downloaded I shall switch to kindle.
CdpuffCdpuff

Response from developer

We're sorry to hear about the issue you've experienced with the app losing your place - how frustrating! The good news is we have introduced several updates that should have resolved this issue. If you continue to experience those challenges with the most recent app update, please don't hesitate to email us at help@bookshop.org so we can troubleshoot further. Thank you for helping us support local bookstores!

DRM

I’m anti-DRM and one app lock in
Nik HilPNik HilP

Response from developer

Thank you for sharing your feedback; we understand that the DRM protections can be frustrating. The good news is we have many titles that are DRM-free in the app, and we are diligently working to offer more solutions for the DRM-protected titles, as set by the publisher. We will ensure your feedback is shared with the team so we can continue to improve the experience.

Fabulous!

This is a seriously wonderful idea. We must resist the hegemony of the tech bro desecration of the local. It can change. The app is great. Early days, but if everyone gets on board it can only get better. The prices of the ebooks are competitive too.
AsterlationAsterlation

Response from developer

We're so glad you've found us, and thank you for helping us support independent bookshops!

Ebook checkout

BYYER BEWARE if you want to spend a gift balance on ebooks: the app does not allow purchases which presumably is down to Apple policies. However the web site checkout process does not support the use of gift balances such as national bookshop tokens despite the website allowing them to be transferred. I feel as if I’ve been scammed as I now have a gift balance that can only be used on physical books. Hopefully their customer service will help in which case I’ll change this review accordingly and upgrade from 1 star.

UPDATE: Customer services were fantastic and sorted out the balance so despite the above limitation, have upgraded the rating.
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etherealbodyetherealbody

Response from developer

We're very sorry to hear about the challenge you encountered while attempting to use a gift balance and/or NBT to buy an ebook. We know this is frustrating, and we are actively working to build the ability to buy an ebook with a gift card and/or NBTs, which should launch later this year. In the meantime, you can absolutely use a gift card and/or national book tokens to buy physical books from our site. Thank you for helping us support indie bookshops and for your patience as we build the features of this app!

Needs to improve

Buying ebooks this way avoids giving money to A***e or A****n, and with a contribution going to your local bookshop. So far, so good. It is still a proprietary system like the others, and you are at the mercy of what the developers do. So far, main gripes are: it doesn’t play nicely with windowing, often resizing wrongly and sometimes the Options panel disappears before you can select from it; it lacks a lookup function; it doesn’t respond to external keyboards, even the arrow keys; and its layout is ugly, with a ridiculously excessive gutter margin. I’m sure it will get better, but it needs to do so fast to avoid being written off as a very poor substitute for the established reader apps.
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Ben0779Ben0779

Response from developer

Thank you for your feedback and for helping us support independent bookshops. We're sorry to hear about the frustrations you're encountering using the app. We take this feedback seriously and are diligently working to improve the experience with each new app release. The good news is you should already be able to search within a book by clicking on the center of the page you're reading, and upon the "pill" menu displaying, click on the ellipses (...) to pull up additional options, one of which is "Search book." Currently, our ebook app is much more mature than our web reader, and some of the challenges you're encountering might be tied to using the web reader on a tablet/device. If that's the case, we'd recommend downloading the app in lieu of the web reader. We would also be happy for you to email us at product@bookshop.org so we can help you troubleshoot further!

Disappointing Flaw

Just read my first book with the app and found that it did not remember where I had got to. Instead it opened at the same page each time (near the start of the book). Also no bookmark facility, so I couldn’t use that as an alternative. Hope this will be fixed soon.
Anon774Anon774

Response from developer

Thank you for helping us to support local bookshops! We're sorry to hear you've run into a frustrating error around remembering your place in the book. The good news is we do offer the ability to bookmark a page - when you click on the center of the page you're reading, you will see a small "pill" menu with several controls, one of which is "BKM" - that will allow you to bookmark the particular page. We also recently launched several fixes that should have resolved this issue for you in the latest version of the app. If you upgrade to the newest version and still encounter this problem, please don't hesitate to email us at info@bookshop.org so we can help you troubleshoot further.

5 stars

Supports indie bookshops AND looks nicely designed. Well worth supporting. 🙌
Sixfive77Sixfive77

Response from developer

Thank you for the feedback and for helping us to support indie bookshops - happy reading!