# Maktabah — Islamic Library > Islamic digital library with advanced search, annotation, and cross-device synchronization. (iPhone/iPad app by Yayasan Darun Najah.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/maktabah/id6761461336 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Yayasan Darun Najah](https://appshunter.io/developer/1889803733) - Category: Reference, Education - Price: Free - Rating: 5.00/5 from 1 App Store ratings · 2 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 17+ - Requires: iOS 18.6 · 9 MB - Languages: American English, Arabic, Indonesian - Released: 2026-04-13 - Data updated: 2026-09-08 - Monetization: free - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/maktabah/id6761461336/reviews.md ## What is Maktabah? Read Without Interruption Navigate thousands of classic books with clean and focused readers. Choose the typography you want, adjust the line height, switch the diacritic, and switch between 5 background colors including Dark Mode. Sync Between iPad & iPhone Your reading progress and history are now automatically synchronised across devices through iCloud. Continue reading anywhere without losing track. Search Throughout Your Library Find any phrase in hundreds of books simultaneously using SQLite FTS5 full text search. Choose between the right phrase, a set of sentences, or any phrase. Annotation and Export Highlight and underline any text, add personal notes, tag annotations, arrange annotations by date, page, or context, and group annotations by book or tag. Explore Hadith Narration Look for the biography of the narrator, the evaluation of Jarh wa Ta'dil, and the transmission chain regulated by tabaqat. ## Key features - Customizable reading experience - iCloud sync across devices - Full-text search across multiple books - Highlighting and note-taking - Detailed Hadith narration exploration - Annotation grouping and tagging ## Recent user reviews (2 of 2) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/maktabah/id6761461336/reviews.md ### 5/5 — Is perfect now *2026-07-11* Thank you very much for adding the features I requested, as well as many improvements that I had not even suggested. I especially appreciate that you added the complete Shamela library. May Allah reward you for your hard work. After using the new reading mode, I noticed that the scrolling behavior is not quite what I had in mind. The current implementation is more like jump scrolling, whereas I was referring to seamless continuous scrolling If you could implement smooth, uninterrupted scrolling, I believe the reading experience would be much better. I also have one small suggestion regarding the copy feature. If possible, please include the book chapter (باب) along with the existing citation information. For example: صحيح مسلم-كِتَابٌ: الْإِيمَانُ- بَابٌ: بَيَانُ أَرْكَانِ الْإِسْلَامِ وَدَعَائِمِهِ الْعِظَامِ رقم حديث: ١٦-(٢١) (المجلد:1-الصفحة:34) This would make copied references much more complete and useful for research and citation. Thank you again for your hard work and dedication. May Allah reward you abundantly. **Developer response:** Planned, Insha Allah we remake reference on copy. But we don't plan continuous scroll as you describe at this time. ### 5/5 — Very Close to perfection *2026-05-30* The app is improving very quickly, and with every update you add many useful features and make the experience better. In my previous review and suggestions, I mentioned several things that I hoped would be added. I was pleasantly surprised that within only two updates, many of those requests had already been implemented and improved by your team. Thank you, Now I would like to mention what I believe is the most important feature: Please make the Shamela library source as complete and make it the ultimate reference source. For example, in Shamela there are multiple editions of Sahih al-Bukhari, such as: • صحيح البخاري – ط السلطانية • صحيح البخاري – طبعة عطاءات العلم • صحيح البخاري – تحقيق البغا • صحيح البخاري – طبعة التأصيل This is only one example There are many other books and editions available in Shamela, but currently only one edition of Sahih al-Bukhari is included in the app. I believe all of these editions are important In my opinion, this app is designed not only for simple searching, but also for serious research and study Therefore, I kindly ask you to include all available Shamela sources and editions. I know this is a large request, but many Shamela-based apps on iPhone either do not work properly or are no longer maintained. This app has great potential to become the best option available. I would also like to suggest: • Add smooth scrolling support in the reading section. • Add a copy feature that includes the book source, volume number, and page number when copying text. With these additions, the app would be perfect. Thank you very much for your hard work and dedication. Jazakum Allahu Khayran **Developer response:** Thank you so much for the kind words and detailed feedback! A few notes on your suggestions: 1. Search with/without tashkil: partially supported — the app normalizes diacritics during search, so you can search without tashkil and still find fully voweled text. Full tashkil-specific search requires a second FTS index and is on the long-term roadmap. 2. Scrolling reader style and share with sources are noted — great ideas for future updates. 3. Section download are available with tap and hold on Library lists. 4. Regarding the full Shamela database: the library is curated for internal reason, so some titles are intentionally excluded. We still rebuild curated full library and bring the feature to iOS. Insha Allah. ## Frequently asked questions about Maktabah ### What is Maktabah? Maktabah is a free digital library app focused on Islamic texts. It offers a clean reading experience, advanced search capabilities, annotation tools, and synchronization across Apple devices. ### Does Maktabah have ads? No, Maktabah is ad-free, allowing for an uninterrupted reading experience. The app is completely free to download and use. ### What devices does Maktabah support? Maktabah is available on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, allowing users to sync their reading progress and library across these platforms via iCloud. ### How does the search feature in Maktabah work? Maktabah utilizes SQLite FTS5 full-text search, enabling users to find specific phrases across hundreds of books simultaneously. You can search for exact phrases, sets of sentences, or any phrase. ### Can I take notes and highlight text in Maktabah? Yes, Maktabah allows you to highlight text, add personal notes, tag annotations, and arrange them by date, page, or context. Annotations can also be grouped by book or tag. ### What information is available for Hadith narrations? For Hadith narrations, Maktabah provides details on the narrator's biography, the evaluation of Jarh wa Ta'dil, and the transmission chain regulated by tabaqat. ### How often is Maktabah updated? The latest version of Maktabah is 3.1.3, which was last updated on June 12, 2026. Updates typically include improvements to features and performance. ### What is the age rating for Maktabah? Maktabah has an age rating of 17+, indicating mature content or themes suitable for older audiences. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 3.4.1 — 2026-09-03 - Fix book updates ### 3.4 — 2026-09-02 - Book Update Support ### 3.3 — 2026-08-24 What's New in This Version: Search & Reading: - Proximity Search: Added support for proximity (NEAR) search to find words within a specific distance. - Multi-Keyword Highlighting: Search terms are now clearly highlighted across search results and the reader. - Search History Settings: Added an option to toggle whether opening search results is recorded in reading history. Annotations & Tags: - Multi-Tag Filtering: Filter your annotations by multiple tags with flexible matching criteria. - Tag Management: Improved tag renaming synchronization and filter headers on iOS. - JSON Import & Export: Easily backup, restore, and transfer your annotations. Sync & Performance: - CloudKit Sync: Improved sync reliability, rate-limit resilience, and background reconciliation. - Database & Reader Speed: Optimized search queries, text preprocessing caches, and page turn performance. Support Development: - Added an in-app donation sheet to support routine maintenance and dataset research. ### 3.2.9 — 2026-08-13 What's New in This Version: - Book Import & Update Fixes: Fixed a database transaction error that could occur when updating books or importing offline files. - Database Stability Improvements: Optimized search index generation (FTS) and data migration for smoother and more reliable performance. - Performance & Error Handling: Enhanced internal transaction handling to prevent database conflicts during large library updates. ### 3.2.8 — 2026-08-11 In this update, we've improved performance and squashed several bugs to make your reading experience even better: Improved accuracy when selecting and highlighting Arabic text with diacritics (harakat). Faster and smoother narrator (Tarjamah) search performance. Fixed an issue where creating folders in Saved Results wouldn't work properly. A cleaner search interface that hides unnecessary elements while you are typing. Better search accuracy and tag saving when using Arabic commas (،). Resolved an infinite syncing issue with your iCloud reading history. Various under-the-hood stability improvements and crash fixes. ## Related topics [shamela](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/shamela) --- *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 2026-09-08.*