# Marvin 3 — user reviews > 50 indexed App Store user reviews of Marvin 3 by Appstafarian Limited, rated 3.60/5 from 432 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/marvin-3/id1086482858/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/marvin-3/id1086482858.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 184 · 4★ 85 · 3★ 42 · 2★ 21 · 1★ 92 ## What do users think of Marvin 3? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 👍 Highly customizable reading interface - 📚 Excellent library management and organization - ✨ Superior design and aesthetics compared to competitors - 🎯 Extensive annotation and highlighting features - 🔤 Minutely adjustable text size and margins - 🌙 True black dark mode for OLED battery savings - ⚡ Fast and responsive performance - 📖 Support for multiple formats (EPUB, CBR, CBZ) - 🎤 Text-to-speech with word-flash reader capability - 🔗 Dropbox integration for book management - 💾 One-time purchase model (no subscription) - 🛠️ Advanced features like Deep View and metadata editing **Cons** - ⚠️ No longer actively maintained or updated - 🐛 Loses reading position after app restart - ❌ No PDF support - 🔄 Annotations and highlights don't sync across devices - 📱 iOS 16+ compatibility issues - 💰 Additional paid themes beyond base app - 🚫 Limited cloud storage options (Dropbox only) - 📖 Dictionary lookup freezes on iOS 16 - 🎯 Highlighting and annotation UI glitchy on iOS 16 - ⚙️ Steep learning curve for features - 🔌 Crashes with large libraries (100+ books) - 📊 No two-column landscape mode for iPad **Commonly reported bugs** - Reading position resets to earlier location when reopening book - Task switching causes random page jumps - iOS 16 dictionary lookup causes app freeze - Highlighting and annotation menu glitches on iOS 16 - Text selection menu options disappear or overlap - App crashes when importing new books until restart - Position adjustment slider unreliable and buggy - Highlighting text causes page drift into next page - Save image function crashes app - App crashes with large libraries - Sync feature returns iCloud connection error despite being connected - Continuous scroll mode loses position accurately **Most requested features** - Automatic syncing of bookmarks and annotations across devices - PDF format support - iCloud synchronization - Google Drive and OneDrive integration - Two-column display for iPad landscape mode - Custom reading background images - Disable auto-brightness feature - Underline and strikethrough highlighting options - Fine-tuned text-to-speech speed controls - Calibre integration improvements - Flashcard feature for highlights - Better Goodreads integration - Resilio Sync support - Manual library sorting options ## Newest reviews (16 of 50) ### 4/5 — Notes and annotations *2022-11-07, version 3.1.2* I know it isn’t your fault about the update, I do want to say though that since iOS 16 update trying to add notes and annotations and highlight has been god awful!! No idea what Apple did but it ruined it. 😭😭 I mean I am able to do it still, it’s just takes longer and the options glitch and overlap each other when you try highlighting ### 4/5 — Worked well until iOS 16 *2022-10-14, version 3.1.2* Obviously has not been updated for years, but has nonetheless been the best epub reader in my experience. However since iOS 16, things are starting to go wrong, mostly related to highlighting text and the quick actions panel. Hoping an update will come to fix this. I’d happily to subscribe to an app as good as this, if it were updated to remain functional. ### 4/5 — Stanza’s successor *2022-03-06, version 3.1.2* From the many user tweaks, support for imported fonts and great library management, Marvin is IMHO my favorite e-reader for IOS. With over 2000 books on my iPhone, I really appreciate the organizational and display capabilities of its library interface. Truly designed for the ebook OCD/fanatic/collector/power user. Now if I could only import a custom image as a reading background and disable the auto brightness while in the app, it would get 5 stars. Always room for improvement, right. And why is it called Marvin? If I could create an e-reader as good as this, I’d called it “Atoz.” Get it? ### 4/5 — Looses last reading position in the text. *2022-02-20, version 3.1.2* Could you please fix the issue with loosing last reading position in the text after re-opening the application? If app is closed and removed from background and started again the book opens couple of pages before the actual page which was open at the closing moment. It requires to scroll forward for finding the right page. Really annoying. Please fix it. ### 4/5 — Has all the features I want. *2021-12-09, version 3.1.2* What they call “karaoke” reader will flash one word on the screen at a time. It lets you change wpm from really really slow to 720 wpm. (That’s a little slow though.) The word-flash reader also has good quality of life features, with the option to color the first letter of each word and give long words, commas, and spaces a little more time on-screen. The dark mode is black and saves oled battery. The margins are easily and minutely adjustable, so that I can use the whole screen to read (looking at you, Apple Books). The text size is minutely adjustable, though doing so in the middle of a book will change your position in the book (it keeps you at the same page number, but once you change text size total page count changes). I’m annoyed with the unintuitive and buggy design of the position adjustment slider at the bottom of the controls screen, which is so unreliable that it might as well not exist at all. ### 3/5 — Doesn’t support PDFs 🤷🏻‍♂️ *2021-08-24, version 3.1.2* I’ll keep looking. Cloud picker is too hidden and it doesn’t support PDFs for some reason that I’ve yet to fathom. So if any of your ebooks are PDF, you’ll need another app anyway. Might as well just look for a different app from the get-go! I gave this an extra star though for not being subscription based. If everyone quit falling for subscriptions, they’d quickly disappear ### 2/5 — Mostly good reader, non-existent support *2021-04-21, version 3.1.2* I’d give this app a solid 5 if it didn’t throw me backward several hundred or thousand words every time I close and open the book or the app. While I’m at it, Marvin3 doesn’t sync highlighting between devices so workarounds for this backwards problem are difficult at best. This going backwards thing makes it annoying and difficult to find my place every time I sit down to read. On top of that their customer support has not once replied to my emails requesting information about why this is happening. If you are developing another book/comic reader app, it’ll be a welcome addition to the iPhone/iPad community of readers who are putting up with this frustrating application that’s obviously been abandoned by it’s developer. ### 4/5 — Great app, needs PDF support and iCloud syncing *2020-06-14, version 3.1.2* Edited my review. After giving it a little time I've come to realize it actually is better than the first version and I'm very pleased with it. Although it still is missing PDF support, The new annotations feature that groups everything for one export and the well thought out sidebar make it worth the money. ### 4/5 — So close *2020-01-23, version 3.1.2* Good reader over all but missing a few features to be really great. Could use PDF support at a minimum, other formats would be a big plus. Being able to manually sort items would be a good addition as well. Hasn’t been updated in a couple of years so not sure if it is still being supported or not. ### 3/5 — Love / Hate *2019-11-27, version 3.1.2* There is so much to love about this app. Extreme customization, goodreads integration, Dropbox, speech, journal, deep view. Marvin 3 is so feature rich it’s an ebook readers dream. Except... It’s hard to believe that bookmarks and annotations don’t sync automatically. It’s literally the most basic feature in EVERY other ereader. An app that has so many bells and whistles (I mean Deep View alone is AMAZING) but does not have automatic syncing is soul crushing. I will try to continue with the manual syncing in hopes that the feature will be added in the future, or until I get so absolutely frustrated I have to go back to Hyphen. From the other reviews I’ve read it looks like syncing in this app may not be happening. ### 4/5 — Marvin is great but... *2019-11-22, version 3.1.2* I can honestly say that this is the best reader app I’ve found, BUT I feel that it is a bit overpriced for what you get. While the reader itself is great, the fact that you’ve got to pay extra for any themes is pretty ridiculous, especially considering the app itself is $4.99. That said, it is better than it’s competitors for a reader app. The other complaints I’ve seen are from users that are looking for way more customization than I’m looking for. I’d give it five stars if not for the price. I’d say it’s worth the $4.99 price tag if it came with the extra themes. Personally I feel it should cost about $2.99 and the extra $2 should give one the themes... ### 5/5 — Great e-reader *2019-08-27, version 3.1.2* I’ve used many e-readers over the years, and Marvin is my go-to (non-Kindle) app. I’m able to customize it for just the way I like to read. I use Calibre to convert and upload books, and it is a breeze with Marvin! There are only two things I would like to have, but neither one takes away from a 5-star rating! If you haven’t tried it yet, do yourself a favor now. There are far more features than I can list. It would be great if reading in landscape on an iPad supported a 2 column display! The other issue is that syncing between devices really doesn’t work very well. I would love those two as upgrades, Marvin folk!!! ### 4/5 — Almost Perfect Reader... *2019-05-22, version 3.1.2* I love this app for my digital comic reads! However, there’s a small glitch - every time I go to click “save image” when I am attempting to save a page it glitches and closes the app. This happens on both iPad & iPhone. I understand glitches happen, but for buyers of the app who paid to have no ads or colors (etc) this shouldn’t be an issue :( I would love to be able to share pages and save them without the hassle. ### 4/5 — Need Highlights Sync !! Across my all marvin 3 library! *2019-04-06, version 3.1.2* Awesome app !! Complete environment of everything that readers needed !! Please Add one more feature of Syncing the Marvin 3 library across my All device so that Highlighting and note taking facility been easy across my all devices!! Even you can use iCloud storage for this !! And Finally there must be one tab that hold my all Highlights like iBooks did it in Like FLASHCARDS !! Then this app will be my favorite app in the World !! Thanks developers in advance!! ### 5/5 — The best ebook reader in existence. *2019-03-05, version 3.1.2* Title says it all. To the Marvin developer - Please dear God do not abandon this app. I have tried so many e-book reader apps over my lifetime and never have I fallen in love with the program so much. It’s almost as if you programmed everything I’ve ever wanted With skill and perfection in mind. I would say that the only feature I would love is to have the customizability of the voice reader in text to speech. I know you can customize it right now but it doesn’t seem like changing it in the accessibility settings does anything to the voice. I wish Apple would allow us to use the Siri voice. The default voice that more than allows you to use is not bad but could use a little bit better. Marvin deserves the best ### 4/5 — Amazing eBook Reader, with decent Comic Support *2019-01-08, version 3.1.2* I think this app is incredible and feature rich, and found the investment to unlock all the features with a one time in-app purchase reasonable. After reading the app description, I learned this is the first version with .cbr & .cbz support. When you combine a comic reader with this apps support for OPDS feeds, you’ve got a great way to quickly import multiple comics wirelessly with absolutely no trouble. My suggestions to make the comic experience better would be to implement a feature that allows double tapping the screen to zoom in and quickly bring the comic into edge to edge focus of the device display. Additionally for iPads, it would be awesome to allow for a two page layout in a landscape orientation. I look forward to the next update to full integrate into iOS 12! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — It seems that the developer has abandoned this app *2022-11-18, version 3.1.2* This was a great app but for several years now the developer has not responded to questions or bug reports. It has a nasty habit, when task switching, of reopening you book at some random past location. If you don't set a bookmark every time you switch, good luck. Now, with ios 16, things like the dictionary lookup no longer work right. After lookup, the app just freezes. Same for Marvin 2 (no surprise there) There are other apps out there and I don't feel that you should reward the developer for his lack of interest by purchasing this. Just my opinion, of course. I have switched to Mapleread. It's not perfect but it works with ios q6 AND the developers respond to questions! ### 1/5 — Place bug ruins the experience *2020-06-23, version 3.1.2* I like Marvin: I use it for most of my device based reading. With that being said, for as long as I can remember, it’s had a fairly awful bug where it won’t remember my last read place successfully. For example, today I was reading a book in continuous scroll mode. I was about 75% through the book. I just resumed reading just a moment after switching apps, and Marvin adjusted my place to around 50%, probably 80-90 pages prior to my current place. This bug makes the app frustrating and effectively unusable. ### 1/5 — Constantly crashes under iOS 13 *2019-10-09, version 3.1.2* I've had this program for a couple years and it worked perfectly, holding a library of several thousand books. With the iOS update, it started crashing nonstop. I can get it to work with a couple dozen books in the library, but it crashes and then won't work. Once it crashes, there's no way to make it operate. I have to delete it, re-download the program (which deletes all the books), and work again until it inevitably crashes, rendering it useless. It hasn't been updated for some time. It's the best ePub reader I've used; sorry to have to retire it unless a more recent update shows up. I'd even happily pay for Marvin 4, if it works with iOS 13. ### 1/5 — Wish I’d never downloaded it *2019-01-05, version 3.1.2* I’ve been using the original Marvin for *years*. While not perfect, it was an excellent ebook app and I had no serious complaints. One of the most used apps on my iPad for nearly a decade. Over that time, I built up a library of over 4,500 books. When Marvin 3 came out, none of the features struck me as something I needed, so I left well enough alone. Until recently when I tried to transfer books from my Dropbox and discovered that feature was now broken in the original and would never be fixed since the dev team has moved on to 3. So fine, finally time to upgrade I thought. Paid the $4.99 and imported my entire Marvin classic library. Opened a book and it crashed. Restarted the app and it crashed. If I completely uninstalled it I could get it to open again, but as soon as I loaded any books into it crashed again. Somehow, in all this process it managed to “lose” my Marvin backup. I can no longer restore from either app, and even when I connect my iPad to a pc and browse the file structure, my backup is no longer there. So instead of having a great app that I’ve used for years I paid $5 for a broken app and lost ten years worth of book collecting. I guess it’s time to find a new ebook app altogether since Marvin went from being the best to being worthless. ### 1/5 — Disappointed *2018-10-27, version 3.1.2* Really disappointed in the business approach. We are on iPhone we’ve already established we don’t mind paying for things that work the way they are supposed to... drop the old versions of Marvin and develop new versions, so be it but maybe offer real improvements. This feels like a ripoff and I won’t be continuing to support these products. Even the wording of the descriptions feels deceptive. Specifically speaking to iOS versions for features so you’ve got an excuse to charge more for a new paint job. I’ll be moving to the competition. ### 1/5 — Free version does not allow full screen view *2018-05-09, version 3.1.2* I am looking for iBooks replacement, which Apple has ruined. Main requirement is one app for both ePub and pdf. This app does not handle pdf. Plus it locks up part of screen in the free version, thus preventing full screen view. This results in awful page splits, particularly cutting images in two. The publisher will generously(?) allow you one day to see full screen before you must pay for pro version. It took me less time to assess and delete this app than to write this review. ### 1/5 — What did I pay for? *2018-03-01, version 3.1.2* I love Marvin 3, I started using it after support for Gerty became nonexistent but the “tips” make no sense. I paid $4.99 to remove the banner yet if I want all theme colors I need to leave a fabulous tip of ANOTHER $4.99. I can’t seem to figure out what I paid for, surely banner removal can’t be that much on its own? Why not have the option to pay once to buy all features? Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem supporting Marvin 3 since I paid to remove the banner but I think it’s a bit ridiculous to pay $10 to access all these things. The Dark theme is adequate for now but I do wish I could access others. ### 1/5 — Limited functionality with Dropbox *2017-12-11, version 3.1.2* I needed a reader app that could sync with Dropbox but Marvin Will only do location sync with iCloud. All of my annotations and highlights are also not syncing to Dropbox. I already have a Dropbox account and I’m not going to set up and pay more for an iCloud account. It really defeats the purpose of loading your books from dropbox if you’re not able to location sync or carryover any of the work you do on the books without having to sign up for another cloud service. What is most frustrating of all Is that I have emailed the developer several times and nobody even answers my emails and my questions. They have literally no customer/technical service. ### 1/5 — Beautiful interface, but crashes if more than a few books are loaded *2017-10-11, version 3.1.1* The app is beautiful, more so than iBooks. I loved the customization options and the auto-scroll while I was reading. I was seriously considering paying for the pro/unlocked option. Unfortunately, when I tried to load more books (121, to be precise; I previously had 20 on there) into the app, it crashed. And crashed. And kept on crashing each time I attempted to open the app. I’m so disappointed by this; I really thought I’d found a perfect iOS ebook reader. Another thing to note that others have mentioned that is extremely irritating is the continual Dropbox error message. I also find it ridiculous that you have to pay more to unlock different colors; most ebook apps offer this at a free charge, not a price of 99 cents or a bundle of $4.99... ### 1/5 — No PDF Support & Micro-Charges For Full Screen View *2017-09-19, version 3.1.1* I used the original Marvin which only had .epub support for importing files, etc. When Marvin 3 came out, I was expecting more support for e-book formats which is a reasonable feature request/expectation. Then I was forced to not only “donate” more money to see my files (exported from Marvin) in full-screen view, but .pdf support was never added. Even syncing with Calibre (which is badly-implemented) didn’t resolve the problem. The app doesn’t natively support the .pdf format. A waste of money. Get KyBook instead. An awesome app that natively supports numerous formats. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — The Best There Was *2023-01-17, version 3.1.2* Marvin 3 is the best reading app ever created. None of the mediocre store-linked apps that dominate the field even come close. Not Books, certainly not Kindle, and, sadly, none of the many other failed efforts no longer extant due to the corporate monopolies that have rendered eReaders a dead market. Whatever it’s flaws, Marvin 3 is a skilled labor of love unmatched by anything before or since. It’s the last attempt to serve serious readers rather than greedy publishers, a vanishing breed in a world of ever-increasing functional illiteracy. I can’t blame the developer for giving up, but I do wish it were otherwise. I’d gladly pay more for an evolving product than I do for my MS Office or Adobe Creative Suite subscriptions, or any of the other mediocrities that dominate the software industry through rapacious business practices rather than elegant design. A good reader is worth more to me than just about else I buy, and I wouldn’t mind being paying accordingly for something truly wonderful. ### 5/5 — Still the best *2022-11-25, version 3.1.2* It’s sad that the developer of Marvin 3 has abandoned the app, because even without updates for several years it’s the best of available ePub ereaders. The amount of customization available is amazing, and once the user gets the settings tweaked it’s so easy to use. I’ve used almost every ereader available for iOS and some of them are quite good, but none match Marvin 3. ### 5/5 — Actually… Still works! *2022-10-17, version 3.1.2* The fact that this App has not been updated for 5 years is unfortunate. Yet, it is remarkable also, because the App remains unrivaled. For those 5 years (and many more before) this has remained absolutely the best App for anyone who cares about the aesthetics of the reading experience, iPhone screen real estate, menu options etc. I’m writing this review to help other readers who, like me, are not thrilled by the alternatives to Marvin. It did seam that the iOS 16 killed Marvin. I, together with other users who wrote about this, thought so, and I started looking for the replacement. Nothing came close, so I decided to toggle Marvin one last time. By accident, I found out that YOU CAN STILL HIGHLIGHT TEXT, and do all the things we’ve been able to do before. You just have to be a little patient. When the “text selection menu“ comes up (from the system, not the app), just tap the arrow on the right. Tap the seemingly blank sections of the menu that will appear, and you’ll get the options you’ve had before - highlights, notes, dictionaries etc) So, although Marvin has been wounded by this iOS 16, it has not been killed. Undoubtedly, this App, clearly abandoned by its developers, will die sooner or later. But, until it dies, it shall remain the best. ### 5/5 — The Best Reader Among Many! *2022-03-25, version 3.1.2* I am kind of book fanatic and I have used many ePub readers but no other reader can beat Marvin. I have more than 25 hundred ePub books on my iPad in Marvin and I love everything about it except the delete highlight option that has a confirm popup which is kind of annoying. But other than that this is a great app with great capabilities: highlighting, exporting annotations to multiple format (really great!) meta data arranging, slick interface and so many other cool features! Great app...bravo! ### 5/5 — Works Great on iPhone 13 Pro Max *2022-01-03, version 3.1.2* Despite four years without an update, multiple versions of iOS and multiple new phones released by Apple, this app works incredibly well. When importing a new book, I can’t open it until the app is closed and relaunched, but that takes, very literally, a matter of moments. This app is well worth the money, even though it’s been years since an update and the developer may well have abandoned it. I prefer this app strongly over my Kindle app and even, at times, over my Kindle Oasis. Take it from a reader: Buy this app!! ### 5/5 — Best epub reader: why not update it? *2021-12-25, version 3.1.2* A couple of years ago, I tried multiple epub reading apps, and found that this was by far the best. I was about to pay for it when I noticed it hadn’t been updated recently. Neither had the developer’s other epub apps. If and when this app shows signs of being maintained, I’ll buy it, but I don’t want to pay for something that might stop working with the next version of iOS. ### 5/5 — I’ve tried them all *2021-02-14, version 3.1.2* I truly hope this app doesn’t become abandonware. I’ve tried a *ton* of different e-reader apps, from the obvious to the obscure, and nothing else comes close to the flexibility, attention to detail, and straight up usability of Marvin. Just get it. Learn it. You’ll never look back. The only thing I would really love to see added to this app is an ability to get books from a Resilio Sync share (similar to Dropbox, but shared only between my own computers). I supposed updating it for compatibility with the Files interface would handle this and many other sources. ### 5/5 — Excellent reader, may need a reload on iOS 14.2 *2020-11-24, version 3.1.2* After updating to iPadOS 14.2, it would crash on open, but after unloading and reinstalling the app, everything worked fine again. Marvin is still vastly better than the Kindle app. Kindle only recently gained the ability to filter by read/unread, and still lacks lots of other basic features, like sorting by series, or a convenient list of recently opened books. ### 5/5 — Terrific eReader *2020-11-22, version 3.1.2* Well built app with plenty of customizations. My only issue is with highlighting. First, it would be nice to have the ability to underline and strikethrough. Second, when I start moving my finger across a sentence to highlight it the page starts to drift into the next page. I’m starting to see unintended highlighted paragraphs. This however is an annoying issue not a major one. The ability to underline and strikethrough would be of greater priority. Keep up the good work. ### 5/5 — My reader for ePub files *2020-10-08, version 3.1.2* I have been using this for years now on a daily basis. No problems with the current iOS 13 even though there have not been updates for a while. It just works for me. I change the theme to make it easier to read in a dark room or outside in the sun. The dictionary search and web search are easy to perform to find out a pronunciation of a word. Works well with Calibre’s ODPS content server to wirelessly transfer new books to read from my library. They have to be DRM free to work. --- *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 2026-06-10.*