# PocketBook Reader — user reviews > 574 indexed App Store user reviews of PocketBook Reader by Pocketbook International SA, rated 4.50/5 from 9,686 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocketbook-reader/id805488884/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pocketbook-reader/id805488884.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 7,527 · 4★ 937 · 3★ 377 · 2★ 217 · 1★ 628 ## What do users think of PocketBook Reader? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 👍 Convenient reading experience - 🚀 Smooth scrolling - 💡 Customizable settings (font, margin, etc.) - 🔒 Supports DRM-protected content - 👍 Intuitive user interface - 💡 Text-to-speech functionality **Cons** - 🐛 Crashes and freezes - 🐛 Unreliable cloud sync - 🐛 Inconsistent page rendering - 🐛 Buggy text highlighting and annotation - 🐛 Slow loading times - 🐛 Confusing navigation **Commonly reported bugs** - Books disappearing from library after login issues - Inability to open DRM-protected PDFs - Inconsistent behavior when switching between portrait and landscape modes - Text-to-speech voice quality issues **Most requested features** - Ability to organize books into custom folders - Option to disable quick action zones - Improved text-to-speech controls (seek, pause, etc.) - Support for handwritten annotations with Apple Pencil - Faster page turning and scrolling ## Newest reviews (14 of 574) ### 2/5 — Jumps pages *2026-08-23, version 5.20* I liked this app. Not so much anymore. It jumps pages without any sign that it has done so. It did it in one book. I forgave it as a temp glitch. Now it just did it, twice in another book. Be good if pocketbook is reading and acting on this. Posting a day later - and again. Same. When I changed from Scroll to flip view, completely skipped the chapter !!! ### 4/5 — Great, except… *2026-08-06, version 5.20* Does all the basics and some extras well, like collections (with read status ones being updated automatically), search by author, and auto scroll. Falls short when it comes to using other metadata for organization (it doesn’t), and also prone to deleting all your user data (including collections, bookmarks, reading status… etc) without warning if your phone starts to run out of space. Sync hasn’t worked for me in a while either. ### 4/5 — Honest review *2026-07-17, version 5.20* The voices can be a little bit better and it sometimes varies in which voice uses it for certain sentences at random and it struggles with a few words that are not common, but a pretty good ### 3/5 — Sorry app designer, I was wrong! Pretty nice ebook app. *2026-07-13, version 5.20* In my previous review my main issue wasn't with the app (Unbeknownst to me) but with Apple's implementation of the orientation API) After I accepted that and came to terms with having to keep the screen level while reading its more acceptable. I still think think it needs more touch zone options and features, but as I'm using it in its free format its acceptable. ### 2/5 — Poor sync when the number of books exceeds a certain large number *2026-07-11, version 5.20* Needs to be able to sync books across devices All are connected to the same account. But iPad shows different set while iPhone shows a different set. Should be able to help the user to understand if it’s the store account issue. ### 3/5 — Difficult to close books *2026-07-08, version 5.20* Found this app frustrating as it’s really difficult to get back from the book you’re reading to the main menu. Doesn’t matter where you tap. I gave up on the app in the end. ### 2/5 — No proper Orientation setting or Orientation lock!!? *2026-07-05, version 5.20* *Double face-palm* I only read my ebooks in Landscape mode. I can display the fonts a bit larger and still have the paragraphs flow in a manner consistent with reading a 'book' as opposed to a newspaper or magazine article. This app doesn't have a true Orientation mode setting, It only has an Orientation Lock setting. It relies on the iOS's native orientation filter to determine how the screen displays. What this means: EVERYTIME you load up the app after closing it, it'll auto-default to Portrait even with the Orientation Lock setting applied in your preferred orientation. You have to go in the app's settings, disable the lock, go into Command Center and disable its orientation lock, turn the screen so it displays in Landscaoe, go into the app's settings and turn back on the Orientation Lock, the back into Command Center and put the lock back on there (For your other apps which you use in Portrait). You have to do that every time the app is closed or is flushed from memory! It sounds small but it gets annoying very quickly I remember installing this app over a year ago and it had this same critical design defect, so I wonder where the improvements (if any) have been applied to since then. Also, only 4 touch zone areas to set and at bizarre oblong areas?? Most apps I've seen have 6-8 uniform areas with multiple functions available to set them to (This only has on or off). Overall, a basic e-reader app which the developer seems to have given up on improving and advancing. *Uninstalling* To the dev: Imitation is not only flattery but its the way things generally improve. Do a feature port of Coolreader and improve on what's lacking there and stop wasting everyone's time with an outdated software experience. ### 2/5 — Why b&w *2026-06-28, version 5.20* Confused and just not patient enough to navigate yet another app just to read a pdf ### 3/5 — Help? *2026-06-25, version 5.20* So far so good?? I mean the app itself is great, not overly crowded, ui is great,,, only problem is that when I was looking through appearance settings, I clicked on alternate renderer because I wanted to see what it was, and it crashed the app? And now I can’t open the app?? ### 2/5 — Заметки *2026-06-24, version 5.20* Когда я хочу оставить заметку в книге, кнопка сохранить не активна из-за глюков программы ### 2/5 — Eye strain *2026-06-11, version 5.20* Stock themes are terrible, black theme has gray text instead of white, so it strains eyes. There is no way to set your own colors. ### 4/5 — amazing *2026-06-09, version 5.20* Easy to use, convenient, and simple interface. Lovee love love it ### 5/5 — Do not change anything please! *2026-06-08, version 5.20* An excellent app for reading books! Tons of options, including text to speech. I will use this thing forever if it is not messed with or changed so please keep it this good. So many great settings for ease and productivity. I’ve read 11 books through this app and I won’t stop any time soon. ### 4/5 — Perfect app for reading books! *2026-05-28* It has inbuilt dictionary. We can highlight and add notes as well, along with adding books in shelf like collections. But I just have one small complaint. This is while reading the book in page flip animation, it sort of lags and moves the page weirdly upwards while leaving the last sentence of the page as it is. So the page flip animation is only there for the page except the last line of the page. It’s a small issue but gets annoying, please fix this if you can. Thanks for the app! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Impossible *2026-08-15, version 5.20* No navigation just one long uninterrupted file, makes reading almost totally impossible ### 1/5 — No longer usable *2026-08-04, version 5.20* Neither this app nor the laptop version no longer lets you add multiple books to collections in one go, the button just does absolutely nothing. Such a disappointment. Like it worked why did you break it. ### 1/5 — PLEASE ADD NAVIGATION *2026-07-29, version 5.20* The app is great but there’s no back button to the home page once on a book…fine for android with a back button but needs navigation on iPhone!!! ### 1/5 — Gotten very slow *2026-07-02, version 5.20* Loved this app for a long time but it has gotten very slow lately. Every time I turn the page it gets stuck loading. Re-opening my most recent book takes forever. I switched to scrolling mode hoping that it wouldn’t hang as often, and it does help but the formatting is wonky because the page breaks still appear as gaps in the text. Images appear as thumbnails, trying to zoom in takes so long I often force-close the app to get it to respond again and never actually get to see the image because everything actually reloads in an even smaller size. It has literally been loading for the entire time I’ve been writing this review and I’m still waiting for a single image. In fact, it has somehow mangled all books in this time, rendering it completely unusable. ### 1/5 — Horrible interface for navigation *2026-06-28, version 5.20* It is impossible to easily navigate between settings whilst using this app. Developer needs to improve operability ### 1/5 — Can't highlight or select text *2026-05-27, version 5.20* Common bug that makes this virtually useless. Either add a free floating highlighter or fix this ### 1/5 — Нет синхронизации *2026-04-30* При последнем обновлении перестали синхронизироваться новые книги ### 1/5 — Constant crashes *2026-04-25, version 5.20* I like the interface and functionality over FBReader but the constant crashes make it unusable. ### 1/5 — Constant crashes *2026-04-24, version 5.20* Crashing after downloading / loading a LCP protected EPUB ### 1/5 — Just bad *2026-04-21, version 5.20* Horrible would not led me search and usually i dint complain only ONE BOOK i could access DONT RECOMMEND!!! ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — I like this app *2026-08-17, version 5.20* 5 ### 5/5 — Wonderful *2026-08-12, version 5.20* Convenient for use,have no doubts) ### 5/5 — So versatile and handy *2026-08-11, version 5.20* I really appreciate that I don’t have to select all of the text I want my device to read aloud. This is a great feature! ### 5/5 — Fantastic!! *2026-08-07, version 5.20* Great app!Read my favorite books or listen while I’m working. ### 5/5 — Amazing app I love it *2026-08-01, version 5.20* PocketBook has completely transformed the way I read. The app is clean, intuitive, and incredibly easy to use. I love that I can organize my library, customize the reading experience with different fonts, themes, and spacing, and pick up right where I left off across my devices. What really stands out is how smoothly everything works. It supports so many file formats, making it easy to keep all of my books in one place instead of juggling multiple apps. Whether I’m reading for a few minutes during a break or getting lost in a novel for hours, PocketBook makes the experience enjoyable and distraction-free. If you’re looking for a reliable, beautifully designed e-reader that puts readers first, this is the app to get. It’s become my favorite reading companion, and I recommend it to anyone who loves books. 📚💚 ### 5/5 — Clean and simple *2026-07-18, version 5.20* I love the auto-scrolling mode! ### 5/5 — Awesome *2026-07-13, version 5.20* The best ### 5/5 — Απαράδεκτη *2026-07-03, version 5.20* Δεν φορτώνει όλα τα λινκ μια σκέτη ταλαιπωρία ### 5/5 — Exceptional app *2026-06-30, version 5.20* Been using this app for a while and it’s just the easiest to use even on multiple devices and is easy to use ### 5/5 — Exceptional!! *2026-06-19, version 5.20* I can upload as many ebooks as I want, no ads, auto-scroll option, and many other features that I loved. --- *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 2026-08-28.*