# Spydus Library — user reviews > 56 indexed App Store user reviews of Spydus Library by Civica UK Limited, rated 1.00/5 from 1 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spydus-library/id6737538682/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spydus-library/id6737538682.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 0 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 1 ## Newest reviews (16 of 56) ### 2/5 — Unbearably slow *2026-05-19* I’ve used this app for years to manage library loans and reservations. Since the last update the app is unbearably slow, and glitchy when searching the catalogue. ### 2/5 — What happen ?? *2026-05-16, version 2.0.2* Absolutely useless app with recent updates. Fire the designer and get vibe coder in to get something useful. ### 2/5 — Not great *2026-05-16* I get banner notifications on my phone’s lock screen telling me something’s going on with my account, but when I check notifications in the app it always says “No notification found”. Seems like a pointless app feature if it never shows any notifications. ### 1/5 — Terrible *2026-05-04, version 2.0.2* Not a proper mobile app, just opens a website in an embedded browser. Shows ‘bad request’ in extra small font when you try to do anything. ### 1/5 — Unusable *2026-04-29* This is probably one of the worst apps I’ve used. It’s incredibly frustrating and completely unintuitive. I’m sure having to use your library card number to log in isn’t great for accessibility either (it’s a very long number!) You can’t go back one page but instead it resets the whole thing and you end up back at the start. As someone who works in user experience, this app really needs a UX designer…just getting the basics of usability right would be a start. ### 1/5 — Poor UI *2026-04-22* Really unintuitive user experience. Wish there was a dashboard to see holds and loans at a glance (it takes 3 clicks to get to my hold list) ### 1/5 — Update awful *2026-04-16, version 2.0.1* Recent update is really frustrating - keeps showing black screen when I try to view my loans and reservations, making it totally useless! ### 1/5 — It’s a bad app *2026-04-02* Honestly one of the worst apps I have ever used. Clicking on my account shows a blank page… this has always been a feature and each release it remains unfixed Previously you could use the search feature once per day, now it also goes to a blank page. The feature to scan a book… also blank page. The thing that does work is showing my library card, so I can scan that at the library. These issues have been the same for quite a while. Beneficially I can go to the library’s website, the only downside is that it’s made by the same developers so the UX is from 1994. ### 2/5 — Update issue with loans *2026-04-02* After the recent update I can no longer see my book loans. This is very frustrating as it means that I can’t renew via the app and will have to go into the library to do it ### 1/5 — Frustrating *2026-03-24, version 1.0.6* Just doesn’t work ### 1/5 — Crashing upon open *2026-03-23, version 1.0.6* Unusable app. Splash screen will appear for a second or 2 just to crash and close down ### 1/5 — Terrible *2026-03-21* Why my library switched to this app I will never understand. It’s not at all user friendly. It looks like and functions like a first generation app from early iPhone days. ### 1/5 — Slow app *2026-02-21, version 1.0.6* Slow and unresponsive app, especially when it comes to viewing my account/reserving books. I use the web browser version instead which is much quicker. Would be great if the app was quicker ### 1/5 — Still needs work! *2026-01-14* Getting there. Is improving but the search feature is unreliable in what it returns. Such a shame we had no choice but to change to this app but maybe they’ll eventually get there 🤞🏻 ### 2/5 — Back button resets search results *2025-12-21* Overall the app is working more smoothly than before, allowing users to stay logged in and place reservations fairly seamlessly. Main gripe is that there’s no way to go back to your search results when searching the catalogue - the back button in the app takes you back to a blank search page, and clicking Search Results in the web interface it pulls up doesn’t do anything. It’d be great if this could be fixed so users can go through their search results without having to reperform the search every time. ### 1/5 — Terrible app - never works *2025-12-04* I was so excited to hopefully have access to a library app that allowed my children to use their own library cards and me be able to see their loans and due dates etc. Alas, I have tried reinstalling three times now and despite it working once, now as soon as I click “account” all I see is a blank screen and I can’t even access my own loans, let alone my families. It’s a terrible, time wasting app and I wish they would bring back the old one at least! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Bring back our old system *2026-07-10* I can only hope the library staff are getting better service from the new system than we poor old customers as something has to justify the cost. Interface is horrible (two menus at once, big blank spaces on the screen, poor descriptions and bits hidden off screen) , search for county sometimes gives strange results (needed as you get logged out now and then), reservation system does not tell you now that the books are in giving me less than 18 days for a 700 page book. Poor localisation - the UK does not have "States". Looks like an O-Level Computer Studies student used a few AI credits as a summer job rather than a paid-for system. ### 1/5 — Logging in every time *2026-06-22* Just to access the app you have to log in with a stupidly long password number… what an absolute stuff around. Really not user friendly. Please fix this. ### 1/5 — Far less likely to use library now *2026-06-20* If there was an evil genius with a plan to disincentivise the population from using libraries and reading, they couldn’t do much better than this app. This is a terrible app. I can’t scroll down to press the “confirm” button when I want to reserve a book because of the layout. There’s constant error messages that either contain no information “something went wrong” or information that is unclear to the average user. Everything is slow to load making the layout jump around. The user interface is messy and overloaded. Surely there’s a better option! ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work at all. *2026-06-17* I downloaded the app, the first screen prompted me to choose a library and a language. I can select any language but the “select a library” button does absolutely nothing. I cannot even get around it to access the app whatsoever. I hope my local library finds a different app to provide a service that is functional. ### 1/5 — So much worse *2026-06-04* In order to reserve books I need to enter a 12 digit barcode number. Despite the fact I am already logged in under my account. This is so much worse than the previous Spydus app which wasn’t perfect but actually functioned. Please fix this or I’ll be contacting the counsel to recommend they use another company who can build a proper app that links to the library catalogue ### 1/5 — Doesn’t have my library region *2026-05-22, version 2.0.2* Doesn’t have my nearby library ### 1/5 — Ruined a good thing *2026-05-16* App was great until last update. It’s now essentially the website but neigh on unusable. You have to login each session!? Clearly a cost saving measure. Private equity has moved in? Truly awful. A beautiful thing has been ruined. ### 1/5 — Blank Screen *2026-05-09, version 2.0.2* Fine when it works but most of the time I just get a blank screen, can’t see my books or reservations, can’t search for anything. ### 1/5 — Logging out *2026-05-08, version 2.0.2* Where do you log out, this is not an improvement your previous arrangements worked fine. ### 1/5 — Dreadful app *2026-05-06, version 2.0.2* Sometimes I do wonder, it wants everything but your shoe size and then dosent work, pin reset ????!!!! Nah computer says no. So much promise, so little in the way of delivery ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Latest version works well *2025-09-27* After some ‘false starts’ the latest version (1.0.6 at the time of writing) appears to be working well, allowing you to remain logged in and the option to add several family accounts as well. Makes it easier to keep track of your loans and reservations! If you’re having problems, download the latest version! ### 5/5 — Enjoying using the Spydus Library app *2025-09-04* Able to view my library card, do what I need to do from an app like reserve, search, self issue & I don’t need to bookmark or remember my library’s OPAC page. I’m always logged in on the app. I like that my event tickets are also visible from my account. ### 5/5 — Buckinghamshire Library App *2025-08-27* Fantastic App Buckinghamshire! Great to have a simple app to manage my library books! Pensioner friendly! ### 5/5 — Does a good job - you just need patience and time to get around it *2025-08-24* I don’t understand why people cannot seem capable of using this app! It does show your history - just go into my account and click on the top left lines and there is a drop down arrow to go to your dashboard etc. It lists reservations, past loans, current loans. Seems to work well for me ### 3/5 — Great when it works… *2026-05-04* I’ve used this app for years, reserving, renewing, checking out books and it’s been useful but since the latest upgrade it’s frustratingly hopeless. I keep getting logged out, or I can’t get in at all, the Select Library button at the beginning doesn’t work when I tried resetting, I’ve now got 2 security passcodes 🤷🏻‍♀️. When, in the history of scams, has anybody tried to hack a library account?! Most times, I’ve had to give up and go directly to the library website. Sort it out, please, people. It can’t be that hard. Many more complex apps out there seem to do the job without this frustrating faffery and the last version worked perfectly well before you messed with it. ### 3/5 — Works fine at home… *2026-04-22* Handy app, except that recently the “self issue” button always disappears when I’m at the library and magically reappears when I’m home again! Weird. ### 3/5 — Won’t open .. 28th Jan 2026 *2026-01-28* I use Spydus to access PressReader, but on having problems with PressReader this morning, I tried to open Spydus. Just folds immediately. I’ve done a restart on my iPad, no luck. Could it be a Gloucestershire Libraries problem? I believe I have the latest version of Spydus ### 3/5 — Can’t log in *2025-09-25, version 1.0.6* I get ‘403 forbidden’ when I access the login page. I have turned off VPN and content blockers. ### 3/5 — Please bring back dark mode and the reading tracker *2025-09-04* This app has all the basic functionality of the library website, but has far fewer functions than the previous app. Hopefully it will be developed and improved over time, but so far the settings seem to be limited to the app version and language - layout settings like dark mode etc don’t exist. Also, lacks the previous app’s reading tracker which didn’t work perfectly but was better than nothing. ### 2/5 — Broken *2026-05-30* Won’t open just hangs. Even my screams don’t help --- *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 2026-09-04.*