BookScout vs Forewords

Scan your books, keep your quotes, ask your library anything: everything stays on your device. - Instant ISBN scanning - AI that actually knows your books - 100% on-device search; fully local AI option on Mac (Ollama) - Transparent about AI, compliant with the EU AI Act - Available in French, English, German, and Spanish - Zero data collected - A one-time purchase, never a subscription SMART BOOK MANAGEMENT Build and organize your personal library with ease. Add books manually or use the built-in ISBN scanner to instantly import details, covers, and metadata. Track reading progress, rate favorites, and filter by genre, language, or rating. MULTI-LIBRARY ORGANIZATION Create as many libraries as you need — by location, by theme, or shared with family. Personalize each library with its own name, icon, and color, and move books between them anytime. Deleting a library never deletes your books — they simply move to another library. QUOTE COLLECTION Never lose a memorable quote again. Capture inspiring passages from your books and associate them directly with their source book. Import your Kindle highlights in one tap, or share a passage from any app (Safari, Notes, Apple Books...) to add it instantly to your collection. Search through all your quotes instantly and build your personal collection of wisdom. PRIVATE, TRANSPARENT AI ASSISTANT Ask questions about your collection and get instant answers actually grounded in your books and quotes — not generic responses. Choose from leading AI services — Gemini, OpenAI, Mistral, Anthropic, with your own API key — or, on Mac, stay entirely on device with Ollama running locally, with nothing ever leaving your device. Library search (vectorization) always runs entirely on your device. Before first use, a clear screen tells you exactly which provider receives your messages — the transparency required by the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). Turn a helpful AI conversation into a saved quote with one tap. Your conversations are kept, can be reopened anytime, and export to Markdown. ICLOUD SYNCHRONIZATION Your entire library (books, quotes, libraries) syncs automatically and securely, encrypted, across all your Apple devices — Mac, iPhone, and iPad. PRIVACY FIRST No data is collected by the developer. Your API keys are stored securely in the Keychain. Your local data stays on your device, and library search is computed on-device. On Mac, you can even run the AI assistant 100% locally with Ollama. SIRI SHORTCUTS & WIDGET Add a book by ISBN or ask your AI assistant a question in one gesture, from Siri, Spotlight, or the Shortcuts app. On iPhone, iPad, and Mac, add the BookScout widget to your home screen or desktop to keep your current read or latest quote one glance away. THEMES & CUSTOMIZATION Personalize with multiple themes: Light, Dark, Sepia, High Contrast, and Voyelles (an artistic theme inspired by Rimbaud's manuscript). Adjust display density from compact to spacious. SIMPLE, HONEST PRICING Free for up to 50 books. Unlock unlimited books with a one-time purchase — no subscription, ever, no hidden fees. Download BookScout today and give your library the home it deserves.

Import your Goodreads or StoryGraph library in seconds — then let Forewords find the next book you'll rave about. Forewords uses AI based on your actual taste — your ratings, notes and patterns — to recommend books that genuinely fit. Not just genre matches: unexpected connections you wouldn't have found on your own. Every recommendation includes a personalised reason. TRACK YOUR BOOKS • Track every book you're reading, have read, want to read or DNF'd. • Rate books with sentiment tags, and give all-time favourites a sixth star. • Add notes as you read — dictated or written. • Tag books by how they actually feel, not just genre. • Create custom shelves and tags with no library-size limit. • See severity-labelled content warnings before you start a book. BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS • Recommendations built from your actual taste — not the current bestseller list. Powered by AI. • The more you rate and note, the sharper the AI gets. • Every recommendation explains why it fits, grounded in your reading history. • Get 100 recommendation credits when you sign up. READING ROOM • Start a focused reading session from any book you're currently reading. • Use an optional timer while adding notes and tracking progress. • Finish with a summary of your progress, active reading time and reading days. • Review, add and edit past sessions in Reading Room History. READING STATS AND INSIGHTS • Discover the themes, tones and narrative styles you return to. • Find your reader archetype. • See patterns across your library you never consciously noticed. • Explore reading stats that go deeper than books per year. IMPORT YOUR LIBRARY • Import from Goodreads, StoryGraph or another CSV in seconds. • Scan barcodes to add physical books. • Your data is yours — export it at any time. WHO FOREWORDS IS FOR Forewords is for bibliophiles and power readers — the kind who finish a book and immediately need to know what's next. • Anyone looking for a Goodreads alternative with more personal recommendations. • Readers who want a beautiful, private tracker without social-network noise. • People who care about what they read, not just how much. WHY READERS SWITCH TO FOREWORDS • No ads, data selling, social feed or public-profile pressure. • Recommendations and insights based on the themes, tone and narrative style that define your taste. • Your private library, your notes and recommendations that improve as you use them. A NOTE FROM THE MAKER Confession: I'm not a huge reader. But my wife is. She reads 50+ books a year and asked me to build something that could discover books from what she genuinely likes and dislikes, reveal her reading taste, and go deeper than “another book by the same author.” So I built Forewords. It's a reading companion, not a social network or streak tracker. I'm not trying to make you read more — you already do that. It's independent, meant to stay affordable, and will always have a free version. I hope you love it. If you don't, I'd genuinely like to know why. — Jayson Forewords is your book tracker, reading journal, AI book recommendations app and personal reading-insights tool — built for voracious readers. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/