Bookshelf

• Free

Last verified 30 Aug 2026

• Free to download

Last verified 7 Aug 2026

4.7 78908 ratings · App Store

1. 5/5Almost perfect

   Over all the app is great. I have been able to down textbooks for school. And I can rent them at a lower cost rather than purchasing them outright. The app so far syncs pretty well between devices. However the major flaw I see with the app is you cannot highlight, or make notes. This is a basic feature and one of the primary reasons to download a digital book app on your phone or tablet. The company only gives the option to make notes (notecards) or highlight text on the website on a computer. The whole point in downloading the app on a tablet is so you don’t have to take your laptop with you everywhere. Being able to highlight text on your textbooks is a basic feature that one looks for in a digital book app. It was real let down when I found out I was unable to do so. Whether you are using an Apple Pencil or your finger you should be able to mark on the pages. Update, the developer reached out regarding the issue I had from my review. Gave instructions on how to address what I needed in the app. I appreciated the feed back on the help. Though done slightly differently than the website version. Indicated to press down on item needed to highlight and the option would come up. I attempted to do so and it has worked. I will continue to use this app.

   Starsigma · 30 Aug 2026

2. 4/5Back to school

   It has been a really long time since I needed to study for anything. Accessing E technology for my textbook is great! I am using on my IPad with ease. Access anywhere and no heavy book to carry around or figure where you last left it. The only problem I’m having is controlling the highlighter function. The page moves really easy while I try to highlight and wants to move the entire screen/page. I don’t have a consistent technique yet to make that stop happening and is a tad frustrating. I have 800 pages to go so I suspect I’ll get better. An accidental swipe left or right takes you to the next chapter and once you go back it drops you back at the top of chapter and you have to try to remember where you were and scrolllllll to get back easier if you can recall a page number to enter and jump to that page (Any tips? For those 2 issues ) Creating flash cards is fantastic !! Quick access to study anytime. I’ll need to reference this book for life so I hope future access won’t be an issue. Crossing fingers as I sit for testing in May 😬

   Kan123stupid · 30 Aug 2026

3. 3/5For limited time span use only

   As per their terms of agreement, titles can be dropped off their distribution list and replaced by versions significantly different in format from the version purchased (if they exist). For students who do not want to keep their books as a future reference this works well given the quality of the bookshelf app. However for those users who are purchasing technical ebooks as future references it is far better to purchase ebooks (as PDFs or otherwise) directly from the publisher. In my personal case, I’ve been purchasing books from VitalSource since 2009, building a small electronic library of approximate $700 in value that I could access anywhere for reference purposes (I am not a student). At the time of purchase none of these books were available via any other ebook mechanism. Unfortunately some of these titles have now dropped off of the publishers list, and were kindly replaced by the vitalsource support staff. Any notes were gone, and the replaced versions had a significantly different, almost WEB page like, format. I can easily predict what is going to happen in the future given that replaceable versions will eventually not even be available. Their support staff was great, but the use case covered by their terms of agreement does not cover my particular use case. Given that PDF versions of these books are now available from Elsevier I recommend this approach instead for consumers who fall into my use case. Otherwise the app is worth a 4 to 5 star rating which I would use to weigh my rating if it were not for the dollar amounts involved.

   foldr · 30 Aug 2026

4. 1/5Unusable in its current state

   I appreciate there is an app that makes it easier to access academic books digitally. But there are some aspects that *must* be fixed because the app is practically unusable right now! At least on iPad. The main two issues are: 1. Any time I interact with the book I am reading, it will skip ahead around 10 pages from where I was. Whether it be from highlighting, trying to bookmark a page, tapping the center to remove the peripheral menu, or sometimes just scrolling as usual, this happens so often that I have considered just getting the physical book to avoid this nonsense. 2. There needs to be similar options to customize and move through the book like with Kindle. The three options to get through the book are to scroll, a paginated swipe, or chapter scroll. Even with the paginated system, I have to actually swipe to change the page every time? I can’t just tap on the right or left of the screen to move forward or back, which aces no sense to me. Every other ereader app does this. As for nice-to-haves, I would appreciate being able to write in the margins to take notes while I read the text. But the two issue above need to be addressed before I can even consider using this app for law school.

   SCG-D · 30 Aug 2026

5. 3/5Lacking refinement

   The biggest gripe I have is that certain sections of the book appear to be pictures instead of accessible text. It’s as if all they did was scan the book and stitch the pictures together in an app. When you attempt to highlight text in these “picture“ sections, it doesn’t let you highlight. Instead, the app acts as if you’re trying to pick up a picture and move it somewhere else. The only thing I’m actually able to highlight is section titles and some information in the section reviews. All of the content within the chapter is a series of pictures I can’t do anything with. Don’t get me wrong I’m satisfied with the fact that I’m able to get all of this information for cheap compared to purchasing the full book, but if they are advertising certain capabilities in this application they should be usable throughout the entire book. For me to give four stars, the entire book would need to be in a unified format of accessible text. For me to get five stars, the book would have to be more interactive than simply QR codes and a few videos.

   kallen0611 · 30 Aug 2026

4.2 18467 ratings · Google Play

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• 11.4.1 · 29 Jul 2026