iBooks Book App Review (iOS, Free)

Description

iBooks is an amazing way to download and read books. iBooks includes the iBooks Store, where you can download the latest bestselling books or your favorite classics – day or night. Browse your library on a beautiful bookshelf, tap a book to open it, flip through pages with a swipe or a tap, and bookmark or add notes to your favorite passages.

Download books
• Download best-sellers and classic books from the iBooks Store
• Find fully illustrated books, including children's picture books, designed art books, photo books, cook books, and more in the iBooks Store
• Experience gorgeous fullscreen Multi-Touch books filled with interactive features, diagrams, photos, videos, and more
• Read a free sample of any book on the iBooks Store before making it a part of your permanent collection

Great ways to read
• Choose from seven beautiful fonts and three easy-to-read page colors
• Highlight your favorite passages and add notes with the built-in bookmarking features
• Share quotes or thoughts about your favorite book with friends on Facebook, Twitter, Messages, or Mail
• Find a word, character, or phrase anywhere in your book with the built-in search feature
• Easily adjust your screen brightness to find the perfect lighting for any environment
• Scroll through your books with the flick of a finger using the scroll view
• Use iBooks with the amazing accessibility features in iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch—such as speaking the words on a given page
• Print PDF documents and notes you've written in iBooks using AirPrint

iCloud features
• Organize your books and PDFs into personal Collections that appear on all your devices
• Keep bookmarks, highlights, notes, and your current page up-to-date everywhere using iCloud
• See all your iBooks Store purchases in iCloud right on your bookshelf

Supports open standards
• iBooks also opens content published in the ePub and PDF formats
• Add ePub and PDF documents to iTunes and sync them to iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch
• You can also add PDF documents from Mail to your iBooks PDF Collection

Requirements
• The iBooks Store is available in many countries. The selection of books in the iBooks Store may vary by country
• Downloading from the iBooks Store or using iCloud features requires an Apple ID and Internet access
• Multi-Touch books created with iBooks Author can only be read using iBooks on iPad or Mac
• Adding books and PDFs from outside the iBooks Store to iBooks requires they be DRM-free
• Some PDF documents may not be compatible with iBooks

Customer Reviews

• Pretty good

  by Dk-9876

  If u want to read a book but can't find it in a library this is a good app.One thing is that I hope you don't want to read a lot of books because a book cost around 4$.Each book had a different price.I do like how you can read the sample which is like the first 100 pages.

• Help

  by Ttupper

  I hate that you can not always update some times it will do it other time it will not. Plus I have a couple books I bought that act like I have never bought them. I hope someone will fix the updates and the book problem soon!!!!

• Why bad ratings?

  by JoshuaHouston

  I guess the old version must've been pretty good because I only have had the new version and I like it! I had an ePub file on my Google Drive and it easily exported to iBooks so I'm happy.

• Would like to suggest enhancements

  by lsv0528

  In Collections, ability to have sub-category groups within one collection. Eliminates so many in the list. Allow the file names to be changed. Put back old bookcase look. Liked it much better. Thanks. Really like this app.

• Coralds

  by sis bng

  Please put the shelves -BACK in iBooks -it feels naked. Thank you very much

• Needs more

  by Cali&brad

  I use this app on a daily basis. I wish it would have a function similar to pdf expert where you can write anywhere on the page in your own handwriting. This would make it the ultimate study tool for publications, which is why I use it. Also, more selection in the highlighting and underlining options would be great, i.e. Colors, thickness, etc.

• Keeps quitting

  by Mokaul

  I love iBooks but it keeps quitting every time I open it!!

• Bad Update

  by Nickie5241

  This app used to be great. Then they updated it. It went downhill. Now, whenever I try to download a book it gives me ten copies and 9 do not work. Some examples-any H. G. Wells books, saving mr banks E-book, ect. PLEASE FIX THIS ASAP!!!!

• iBook app

  by SunnyClouds

  The bookshelf on the previous iBooks app was more attractive on the iPad, in my opinion. Can it be replaced for those of us who prefer it? I really liked having bookshelves for my books. Thanks.

• iBooks Store

  by Shartley

  I love this new version of iBooks but I can not access my book store occasionally. I am hooked up to a charger but I still cannot access it. I would very much appreciate it if someone would kindly tell me how to access it again.

• Its really not that bad...

  by Augman11

  Honestly, this app does exactly what i want it to. I transfer pdf files from my pc to my ipad via email then i save it inside ibooks. I go in and read whatever i please... Simple yet effective.

• Good, not great

  by kurtain78

  There are a lot of things I like about the app. In particular the page-turning animation; ability to store books by collection; page numbers as opposed to percentages; the capability of changing font size and style; etc. A couple of things I wish would be added in a future update: an option to see pre-ordered books, and the ability to see the volume number easily in a series as release dates don't always coincide with their place in a series.

• Amazing, wonderful, and beautiful

  by That one chick(;

  This is an ahhh mazing times ten app!(: I love it! Books are like my life, no lie. I read them, wrote them, and even review them. I would change the color to like blue or maybe pink? Black for the emus, though, forrsurre. So um yahhhh.... I'm gonna go! O'cray, so BYEEEEEE!(:

• Rename PDF files

  by maxllc

  Like the app, but there really should be an option to rename downloaded PDF files. Ridiculous you can't already do it.

• I want my shelves back!

  by Zippy 58

  Really, a sort of white shelf is an upgrade from the beautiful wooden library like shelves we used to have? Please bring back option to have the wooden life like shelves!!!! Who's brother-in-law got paid for such an awful "Update" Ill never trust updates again!

• Terrible design

  by andreasaur

  The good thing about having an old Apple product is that you'll still have old versions of apps that cannot update unless your OS has updated. Thank God for my 2nd gen iPod touch, as I still have the OLD iBooks for my new iPad. The "new" design is just horrible. "Let's replace the bookshelf with a plain white background!" "Oh, innovative!" "Beautiful!"

• Great

  by Last Hope Nick

  Works

• Good but needs highlight feature

  by pcman3550

  I like to review documentation and a highlight feature would be very helpful.

• Text-Reader

  by Ismael Aguirre

  This app should have text reader. Listening to the audiobooks and seeing the words would be really nice.

• Disappointed with update

  by Seaislechick

  I don't like the new design. The white background is harsh on the eyes, especially reading in the dark. Another thing I don't like is the most recently read book opening as soon as you open the app. In my school, we use iPads and all of our textbooks are on iBooks. When switching classes, it's hard to open my textbook because the one from the previous class opens, and sometimes takes a couple minutes. PDFs are fine, because they instantly open, but books can be annoying when trying to quickly open a textbook or guide.

• Signing in

  by JaneE723

  Why do I keep needing to sign in/log in with my password every time in open this app? I don't have to do that with any other app. If I'm in the middle of reading a book and open a different app or even take a phone call and then try to go back to the book, I need to enter my password again. I don't understand! So annoying!

• Bad

  by @hzh__

  Very Bad App, is really apple made it?

• Change back!

  by ScoobyDooK9

  This new app style is terrible! It looks like garbage and still glitches.

• Bring my bookshelf back!

  by scribepgg

  Please bring my bookshelf back! Also where is the page slide at the bottom? All this white is hurting my eyes and I can't see what the book looks like the icons are so small. I hate this. I want it to look like a book!

• I need help!!!

  by Kyle ferguson

  How do u get it to read to u????? If it even does

• Worthless

  by DooganD

  This app used to be good now it's garbage!!!

• Fix this issue

  by Chained2darren

  I don't have problem with the way it looks but every time i navigate away from the app for a second or two, when I come back it goes back to the bookshelf, rather than the page I had just been on. Then I have to wait another 5 minutes for it to go back to the spot in the book I stopped at! Please fix this. It shouldn't be navigating away from the page unless I completely close the app.

• Severe Functionality Problems

  by T.C. Harris

  To begin with, I am not fond of the new interface of the iBooks app, but that is not my main issue and reasoning for two stars. Whenever I try to adjust the font type or size, the app will crash. I am a huge apple fan, but this is an extremely disappointing update.

• Doesn't Work, Can't Read Any Books

  by Benny 956

  The app only worked long enough for me to purchase ebooks the very first time I opened it. Since then I have not been able to read any of my books because the app freezes every time it's opened. Do not waste your time or money with this app.

• Hate the new look

  by Frqs37

  Where are my bookshelves in both iBooks and Newspaper? And what's that childish icon graphic for Newspaper. At least give me a Setting so I can decide to revert this horrendous look! Apple was first to introduce a garbage bin to symbolize deletion of docs. Why reverting to meaningless design? Give me a setting so I can decide on the look I want which is ios6!

• Disappointed...

  by the4peeps

  My kids love having iBooks on their iPods, but now Apple has taken them away. Feel like I’m being forced to buy new devices, because their iPods haven’t been updated to the iOS 7. We are very disappointed...

• New ios7 design is terrible

  by Abomb17

  The new update for ios7 gets rid of any semblance the files you're reading once had to being books. It's now plain black text on a plain glaring white background. Not good for long term reading.

• New bookshelf

  by Kathy116

  I was very disappointed with the new version of iBooks. I really liked the last version much better. I don't like the white background and the inability to sort the way I like. Before, I could just sort and move the books around however I liked. Now, after I move a book it puts right back where it was before. Weird!!!

• Broken!

  by OmniCamaro

  I opened the app for the first time and I can't even click on "store" at the top left. I'd call that straight broken!

• Frustrating

  by Ookkaayy123

  First, I'll say that this app works well enough for books purchased through the built-in store (although the store itself--especially the "search" functionality--leaves something to be desired). Beyond that, though, there's not much good to say. At the top of my list of is the fact that recently--magically--this app erased upwards of 100 annotated .pdf documents, which I have been collecting and importing over the course of my entire college career. Oh well. It's not like I put countless hours of work into those or anything. And I definitely didn't want to hang on to them as reference material throughout my adult life. So no big deal. Also: -The new layout is cold, lifeless, and in appealing. -There is no "highlight" functionality for .pdfs! Why? This seems like a no-brainier inclusion, and it's absence makes for big headaches for those of us who want to keep our reading material in one place (not that I have any left, anyway). -The sorting options are god-awful. This app could be great, but thanks to a few serious flaws, it falls WAY short.

• Apple please fix this app soon!

  by MelandChris

  The iBooks app is one of the main reasons I like having an iPhone, but here lately it's terrible. It freezes, books take forever or just don't download, and it randomly shuts down and I can't bookmark my page. I really hope Apple does something about this soon.

• Glitchy version of iBooks

  by Vlad Fei

  On my iPhone 5s, the app crashes erratically. I also hate the bug when the same bookstore title is duplicated dozens of times in my library. P.S. About invert color feature, I configured triple click of home button to invert colors via accessibility options. This is no longer a problem of iBooks.

• Can't edit

  by Oscar Enrqz

  Can't edit author, title, ect. in iBooks. We were able to do so in iTune. PLEASE fit this.

• Keep asking me to download something I don't want.

  by 某小人物

  Each time I open iBooks, it asks me to download something I don't want to download. I made the purchase before, but too big for my tiny ipad storage(1/7th). I guess no one would image a book of size 2GB. Even though I want to read it, it is simply too large. I decide not to download, but each time I open iBooks, it requests to download again, no matter what I did.

• The new design !

  by Iza!!!

  I hate it!!!!! I'm so angry at myself for clicking "Update all". I've loved iBooks for so long now, and I cannot bear to use it since the design change. Please, the creators, do something to change the god awful background. It hurts to look at it let alone use the app with the slightest bit of enjoyment. I wish I never accidentally updated the app!!! It's horrible now !

• White backgrounds

  by John Swartzbaugh

  Just like with everything in iOS 7, someone at Apple doesn't understand contrast color. The white backgrounds are extremely eye straining:(

• Awful update!

  by redhead math teacher/book nerd

  I loved the way the old iBooks looked like an actual bookshelf and how it looks like you were reading a book once you opened one. I HATE this new update!

• Deleting books from the purchased FOREVER

  by M.A.C unicorn

  iBooks is a great reading tool but I want to be able to delete my books PERMANENTLY. I don't want it in my purchase section. I know how to delete & hide the purchase section but still I WANT THE BOOKS GONE

• Hate the recent update!

  by Sfhrc

  Really, I was totally in love with the Classic iBooks preface in iOS 6, but once I updated to the iOS 7 version, everything just totally changed and iBooks is just not iBooks anymore! The book shelves are gone, the highlighters become so hideously colored. It's just so, DIGITAL, and I had liked the realism of the last version so much more! So really, peeps, I would defo say NO UPDATE!!!

• Should Do Better

  by Lyla Boening

  iBooks hangs if you're not online and accidentally hit the Store. There is no way you could go back to the library, even if you click Hone, you have to power off instead which can be such a tedious task. This app would also be great if it had a timer like the Marvin app so that one can be aware how long they have been reading a book.

• Plain stinks

  by Chevyssbowtie

  Its terrible, i hate the lifeless 2d look. BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL LOOK OF iBook! Give us the option to choose the old or new style.

• So incredibly ANGRY

  by Shawcing

  I had this app and was quite pleased with it right up until the new update came in and suddenly I can't use it at all becaese I have an ipod touch 4 instead of 5 and therefore can't get the new ios. this and a few other apps are not compatible anymore which means the money I spent on books is now completely wasted! This is a warning! don't waste your money on books from itunes, they are just going to make your apps obsolete in a year.

• Apple what happened

  by Ipad2zymr

  Something that was so good isn't anymore i thought i could replace books with this, guess again I cant thanks to this horrific update..... It leave ibooks with as much character as a brick wall.............. PLEASE fix it soon

• Terrible

  by Rffkl

  New updated look is bad. It lost all of my books and PDFs. Pretty upset that I have to rebuild my entire library.

• Change back...please!

  by Supippin

  Been waiting patiently for my shelves to come back. I hate this white look. You would think with all the negative comments someone would listen!

• NO STARS

  by DGSawtell

  If it were possible I'd give this app zero stars. Horrible since the ios7 updates. Double loads books. Crashes. Takes 5+ minutes to update. Just ridiculous. They took something perfect and broke it. Idiots 2-6-2014 You would think I'd learn!!! Bought another book. Long LONG download times. Double downloads. After all the complaints I'd think iTunes would have corrected things. iBooks must be near the bottom of their list. I thought it was a money maker for them.

• Crashing

  by ecu9697

  Can't buy books, the app keeps crashing. Additionally, whenever I start the app, it goes into a holding mode and I can't delete or move books for a good 5-10 minutes.

• ok?

  by DiamondStew

  Ok. I owned this app. But after I had to do a reset and restore. It says I still own the app but it's not on the homescreen! What's up with that!!! In the AppStore it even says open but when I click it. My iPod crashes

• Terrible Design

  by Tentalicx

  The old version was perfectly fine, why change it? The new design is ugly as hell. Why plain white with no texture? It's a complete step backwards. Even the highlighting looks rough and computerized. Add some round edges and bring back the physical look of the pages.

• I cant even use it

  by GamzaaMakara

  I cant even use this so I cant read any of my books on my ipod. can we please have something that older ios can use???

• Give my wood shelf back!

  by Grokostimpy

  New update with white bookshelf is terrible, PLEASE bring back the wood shelf!!!

• Looks unfinished

  by McReptar

  I get the idea that the new flatter and clean version of ios, but iBooks looks unfinished and very buggy, when you try to even turn the page slowly it starts to glitch, needs a new design, huge step down from previous version

• HATE THE NEW UPDATE!!! 0 stars

  by Edddddio

  I Hate the knew update !!! I like the original theme, now it just look like the regular kindle app. I liked the theme because it looked like a real book and unique to apple but No you just had to go and change it. I like the way how the pages folded in the middle in the OLD version!!i also hate the plain white theme

• OLD DESIGN!!!

  by Danny1202001

  Please read the reviews and change back to the old theme because I have grown to like that theme and I don't like the new design at all. When I open a book on it, it doesn't even have the line in the middle to separate the page!

• Crashes

  by Pankakesgirl

  My iBooks won't even open all I get is a grayish white screen then it closes by itself...goes back to the home screen..back to the grayish white screen back and forth a few times before I have to force close it. I cannot access my library or search for new books.....please fix this glitch....I don't want to delete iBooks and redownload it I'm afraid I will lose my books I have already purchased....FIX THE GLITCH

• Hard to search

  by Chishom

  It is difficult to browse what is new. I used to be able to at least pull up historical romances from the romance section, but now that option is gone. Kindle has a nicer browsing of specific genre and you can search from when it was released. At this point I may have to start using kindle, even though the iBooks is easier to access.

• Hate the update

  by Skreager

  Why did u guys have to change the format? Every file I download I study and highlight. I hate that you guys did away with the real book feel the old version had. When I highlight now, it's just a neon block before it felt like it was actually highlighting my pages n the colors weren't as bright n harsh to my eyes. Bring the feel of a real book in my hands please!!!

• Horrible move!!

  by Roblock81

  Used iBooks all the time until this new update.... If it's not broke don't fix it....now I wish I had never made a purchase through iBooks!

• UGGGH

  by Little person195

  I have bought about 50 books on ibooks with the new update all I see is this white background with gray lines no books! I successfully down loaded a boom and it doesn't show anything. Not to mention my videos won't work either.

• Having a problem

  by BigJimA61

  I've had iBooks for around 2 years with no trouble, now I have 38 books on my pad but 23 books I can't read. Now when I try it says "Failed to load book because requested resource is missing" can you explain why?

• Unhappy

  by Jenni_G

  Since the newest upgrade I have had so many problems like books disappearing or being unable to go to the store without it shutting down. I am getting frustrated. Please fix this I love reading and the ease of it being on my phone it so much fun.

• ZERO STARS--Won't read PDFs

  by Serena9992

  I did all the troubleshooting and the app still crashes every time I try to open a PDF file within the app. Now a useless app for me.

• AWFUL!!!!!!!!

  by Taylor Lautner

  I can't delete any of the books I purchased and don't anymore. Whatever you do on you account it uploads to all other devices that had iCould on it. DON'T DOWNLOAD THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• iBooks Crash!!!

  by Johny Jr

  Please update this.. Crash when opened.. Ipad 3 wifi..

• Can't highlight PDFs anymore

  by MLDN23

  Add those features. I have PDFs that are book and I can't use me like the books.

• Frustrating app

  by AnViMo

  Frequent unnecessary loading cycles, inability to list authors alphabetically, and most annoying, inability to download or delete books properly. I like the options available when reading a book (screen orientation lock would be a nice addition), but everything else about the app is an exercise in frustration. Please fix this!!

• Awful - Slow & Unstable

  by mom of a little boy

  App has gone from bad to worse... Hangs often and very slow. It also needs to give users greater ability to control its settings.

• Unstable. Pages flip on their own.

  by andy8070

  Cannot read books. Pages unstable. Multiple complaints, no updates or repairs.

• Do better

  by Nesnejhael

  New design, not a fan..I don't like the solid highlighter. You need opaque options.. And different color pen options like other reader programs.

• Crashing, constantly..

  by ShyGuy3273

  I'd love to read a pdf without it crashing every 5 pages.

• What happened?

  by DrBarr

  You guys killed this app. Used to love reading books on my phone. Now I remember my palm pilot being much better. Gonna have to find another app until you guys fix you mistake. Maybe I can restore the good version from a backup. Great app. Please add the ability to auto scroll a varying speeds so that way we can read books without touching the screen!!!

• Doesn't work

  by Flowrezz

  Just downloaded the app and it will not open. Just a blank screen with no options to select. Tried closing out and reopening but still nothing.

• New version is horrible

  by randomreviewer2134569870

  The app is ok, but the newest update makes everything look bland and boring. The old version looked like a real bookshelf, this one is horrible. I want to switch back to the old version... Don't update this app.

• Not impressed

  by Harsheel S

  I downloaded a book and it's so difficult to remove it. I had to go to "purchased books" view and then delete the book. It went to cloud because of the symbol it showed. I had the change my view to "books" (and it showed there with cloud symbol) to actually remove it from all devices. The book shelf API needs improvement but once inside a book, the controls like font size, dictionary etc are good.

• ZERO stars

  by OhYaseen

  If it's not broken, don't fix it. The main goal of an iBooks application is to read the books and PDFs you download with ease. This goal was NOT met here. Firstly, let me point out the aesthetics of this app. - Incredibly ugly and painful to the eyes. - though it's not entirely HARD to navigate, it is a little more difficult to navigate than the previous version. Secondly, the functionality - when I want to save my page with a bookmark - it helps if the bookmark actually STAYS!!!! (This isn't a real tangible bookmark that sometimes slide out of the pages) - crashing (though rare) needs to stop. This is an Apple application. Come on guys. You're supposed to represent quality. Food for thought - don't release an application that doesn't stand up to the product it's being used on which was partly created for purposes the app is suppose to fulfill (ie reading).

• it not downloading

  by murder186

  i can't download it

• What the heck.

  by Hates ugly

  Your new design is ridiculously bad. The number of truly bad reviews is embarrassing. So why can't you at least give the iBooks users a choice between the visually appealing bookshelf and the crappy ugly and heinous new look of bland white on white nothingnous?

• Buggy

  by Eduardo Caldas

  I just can't open my books. But it's not like always, sometimes it opens them, and sometimes it just don't. Is it so difficult to make an e-reader that actually serves for reading ?

• Disappointed

  by Ellise McEntire

  While this update is fairly streamlined and functional, I vastly prefer the older design and wish I hadn't updated.

• Dumb

  by Looking for new

  Ridiculous, that you can't delete titles. They keep coming back into library.

• Bring back natural highlighters

  by Lost Journals

  The reason I pay more for books on iBooks instead of Kindle is for the easy to read highlighter look. The electronic highlighted boxes are harder to read. I have over 250 books in iBooks. The new interface actually distracts me from understanding the text on the page. Please bring back natural looking highlighter marker look.

• NO HARRY POTTER!!!! -.-

  by cxzlollipop58

  My friend was rereading the series and was looking for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Much to my surprise, iBooks doesn't have any of the books. This is a very disappointing app.

• Wish List Please!!

  by rvbberglves

  Why do some of apples store apps have a wish list and some don't. This drives me nuts....seems like a logical idea to have all the stores function in a similar manner.

• Annoying

  by Lazy B Ranch

  It was a great app at first, but it keeps crashing. As well, books that I delete keeps coming back, freezing the program. No matter how much I delete it, it keeps coming back, but in numbers! When it's working, it's great, but then it would crash after twenty minutes or less. Then it wouldn't work again for the rest if the day, because the books I deleted came back

• Can't open book store

  by Bria248

  Can't open it at all and this is a brand new 5th generation ipod. On my last iPod the 4th generation I could get in but it would force close all the time and now it won't open at all on the 5th generation. Please help!!!!

• good

  by bcg-e2430a

  nice

• iOS 7 update atrocious

  by Sariflower

  This used to be one my favorite apps. But with the iOS 7 update gone was the beautiful bookshelf and library style setting. Now its flat, and white much like many of the new updated apps. The only reason for two stars is the ease of use remains.

• Really?

  by phrz

  I don't understand how it sorts my books, and despite promises to the contrary, I can't sync PDFs across devices.

• Awful

  by B224hoops

  I've been using ibooks since I purchased my iPad but here lately it's stops, won't start, downloads are sooooo slow. Lots of bugs. Please fix this ASAP. I love to read.

• PDF

  by OMJIF

  I really wish that PDF's would automatically fit to the size of the screen. It's a hassle trying to squint at the tiny letters

• L

  by Dbingaman23

  Love this

• Good for my uses

  by Mh.hamad

  The app is BLAZING FAST , and it is the ONLY epub reader that shows my arabic books correctly and not beat up by character-set problems.

• Upgrade

  by EmA94

  Please add highlight and writing features to make the experience better when using Ibooks.

• Horrible

  by Unhappy109

  It glitches and I thought it was my iPhone and I suddenly lost all my books.

• Ok

  by ramirezeric

  Highlight in PDF!

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