BookBuds is a cozy social reading app that makes reading with friends easy, fun, and motivating. Sit around your own virtual bonfire, track reading time, build daily streaks, and compete on a shared leaderboard to see who’s reading the most.
Whether you’re trying to read more books, finish your TBR list, build a reading habit, or simply stay accountable with friends, BookBuds turns reading into a shared experience instead of something you do alone.
Read Together Around a Virtual Bonfire
Start a reading session and watch your BookBud glow as you read. Your friends can join you anytime, making reading feel cozy, warm, and connected.. even when you’re miles apart.
Track Your Reading Time Effortlessly
No more manual book logs. BookBuds automatically tracks your reading minutes with a built-in reading timer.
Compete on a Social Reading Leaderboard
See who in your friend group is reading the most each day, week, or month. Build streaks. Climb the leaderboard. Celebrate wins together.
Invite Your Friends & Build a Reading Circle
Reading is more fun when you do it together. Share your BookBuds link, invite friends, compare progress, and stay motivated as a group. Achieve your 2026 reading goals together!
Perfect for Your TBR + Self-Improvement Goals
If your 2026 goals are focused on reading more books, reducing screen time, or developing mindful habits, BookBuds makes it easier.. and way more fun!
Why BookBuds Works
Reading feels fun, not forced
Friends keep you accountable
Streaks build momentum
The bonfire creates a comforting ritual
Competition sparks motivation
Tracking is automatic
Start Your Reading Journey Today
Read more books, stay consistent, and build a habit that sticks: all with your friends beside you around a cozy virtual bonfire.
Download BookBuds and make reading social again.
Link to our privacy policy: https://privacypolicybookbuds.vercel.app/
Link to our terms of service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Subscriptions & Billing
BookBuds offers optional auto-renewing subscriptions that unlock premium features such as advanced reading analytics, enhanced customization, and additional Pro tools.
Subscriptions are available in monthly and yearly plans and renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. You can manage or cancel your subscription at any time from your Apple ID account settings.
All core social reading features — including reading with friends, bonfire sessions, leaderboards, profiles, and chats — remain free to use without a subscription.
I love this app, I’ve had it since around new years and use it as my reading time tracker but the pop up messages that show up when you first open the app is really annoying. I do not want to open a gift nor purchase anything the second I open the app. Greatly annoying and makes me want to throw my phone into the garbage disposal. Please just do a side bar button thing instead of a full page pop up please. But love the app other than that one gut raging feature. Keep up the good work!❤️
Great Idea, Poor Execution / AI & Moneygrabbing
nayt.trent
Fairly certain this app is coded with AI or the assets are AI generated.The idea is good. It could use more features, but genuinely this could have replaced Goodreads for me. However they introduced 3 popups for the paid version every time you open the app, even in the middle of reading sessions; I joined the Dev’s discord to point out this bug. Multiple people did. Lo and behold, the Dev turned it back on due to a “dramatic drop in revenue” and then told me to stop asking about it (despite the fact it had been a while since I even asked and that I wasn’t the only one having issues).I deleted the app after that because what’s the point if the dev won’t listen to community feedback? Now after a bit I downloaded it again to see if maybe it’s been updated, and now it’s completely unusable. Big screen roping me into a free trial with no way to cancel, and a weird gif with a buggy popup. Can’t even program an app right but begging for money. What absolute money-grabbing garbage.
App problems
dinkisimp
Honestly I love this app it’s so fun and makes me read so much more however, it keeps logging me out of my account and like a month or two ago made me create a new one. So I restarted re added all my friends did everything now today it logged me out and is again forcing me to create a new account. I have no idea how to fix this and when I reached out to try and get it fixed at first I was getting emails back but then they just ghosted me. This is very disappointing to me because of how much I love this app. I’ll Probubly make a new account so I really hope i don’t get logged out again.
Great but some bugs!
brynn1249
I love this app, me and my friends use this all the time! But recently if I try to add a book to my list, or search up a book it will tell me no books found. No matter what the book is. And I know they have this book because I have seen it. I can only add it manually which is a bit annoying. I’ve deleted the app and redownloaded it, got it on a new device and it still won’t work!
We've been hard at work improving BookBuds. Here's what's new:
NEW FEATURES
• Custom Shelves — Organize your library your way. Create your own shelves, add and remove books, and arrange them in any
order.
• Dark Mode, now free for everyone — No paywall, no sign-in. Turn it on in Settings and it applies across the entire app and
remembers your choice.
• Profile & Avatars — Your finished books now appear in the order you finished them, and members without a profile photo get a
clean, colorful initial avatar.
READING TIMER & LIVE ACTIVITY
• The session timer and the lock screen / Dynamic Island Live Activity are far more reliable when you switch apps, lose
connection, or close the app.
• The lock-screen timer now stays perfectly in sync with the in-app timer after you pause and resume.
• New gap detection — if your phone dies or the app closes mid-session, you can choose how much of the missed time to count.
FRIENDS & PRESENCE
• Friends who are online or actively reading now stay visible around the Campfire without flickering or disappearing when your
connection drops.
ACCOUNTS & NOTIFICATIONS
• A smoother, more reliable sign-up with Apple and phone/SMS, plus better international phone number support.
• Fixed an issue where a brief network hiccup could log you out and bounce you back to onboarding.
• More reliable push notifications that open the right screen when tapped.
Plus lots of behind-the-scenes work to make BookBuds faster and more stable. Happy reading!
Version 1.0.38
The developer, Starter School, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Used to Track You
The following data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies:
Browsing History
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Contacts
Search History
Browsing History
Usage Data
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
HYPERTARGET LLC
Size
51.9 MB
Category
Books
Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.6 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 17.6 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 14.6 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
