BARD Mobile

Name: BARD Mobile
Rating: 3.9 (201 reviews)
Author: Library Of Congress

Free Braille and Audio Books

Free

201 Ratings
Age Rating

13+
In-App Controls
Category

Books
Developer

Library Of Congress
Language

EN
+ 1 More
Size

23.1
MB

CARRY A LIBRARY IN YOUR POCKET Access tens of thousands of books—from current best sellers to much-loved classics, popular magazines, and music instruction and scores—in audio and electronic braille, with new selections added daily. WHO IS ELIGIBLE? BARD Mobile is a service of NLS. NLS provides free audio and braille reading materials to residents of the US and American citizens living abroad who cannot read regular print. If you are blind or have temporary or permanent low vision or a physical or reading disability that prevents you from holding or reading the printed page, you may be eligible for this program. For more information, visit https://www.loc.gov/nls/about/eligibility-for-nls-services. HOW DO I GET STARTED? This app allows access for eligible users who have enrolled in the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) at the Library of Congress. To enroll, call 1-888-NLS-READ (1-888-657-7323) and follow the prompts to find your state. Or to learn more at https://www.loc.gov/thatallmayread. If you are already an NLS patron, contact your cooperating NLS library to request a BARD account. You can find your library by visiting https://www.loc.gov/nls/find-a-local-library/. SUPPORT For support and help with BARD account issues, or to report bugs, email NLSDownload@loc.gov. For FAQ, visit https://www.loc.gov/nls/braille-audio-reading-materials/bard-access/nls-bard-frequently-asked-questions/. For the User Guides: https://www.loc.gov/nls/braille-audio-reading-materials/bard-access/bard-mobile-ios-version/

Ratings & Reviews

3.9

out of 5

201 Ratings

Bug while traveling
Aug 13
LowVisionReader
This app has made such a difference to me. With low vision it has allowed me to continue reading, and the interface is intuitive to use with low vision. I especially appreciate that you can change the color contrast, but the font should be in bold, as thin fonts are more difficult to navigate. One big problem is when traveling. I was going on a long international flight and downloaded several books to enjoy on the flight and during my travels. I lost them all when not connected to the internet and had a very long and boring flight. I could not reload them while abroad either. I thought these were downloaded to my phone and should have been accessible. Since then I’ve noticed that when I open the app it temporarily shows 0 books until the book’s load in. The loss of these materials for a long trip was heartbreaking since listening to the movies on board a flight are not as entertaining as listening to a good book.
Bug while traveling
Aug 13
LowVisionReader

This app has made such a difference to me. With low vision it has allowed me to continue reading, and the interface is intuitive to use with low vision. I especially appreciate that you can change the color contrast, but the font should be in bold, as thin fonts are more difficult to navigate. One big problem is when traveling. I was going on a long international flight and downloaded several books to enjoy on the flight and during my travels. I lost them all when not connected to the internet and had a very long and boring flight. I could not reload them while abroad either. I thought these were downloaded to my phone and should have been accessible. Since then I’ve noticed that when I open the app it temporarily shows 0 books until the book’s load in. The loss of these materials for a long trip was heartbreaking since listening to the movies on board a flight are not as entertaining as listening to a good book.
BARD Mobile
09/22/2025
Lily Hjelle
I love the app, but an equalizer feature would be nice, as well as a pitch shifter to raise or lower the pitch as well as more speed options. what does tone mean when listening to a book? is it possible to update the app to be compatible with iOS 17? this app is so fun and neat and amazing and awesome and cool and super and phenomenal. please don’t ever get rid of the book Breakthrough by Joyce Smith because it is an inspiring and true story. thank you so much for finally adding this book because I’ve been waiting to download it for a long time. it would be even more cool if you could set the speed to 0%. Please don’t ever get rid of this app because I love it so much and it’s so nice and handy and convenient. Thanks. I love how the books are read by actual humans who are expressive instead of text-to-speech. Now I can’t even adjust the tone of the book I am listening to like I used to be able to do. thanks so much for updating the app so that I can adjust the tone of the books again like I used to. Please keep the updates coming if possible. is it possible to update the app to be compatible with iOS 26? There’s nothing wrong with the app, but I was just curious. It would be super awesome, cool, fun and funny if there was an option to slow down the playback speed to 0%. I have a Brailliant BI 40X Braille display that got an update where I can download audiobooks from the built-in bard app, but I can’t find the download button anywhere once I find a book? How do I find it? Do I have to turn something on or off? Thanks.
BARD Mobile
09/22/2025
Lily Hjelle

I love the app, but an equalizer feature would be nice, as well as a pitch shifter to raise or lower the pitch as well as more speed options. what does tone mean when listening to a book? is it possible to update the app to be compatible with iOS 17? this app is so fun and neat and amazing and awesome and cool and super and phenomenal. please don’t ever get rid of the book Breakthrough by Joyce Smith because it is an inspiring and true story. thank you so much for finally adding this book because I’ve been waiting to download it for a long time. it would be even more cool if you could set the speed to 0%. Please don’t ever get rid of this app because I love it so much and it’s so nice and handy and convenient. Thanks. I love how the books are read by actual humans who are expressive instead of text-to-speech. Now I can’t even adjust the tone of the book I am listening to like I used to be able to do. thanks so much for updating the app so that I can adjust the tone of the books again like I used to. Please keep the updates coming if possible. is it possible to update the app to be compatible with iOS 26? There’s nothing wrong with the app, but I was just curious. It would be super awesome, cool, fun and funny if there was an option to slow down the playback speed to 0%. I have a Brailliant BI 40X Braille display that got an update where I can download audiobooks from the built-in bard app, but I can’t find the download button anywhere once I find a book? How do I find it? Do I have to turn something on or off? Thanks.
You might not ever purchase another book!
12/01/2023
Rick Rascati
Keep in mind, a signature from a doctor or healthcare professional is required before you get approval from the NLS. Here in my state the whole process only took about one week. When initially installing the BARD app it would be beneficial to have someone fully cited by your side to help you sign in. Having said that, the app and service exceeded all expectations! I know some users have experienced issues, but that wasn't my experience. Maybe it was a software bug that has since been resolved? nevertheless, as a voiceover user I found the app and controls very easy to navigate. The layout is very straight forward and intuitive. Searching, adding books to your wishlist, downloading, and deleting are simple to perform. This goes for using the audio player as well. In voiceover mode, one flick of the finger gives you all kinds of secondary options like more titles by that particular author or subject. I was very impressed with the amount of titles in the library, with new ones being added regularly. They may not have brand new releases, but they are as recent as six months to a year. I did a comparison to Apple books and found that BARD had about 2/3 of the titles of the former, at least the ones I was looking for. Lastly, the narrators are all top-notch with great voices and diction.
You might not ever purchase another book!
12/01/2023
Rick Rascati

Keep in mind, a signature from a doctor or healthcare professional is required before you get approval from the NLS. Here in my state the whole process only took about one week. When initially installing the BARD app it would be beneficial to have someone fully cited by your side to help you sign in. Having said that, the app and service exceeded all expectations! I know some users have experienced issues, but that wasn't my experience. Maybe it was a software bug that has since been resolved? nevertheless, as a voiceover user I found the app and controls very easy to navigate. The layout is very straight forward and intuitive. Searching, adding books to your wishlist, downloading, and deleting are simple to perform. This goes for using the audio player as well. In voiceover mode, one flick of the finger gives you all kinds of secondary options like more titles by that particular author or subject. I was very impressed with the amount of titles in the library, with new ones being added regularly. They may not have brand new releases, but they are as recent as six months to a year. I did a comparison to Apple books and found that BARD had about 2/3 of the titles of the former, at least the ones I was looking for. Lastly, the narrators are all top-notch with great voices and diction.
The best app I have on my phone!
Jun 15
Elise Ekland fan
Hello, I have been using bard since I was 11. So for like four years now. As a fully blind individual, BARD Mobile has made it possible for me to read without buying books or spending an outrageous amount of money on a subscription. Although Audible still Has Its Pl., BARD Mobile is extremely helpful and life-changing for me. I spent almost all of my time reading, and I’m probably the biggest bookworm out of all my friends. And because BARD Mobile lets me have access to the audio versions and braille versions of books for free, I have been able to read pretty much every book I’ve wanted to. The selection on board is amazing, and the accessibility is phenomenal. I’ve seriously never ever found an accessibility issue on this app. One thing I especially love about Bard is that when there is about to be an update ran on it or when bar will be down for a few hours too a few days, they always send out a service message. Also, I love how often this app is updated with new books and just all out new features. There was only one suggestion I would make for this app. When I am looking through books and searching for titles, I can only search for specific titles. I wish there was a tab that let you discover books kind of like Audible, and you could pick young adult or whatever genre you want to look at. And then it would show you all the books categorized in that genre. It would make discovering books way easier, and it would just be really helpful in my opinion. I’ve tried just searching for young adult books, but it hasn’t worked since it thinks. I’m talking about a book with that specific title. Thank you for taking the time to read this, sorry if the typing is weird because I’m using dictate. And I hope that you take my feedback in consideration when making updates to this app. Thank you for providing an amazing app that lets blind people of all ages read and access literature!
The best app I have on my phone!
Jun 15
Elise Ekland fan

Hello, I have been using bard since I was 11. So for like four years now. As a fully blind individual, BARD Mobile has made it possible for me to read without buying books or spending an outrageous amount of money on a subscription. Although Audible still Has Its Pl., BARD Mobile is extremely helpful and life-changing for me. I spent almost all of my time reading, and I’m probably the biggest bookworm out of all my friends. And because BARD Mobile lets me have access to the audio versions and braille versions of books for free, I have been able to read pretty much every book I’ve wanted to. The selection on board is amazing, and the accessibility is phenomenal. I’ve seriously never ever found an accessibility issue on this app. One thing I especially love about Bard is that when there is about to be an update ran on it or when bar will be down for a few hours too a few days, they always send out a service message. Also, I love how often this app is updated with new books and just all out new features. There was only one suggestion I would make for this app. When I am looking through books and searching for titles, I can only search for specific titles. I wish there was a tab that let you discover books kind of like Audible, and you could pick young adult or whatever genre you want to look at. And then it would show you all the books categorized in that genre. It would make discovering books way easier, and it would just be really helpful in my opinion. I’ve tried just searching for young adult books, but it hasn’t worked since it thinks. I’m talking about a book with that specific title. Thank you for taking the time to read this, sorry if the typing is weird because I’m using dictate. And I hope that you take my feedback in consideration when making updates to this app. Thank you for providing an amazing app that lets blind people of all ages read and access literature!

What’s new in Version 2.2.6 (865): iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 support • Fully compatible with iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 • Also supports the two previous iOS versions Improved searching and sorting • Long lists (e.g., Recently Added, Most Popular) are now fully searchable • Improved VoiceOver experience when searching and sorting Bug fixes and improvements • Pausing and resuming downloads now works reliably • Wish List result count updates correctly after deleting an item • Deleted items no longer appear in the Wish List • Braille playback scrolling now works correctly on iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 VoiceOver improvements • VoiceOver focus now stays on Now Reading after selecting a book for playback • VoiceOver focus remains in place when selecting “Expand Annotation” Technical enhancements • Implemented Offline Tokens for improved reliability

Version 2.2.6 Jul 3

Data Linked to You

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
- Location
- Contact Info
- User Content
- Identifiers
- Usage Data
- Diagnostics
Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Supported Features
- VoiceOver
- Voice Control
- Larger Text
- Dark Interface
- Differentiate Without Color Alone
- Sufficient Contrast
- Reduced Motion

For more information, visit the developer’s accessibility website .

Information

Seller: Library Of Congress
Size: 23.1 MB
Category: Books
Compatibility: Requires iOS 14.0 or later.

iPhone
Requires iOS 14.0 or later.

iPad
Requires iPadOS 14.0 or later.

iPod touch
Requires iOS 14.0 or later.

Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
Languages: English and Spanish
Age Rating: 13+

13+

This app is rated 13+ with content restrictions.

Some content may be rated higher, and may therefore be restricted and managed by the developer through in-app controls.
Learn More

In-App Controls
Age Assurance

Infrequent
Profanity or Crude Humor
Mature or Suggestive Themes
Horror/Fear Themes
Alcohol, Tobacco, Drug Use or References
Guns or Other Weapons

Developer Age Rating Information