New ways to read along — all optional, in the reader's settings while a book is open: - Choose what lights up as the narrator reads: a word, a phrase, a sentence, or a whole paragraph. - Reading window: dim everything except the lines you're on, so your eyes don't wander. - Continuous scroll: read by scrolling instead of turning pages — the text still follows the voice. - Bold word-starts: emphasise the beginning of each word to help your eyes move faster. - Lead the narrator: light the next word a beat early, or a few words at a time, to read slightly ahead. Everything is off to begin with, so your reader looks exactly as it did until you switch something on. Your place is kept in both page and scroll modes.

New: pair an Audiobookshelf audiobook with an ebook from your own Calibre (or other OPDS) catalogue. Keep your libraries separate — no duplicating files, no symlinks. When you pair, Witbound searches your catalogue by the audiobook's title and author, so the right ebook is a tap away. The connection, your login and your files never leave your phone and your own server. Also fixed, from your feedback: - Audiobookshelf search now finds books that are on screen, even when the server's search hiccups. - Saving to an Obsidian vault works reliably — the folder you pick is remembered. - Export your highlights and notes for a book as a plain .txt file. - Highlights read oldest-first, like a contents page. - The highlight control now says it keeps the whole paragraph, so nothing is a surprise.

Your place is safe now. Finishing a book used to reset it to the beginning, and pausing or switching apps could lose where you were. Both are fixed — the reader saves your spot when you pause, when you leave, and when a book ends. Your first book is free, properly: one book at a time while you're trying it out, and a sync that fails never uses it up. Witbound Plus is still a one-time purchase, yours to keep. There's now also a monthly plan with a free first week, for anyone who'd rather unlock the whole shelf before deciding.

Witbound now asks for a review at most once, ever — and only at a natural pause after your own book has been playing for a while. Never mid-narration, and never again after the first ask. A quiet Leave a Review option also lives in Settings.

Your first book is now free once it actually syncs. A book that fails no longer uses up the free slot. Older iPhones and iPads that saw "English isn't supported" now sync using Apple's built-in fallback engine, and error messages tell the truth about what went wrong and whether retrying will help. Audiobookshelf: browsing now loads your whole library, not just the first 100 books, and picks up where it stalled if the connection drops. Position sync and stability improvements throughout.

Your place now syncs with Audiobookshelf. Witbound writes your position back to your server as you read and listen, so you can stop here and pick up in any other Audiobookshelf app, on any device, exactly where you left off. It reads your place from the server too, so a book you started elsewhere opens at the right spot. Also in this update: a few fixes to keep long sessions steady.

New in 1.5.5: - Multi-language sync. Books in French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Chinese now sync, detected automatically from the book. - Tap and hold any word to see its meaning or a translation, without moving the audio. - Receive from your Mac. Sync a book on the free Witbound for Mac app and it lands on your phone already synced, over your own Wi-Fi. - Connect to more servers. Plain http Audiobookshelf servers on a domain now work, and Witbound sorts out http vs https for you.

Receive from your Mac. The new Witbound for Mac companion syncs your audiobook and ebook on your computer — far faster than on a phone — then sends the finished book straight to your iPhone over your own Wi-Fi, already synced word for word. The book, the audio and the timing map travel directly between your devices; nothing goes through the internet. Everything from 1.5.2 is unchanged.

Finer playback speed. Tap the speed in the player and use the minus and plus buttons to move in steps of 0.05, so 1.1× or 1.15× is exactly where you want it. The usual presets are still there. Audiobookshelf: your sort order now applies to search results as well as the browse list.

Trust this server: if your Audiobookshelf server uses a self-signed certificate, Witbound now shows the certificate fingerprint and asks once. Your choice is remembered, and a changed certificate always asks again. Tailscale and local network addresses connect properly again. Sorry about that one. Fixed downloads dying when the screen turns off, and the retry tap that did nothing. Smoother Audiobookshelf library loading after switching networks.

Community sync: popular books are ready in seconds. The LibriVox + Standard Ebooks classics are already instant. Only anonymous timing data is ever shared. Off switch in Settings (the new gear on your shelf). The player now melts away while you listen. Tap the page to bring it back. Silent reading: turn pages with narration paused and pressing play picks up where your eyes are. Resume lands a few seconds before where you stopped, further back after a long break. Audiobookshelf: server settings behind the gear, smoother library loading, audio-only import, cross-library ebook pairing. Chapters list shows start times; the time display can follow the chapter.

This update improves the reader and fixes text for more languages: - Accented characters and ñ now display correctly in Spanish, French, German and other languages. - Press and hold any line to save it as a highlight. - Tapping a word near the edge of the page now jumps to it instead of turning the page. - Downloads from Audiobookshelf no longer reset if you leave the screen mid-download.

Fixes an issue where books imported from Audiobookshelf could fail to play. Thanks to everyone who flagged it.

Big improvements to Audiobookshelf. Search your library instead of scrolling, sort by title or author, and see cover art and the narrator so you can tell different editions apart. Large libraries load quickly, and you can connect over your local network, a Tailscale address, or an API key. Your server is remembered so you don't sign in every time. Also fixes a bug where tapping the highlighter could freeze the app.

Fixes a crash that could close the app when the lock screen showed your book cover. If version 1.2 was quitting on you, this update sorts it. Everything from 1.2 is here: Audiobookshelf import, playback speed, notes on highlights, and lock screen cover art.

New in 1.2 Audiobookshelf. Connect your own server and pull a book straight in, no more exporting files by hand. Speed control. Read along anywhere from 0.75x up to 2x. Notes. Add a note to any highlight and come back to it later. Lock screen cover art. Your book's cover now shows on the lock screen and in Control Centre while you listen. Also fixed the Paper reading theme so it stays light in dark mode.

Witbound 1.1 — the update that lets the phone do the waiting. • Syncing continues in the background, and overnight while charging — you'll get a notification when your book is ready • Start reading as soon as the first chapter is synced • Save highlights, and jump back to any of them • Share a quote — with the narrator's own reading attached — straight to your Discord book club • Post your reading progress card to the club, so everyone can see where everyone is • Save passages to Obsidian as linked notes • Full iPad support, in any orientation • Founding supporter option: buy once, keep Witbound Plus for good — first 100 people only • Clearer first-sync progress, including the one-time speech engine download