Commonplace — Classic Books
Read classics, keep passages
$1.99
Commonplace is a reading app for the classics, made the way good books are made: carefully, and to last.
EDITIONS MADE WITH CARE
More than 600 classics — fiction, poetry, drama, philosophy, history, science and scripture — in Commonplace’s own editions: real quotation marks and dashes, verse that keeps its lines, chapters you can move between, and footnotes that open where you are reading. Every text is checked word for word against its source. Open “About this edition” on any Commonplace edition to see where its text came from and every correction made to it. When an edition is improved, you can take the new issue and keep your notes, bookmarks and place.
A PASSAGE WORTH KEEPING
At noon and at midnight, Commonplace offers a new passage from the whole breadth of the catalogue. Keep it, write a note on it, or step from the passage into the book at the exact place it comes from. Home Screen widgets bring you the day’s passage and take you back to the book you are reading, and the Apple Watch app keeps the passage on your wrist.
A PAGE FOR EVERY BOOK
Before you open a book, its page tells you what it is, how it moves and where to begin, without giving anything away. Its Voices and Threads — the people in the book and the arguments it carries — arrive as you reach them. Each book’s page, its Voices and its Threads are AI analysis of the edition’s own text.
YOUR LIBRARY, ON YOUR DEVICE
Your library, notes, saved passages and reading places stay on your phone. There are no ads, no analytics and no accounts. Search your whole library, including the full text of every book, without anything leaving your device.
SYNC, IF YOU WANT IT
Turn on Sync with Google to keep your notes, saved passages and reading places the same on each of your devices. They are kept in a private folder of your own Google Drive that only Commonplace can use. Nothing is sent to Commonplace.
MORE TO READ
You can also import your own EPUB, plain text, HTML, Markdown, RTF, Word and FictionBook files, and DRM-free MOBI files.
One purchase, the whole catalogue. No subscriptions, no in-app purchases, no ads.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
Commonplace now runs on iPad, and the larger screen gets layouts of its own.
- The Bookstore has a page for every genre, with each book on up to three shelves.
- Every book in the Bookstore has one clear summary.
- Poems and plays read better: a line too long for the screen wraps and is set in, as in a printed book.
- Search in a book starts where you are reading.
- Keep every date you read a book. Tap its cover to see them.
- The notepad opens with ruled lines and margins.
- Many smaller fixes throughout.
The developer, Thomas El-Mallakh, 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 Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
- Location
- Identifiers
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Thomas El-Mallakh
- Size
- 171.1 MB
- Category
- Books
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - Apple Watch
Requires watchOS 10.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
18+
- 18+
- Frequent
Realistic Violence
Profanity or Crude Humor
Mature or Suggestive Themes
Sexual Content or Nudity
Guns or Other Weapons
Infrequent
Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Horror/Fear Themes
Alcohol, Tobacco, Drug Use or References
- Copyright
- © 2026 Thomas El-Mallakh
