SimplyE 4+

This app is absolutely amazing. Why?

1: it doesn’t need internet to work. Yes, internet or cellular service is required to download, return, or browse the catalog, but one can read any already downloaded book with no internet at all. This is important to me as someone without a SIM card, because all my other apps need WiFi connection to work.

2: you can reserve books. SimplyE makes it so easy to reserve books. Just open the book, tap ‘reserve,’ and you can see it in reservations with an estimated time period it will be available in and what number in line for the book you are, as well as the number of copies on hand.

3: you can change the appearance of the text in the app. Forgot your reading glasses? You can easily make the text larger. Want to feel like you’re reading a real book? You can change the text background to that realistic creamy color we all know and love. Or, if you’re reading at night, you can select a black background and white text and adjust the brightness of the screen right there in the app. AMAZING!!!

Probably my most used app and well designed, SimplyE is easy to use, practical, and folks here at SimplyE usually correct any problem I submit a request for within days.

Latest: since updating my app on August 12th, I cannot access any of my books or the catalog and keep being told I need to check my connection. Everything else on my phone is working so it’s not an internet issue.

Previous review: I love the idea of this app - millions of library books at my fingertips! But it falls a little short as an e-reading app. I wish they would add scrolling view as an option instead of just tap to turn. I wish I could see a history of books I have read or reserved so I could keep track as sometimes I can’t read everything on my shelf before the loan period runs out. I wish that books that weren’t requested by someone else would automatically renew so I didn’t lose them (and my bookmark) halfway through even though they’re still available to borrow. I wish there was a % read detail. I wish that the book didn’t close/need to be reopened anytime I switched away from the app/my phone locked for a second. I wish books with images/illustrations didn’t get completely messed up/illegible.

It also seems to have decided just today that my login credentials (as entered and perfectly acceptable in the app for the past six months) are invalid. I can’t borrow or reserve new books and some of my holds and books have disappeared. Very frustrating indeed.

The app overall is great and when I’ve run into bugs (like being unable to return a book) the response time is very fast! There are a few outstanding bugs/features I’d like to see but I don’t think they impact the experience substantially.
1. Occasionally the app loses my place and kicks me back to the beginning of a chapter or another arbitrary place in the book. Not too disruptive because I can usually find my way back to where I ended.
2. Echoing other reviewers - I would love a likes or tbr feature. I try to request or borrow books as soon as a friend tells me about them so I don’t forget but when I have a long list of checked out and waitlist books, I either can’t borrow them or I take the opportunity away from someone who is available to read the book right now by borrowing it.
3. This is a very nice to have and I’d be willing to pay for a freemium version of the app, but enhanced reading tracking. I’d like to have a way to see my lifetime read or go back and browse through my previous reads.