SimplyE 4+

Works most of the time. Maybe 80-85 percent. When it doesn’t work, a reserved title will be available and if you select it, will revert back to ‘waiting for availability’ not often though. There is a large variety. It helps to know a title you’re looking for or, their curated suggested selections cater to a very small percentage of the population… you can’t filter it out.
Beyond that, I use it daily. Go through some dumb issues with the Bluetooth in my vehicle. 1 - I have at times, parked gotten out and my phone will continue to play (iOS ) even so far as pausing it on the Home Screen shows as paused but still plays and I can hear the book playing twice. Requires me to unlock the phone, open E and swipe it closed.
2 - sometimes, I can get back in the vehicle and when it starts playing the book, it will have reverted to wherever I was at the start of the day.
3 - I have had several times when starting a series, find that the next book is not available at all and yet several beyond that particular one, are. After a long, long period I have had the 3rd book in a series I like suddenly show up. I reserved it and I have an estimated wait time of 13 weeks.
But, finding something to listen to beside my coworker announcing he is “getting really hungry” or, “have I mowed my lawn ?” or, asking “is it supposed to rain all day?”, is an absolute blessing.

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.