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Bookshelf App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024
Bookshelf app received 161 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using Bookshelf? Can you share your negative thoughts about bookshelf?
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Bookshelf for Negative User Reviews
✓ Monopolies. What can you do?This app looks like it would be ok if only you could actually read the book. With the four text books I have for my course, it is virtually impossible to read the parts of the pages that are hidden by the very large page selection scroller. Of course you can read the hundreds of different copyright warnings. (1-3 of them on every single page). Just another example of a company more interested in protecting their ‘rights’ than creating something useful. Don’t pay ridiculous amounts for your books. Get a hard copy. At least they are readable..Version: 4.2.1
✓ Good enough, but needs more fundamental featuresI am using this app only because the books you buy from VitalSource are encrypted and can only be read from this app. The app shows books with a small font and almost no formatting at all (no identation, no spacing). You need to make do with the few formatting options they provide to make it easier to look at. I also wish you could flip pages from the sides instead from the top and bottom, since it takes up text space. The app also locks you from reading if you install it on an old device, and it becomes inconvenient when you have an old iPad used mainly as an eBook reader, and can't keep all your books on the same place. The app does have some good aspects, the reading feature keeps me focused on the text more than if I read it by myself, and there are a few study features (notes, highlighting, bookmarks and flashcards, citations) and they are useful to study..Version: 4.8
✓ Good contents but unfriendly interfaceApp repeatedly tells me to swipe to turn page but this doesn’t work. Turned on continuous scroll mode and initially thought the app had frozen until I realised that you had to use the margins to scroll..Version: 10.1
✓ Awful - makes my life so much harderForced to use this by my online course- it was bad, but since recent update now totally pointless as I can’t log in as the single signon from my university can’t work with the app. If anyone can avoid using this do so!!.Version: 4.3.1
✓ Fail to highlightI used the app on iPad Pro iOS 13. I have two textbooks, and the malfunction of highlighting showed up for both of them. I am not able to highlight all the words I selected when there is a font change within the text, and the highlight will only show between words. This happens most often when there is italic font mixed up with the regular. I’m half way through both of my books and this happens to me in every chapter. This is very annoying especially I rely on this function a lot. In one of my textbook, the search function did not work well either. I had to go to the website version to do the search, and it worked there..Version: 4.8
✓ Doesn’t workDoesn’t work. Can’t find textbook, freezes, glitchy. Basically everything that you would worry about going wrong happens..Version: 10.1
✓ Comparing with pdf-notes ipad appTry using pdf-notes ipad app, then you will understand that vitalsource bookshelf does not come close to what pdf-notes offer. Pdf-notes has: 1. Far better text highliting abilities. 2. Far better notes creating abilities (notes can be two types i.e in a closable note and it can be always visible onpage note) 3. Freehand using which u can draw anyting using ur finger on the pdf book itself which the app will save it in the book. 4. U can attach any number of images anywhere in the pdf book on any page which the app will save it in the book Arif.Version: 4.7.1
✓ RestrictedUnable to use my own e-reader. Hampers my experience being limited to this app. Not as user friendly. Hope to find a work-around, but unable to locate it..Version: 9.2.2
✓ RubbishI even can’t log in with my own account which was registered 5min ago.Version: 10.0.4
✓ DYSFUNCTIONAL APP. -STILL AFTER A YEAR!!!Meaning: doesn’t function STILL!!! After refusing to access MY TEXTBOOK, that I paid additional money for - JUST for the digital version, because of ALLLLL the various issues with this app (both online and downloadable), I came back AFTER A YEAR-new classes-new semesters-JUST TO EXPERIENCE THE EXACT SAME ISSUES. *** “VITALSOURCE” - ARE YOU GUYS KIDDING ME!?!*** -STILL Sluggish. -STILL won’t highlight properly. -STILL exports micro small degraded export... I normally just bite my tongue if I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING GOOD TO SAY, but AFTER A WHOLE YEAR- REALLY!?! We (Students) pay hundreds of dollars for these digital versions-(because we have no other choice) - and then find out that THEY STILL DON’T (AFTER A YEAR) FUNCTION!!! I couldn’t believe it, I tried giving you the benefit of doubt. So, after working all night at the hospital I waited until I got home to see maybe if it was the hospitals internet-as if. But NO, ITS JUST THE SAME EXACT ISSUES THAT WERE THERE A YEAR AGO. I feel ripped off, but I see that I’m not the only one now as many others here have expressed THE EXACT SAME ISSUES. That, and having more than adequate time to address these issues, is why I feel compelled to not bite my tongue and let others know... -I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS APPLICATION..Version: 4.3.1
✓ Highlighting Tool is TerribleI had to highlight passages of the same 7 pages 4 times because the yellow markings disappeared. Sometimes the app decides to swipe to the next page and then all my progress in highlighted passages is gone..Version: 10.2.3
✓ Beyond badDifficult to navigate. Unresponsive to side swiping. Books split into scrollable sections for no apparent reason. Constant annoying pop ups. This app is boarderline unusable..Version: 10.1
✓ Okay, but not worth the hassleThis app has great features, just way too buggy and overly sensitive on touch controls. My app constantly closes the program (exists me out), highlighting stops working so I have to restart the app, if I accidentally touch wrong part of the screen it takes me back to the very first page of the textbook or jumps 10 pages., the list goes on. Has potential, just needs a lot of bug fixes! I personally do not recommend the app as it is right now. (December 2022).Version: 10.2.2
✓ Cant fit screen ? Really ?An ebook reader than cant't even display pages correctly if you scroll. Scroll to yhe next page and your page will... slide off the screen to the left... or the right. Do we need to pay more so your reader knows how to hold a page centered? You'd think that basics like this would be made to work. Not here. Hard to believe i know. Oh but it will read out your textbooks which must be a much more important feature than being able to read it right ?.Version: 10.3.2
✓ The worst book app everI’ve used several ebook apps over the years and this is by far the worst. The annotation function is still in beta and it shows. Then this morning I woke up to an app update that removed my book and annotations. I then spent hours attempting to contact phone support but they could not hear on their end although other callers could hear me. They didn’t even try very long, just hung up after a few seconds. So bizarre. Finally I reached out to live chat to explain the problem and was told it was told the license expired and I had to click the link again from the Canvas portal. But I just started using the app and the book less than a week ago, so how could there be a licensing issue. The chat person was rude and not very understanding at all. I don’t know anything about this company but here’s some free advice for them: 1. Partner with an ebook vendor that actually knows what they’re doing and dump your developers. 2. Get a better phone system and train you agents to try a little harder before just hanging up. 3. Hire some live chat agents who have just a bit more empathy. Do yourself a favor and either use the physical book or a different ebook app because this one is truly terrible..Version: 10.1
✓ PrimitiveThe use of highlighting and note taking is very primitive, as if they don’t want you to be able to do it; like the idea was an afterthought and was thrown in at the last minute. It’s not intuitive, is buggy, and after about 2 hours of trying to highlight and add notes, you are exhausted. I have an apple pen, and this app makes no use of that technology, but really, your finger isn’t much better either. I feel like they used basic technology from 15 years ago and your using a mouse instead of a precise touch screen (iPad Pro). I’m forced to use it because that is the only place I can get my textbook. I’m on page 200, and I’m ready to give up and pack around the 3” thick book with me. Developers: if you want to know how it should be to take notes, highlight, and mark up, take a look at GoodNotes4. They have it figured out. Hopefully you can figure this out, otherwise, I’ll got back to carrying giant textbooks around again. At least I can resell them....Version: 4.2.1
✓ Not available offlineI can’t read offline.Version: 4.4
✓ Book shows up fine. Highlighting is suppppper slowNeed to fix the highlighting function for those with iPads/apple pencils. Would be a lot more efficient if you could just swipe over the text and it highlights it instead of holding it down dragging it then clicking highlight.Version: 10.4.1
✓ Audio Option DysfunctionalWorks for reading, but the read-aloud option simply is not fit for purpose. It defaults to the very basic robotic Siri voice, and despite telling you how to change the voice, does not allow you to change the voice. Even after following the instructions, the voice does not change. This seems to have been a problem for a long time. Devs, please prioritise this fix. The read-aloud option is simply not usable for me, I cannnot stand the default Siri voice..Version: 9.3.3
✓ Flash cards don’t sync consistently between devicesThe app seems reliable overall but flash cards don’t sync reliably between devices. This is problematic for students who use multiple devices. The ones created on iPad transferred to iPhone but the iPhone created ones won’t transfer even after closing and resetting both apps. Hoping it fixes itself over the next few days..Version: 10.1
✓ Creating a flash card is on a laptop vs tabletDifficult to create a flash card on tablet, unlike when using it on a laptop, you can’t copy and paste details.Version: 10.3.2
✓ Just lacks useful functionality.I get it that companies want to protect their rights and their products. But this whole format just is ridiculous - what they’ve done to protect their own rights comes entirely at the expense of the user’s rights to use their book. A few examples: 1) You can’t label the book marks you create, so you just end up with the date/time and chapter heading in a long list. Not useful! 2) Highlighting is a HORRIBLE experience, even with the Apple Pencil. You have to select your text, which is a jerky process, and then the menu crops up right as you want to adjust the selection, so you have to start over. And the limited highlighting colours are pre-defined such as “define” and “exam.” No, thank you. I’ll colour in what ever colour I darn well want! 3) There is no ability to handwrite notes on your pages. You can type in a note here or there, but that’s not helpful if you’re a visual person who responds to seeing the notes actually in your own writing on the page. Seriously guys, if you’re going to lock us in so hideously, could you at least do us the courtesy of locking us into an app that is useful to students, not just executives rubbing their hands at how smart they’ve been in locking it all down?.Version: 4.5.1
✓ MediocreI use this app exclusively as a reference tool for large medical textbooks. The navigation is relatively intuitive, but there are a few issues that make the app challenging to use. For one, clicking on images typically creates a small “back”. On occasion, this button disappears and you have to navigate back to your location. Second, when opening the table of contents, it doesn’t show the submenu of where you are, it goes back to the top level contents. That is annoying when you are trying to quickly jump around a single chapter. Lastly, the app can be slow when loading pages of a book. It’s still faster than opening a textbook, but not by much. I still haven’t found a perfect solution, but I would still rather use this than carrying around 40 lbs of books..Version: 9.4.3
✓ TerribleDocuments keep getting stuck and the highlight menu doesn’t respond when trying to change highlight color. Markup mode is very restrictive, laggy and unstable. Won’t even allow a proper pdf copy of the book to be taken!.Version: 10.2.2
✓ Great app, but needs workI like this app, it is a fantastic resource but unfortunately being vision impaired it falls short of the mark for me. With the "Read It Aloud" feature, text sometimes gets skipped over when being read out. Luckily being mostly sighted I can see the text that it has skipped over and read it to myself in my head, but for a totally blind person this is a huge problem, they wouldn't be able to use the app at all. Could you please fix this? If it didn't do this I would leave a more positive review..Version: 3.9.3
✓ Horrible appNext to useless app. Only reason I use it is because all of the textbooks I need are locked into using this app. There is hardly any functionality built in. There will one day be an uprising of students that are sick to death of putting up with overpriced physical textbooks and useless eTextbook apps that they will take over the world. I can’t wait for that day. Also the vitalsource support is prompt to reply but just dismiss any issue you are actually having. They just blame it on Apple, yet I don’t have these issues with any other apps on my iPad....Version: 9.3.3
✓ Extreme choppy slow scroll ruins the experienceDon’t bother skimming or flipping quickly through the content to find your highlights or anything useful… scrolling is slow and choppy, which is utterly amazing considering its a textbook viewing app. Seriously, every app I’ve ever used has scrolled more smoothly than this one and virtually none of those have been intended for doing reading. Aside from rendering the actual text on-screen, I can’t think of anything more important—and this app fails at it. Additionally, the Appendix A where answers to in-text questions are supposed to be is missing chapters 10-50. How does that even happen? With an utter lack of quality checking, care for the user experience, or incentive to actually produce a quality product I suspect. When universities are literally funelling every student to your doorstep and alternatives are scarce to nonexistent, it doesn’t leave much incentive to build something worthwhile, does it?.Version: 10.0.2
✓ Temperamental - UX & UI needs more workI have already sent a complaint to BPP about this. I am using an IPad 10 to write notes alongside the workbook text, however, the ebook either deletes what I have written or it will replace it with previously erased text. Even when I try to erase everything and leave the page blank - the text will reappear. It as though the ebook has a saved version that can’t be overwritten - which is very frustrating, because unless you realise the change immediately you could continue writing notes throughout the work from page 1 to 100 get to page 101 and realise all your previous notes have been deleted or changed. Flash cards - I have no idea what this is or what it’s supposed to do. I have read the instructions several times on how to use them however it just doesn’t make any sense what so ever. What would have been useful is a way to copy and paste tables or images provided in the workbook so that you can refer to them quickly using the flash cards. Overall the intent with the ebooks is good, but the execution needs more work. Update: Have done some testing and realised that the annotation function only works when you use red, if you try to annotate in any other (normal) colour like black or blue it will disappear. If you have written in red, erased it and written in blue, the red annotation will reappear..Version: 10.2.3
✓ Apple pencilGreat app and functions well but please make it compatible with using apple pencil to highlight etc..Version: 10.4.1
✓ If it ain’t broke, don’t fix itI got this app to read some of my textbooks on my iPad. I prefer to use the Kindle but some of my books aren’t available. Iced used this for 2 other classes and while not as functional as Kindle, it was fine. The new update caused the page to zoom in and out with the slightest touch. The highlighting is off too. Sometimes it highlights text in a different column. This is so annoying that I considering purchasing the book again to use on a different platform but I read the reviews and that platform has worse reviews than Bookshelf. Please fix this app ASAP before I chuck my iPad against the wall! Or worse, buy an actual book!.Version: 9.4.7
✓ IsisLags.Version: 3.1.5
✓ Not very efficientWork much worse than adobe - more steps needed to highlight and extra clicks required to change colour. Impossible to add a note on the page without adding a physical note. Not recommended for studying, just for reading. The reading options sounds like a robot: not comfortable after a couple of minutes. It’s a pity some books could inly be read through this app, I wouldn’t rather use it..Version: 10.0.2
✓ This app sucks! I hate itThe highlight and comments on this app are terrible. While it appears that it has been designed for use on a tablet or phone, on some pages the highlight function refuses to work, for reasons unclear.it would be nice if you could use the apple pencil on this app for highlighting, writing handwritten notes in the margins, etc. Future updates should aim to be more like Adobe PDF viewer. This app makes it painful to make quick notes.Version: 10.2
✓ Lacks featuresThe application is not as versatile or user friendly as apps like iBooks or kindle. The voice function reads all the details on the page like the page number and references showing it clearly hasn’t been optimised. It is so convoluted and confusing to use. You can’t change the settings for inverting the colours to ease burden on your eyes. I only use the app because it has a monopoly on the electronic versions of my uni text books..Version: 4.2.2
✓ Works most of the time.I’ve been using this for about 2 years for some classes. I’ve had issues with books that you’ve purchase through the university for VitalSource simply not showing up in the Bookshelf Library. Most (think 9 out of 9 books) aren’t formatted to use the audiobook options correctly. It works but will read all of the text on the page instead of just the main body paragraphs. For example if the text has a paragraph of citations at the bottom of the page, or a chapter title and page number in the corner it will read that as well..Version: 10.3.1
✓ Bug?A massive improvement over adobe editions, however, I find that when switching between applications on my iPad (which I do because I take notes using goodnotes whilst reading) I am often taken back to the library screen rather than where I left off..Version: 9.0
✓ No undo button???I’d rather not be using this app but am forced to do so because the publisher would not share a pdf file of the textbook that I am using; instead I have to access it via this infernal app. This means that I have to get used to its uncomfortable interface. To add insult to the injury, there is no undo button. So if you write a long note and then accidentally delete it…. you figure. Also, I contacted tech support with a very simple question (`is there an undo button?’) that has a simple answer (`no’). In order to hear this answer, I had to give my email and wait for a while. Meanwhile I received three emails from VitalSource. Thank you very much..Version: 10.4.1
✓ DONT MAKE AN APP U CANNOT SUPPORTCant load ONE page on my ipad cuz i bought it on my own in a google account..Version: 10.4.1
✓ Let me annotate properlyAny app like this needs to enable annotation using a digital pencil on the page, it just making separate notes. For study, it’s massively important, get it sorted..Version: 10.1
✓ New update is a no from meI pay thousands of dollars for tuition, including my books from school. The old app was perfect and user friendly. When you open the app, you are greeted with all the books you have downloaded to your account. I had no issues At all. However, with the new update, when I open the app (on iPad and phone) I’m greeted with a screen that says “start building your library today”. I don’t need to start building a library because I’ve already started. However with the new update, I cannot access any of my books. All there is on the screen is a “what’s new” section and a “get help section” I’ve read through all of the help articles and nothing. I emailed support as well because this is absurd. I cannot turn in my assignments if I cannot access my books. I used the search tool and nothing. This is absolutely crazy. Why would you fix something that’s not broken? I have no access to my text books for any of my classes except through this broken app..Version: 9.4.6
✓ Absolute GarbageThis app absolutely ruins the one great thing about ebooks: the ability to instantly search through them and find what you want. Oh sure you can search in this app but it’s just awful. For instance if you search for a two-worded phrase it will give you every single instance of both the words, which is less than helpful. There doesn’t appear to be any way to search for a phrase at all. The fact that this is geared toward text books and people who are going to need to search through the text on the regular is just ridiculous. The flash cards are a nice addition, though you’re severely limited in how you can format them. For whatever reason they only allow you one line to work with and you can’t space down to create a larger card. Everywhere throughout the app it claims you can hover over any diagram or sketch and add it to a flash card. I have yet to have that work. Then, say you messed up a flash card, editing them is a nightmare. I have 40 flash cards for one unit but when I hover over the one I want to edit I get nothing. No option to edit it. My option is to delete and start over. It’s a shame the publishers force people to use an app this bad for their product..Version: 10.1
✓ Low quality e-readerThis is a low quality and quite unnecessary app which lacks the functionality of either Kindle or iPhone books app, including basic functions, such as the ability to enlarge text. It is beyond me why some academic publishers insist on using it and don’t make affordable E versions of the books, available on Kindle..Version: 10.3.1
✓ Way to ruin a good book--has less functionality than a pdfTerrible app. Without ipencil annotation capabilities, this is less functional than a pdf. Buy a real book from amazon, get it in a day and you can read it outside, you own it forever (and can sell it) and you can make notes in the margins/highlight with whatever tool you want. Bookshelf? Such a disappointment..Version: 10.4
✓ UnreliableThe only function of this app is to display book pages and it doesn’t do it! It has happened already several times when I flip the page it shows me the download icon for hours, which is strange because the book is supposed to be fully downloaded before I open it.Version: 10.3
✓ Needs serious updatingTrying to highlight when zoomed in is a nightmare. When rotating between portrait and landscape it often jumps several pages These have been bugs for over a year? Will they be fixed.Version: 3.4
✓ What a crap appThis app is not easy to use, it will not let you print from the app, making you use the desktop version, and even then it just prints the url to file you want to print, not actually the information you want to print. Accessing the desktop version is cumbersome, and I am so tired of having to verify my cookies settings every time I turn around on the site. The version of the app or desktop version I open on my phone is different than the one I can open on my tablet or desktop, and does not have all of the features, such as print. In short, I would never recommend this app or website to anyone, and I feel bad for anyone who is forced to use it because their institute of higher learning offers their textbooks through it. A high school student with no funding could build a better app and website..Version: 10.0.4
✓ Fix the highlighter!!The highlight option needs to be sorted. I am sick of trying to highlight key words on my textbook and it highlights the whole sentence. When I try to move it to one or two words the whole thing goes. If I could I would use another app but my textbook requires using this one. I would rather have a hardcopy than this mess..Version: 2.5
✓ Bug fix pleaseYour search tab doesn’t want to work properly on my iPhone nothing will appear after searching regardless of the book or author the search tab keeps saying nothing found it’s as if I were off the internet well trying to use the search bar..Version: 10.0.2
✓ Need further developmentHighlighting and markup function create absolutely mess, it leaves mark when your hand touches the screen, but when you uses Apple Pencil to highlight, it disappears every time, then you need to highlight again. Sometimes even when you exist the markup feature, it still leaves mark when you touch the screen and when you erase it it shows Error… Very very uncomfortable to use. It also not allow you to download or transfer the book to other apps, so you have to stay in here and force yourself to use the undeveloped features… Hope it can be solved soon otherwise my school is over.Version: 10.4.1
✓ Lazy design, flawed implementationThe app works basically, but not fluidly. The design is lazy and sloppy, and it feels like it was implemented for a generic platform. Although the application indicates that text can be read by your chosen system voice, the reading is actually voiced by one of the two mechanical voices, whatever you choose. VitalSource is more interested in selling books and counting their profits than designing and implementing a useful reader for the iOS platform (and they don’t seem to realise that building and supporting a quality reader would help them sell more books)..Version: 4.6.2
✓ Mediocre at bestThis is 2022, and almost everyone in any type of schooling program is using some type of device to read books. This app should be geared towards more of a PDF mark up format. It should, at the very least, have a highlighter, pen and eraser. Click the highlighter and then any word or area in the book can be highlighted by tracing over it, unclick the highlighter to stop highlighting. Highlight/draw/erase with a pen (like Apple pen) and pan the page with your finger. The current highlighting format is so time consuming. Same with the pen, you should be able to make hand written notes in the margins or on the book pages. Alot of my books have small writing prompts in the chapters and I can not do them in this app. The notecards are a joke and I just use quizlet anyway. Looking into other apps for my college text books..Version: 10.1
✓ Can not be printedFor my health of eyes , I would like to read paper version, however it can’t be printed..Version: 10.0.4
✓ App freezing when highlightingThe app keeps freezing every time I try to highlight. Getting a bit ludicrous having to restart the app constantly.Version: 9.3
✓ This app is crap.I use this bookshelf website because my online school uses it and that’s the only way I can view the books they make me use. It’s horrendous using the website to read, ESPECIALLY on an iPad. So, I download this app onto my iPad recently and the upside is that all my books are in one place and I can search a word and will pull up the pages with the keywords. Unfortunately, the organization within the search is horrendous. Today the app alerted me that I need to update it in order to open my textbook. Now if the sole premise of this app is to READ OFFLINE, why would they be blocking people from opening a book because their app needs updating? Very likely that person could be offline and could not update the app, rendering their book useless. I update it, come back and TRY opening it again, still saying I can’t open my textbook because it needs updating. Fix this app!!! Y’all have students using it!.Version: 4.6.2
✓ Totally ineffective!I’m only using this app because the textbook I need can only be downloaded through this app. There are so much better apps, which allow note-taking and citations so much easier. Whoever designed it only had property rights in mind but didn’t think through how people learn or read the contents of books. Highlighting, bookmarking and citations are not as smooth as other apps like Goodnotes. Hope the app designers can make some improvements on those functions. I’m sure they can add or make those functions more smooth without encroach on property rights of publishers..Version: 4.3.1
✓ "fit width" to screen taken away ? why ? why ?Why in the world would an app designer fail to understand the need for a book to fit the screen width in an ipad or iphone ? even if you need a little gap at the sides to support the side tabs like TOC and Notes, we can accept. But instead the app took this essential feature right out. now, as you scroll through the book in Fixed format (PDF like), the page will veer right off to the left or right and you continously have to keep bringing the page back to center and fit within the screen size. this is an ebook reader ? are any of the book publishers reading these reviews ?.Version: 10.4
✓ BadDon’t want to write a long review because it doesn’t deserve it. Many folks are forced to use vitalsource bookshelf for their study materials. It does anything but help a natural flow of study compared to standard pdf readers. It’s hard to size the way you want. It doesn’t go contents and moving around back and forth easily. All in all, it’s an app that gets in the way of what you’re doing rather than helping your flow..Version: 10.1
✓ Absolute garbage app for DRM infested ripoff booksHave to jump through hoops just to try to access a book I bought and be locked in this terrible app. It’s scandalous.Version: 10.4
✓ Can’t use with apple pencil …I can’t write or annotate or anything!.Version: 10.0.4
✓ Pretty good, but serious problems with “night mode”As far as apps for textbooks go, this one is the best I’ve used; all the texts I have access too are formatted very nicely and the ability to change the font, font size, background color, etc is all great. I have one major issue with night mode however. On larger iPhones (I can only confirm for the 12 max), the “scrub bar” along the bottom that shows your place in the textbook stays white. Once it disappears, it leaves a blank white box in its place. Unfortunately, that really ruins the whole point of night mode and is really distracting. Plus, considering that one might be reading for hours it’s a serious burn-in risk for OLED devices; it is an unmoving, pure white rectangle on a contrasting dark gray background. As a result, that section will be getting magnitudes more “wear” than any other part of the screen Ideally, that bar would totally disappear when reading since it doesn’t even show the position once it’s not active. But, it could also be fixed by just making that bar the same dark gray as the app controls. Everything else is, so it seems like an oversight. It would also be nice if the contents, notebook, bookmarks, and flash card section were also night-mode friendly, but at least those aren’t screens you’d spend hours on like you would for the reading.Version: 9.4.3
✓ Ok but not the best.Vital Source offers a reasonable app to view electronic books on iPad. It is however limiting with lack of Apple Pencil support, limited highlighter colours and the ability to make narrations natively on a page as you would on a physical book with a pen. If these shortcomings were addressed, offering a similar experience as other PDF Markup type apps, Vital Source would be an excellent offering to students wanting to embrace digital, paperless method of study..Version: 10.1
✓ HopelessI had a crucial book in this app. Whilst reading it I was prompted to update the app. I did and now the book is dead/ inaccessible. WHY?.Version: 4.2.1
✓ Unable update library, only have one book in app.Unable update library, only have one book in app..Version: 10.3.2
✓ Not flexibleUnable to change font size, unable to print notes or text, unable to write notes directly to text m.Version: 10.0.2
✓ Not a good app, but it has potential with changesThis is not a functional app, especially for educational purposes. First of all, many of the services provided by the desktop app are not available through the mobile version. It is somewhat understandable for some of the more complex features offered in other apps, such as Microsoft Office, but in a reading app I feel that there is no excuse. For one thing, in the desktop version it will use a primitive text-to-speech (TTS) program to enable you to listen while working on something else. This would be much better applied to a mobile version, or does that make too much sense? There are other issues that prevent the mobile version from being a success, but all of them, including the TTS should be an easy fix with an update. Overall, a very frustrating app that could be great with just a little tweaking..Version: 4.4
✓ Too slowCompared to Kindle, GoodReader, iBooks this app is painfully slow to turn pages, it really disrupts the reading experience. If I didn’t need it for a specific textbook I would dumped it 5 minutes after installing..Version: 9.2.2
✓ The readingI use it because it’s the app that the college use. But the scrolling of pages are pretty awful. And you can’t change the font size! This last one should be pretty obvious..Version: 10.3
✓ Misses the MarkThe pharmacology book I bought is in ePub format, so I don’t see why I couldn’t just download it on iBooks to begin with. I would assume they’re pretty good about not allowing users to share books. I can’t think of another reason you’d force users into a proprietary app that is free. Reading the reviews, it looks as though the developers do update this app because I saw an option for night mode which someone had wanted. Here’s what I’d like: 1. Better highlighting, especially with Apple Pencil. This hold and drag business is ridiculous 2. Changed chapter/page format. Each chapter being a page, I can see where that would sound convenient in a meeting but if your chapter is 30+ pages long it’s rather inconvenient to keep scrolling. That’s all so far. Thanks! Oh last thing-people are on here rating 5 stars because you can read the book offline with the app-you bought this book. You should be able to view it anywhere, just as you would a physical book. That’s not an amazing feature, that’s basic ebooks. I hope my concerns are addressed but either way I appreciate fewer natural resources being used to make a textbook that I have to have anyway..Version: 4.5
✓ No longer supports my ebook (that costs €430)The book used to work but now is no longer supported, the app tells me to update the book but does not say how, very poor.Version: 4.3.1
✓ Daylight Robbery.‘How do you legally get users to part with their money in exchange for something you’d otherwise flush down the toilet or make fertiliser with?’ Thought Mr. Corporate. ‘Aaha! I shall create the practically useless Vitalsource app and get textbook providers to lock their products with this app’. ‘Then I’ll make revolutionary changes such as pages that can be swiped to turn (which other reader apps have had since the beginning of time) and of course work really hard to stop people from trying to convert the ebooks to anything else that they can actually DO something with rather than try and understand why people are trying to convert it in the first place. Come to think of it...ingenious plan for turning students into suicidal/homicidal beings - Put a textbook they need on an island surrounded by a moat filled with giant crocodiles (or the vitalsource app. Same-same). TLDR - It’s a crappy app. Note to this app makers: take a peek at how apps like notability works. It’s doesn’t have to be a fancy note-taking app but if you have an ebook that you can’t highlight/ annotate on, then it beats the freaking purpose of having an ebook!.Version: 4.7
✓ It freezes when highlightingThe App works fine, if it wasn’t for the fact that it freezes every time you try to highlight a few lines, and resumes after a minute or so. Hope this bug will get fixed soon..Version: 10.0.4
✓ Cannot see books at allWorked fine for a month or two, but then all my books disappeared. I can still the the books on webpage but not in the app whatsoever….Version: 9.4.7
✓ Painful note takingThis app doesn’t support styluses so you can’t make free-notes. Not what one would expect from a modern e-book app..Version: 4.5.2
✓ Get like CasebookConnectTheir ebook platform is so much better (law books) than this one. Especially because they let you “print” and save the pdf to your computer, which is easier to highlight and take notes with as you can specify which pages or different sets of pages to group together at a time. I use the PDF Expert app with my Apple Pencil on my iPad to highlight. It’s a lot better than the drag and highlight option that is on this app, which is very annoying. I feel like I’m just going through a web browser on my phone and copying something. CasebookConnect also does not put an annoying watermark on their printed paper, and the quality of their printed text is exponentially better..Version: 4.7.1
✓ Poor without internetI love the concept of this app, the flash cards and highlighter work great… However, the fact that you can’t access any of the flowcharts or self checks that are offered in some of my college books without going to the online version is frustrating. And the online site that I have to use for the books I have tries to force my iPad into opening the app. Literally every time I turn a page on the online version it tries to redirect me to the app and it’s extremely frustrating and overall a poor collaboration between the two platforms. This is something that should be addressed. We should be able to completely download the book onto a e-reader device and then still be able to use it, not only have access to certain parts of it without internet… makes me want to go back to 20 lbs of textbooks, at least I can answer the questions in those books and then check the back to make sure I got the answers right….Version: 10.4
✓ Annotation for uniI think this app can be further improved if it was easier to annotate and edit like a PDF. A toolbar for annotations for drawing and highlighting on the page would be extremely useful to make the app more easier and have a better user interface as currently it is difficult to use the highlighters on offer on the app, the highlighter colour is hard to change and edit and the notes are hidden and needs to be open individually again to see. Please update the app to be more user friendly. Overall though, it is good, I like the table of contents and the notebook, but like said before could definitely be improved..Version: 4.6.2
✓ Works okay… many bugsDoesn’t allow you to adjust the margins (although there is an option to do so, it just doesn’t work). This makes it difficult to use larger fonts. When highlighting, the in text pop-up won’t always go away, forcing you to completely quit the app. Although there is the option to use different fonts, this feature does not work either..Version: 10.2.2
✓ Doesn’t workCan’t get it to work at all. Tried to search for books to add to my shelf and keep getting the message “Nothing here! Try a different search term or check your spelling.” No matter what I search for. Deleting this pointless app. Also, the security questions are too long, the only one you can read is “What is your favourite sport?”.Version: 9.4.7
✓ TerribleThe app constantly freezes. Searching and scrolling is slow and buggy. This and the desktop client are awful. There is no excuse for such a poor quality service in 2022. Makes studying so much more of a hassle and unnecessarily adds to the stress of being a tertiary student.Version: 10.1
✓ AwfulIt would be great if i could actually add a book instead of the instructions saying to click on profile to add access codes and nothing being there! garbage app.Version: 10.4.1
✓ Where’s the intuitive functionality?It’s fine for straight plain reading books, but as a student, we have to do so much more than just read books. Highlighting is annoying and clunky - please include Apple Pencil capability so we can change pages with our finger and quickly use the pencil to highlight. Writing extra notes is annoying, and after paying for a digital copy of a book, we should be able to write on the book as if it was a PDF. This app has so much potential to be my go to for textbook, but until it starts to be more intuitive to use as a student, I would honestly rather continue spending half my day looking for a lower quality, old editioned online copy of my textbook than paying $50+ for a book that I have to use this clunky system to read..Version: 4.5.2
✓ Bad on so many levelsNo thought seems to have been given to user experience with this app. Instead of having a page per screen as most ebook readers do, here you have to scroll endlessly to navigate what might be 20 or 40 pages in a book chapter. Some pages have no margins at all - or when you swipe you’re taken to a massive expanse of nothingness at the right edge of the text. It all makes for a very frustrating read..Version: 10.0.4
✓ Simple. Prefer Apple iBooksWhat would make this app better is if you could draw or add notes to the pages of the book. Therefore as I have 2 textbooks in here I could work on the iPad on the pages of the text book. Otherwise it does nothing Apples iBook can't do in-fact even less..Version: 2.2
✓ Just okay. Needs improvement as well as competition.A shame so many students are forced into using this app since it’s the only way to access some online textbooks. I suppose that might be part of the reason why there’s little incentive to improve the app. Incredibly basic functions. Often times buggy where, when using with an iPad, the UI just disappears altogether and you can’t access any of the toolbars - just endless scroll of the textbook. I have to close it out and reopen it again to restore the UI. Highlighting is buggy. Otherwise I think this app is okay, but honestly I would prefer to use Apple Books if I wasn’t locked into using this specific app due to the textbook format. Tad ridiculous..Version: 9.4.4
✓ New UI is a downgradeThe previous UI was perfect. Why did you take out all the options to change the text size? The screen doesn’t adjust when you change rotation. Looks more clunky. Huge downgrade in terms of usage..Version: 10.0.2
✓ Impossible to readNot suitable for mobiles. The font is so small you can’t read it and there’s is no way of adjusting. Really terrible..Version: 4.7.1
✓ It’s okayThe bookshelf app works like any other e-reader apps, if there was another option to access my required textbook other than through the VitalSource app I would choose the other option. Flash cards are not available in the app, highlighting is a pain, and there’s no way to make handwritten annotations. Please make a way that handwritten notes can be made, it’s really helpful for students especially for visual learners..Version: 4.5.2
✓ Difficult to work withGlitchy and unresponsive app. For example - it flips page when trying to select for highlighting, and sometimes refuses to flip page when swiped. It does allow to read, but working with book is a pain ( doing markings, highlights etc). I don’t think it is a successful reinvention of the wheel ( eBook app).Version: 10.2.2
✓ Horrible experience do not recommendBeing a college student with an ipad pro has made sereral aspects of learning more intuitive and enjoyable except when im forced to use this app because Murach only releases their e books through bookshelf. Rather than give you a pdf version of the book that can be imported into the native book app on the ipad i have to use this app which is severly lacking in features for it to be the only method for viewing the books that were purchased through murach. i find myslef trying to annotate but the terrible mark up feature is full of bugs and limiting to say the least. i understand that u guys dont want pirated books but making the experience all around horrible just to maintain control over a product with accounts and access limitis is ridiculios to be.. i paid over 100$ for books that i have a terrible experience interactinfg with through this app. After this semester i promise i will just buy the physical book to avoid having to use this app again..Version: 10.3.2
✓ GARBAGE N GREEDAvoid like the plague if you can. Like so many people I only got this as it’s the only platform the publisher allows you to access the bloody books. Spent a few hundred £s on a couple books. Now you’d think I’d own a copy of them. Nope. With this stupid platform a cannot even save the books and cannot would you believe even print a single page of documents i pain £100s for. Really. Any other places supply PDFs you actually get a copy of, as after all you purchased it. Here they are so greedy they so ly give you access to it. Slightly different if you are paying a subscription for access to something like this. But I purchased the documents outright. Therefore I should be bloody allowed to a page of a document I own! Can’t even print the front cover for heaven’s sake. Never ever again. I have asked the publishers for a full refund and shall be purchasing a hard copy at least then I will own a copy as I should for that money and can then do what I bloody like with it. As you should. Geez. AVOID AVOID AVOID at all cost..Version: 10.1
✓ Buggy and Seems to be Draining Battery a TonUsing my iPad mini 6, this app seems to be pulling 1% battery per minute. It’s typically a high drain app but recently it has just been a total battery sucker. It’s not an issue with the battery because other apps still drain the normal amount they have. Also the app has gotten buggier with Pencil lately and less and less textbooks have good functionality on the app. Update: literally drained my battery from 47% to 12% in less than 20 minutes. This app is brutal..Version: 10.2.2
✓ Good but needs improvementI love the fact of being able to use this app on my iPad and phone which allows for easy access to the book no matter where I am. It does need some improvements with the highlighting option. It doesn’t allow you to select all and delete all of the highlights. So each one has to be deleted one at a time.. I highlight a lot and like to delete them after reading the chapter so this is a little frustrating. I also have a lot of issues with not being able to highlight at times and not be able to access the bottom tool bar to select a chapter, the bookmark tab, etc. If those improvements were made then it would be great!.Version: 9.3.3
✓ BookshelfLa recherche dans bookshelf devrait tenir compte de l’importance des informations cherchées (par exemple: priorité au gros titres, puis aux sous-titres, puis au texte lui-même) au moins dans l’affichage des éléments de la recherche..Version: 10.0.2
✓ Completely unfit for purposeWith no ability to annotate, bookmark or highlight in different colours this has no practical use for education-related texts. The highlighter is clumsy and only light blue on the iPad mini. There is also no ability to deselect or remove highlight. With no way to add notes to the text this would only be good for basic reading, and then it has none of the user-friendly features of iBooks or Kindle. The pages are slow to respond to zoom or movement. I have asked Pearson Education for my money back and am strongly recommending to my school that they not invest in any future texts that require this platform. I'm also letting my university lecturer know to stop recommending that we buy electronic versions of his book..Version: 2.5
✓ Sync on all devices brokenI have been using Vitalsource bookshelf for several years now. It is great, but there are few areas that frustrate me 1. Bookshelf on the web interface and my device are never the same - even though they claim it to be so 2. Page flow is not idea, it would be wonderful to have a free flow as an option 3. Read Aloud reads header and footer, figure and table captions etc. I am sure the “flow” for read aloud can be programmed to read only text body and avoid captions, footnote, page number etc. It does not help when you are listening to a book with all those distractions..Version: 10.0.4
✓ Fix the bugsWhatever you did in the last update, my one and only book that I have in this app shuts down as it is trying to open. I paid hundreds of dollars for the book and now can’t use the e-version. Very disappointed in Elsevier and Bookshelf..Version: 10.0.2
✓ Not loving thisCan’t get the highlight function to work using an iPad Pro and pencil. Also the spoken word reads everything including the the title numbers , eg chapter 1, 1a 1b is read out loud . I know it’s chapter 1, I don’t need every sub section title read out loud, especially when it doesn’t do it in logical order. Ugh, if only I could download a pdf and then use the pdf on my regular apps. I’m actually thinking of returning the book ( which has great content) because the app isn’t that great..Version: 10.2.3
✓ Allow Use of Apple PencilGreat app for digital textbooks with nice features (highlighting, audio, etc.). Would appreciate if the app integrated apple pencil use since it is extremely tedious to try and select certain lines with my finger only to click on the word “highlight” instead of simply highlighting with the pencil. Also there are not a lot of options for note taking within the app..Version: 10.4
✓ Needs to add drawing featuresThe app itself seems to work fine but it seriously needs to add drawing features. it would be a perfect app if users were able to draw and write notes on the books.Version: 10.0.4
✓ Clumsy appAnnoyingly this app can now only be used on one mobile device at a time whereas I used to be able to use it on both my phone and pad. A bit disappointed but while it’s still free makes it tolerable..Version: 4.7
✓ Flat battery in hours and repetitive logins!Unfortunately I have no choice but to to use Pearson textbooks but on loading one today, I had not ‘unloaded app’ just closed the iPad. On return, my battery is drained and when charged iPad Reports 88%of battery usage is this App! If I leave it any time at all I have to log back into the App...way too often..Version: 4.3.1
✓ Rubbish and annoyingClunky interface and the books frequently close. A poor man’s Kindle app. Hate using it..Version: 9.2.2
✓ Beware Poor Quality Font Resolution on Larger TabletsOther eBook suppliers like Amazon with Kindle and Apple with iBooks manage to deliver their eBook products so you get beautiful sharp rendering of text on all screens. I have four Cengage eBooks in VitalSource Bookshelf. On my iPad Pro 12" Retina screen the font is consistently fuzzy. The problem is that Cengage supply low resolution fonts / page images that might look okay on a small 6" tablet but they appear to be fuzzy on the larger format 12" iPad Pro. It makes the books very tiring to read. Still trying to get Cengage to acknowledge the issue exists .....Version: 3.9.6
✓ No zoom featureThe app is ok at best but it doesn’t allow the usual iPad zoom feature in order to zoom into text or images. It has its own version of turning up font size, with an unfortunate effect of removing images from the page. I find the default text too small, so resort to skipping all images within the text, which can be confusing at times. The second inconvenient feature relates to highlighting. The app allows you to clunking highlight text, but don’t think about highlighting a hyperlinked word, because you will find yourself suddenly in the index! Also, there is no way to jot notes in the margins, a handy feature in many reading apps. I interact with texts in this way as I read and process, and this missing feature is significant to me as a learner. For these two reasons, I will not buy or rent another book that is only available in this format. The experience has been full of frustration..Version: 10.1
✓ BugDoes not download books over wifi if option “allow download over cellular” is not enabled. Look like a very basic bug?.Version: 10.0.4
✓ A straight jacket for booksYou spend a fortune on a Vitalsource text, and you would expect that you could open it in an app of your choice, annotate and reference it in a way that you choose. You can’t. Vitalsource would have you believe they are providing an outstanding service. It’s mediocre at best, and this service has only one purpose: to make more money for their clients by denying customer freedom..Version: 10.2
✓ Absolutely awfulTook forever to set up, despite being relatively easy, due to continuous crashing and ‘white screening’ on me! Not user friendly, won’t allow me to search for any books. Only downloaded as a book, with included online lessons, needed for nursing is only available through here. Absolutely dreadful! Just don’t bother to even download..Version: 9.4.4
✓ Crashing right at the loginTerrible, I can’t run this since the latest update at all. There goes the CFA learning.Version: 4.5.3
✓ Crashes too muchI’m in nursing school for my BSN and I have to do a lot of reading. Majority of my books are on Elsevier or PrepU which they use bookshelf for the ebook. I listen to the audio since majority is difficult for me. The lady is monotone and can easily put you to sleep. On my Mac it’s a guy voice which is also monotone. The problem with the iPhone app are the fact that listening to the audio, when I highlight, it freezes and takes a long time to refresh. Highlights on the app is one color which makes it difficult to separate topics. Other times the app doesn’t even load my book and crashes. The main issue is the crashing because it interferes greatly with my reading or listening..Version: 4.2.1
✓ Avoid at all cost.I bought a load of books that I can’t access for a course and the app support is rubbish. I have had no alternative but to physically buy the books again. Please learn from my mistakes and go elsewhere..Version: 10.2.2
✓ Why does this app have a high rating?I’m being forced to pay thousands of dollars for digital textbooks that can only be viewed in this app and on the Vital Source website. Both are absolutely dreadful interfaces. They lack even basic Apple Pencil support, which makes annotating cumbersome and not even worth the time. I’m in med school, I simply don’t have time to waste half of my study time to try and use their laggy highlighting tool. I want to be able to write on the pages of the book like literally every other basic reading app allows. As if that’s not bad enough, I can’t even zoom in on my textbook. How on earth do you expect me to be able to see extremely complex, tiny, and detailed biochem and anatomy images? Do I also need to purchase a magnifying glass? I can’t believe my school is forcing us to read our books on this ridiculously outdated platform..Version: 9.3
✓ Battery drainCan’t even use it for one hour, it drains battery so fast on both iPad and iPhone. Useless App!.Version: 10.2.3
✓ Robotic voice is not goodThe robotic voices of choice are not good. There are many great options now that sound more humanistic such as the bing read aloud voice. I am hoping this is updated as I am using this app for a long time throughout my uni studies as provided through them. Also to zoom there is one tab and that’s it, it would be better to be able to zoom in further like the zoom scale on word processor as sometimes when I am note-taking the laptop is further away and I have to squint to see it even with glasses on..Version: 10.3.1
✓ Needs a version for older iOSMy library is gone. It says the app needs to be updated but won't let me update because my iPad no longer gets iOS updates. My iPad works flawlessly with much more complicated apps like Netflix and Neon, but an ereader can't be supported? Disappointing..Version: 4.7.1
✓ Good but not greatOn the whole, I like using Bookshelf for my studies. However it has flaws and is frustratingly clunky and slow on Apple products. Highlighting text sounds like it has been an issue for some time and, as of this morning, it is still an issue. I would prefer the text to be available on Apple Books. Maybe Apple could look in to developing a ‘scholar’ version of books for students? Bookshelf is frustrating when efficient reading for study is essential..Version: 9.2.2
✓ Not formatted for easy reading.It’s great having access to the materials you use for a Vital Smarts class after the fact, much more handy than the paper book would be. However, at least for the book I’ve used it for (so far just Getting Things Done), the text isn’t laid out for easy reading. There is far too much per page and the lines are far too long. It’s like they took the letter sized word doc of the book manuscript and imported it rather than formatting it like a real book. This really slows down the use of the content and makes it far too easy to get lost. It’s a little better on the iPhone than the iPad, but there is still far too much content per “page.” The other functionality of the app is good, but doesn’t make up for it..Version: 10.0.4
✓ StupidI hate this app. I just want the ebook so I can edit it on notability..Version: 4.3.1
✓ Cannot use with Apple PencilThis app needs to integrate Apple Pencil. It has the potential to be a great resource but students who use apple pencil it is garbage..Version: 10.0.2
✓ ReviewI am not a fan of this app. You can be scrolling up and down in a chapter and it will suddenly move you to the chapter before or after. It is not particular stable with scrolling certainly on the IPad. Kindle is far better..Version: 9.3.3
✓ I regret buying my e-textbooks due to this appHighlighting is absolutely horrible. It’s 2020 and there still isn’t apple pen or any stylus integration for this app. How is that possible? I could have just purchased the physical textbooks and get some use out of those. This app literally ruins the purpose of having a e-textbook. The search function isn’t very friendly either. Seriously, just get the physical version if it’s possible and do not waste your time with any e-books on this app..Version: 9.2.3
✓ Very BasicThis app is super basic. The highlighting feature is frustrating! Anytime i want to highlight a text next to a picture or on a narrow part of the page the it selects a bunch of other text i don’t want to highlight. The biggest frustration for me is not being able to write on the page. You can write notes but it’s not the same as being able to write anywhere on the page with my Apple Pencil and being able to see it at a glance. Other apps such as onedrive that was not design as a reading app has more functionality than bookshelf. Unfortunately i could not get this particular book as a PDF otherwise i would have used Onedrive instead. This app still has a long way to go..Version: 4.4
✓ Why cant i print the book i bought?So annoying to be asked to review a book, thenthe publishers failing to get a hard copy to me, send me an ebook, that I have to read over a weekend to review, and i cant even print it. Why cant i print it? Send me a pdf and i will print it myself.Version: 9.4.7
✓ Sluggish, hard to navigateThe latest update has made highlighting text a nightmare. The navigation is not intuitive at all - going back and forth from the home screen. I only use this for ONE university text book and I hate to think of what it would be like to have all of my texts on this platform.Version: 9.2.2
✓ No option to add bookmarkIs this a bug in just my copy of the app? I have reviewed the reading tools section of the How to Guide and it says the bookmark icon is on the upper right corner in the reader page, and it shows an image of how it should look, however, my reader page is different and only has icons for font size, text-to-speech, and search..Version: 9.0
✓ Figures need to be handled better(I’m going to try my best not to berate or swear) Basically, developers please allow an enlarging option on figures. For example, if you click/tap on an image you can have an interactive zoom or whatnot. I would like this implemented because the majority of images in Campbell Biology 11th edition are very descriptive. There’s also an image that is actually a landscape page full of information and paragraphs which I can barely read as the text is so small. This was the image that prompted me to write a review. I am using a lap top if that helps. Thanks for your time.Version: 9.0.2
✓ Poor User-friendliness and bugsTrying to get between the purchasing of my textbook through Wiley and the downloading of it onto this app was a process that should’ve taken 2 minutes and instead took close to an hour. I think I had to make three different accounts on various websites and try to navigate severely unintuitive websites - vital-source’s included - just to get the book in the right place. Then, I can even use half the interactive parts, because their drag and drop function doesn’t work without the app trying to turn the book’s page. The whole process and also the eventual product is poor quality, low effort and almost feels like it’s designed to turn you away..Version: 10.1
✓ Great when it works, awful when it doesn’tMost books that I’ve used have been great. The app displays them like a pdf, and is quick and responsive. When I can use this instead of carrying a pile of two-inch thick textbooks around, I am happy. However, books in epub format look awful, like 90’s era HTML. There’s no way to control what shows up in your library in the app: you can only add books through the website, and if you’re done with a book, you can remove the download from the app but it will still show the cover in the library. A few days ago I added a book to my library through the website, and while it shows up in my browser, it won’t appear in the app. Signing out and in doesn’t help, nor does clicking “Update Library”. So, I’m back to lugging around print books for now..Version: 4.7.1
✓ Fix it nowFor the amount of money people pay to use these textbooks online, the app should be of a higher quality..Version: 10.0.4
✓ Not very usefullAs a student, highlighting important things is the single most useful study tool, and frankly the highlighting function in this app is not good enough. I would strongly recommend making the app apple-pencil compatible, allowing for easy scrolling with the finger and more precise and efficient highlighting with the pen. The current way of highlighting with the finger only is inconvenient and slows down the reading process significantly. I enjoy the text customisation options and recently added continuous scrolling, however would still deem this app largely useless purely due to its lack of convenient highlighting, a major aspect of every student’s studying habits..Version: 9.3.1
✓ Not idealIt’s difficult to navigate, sometimes it plays two books at once. Just don’t expect it to work. It’s a struggle to learn this way, for sure..Version: 10.4
✓ Crashes ALL the timeI am trying to read a book I purchased. Impossible to read. The app crashes every two seconds. Money wasted on book purchased..Version: 4.8
✓ Don’t use for reference booksThis app is just acceptable if you are reading the book from cover to cover, but is excruciatingly slow is you are trying to move around quickly as you need to with manuals or reference works..Version: 10.1
✓ DreadfulI really hate this app. Its hard to navigate and find the basic info on getting started. I ended up having to go back to the main website. A range of other annoying features like the unusual password requirements which mean I can't use a password I will remember. Wish they would just use kindle instead For my textbooks. I can't fathom how or why this website and app are ever used by anybody.Version: 3.9.3
✓ It wont let me sign inI tried to sign in but it didn’t work. It only works for computer..Version: 10.1
✓ Copyright Info on Bottom of Each PageSo I already purchased a physical copy, used, off of eBay (the way you should always do, viaLibri is even better). I paid the $35 for this electronic version solely for the ability to listen to the book. I can do that, it’s fine, the voices are getting better with “enhanced” option. So here’s my issue, and perhaps I am missing something, which if that’s the case I’ll never know: there is copyright info on the bottom of each “page” and THAT gets read as well, every single time. I can skip it when it gets there but it doesn’t allow me the opportunity to be free and just meditatively listen. It creates a lot of CHOP and should be remedied. Am I typing to a anybody, perhaps a 20 year old intern? “Help! I need somebody.” The Beatles..Version: 10.0.2
✓ Useless and user-unfriendlyI am currently studying and was thrilled to see that my textbook was available via ebook. Unfortunately my ebook is only available to use in this atrocity of an application. The app is slow, lags when switching between pages. When you make highlights, it drags it across the words rather than treating the ebook like a PDF document and allowing for notes to be written ON the document - visible without having to try to edit your note. The usability could be vastly improved by allowing for use of up and down scroll for papers instead of side to side. Allowing for highlight to be like you were drawing an image - the Notability app is a superb example of this. Allow notes to be VISIBLE on the page or easier to access. There are lots more, but avoid this app if you can - use paper textbooks over ebooks on this atrocity of an app..Version: 2.5
✓ Just use the websiteThe main benefit of this app is that it is more mobile than the website. However, this app is buggy and is missing some basic features that completely remove the mobile advantage. They force you to frequently type your email and password just to use the app (there is no way to stay logged in), and the “read aloud” function is terrible. The low quality of the voice on my device is understandable because they use your device’s built-in speech engine, but they don’t set up their books to be read correctly by speech engines. Many words on the page are broken into their individual letters, resulting in words being spelled out one letter at a time. All footnotes are announced for every page, so I hope you enjoy having your book interrupted about once a minute to hear about all the legal restrictions on how you can use the book. On top of that, some of the text is skipped and other text that wasn’t even there before is added in. Divisions between chapters are not clearly marked, leaving you confused about the context. Why would I ever decide to use this app when I can use the larger screen of one of many public computers that are increasingly available to everyone, or my laptop which is easy to bring anywhere?.Version: 4.5.1
✓ Notes not workingThe latest iPad version seems to have glitch in taking notes. Please help fix it. Thanks.Version: 4.5.2
✓ Erased my notesWhat the rest said is true. Apple pen works randomly ( least often when you have deadlines) and notes/ highlighting is randomly erased, apparently especially when studying for exams. Can’t overstate how frustrated I am.Version: 9.4.7
✓ Not impressed...The same experience as others have written, I was hoping that this was better than the website version....Version: 9.3.3
✓ Allow Apple Pencil capabilitiesWith modern studies, having a lot of your books into this app, and in an effort of getting convenience, developers should look into integrating the use of Apple Pencil by allowing notes capabilities, highlighting and noting on the pages using Apple Pencil. Also please consider dark mode capabilities. A lot of student tries to study at night and would really be helpful and less painful in the eyes to allow these capabilities..Version: 9.2.3
✓ Does what it says, but has problems.Like the title says. It does what it says, but for whatever reason it is laggy. I mean super laggy. I mean you cant change chapters easily or even scroll consistently even with the file fully downloaded. I use this program because I’m required to by my university. No other reason..Version: 9.4.7
✓ Text-to-speech Needs upgradesNot bad in some ways, but a few very annoying points. - cannot flip page when zoomed in. Button would be nicer. - text to speech cannot figure out words with hyphens split over two lines. This is extremely common in textbooks. Also cannot figure out how to read Canadian spelling and no option to customize pronunciation (like other free programs). - text to speech jumps all over the page. Not a specific sequence (jumps to page number, diagrams, etc) - text to speech sometimes reads a whole sentence as one word. Cannot understand it and have to stop each time to read it out.Version: 10.0.2
✓ Buggy appApp has a lot of potential but also a lot of issues. Zero Pencil capability, which is pretty silly considering it’s an iPad reading app. Can’t even use the Pencil to highlight so I have to use my finger, which obviously covers the words. The app also freezes almost every time I try to highlight, and won’t work again until I force quit and reopen it. The “continuous scroll” layout doesn’t make much sense, particularly without any indication of page breaks other than the page number thrown into the middle of the text. And I’m not sure but I think the page number applies to the content below, not above, which is the opposite of what you would expect of the physical book..Version: 9.2.2
✓ RubbishBought my first ebook via Wiley and held to ransom with this e-text version of the book, and have to use this stupid app to access. Not impressed with Wiley or this app at all...should have been clear that cannot transfer this book to other readers.....Version: 9.2
✓ Table of contentTable of content is not as easy as to work with as it used to be The drop down menu of the Table of content does not work properly and it freezes the whole application.Version: 10.0.4
✓ Rubbish but no choice so I have to use itReally poor user application which I have to use since IET switched to it Awful when you compare it to pdf or other reading applications.Version: 9.0.2
✓ Zoom?? Text size options??Functional but seriously feature-lacking. Can't fit pages to screen size, scrolling up/down doesn't lock to the vertical when zoomed in like you assume it should. Can't increase text size for reading on a phone..Version: 10.2.3
✓ Bugs and crippling functionality problemsMany bugs and functionality issues with this one – so I recommend that you don’t buy eTextbooks if they require this app to read. The speech function does not recognise my iPad speech preferences. It only reads in the same voice which I have trouble understanding, and not the voice I have chosen in the Accessibility options in the Settings on my iPad. Also, I couldn’t even provide this feedback through the app’s feedback function as it doesn’t let me submit it. Up your game folks – you can’t have customers paying hundreds of dollars for electronic textbooks to have to use this hideous platform. The lack of highlighting and annotating options is crippling to study, and like other reviewers, I think the Apple Pencil should be much more useable with this. I’m using the iPad app on an iPad 6th Gen with the latest iOS version..Version: 4.5.2
✓ Locked down encryption can’t access money spent on textBought economics text book on app years ago, can’t recover account, forgotten economics textbooks name, when leaving contact screen automatically deletes information as searching for book title. When asking to send to my address my address data must have been deleted. The customer service here is bad I will right further reviews online as book cost me well over $100. Locked down system to much encryption or deleted data that should be kept. In end very disappointing and I won’t be trusting vital source again..Version: 9.3
✓ GarbageWhy even have a ebook app if you can’t annotate it, honestly it’s pretty trash and I’m highly disappointed, could not have been worse.Version: 10.0.4
✓ AVOID!!Try searching any book keeps saying nothing here try a different search or check your spelling!! What’s the point in this app if it doesn’t recognise any books!! Deleting straight away!! Useless!!.Version: 10.2.3
✓ Poor readerNot as user friendly or pleasant to use as other readers. Doesn’t open as a book and you have to scroll down for each chapter. Unfortunately you cannot avoid. Until this is addressed I will purchase only Kindle editions. Didn’t realise this at the time of purchase..Version: 9.3.2
✓ Please fix asapRecent update has made this app so laggy and quite frustrating to use. All my highlights disappear too. I was actually quite fond of it, found it super convenient and easy to use when I first downloaded it earlier this year. But now it’s just annoying, please fix ASAP.Version: 10.0.2
✓ Sound problemAudio is not working I am really struggle with this now.Version: 9.0
✓ Support for Apple PencilWould like to see support for Apple Pencil, would be great to write over stuff while taking notes..Version: 4.0
✓ Awful. Just buy the textbook as this is uselessThe text I was trying to read was essentially unreadable on a mobile device as it’s the same as a massive PDF file which you have to scroll across the page to read the sentence. Just go and buy the textbook..Version: 10.1
✓ Energy inefficientWas forced to use this app (instead of a standard format like PDF, which would have been preferable) for a training course. It used so much power that with my iPad plugged in and charging, the battery level only held steady and didn’t increase. I’m amazed how that is possible for an app which displays static content! Another reference app I use barely makes a dent in the battery charge even when left on for a couple of hours - something is badly wrong here..Version: 4.2.2
✓ Bad reading voiceThis app has a lot of perks but the read aloud voices are a bit of a joke, especially when considering the advancements in AI voice. About 70% of the included voices are useless and super dated, more commonly being used in TV shows like Family Guy as part of a joke..Version: 10.4.1
✓ Voice activated readingVery helpful except it would be nice if the voice was more human and not so mechanical.Version: 10.1
✓ Lacking refinementThe biggest gripe I have is that certain sections of the book appear to be pictures instead of accessible text. It’s as if all they did was scan the book and stitch the pictures together in an app. When you attempt to highlight text in these “picture“ sections, it doesn’t let you highlight. Instead, the app acts as if you’re trying to pick up a picture and move it somewhere else. The only thing I’m actually able to highlight is section titles and some information in the section reviews. All of the content within the chapter is a series of pictures I can’t do anything with. Don’t get me wrong I’m satisfied with the fact that I’m able to get all of this information for cheap compared to purchasing the full book, but if they are advertising certain capabilities in this application they should be usable throughout the entire book. For me to give four stars, the entire book would need to be in a unified format of accessible text. For me to get five stars, the book would have to be more interactive than simply QR codes and a few videos..Version: 9.2.3
🙂 Bookshelf Positive Reviews
Bookshelf works most of the time. If it is not working for you, we recommend you excersise some patience and retry later or contact Bookshelf.
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