Google Play Books & Audiobooks App Negative ReviewsGoogle LLC

Google Play Books & Audiobooks Negative Reviews

4.4
4.47654 star

Total 127 Negative Reviews

Google Play Books & Audiobooks App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2023

Google Play Books & Audiobooks app received 127 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using Google Play Books & Audiobooks? Can you share your negative thoughts about google play books & audiobooks?

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Google Play Books & Audiobooks for Negative User Reviews

Question is: why don’t they fix it??The complaints about this app have not changed. Dinosaur, buggy, constantly freezes, not customizable even in humblest most technologically insignificant ways. They ask for feedback. I’ll wager the feedback hasn’t changed in a decade, because people keep reporting/asking for the same things that are never improved. I use this only when there is no other option for an ebook, and without fail, it is an unpleasant experience every time. Why don’t they fix this monstrosity?.Version: 5.7.0

Not workingFrom an iPhone 13 purchased a month ago, the app is frozen.Version: 6.1.1

Loved it till it broke 😭I love this app but for the last two weeks it opens up and completely freezes after about 5 seconds. I have lost access to all of the books ive paid for - heartbroken!.Version: 5.0.2

Broken - not a quality appApp will not download or display books comprised of images (comic books). The app will show the download is complete, but all pages will be “image not downloaded.” Until recently, deleting a bad download and trying again would sometimes fix this issue - but not anymore. Application has options “delete download” and “delete from library” right next to each other in the menu. If you accidentally delete from library, you lose the book - permanently. Google can’t restore the original purchase, they can only give you a refund - you have to contact support directly for this. Until the refund is processed, you cannot purchase the accidentally deleted book again, either. The app used to work for comics, but no longer. You are probably better off trying to purchase and read comics via the comic publishers own apps. Hopefully Google fixes this issue with either the content or the app soon..Version: 4.2.0

Ripped me off, non negotiable, just use AmazonThe book I purchased was formatted to look like a novel, but it was just a reader’s guide, and Google was unwilling to refund or exchange the item for me. It was foolish for me to stop using Amazon, I just liked the way Google formatted its pages. But if you read covers very carefully, this won’t happen to you..Version: 5.7.0

By far the worst with note takingI am using this app from an Ipadpro and it is problematic. I have bought my university book from google play but it is IMPOSSIBLE to study from this app or the website. The highlights get deleted or misplaced which makes it not worth the money I paid for convenience of digital edition. If you are thinking of using this app for your studies do not bother as it will just give you headaches..Version: 5.0.2

Needs some regular updating and muscling upContinuous scrolling (instead of page flips) and the option to present my books as collections / shelves / some sort of organised grouping. Really, it's all I'm asking for Christmas 🎄.Version: 5.4.0

Page numbersI have problems with page numbers constantly changing. It’s very difficult to navigate and find where I was up to because the chapter links don’t go where they are supposed to, and the same page shows up as a different page number every time I open play books. It takes me at least 2 minutes every time I open it to find where I was up to..Version: 5.2.3

Goes to first pageWhen I come back from another app, first page of the book is opened. Happens every time. Very annoying..Version: 6.1.1

Caveat emptorSelect titles stop opening or cut off text. Google tech support personnel untrained to resolve problems with google play books app on iPhones. Malfunctioning titles deleted from google play books library on iPhones are not replaceable. Requests emailed to google customer service to receive a functioning copy of a malfunctioning title are ignored. Google customer support drops calls. Google automated refund system rejects valid refund requests and requires manual override by customer support personnel. (To obtain my refund for a malfunctioning title, I had to call customer support three [3] times. Customer support had to call me back three [3] times.) Tone of service of google customer support personnel is very good; but google customer support personnel lack the training and tools to resolve problems after the sale. Buyer beware..Version: 3.1.1

There's no shop option on my appI'm very confused as to how I am supposed to find new books without a shop option anywhere to be found..Version: 3.0.2

BugsThe bugs in this app are insane. Come on Google please give us a good app. You can do better: Pages are slow to flip Books take forever to open Highlighting is a nerve racking experience Forget about taking notes I am using an iPad Pro..Version: 5.6

Awful appI cannot play anything or view anything on this app whatsoever. I’ve tried troubleshooting and have had to give up. Listening shouldn’t be such a bore! The app seems to stall/freeze on me. Not at all happy. Have also uninstalled and reinstalled. Still the same issue. I give up.Version: 5.0.3

Please add a scrolling functionAnd maybe how many pages until the end of the chapter.Version: 5.7.0

Looking for great.It’s good for just reading actually, not good for highlighting or taking note. Many time it stuck when zoom in zoom out page..Version: 5.2.2

Bad for adding notes to readingsOn ipad, I find the app not so user friendly for adding reading notes and navigate through them despite of having those option. However, it’s fine for stocking ebooks from different sources..Version: 6.4.1

SOME concerns and fixesI was told you could sample books? No button or anything to give me a sample. You don’t know anything about the book. Also you have to go out of the app then to chrome or safari if your on a mobile device (like me) go to play website find the book then buy it! It’s absurd, overall once I got a book and figured it out the reading experience was ok, it kicked me out a few times. I still don’t know if it was connection or the app. Please fix these minor problems to make a better experience for future readers.Version: 6.2.0

You won’t get any refund no matter whatInstalled the app and bought a book for my son, the digital format was very poor and unusable for child. The book has worksheets and guess what, you can’t print them nor fill it using the apple pencil, the only solution is to write all the answers in the good old way - paper notebook. Try getting a refund immediately and I was told to contact the developer (it’s a book, not an app), felt like I bought something in a store, and 1 hour later when I returned to complain they told me to talk to the manufacturer... Lousy google policies.Version: 5.7.0

Books not displayingJust bought a book to read but it’s not loading up. Was reading the sample pages just fine before deciding to buy. Can you fix this?.Version: 5.7.0

Deleting contentThe catalog is great and the fact that they offer audiobooks is also great but the app has two major problems (for a while now): I lost the count on the Number of times I have made all my purchases available off-line and then when I switched to my other account the app simply DELETES ALL MY CONTENT!!! And the second issue is that on lower speed internet connections the app simply won’t download content. It keeps informing the same error that it wasn’t possible to download the files. Sometimes I have to try for hours to download some of my purchases..Version: 4.2.1

Don’t Use for Audiobooks YetI gave Google’s new Audiobooks support a chance, because I own Google Home products. Playback constantly fails, and then it will not remember the last playback location, returning to the one before it failed. This happens when using voice commands with your Google Home or when casting from this app. The only way playback won’t fail is you either play it locally on your phone or use Bluetooth, which is what I was doing before (and will now return to doing) with Audible. So for ebooks? Sure, go ahead and get it. But if you’re looking to start using this for your new audiobooks purchases, I must suggest you hold off until Google works out all the kinks and it doesn’t feel like a beta feature anymore..Version: 4.2.1

Good but could be betterThe app is fine, and while I do like it over the one I had before I still prefer this one over it. While I say that, I can't discount it's mistakes. The epubs that I mainly use Google play books for doesn't have a cover page to it, and I have to go by the names instead. There isn't any shelves to organize your stories by, at least not in the iPhone version which is something that the iBooks (apple's version) has over them, and I plead that they will change it in the near future. You also can't rename any of the epubs, another thing that iBooks let's you do..Version: 5.2.2

Shuts downEvery time I’m reading a book after about 2 or 3 chapters I can’t get into any following chapters I’m always faced with a white blank..Version: 6.1.1

Horrible highlighting toolThis is the app with the worst highlighting ever. It’s impossible trying to highlight something without turning to the next page. A disgrace!.Version: 5.5

ShelvesShelves should allow you to add books from within the shelf instead of one by one.... classic google, taking ages to put out features and doing them halfassed. Thank you for adding shelves to the app. This was a long asked for feature!.Version: 5.5.1

Wish there was moreI much prefer the Apple Books app. It has a section to put books that I want to read so I have an ongoing list. All of the available books & audio books to purchase are in that same app too. To use the google books app you have to go on google play (which is not an app) & go through movies & tv on there as well. The google books app would be much better if they at least had google play in an app instead of going on chrome & typing it in & ultimately if they just had the available books in the books app itself..Version: 5.4.0

Great app BUTGreat app BUT how do I get the entire book instead of just the sample it says free and yet I only get like the first couple pages Disappointment.Version: 3.1.1

Struggles with some formats from the google play storeThe app works well in the main, but if you have a few larger books, I.e graphic novels or reference books that feature many illustrations so are big files, the app struggles to first even download them, and them open them... very odd considering they were Google Play Store purchases.Version: 5.4.0

DreadfulI have never had an easy purchase. Latest purchase hasn’t appeared in my library and have spent 3+ hours trying to get it. NO button to download and no phone number to check. Internet help useless - keeps going round and round and then sent to a website that required me to pay to sort out the problem - which I refuse to do as it will cost more than the book. Has been suggested that I sign out of the app but no where to do this even in settings Even tried to remove and reinstall app without success..Version: 5.0.2

A lot of bugsI used this app for many years and never had a serious issues. But for the last couple weeks it started to crash during load. Sometimes you need to start app few times until you will able to open the book. Also, when it crashes during the reader it doesn’t allow to open same book again pretending that this book already open on your a other device. Fix it or i will have to switch my favourite reading app to kindle or ibook.Version: 5.9.0

I guess it works because you can read booksOther than that, forget it. Forget sorting your books, looking up word definitions or doing searches for words outside of the app. The search function used to work until Google ‘fixed’ it in an update. Now the search function just loads your web browser to the Google home page. Thanks Google! The bookmarks function is clunky at best. Translation rarely works as expected. Pages often get cut off at random, or the app sticks on a page and has to be rebooted. Google really should take a page from the Kindle app, which has far and away superior functionality on all of these fronts. I only use this app to read the books my partner has downloaded to it, otherwise I avoid it because it’s seriously frustrating..Version: 4.2.1

Could be much betterI only use this for audiobooks so far (I’m on my third book), and it is competent on this function. Especially, I like how it will go back to the start of a sentence whenever you begin playback, which means you are never lost about what is being discussed. HOWEVER. The inability to buy books through the app is absolutely baffling. So much can be done through mobile these days; how can a company such as Google completely hollow out this app’s potential by making people go buy books on a desktop, just to listen on mobile. This seems like such a blatant omission that there must be some explanation for why it’s not included, but it definitely hurts the user experience. Do better Google.Version: 5.8.0

Bookmarks are broken!The bookmark functionality is broken. When you create a bookmark, it goes to a random page..Version: 6.1.1

AwfulNever had an app so frustrating and awful to work with.Version: 5.7.0

Problems with this apI have written and written to Google Play Books about my issue, to no avail. Nobody answers my questions or addresses my issue, which is a MAJOR one!!! Often, in the books I buy, the words from one page to another do not correlate!! There are missing sentences, missing words!! I have to try to DECIPHER the meaning of pages that don’t have all the sentences on them that the author writes!! You make it impossible to contact you, and you don’t care to fix your issues!! Also, bought a sample, but the book won’t download. REFUND ME!!! Disgusted and fed up, having spent too much money on books I cannot read for you! Respond, or I will keep giving you awful reviews, which you deserve..Version: 5.2.2

It’s a really useful toolI’m someone to likes to read for enjoyment and academically. For the research I had to complete for my university work play books was amazing to read and accessible. However not all books were available to search a key word to see if relevant to the given topics I had. I would have to change the interface I was using going between a smartphone, laptop and iPad to ensure I could search as many as I could.Version: 5.2.2

Horrible on highlightingI use this app all the time and I have noticed that there’s many times the app decides it doesn’t want to keep certain highlights in my notes! Ot just simply deletes them as soon as I create them! This is getting annoying! Especially when I have created notes and they just disappear, i mine as well use another app just for note keeping! What happens when you put a lot of thought into your note and it just deletes itself? The devs need to fix this! Are there any other apps that read google books I can use!.Version: 6.1.1

The description didn’t say anything about having to pay for the books and neither did Google :(.Version: 6.0.4

😒The new update is absolutely rubbish. I can’t purchase books straight from the sample & I can’t find where to buy them now at all. I don’t like the new format or how complicated it is to use now. Rather go all the way to town to buy the flipping book at this rate..Version: 5.1.1

Not freeYou have to pay money to actually read the book.Version: 5.4.0

The app is not compatible with my iPhone 11 Pro Max.I use google playbook on my iPhone 11 Pro max. I bought the NIV devotional men's bible a while ago. The app on this phone will not let me highlight bible verses or make note on specific pages. It is very frustrating and disappointing. Can you guys fix this ? It was working perfectly on my previous iPhone 8 Plus until I swapped phones in October..Version: 5.6

Workable, but basic. Glitchy on iPhone.Why does this app jitter and flash every time I tap the screen? I guess because Google doesn’t support iOS very well. I wish I could do a full text search of all my cookbooks with this app. Strange that Google, the king of search doesn’t allow searching multiple books at once. Note that is possible in Google Books via the browser. I wish I could adjust the margin size..Version: 6.0.3

It’s good but I have some concerns.I do most of my digital reading on this app on the iPad Pro. My one major concern is that why can’t I make purchases through this app? Every time I want to read a new book I have to leave this app, hop onto google, buy it there, and then go back to the google play book app. It would be nice if could just purchase from the app instead, and save me a trip! Also why can I only put a book mark on the right side only? I should be able to put a bookmark on the left side too. One time I put a bookmark and it appeared all they way in the right side, when in reality it should’ve been on the left side because that is where I actually stopped reading. Then, some time later, when I came back to pick up a where I left off in my book, I forgot that I wasn’t actually done with the left hand side, so I continued on reading only the right hand side. That whole page had a lot of detail, and I was lost in the book for a few seconds only to realize the error that this app has. I wasted like 10 minutes figuring out where I actually was..Version: 6.0.1

Decent readerDevs seem to have fixed the most annoying bug, so thank you!! This app is decent, it’s still a shame you can’t purchase books inside the app though. Quite annoying. Old review: App bugs out almost every time you try to re-open it after not reading for a little while (like an hour or more). You just get a spinning wheel and can’t get out of the book or see any text. Forcing the app closed and reopening is the only way to fix it I can find, which is a pain to do if you read in frequent short bursts. Also, you can’t buy books within the app. That’s just basic..Version: 6.0.3

This App is a Sick JokeI don’t know what made my experience with this app so much different than everyone else’s, but I’m over it. I rented a textbook for school on this app, and I was excited that, if this worked out, I could start doing this for all my texts! No. I will never do this again. I’ll never put anyone I know through using this app. The table of contents and page numbers are totally messed up, and I often find myself flipping through the same pages over and over? In addition, I can’t get past page 32 using this app on my iPad. I wish I could get back the money I paid to rent this book on here, as well as the hours of my life I’ve spent sorting through this garbage..Version: 4.1.1

Shelves??The app is great, but why can't I access the shelves I make on the desktop app?? It would be great to organise books the way I would like to..Version: 5.5

The app freezes almost every time I open itWhen I open the app I cannot take any action for a while because the app is frozen and it happens pretty much every time. There was one time when my phone itself got frozen, couldn’t even power off it and had to seek a help. If you could please fix that bug, I would very much appreciate it as I usually read e-books on this app. Thank you..Version: 5.4.0

Poor highlightingI read a fair amount of technical books and like to highlight passages, etc. This is the first Google Playbook I’ve purchased, and highlighting is a nightmare. The actual act of highlighting is not difficult. However, if you highlight a line on the left page, you can not highlight anything on the same line on the right hand page. Worse still, after highlighting, then returning to previous pages, the highlighting is all over the place. Words highlighted that were not originally, passages “double” highlighted - a REAL MESS. Also, there is no way to write notes in the margins. If you intend to read and highlight, don’t buy a Google Playbook!!!.Version: 4.2.1

Terrible App - with NO Technical support!What a terrible app! I listened to a sample of an audio book by David Sedaris. I decided to purchase the book. I paid the amount. It was debited from my bank account, but the book has not appeared in my library. I have tried everything. Wish I NEVER tried Google Play. They take your money, but don’t deliver the goods! Anyone considering using this app, beware and be prepared for an exhausting and frustrating experience!!!.Version: 5.1.2

Difficult to useI cant do anything with it!! And even the"getting started" doesn't open!! HELP!.Version: 1.6.2

Mediocre for comicsFirst off I’ll say that I’ve only used this app for comics, so if you want to read books this review isn’t for you. As a comic reader it is serviceable but not great. The biggest issue is a complete lack of a zoom function. On my 12.9” iPad that isn’t a dealbreaker, but on something smaller that would be a pain. They try and make up for it by having a feature that makes the bubbles of text pop big in the order you should read them, which makes the small text easier to read. This works ok, but I found that too often it covered art I wanted to see, and toggling back and forth never felt super comfortable. It’s a neat option, but it does a poor job of replacing pinch zoom. Really, if you want to read comics, you’re better off using Apple Books, Madefire, or ComiXology. This is only worth using if you get a good price or the comic isn’t available elsewhere..Version: 5.6

Works well but UX/design under parThis app works well enough to allow me to simply read my books and take notes… but that’s really all it is. The design interface is bare minimum with no real features to write home about. Compared to the features and usability of Apple’s Books app, this one is pretty basic and under performs what I’ve seen Google put into their other applications and products. Additionally, I am unable to purchase books through it (is this an Apple issue?) which isn’t convenient by any means. This app just feels like it’s due a well deserved refresh and overhaul..Version: 5.9.1

🤧😋It was okay enjoy it for free.Version: 5.4.0

Worst Book App EverThis doesn’t work on my iPhone SE at all. Every time I open my book it goes back to the beginning. Using bookmarks or selecting a chapter doesn’t work - just goes to the beginning again. Tried reinstalling, no joy. Support chat didn’t even try to answer my query. Very poor..Version: 5.8.0

ZeroI have used Google books for years uploaded countless books and used the Read a loud feature but it’s missing since I switched to iOS I'm not erasing my phone because of a problem that Google books developers need to fix it a bug and theirs nothing being down about. If I could give a zero start review I would.Version: 6.1.1

Give Me Back the Version Prior to 5.0.1Where have all my purchases gone? Had to type in the titles, just to restore my prior purchases.. And we seem to be limited to just a piffling eight titles. I read and buy many titles, if you’re like me you’ll now have to decide which ones are your priorities, of you’ll be needing to type each and every title over and above the mist recent 8 or so. Am disappointed with Google Play Books version 5.0.1, will now only buy if Kindle or iBooks don’t have it. Will have to keep an easily-accessible list to jog my memory of what I’ve purchased, to find them. This app and this version are not for readers who have libraries with numbers of purchases in them..Version: 5.0.1

Highlights messed upThe book reader does fine, however the display often messes up. I do a lot of highlighting, in various colors. When reading a chapter I previously used some highlighting on, sometimes I’ll turn the page and the entire page is highlighted one color, turn the page the entire page is highlighted another color, turn the page and things are back to normal. If I click anywhere on the page that’s completely highlighted, and hit delete the entire page’s highlighting disappears, but I don’t know if what I wanted to be highlighted also disappears. I hope they fix this bug..Version: 5.1.1

Opening multiple books at once on my PhoneGoogle play books has been great so far. However, I am unable to upload more than one book at once into google play books. The option to do this has been given on the computer, but for those who don’t have one, it becomes a problem trying to upload multiple books from your phone at once. Uploading files on by one is a very tiring process. Google will do better to allow multiple books to be uploaded at once to make it more effortless.Version: 5.9.0

Can’t purchase books in an app for booksI’ve had a love-hate relationship with Google Books over the years. I used it some years ago for school, but quickly switched to Books when I got my first iPad. A few months ago I went back to this app to purchase a book in another language. I love that there’s a specific button for translation, but that’s about it. Sometimes notes show up, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they move. And, being in the margin, they’re difficult to retrieve without turning the page, if it opens at all. Also. I don’t know what happened between when I purchased the book (summer 2020) and now (winter 2020), but now purchasing books in the app is disabled. The prices aren’t even listed. I’ve noticed that the Google/Android model involves needing different apps for functions that could be done by one app, but not being able to purchase books in an app designed for reading books seems overwhelmingly defeatist..Version: 5.7.0

BuggyBoth the iPhone and iPad app are downloading my books and when I try read them it doesn’t open. Going out of the book shows it downloading again. Thought it would be fixed in this update but no. Please fix it..Version: 4.0.2

Highlights issueHighlights not slowing up right away. Huge delay and inconsistent..Version: 5.5.2

Terrible App to NavigateSuch a terribly designed app. You think they would want you to buy books but it’s a series of puzzles to try to get to the screen where you can pay..Version: 6.3.1

Terrible for studyI had expected something ease and straightforward- but I can highlight only one word at a time and when I get back the highlighted words are gone!!!!!! Complete waste of time studying on it. Really? What is the purpose?.Version: 5.4.0

Frequent problemsWorks along much the same lines as other e-book apps except there are frequent problems when logging in to read a book and it wont load the book. Frustrating..Version: 5.5.2

No Shelf SupportThe web client support shelf for organizing books. But feature is not available on iOS yet.Version: 5.4.0

Constant glitchesThis app worked great on my galaxy S8 but switch to the iPhone 11 Pro Max and the highlight feature works 3/10 times. Even after closing the app and reopening it, it happens as well..Version: 5.6

Highlight feature doesn’t work.I’m so disappointed, I was so excited when I first downloaded the app. Everything worked fine for a minute but now I can’t highlight anything. I even tried deleting and redownloading the app and reinstalling my e-book but it won’t work. Please fix the highlighting issue..Version: 5.6

Not GreatDull highlighter that doesn’t show up at all in night mode and only works sometimes. Relatively few settings. Kindle, it ain’t. I’d forgotten why I rarely bother with Google books- this would be why. I’m only using it now because Google was the only vendor offering the ebook I wanted..Version: 5.5.2

No feature to keep audiobooks playing in background. Seriously?I recently decided to give Google audiobooks a try. I just downloaded a Google audibook. I started playing it, then navigated away from the app so that I could check email. Once I navigated away from the app, the audiobook stopped playing. Seriously? How far behind the times do you have to be? Audible, Kobo book audibooks, Nook audibooks. What do they all have in common? As long as you didn’t press the stop button, the audio continues playing after you navigate away from the app. Google Books needs to be update ASAP to allow for background audio for audiobooks; meaning, as long as you don’t hit the stop button, the audibook keeps playing even after you navigate away from the Google Books app..Version: 5.7.0

Bugs/glitchUsed this app for years and never had a bad thing to say about it but over the past week it’s gotten some bad glitches. When reading a story the first page of each chapter never loads. I have to to close the app and reopen it every-time I get to a new chapter and it’s making me not enjoy reading books on here anymore. I thought it was just one of two books but it’s all of them It’s becoming a hassle to get through a books..Version: 5.6

Lost my money while buying books overseasSince the books can be purchased only in the currency of the country where the email is registered, I lost my money in failed transactions which were deducted from my account but never acknowledged by google. Contacting the play store did not help either..Version: 6.0.3

DRM Enabled CopyPlay books is DRM enabled. I have a major concern. At the rate at which many of the Google services are shuttering how would we have offline access to the books that we have purchased. Even if we have access to a copy we would not be able to read it on another software or device unless the DRM protection is lifted from our copy. This becomes a major hassle for those of us who would like to future proof our purchased copy so that we can read them in the future as well, in any case that the company shuts down. Please respond to urgent concern. Thanks..Version: 5.7.0

Needs improvementCan’t highlight if text you want to highlight goes over a page. You have to do 2 highlights. I find that annoying. Can’t copy for a quote.Version: 6.1.1

Why????When this app updates it kills all the books you have, you then have to download them again and again. What is most annoying is that the art work from most of the books I have paid for has now gone. Stop it Google make apps properly please..Version: 4.2.0

Awful appIn comparison to ibooks this app is ridiculous!.Version: 5.4.0

Hi!I’m trying this app out because I’m doing battage of the books so I need something that has all the books that are mostly free, my friends on my team are gonna get this so I’m super excited to try it out! 5 days later~ This app is horrible! I was using my school account cause I didn’t have another one and so did and so did my friends some bug got into all of our accounts and it stated that we had been hacked, if you are gonna get this app, DONT! And if you are gonna get it anyways, PLEASE DONT USE A SCHOOL OR PERSONAL ACCOUNT!!! Make a new one. It was all so horrible what happened to me and my friends so please take my advice and don’t get this app. I’m so disappointed and dissatisfied. I was so excited to try this app and now this makes me sick. I have been experiencing glitches on my school account ever since that on this app along with all my friends who got it. I’m actually to the point where I’m very concerned about my school acc, sometimes it won’t even open docs and stuff. Please fix this or take all accounts off so it makes it easier for everyone else. Ugh..Version: 5.9.0

The Bane of My ExistenceLet me start by saying that this is easily the worst reading app I’ve ever used. I’m amazed at its inability to perform even basic functions. It doesn’t recognize my pressing and dragging to highlight, so anything I’m reading as research takes 2-3 times as long. It randomly freezes and crashes, and pages take long seconds to turn. I’ve rage quit countless times and feel like a total idiot for buying 3 Google Books having not tried the apps. This app has now become the bane of my existence. Reading has become a giant source of frustration. Please do not make this mistake and buy their books if you rely heavily on reading apps!!! I honestly never write reviews but this product is so bad I had to say something..Version: 5.6

Huh??I looked up wof then I got into the ebook but it wouldn’t let me read!!.Version: 5.9.1

Please fixThe app was going and working perfectly until the recent app update, 5.02. Now the app doesn’t work as if it’s frozen and keeps crashing after waiting for it to load..Version: 5.0.2

BuggyIt’s fine as far as it goes, but has a number of bugs, not least that highlighting often simply doesn’t work, and it’s hard (impossible?) to highlight across pages. I’ll stick with Kindle which is much more reliable..Version: 5.6

Page doesn’t loadSometimes i turn the page and it’s just black!!.Version: 5.6

Play books white outHi, a message to the program writer. I find the program has a white out every three to four times I open it to continue reading my books on my Ipad Air2. The only fix at present is to delete the app from the ipad and reinstall. Hope you read this review. Thanks..Version: 6.0.1

Sucks that purchases don’t show upWasting my time troubleshooting why this crappy app doesn’t sync purchases with my play books purchases..Version: 5.5.2

DisappointingCrashes repeatedly, absolute junk of a product. I am truly underwhelmed and horrified that Google are proud to slap their brand onto this piece of trash. All I require is a sleek, seamless experience but I couldn’t even get past the first page without the screen blacking out. The absolute worst and most dysfunctional app I have ever used, definitely does not set to do what it claims. Not sure if actual reader or frustration simulator....Version: 4.2.1

Why????Why take away the ability to buy books through the app? If I have to use my computer to buy books I won’t be using this one to read or buy a book when I can use amazon, the app or on a computer to buy books. Same reason I quit using iBooks except I can only use the app for that one now, not the computer..Version: 5.0.2

DONT PICK this if Other Option ExistsBeen using this to read a bestseller technical book for the past 3 months. I've observed the following issues so far: 1. Highlight colors mismatch: I use both web browser version and iOS to read for convenience. When I highlight using blue or red in web browser, the highlights are displayed as green or yellow in iOS app. This is really annoying because I highlight a different category of things in green/yellow. This mixes them up. This is a really small but obvious and disturbing friction for users. 2. Images disappear: I paid $33 for the ebook, the same price as its paper copy. This I'm expecting the same content. However, certain images are not available in iOS app. 3. Highlight "wiggles": countless times when I highlighted, either a word or a sentence, the highlight would wiggle. For example, if a word appears in both the subtitle and the paragraph, when I highlight the one in the paragraph, the highlight would show up on the subtitle. When I highlight a sentence, the highlight will be displayed off by several words or even characters. 4. Highlight disappears: when the highlights don't wiggle, they would sometimes disappear. They'll still show up in the list of notes, but they stay invisible on the page. They GHOST you. 5. My thumbs are too tired to type more but I'm sure I observed more... I rarely rate apps, let alone writing a review this long, but 4.6/5 is beyond inconceivable..Version: 5.6

Glitching issuesI purchased a text book for this app and every time I highlight a sentence or a paragraph it automatically jumps to a different sentence that i did not highlight. Same with the page turning it skips pages It’s very frustrating! Pls fix this!.Version: 5.7.0

Not happy.I am half way through a book I have bought and the book/app is now glitching out. Opens on an older chapter and won’t let me go further in the book. I paid £7.99 for this book. My app and phone are up to date. I have uninstalled and reinstalled google play books app.....now what? How do I finish the book I PAID for?.Version: 5.5.1

Throw away your moneyJust bought my first audio book, received the receipt and account debited but cannot access the book on the app. Should have stuck with Apple books and Audible. Feel ripped off. No support or answers to my queries..Version: 5.8.0

Worse app for readingI wish I knew how to get my money back for the book I bought absolutely atrocious app I read on a tablet and my iPhone does it automatically save my page no ! So then if I drift off to sleep with out book marking my page I have to troll through pages to find where I left off.Version: 5.9.1

Technical issueThe app has worked great until a couple weeks ago now when I open an ebook the app kind of blinks or flashes when I touch the screen. All my other apps work great and the app works great for my iPad the issue is on my iPhone only. I’ve also done all available updates for the app and phone as well.Version: 5.7.0

Always many months lateAlways many many months late on releasing the newer entries of the book series that I am following where as amazon is almost always on time. Kepp this up and I’m leaving for amazon for good..Version: 5.5.1

Getting error frequentlyCannot highlight.Version: 5.5.2

Too average and lack some functionsWhy can’t I search on the app and only on the web? Also can’t adjust the font size? Not impressed..Version: 5.8.0

Spent money on incomplete books!Even though! They have a great selection of books for a competitive price... the quality of the books are absolutely mediocre...when I bought a book about art and none of the photos / images loaded, when I bought a business book the text resolution was absolutely unacceptable... selecting/highlighting is a chore!.. plus zero customer service!.Version: 4.0.2

No purchase buttonThere is no option to buy and download book, only button”How to read this book”, and when I press it it’s says “ in this app you can read book which you purchase in google play” , that’s it, no purchase button.Version: 4.2.1

Hyacinth in customer service is terribleI had an issue I need help from customer support and the rep hyacinth was horrible. He told me to ask for help in again in 90 days and is asking me to wait 90 days to submit my request again which is a long time. Do they not realize 90 days is a long time for a customer to wait?.Version: 6.2.0

☹️ bad updateI love this app as depending on the system you use you can listen to your books which is a feature I love. I wish it read PDF books as well however, for some reason the latest update has every book regardless of form errors out. All I get is a message saying there was an error uploading the file. Just to be on the safe side I have tried to re-download one of my previously downloaded books from my IF app (Instafreebie) and I still get an upload error message. Outside of this first and only issue I have had with this app I would give it five stars however the fact that it’s not working for any new books I buy or books from the authors I review for I have to give it 1 star as I am now forced to use other reading apps rather than the one I want to use..Version: 4.0.2

Downloaded books get deleted after switching to another account.Downloaded books get deleted after switching to another account. I have been using play books for years and personally it’s my favorite book reading aap . On previous versions of this aap the user could download books on different accounts and the books won’t get deleted after switching the accounts but this update deletes books after switching account . I will give 5 stars once this issue is fixed..Version: 5.1.0

Log in failureI tried logging in and since I forgot my password I had a code sent to my email. I used it and wasn’t able to change my password and log in and I tried three times. Deleting the app now.Version: 5.5.2

Too slowThis app does this job however it takes ages to load the contents table on my old iPad. The contents table allows you to navigate, which is very useful, however it takes about 10 seconds to load. Once the app even crashed and I lost my page. Other than the performance issues it seems to be a decent app. Maybe I need more powerful hardware! New iPad are not cheap..Version: 5.4.0

I hate it so muchPartial payments are not allowed so I will have this $8.50 in google play gift card for the rest of my life, since I cannot purchase anything at that exact amount. Reading series like manga or graphic novels is an awful experience, since the series don’t stay together. The app acts like a bookstore, where everything is individual, so that would make sense, if you could purchase products from the app itself. So if this is simply a reading app now, instead of a marketplace, why is it so difficult to view products together? You can place items on a shelf but you can’t make them go in chronological order all the time. My Skip Beat shelf goes 1 2 3 11 10 16. It would be so nice for a reading app to move seamlessly into the next book in a series, and be smart enough to know it’s in your library. I know apps don’t have that yet, so it’s not strictly a Google Play problem, but it would be nice. Now it just says « you’ve reached the end of the book. There are more on the Google Play website ». No link, so go do it yourself! Every time, for all 45 volumes I have in my library. You can’t even tap on the name of the author so search them directly. Maybe even a playlist function would work. Like Peloton does now. There must be some really strict rights agreements that make it so you can’t purchase books from any reading app anymore….Version: 6.0.3

Needs scroll functionI really like this app, but the one thing that let it down is the lack of scroll function compared to Apple Books. Please install scroll function. Also in app purchases would be good.Version: 5.6.1

When you reach the end of a sample, you should be presented a link to buy the bookHaving to go the website and find the book all over again just isn't intuitive, considering you can download samples within the app.Version: 6.0.1

Not bad..butBought a £52 book for college and as u can imagine a big book. Happened to look at a colleagues hard copy and notice they had printed tables and figures in the book which wasn’t displaying on my iPad. Tried to go with original txt and although the tables etc were there they were ineligible......tried to get a refund but because it was over 30 days I couldn’t.....not happy.Version: 5.4.0

Effective reader app crippled by lack of sync across devicesForgetting about the fact that you can’t make purchases in the app - because that’s Apple’s fault - the real issue is that this app does not sync progress correctly across devices. Worse! Whatever point you’ve read up to on one device “sticks” and all other devices will reset back to it if you try to read there. Meaning if I’ve read to page 100 on one device, read to page 150 on another, when I sign into a third device it moves me back to 100 without asking, then moves me back to 100 on all devices! I have to keep a separate notepad of what page I’m on in every device in order to read through something. You would really, really expect Google to figure this one out..Version: 6.1.1

Annotation Features are limited and extremely buggy.While highlighting text in a book on iOS app, I experience two symptoms repeatedly: when I attempt to highlight a sentence or 2, the highlight spontaneously highlighted the entire page when I didn’t want it to; and when I selected that (now) highlighted page to delete the highlight I didn’t want in the first place, the annotation controls do no appear so I can’t delete it. My only recourse is to keep rebooting the app and or my phone OS just to get this feature to work. After the most recent update for bug fixes, the ability to highlight/annotate has completely disappeared. Now, this app is essentially worthless..Version: 5.5.1

Currently strugglingI have loved the play books app in the past, but this one keeps freezing and doesn't sync up between devices and won't even let me read on my computer.... this is actually a really big issue because I have my uni textbooks on google play books and I need to be accessing them for class. Really not happy right now.Version: 5.2.0

Lacking in functionsThe app seems in general a cut below kindle and even basic PFD readers. But more specifically, the inability to copy/paste text and the lack of options to customise text. Really puts this app in the realm of apps I don’t use unless I absolutely have no choice but to. I’ve seen these same lack of features elsewhere and it seems to stem from an overprotection of material from theft. Which is understandable from their perspective, but the bottom line is that it’s still an app that is frustrating to use and doesn’t come close to the competition..Version: 6.3.1

Background downloads hopefully includes Resume downloadsI was just about to give it one star, but then saw the latest update includes background downloads. I have ‘lost’ several nearly complete audio book downloads because of the lack of the app being able to resume downloads. This is highly annoying when you are on a slow and limited data connection. Download resuming is a basic function and should have been in the first version. Hope that background downloads includes this function, but it didn’t get a mention and I haven’t been able to try it yet..Version: 4.2.1

Great app that is far more better than other apps but still more to doI found this app great, still there are lot of things to improve to make it better. The great thing is that it has best 3d flipping animation while turning pages and it also syncs book to its drive, it can read both pdf and epub though it would better if it could read azw3, djvu, mobi, etc. it would also be better if i could put on some notes in it also it has some issues to be fixed while, i turn on voice for book it shuts off while going to another page simply it could read only a page at a time. i cant edit highlights i've previously made, to edit those highlight i should have to delete whole selected highlight and should be made again. To make this app better if user could make folders to separate different files. It would be great and i would be so thankful if the above issues and features would be upgraded. Thankyou for listening me..Version: 5.4.0

Good enough I guess(TLDR: no page forward from left side of screen) Pros compared to native iBooks: - text size, font, spacing far more customizable - text fills to the edge of the screen (finally!) - navigation to the "bookstore" is hidden in the left toolbar (no more tapping 4 different bottom-row icons by accident when I just want to read books from my library) - interface just "feels" more updated/streamlined Cons: - NO OPTION TO PAGE FORWARD WHEN TAPPING THE LEFT SIDE OF THE SCREEN. This is my biggest issue with the app. If you don't mind, then you'll probably really like the app. It might make it almost unusable for me - no ability to sort books into folders (while convenient in iBooks, the fact that they force an "all books" main screen instead of just uncategorized books makes it worthless to me, so in that regards it's not a big issue that play books doesn't have it) I only use it to read uploaded epubs so I don't know how everything looks for purchased books. However, I would like the opportunity to customize the blank cover that shows up with uploaded books, with my own image or text. That alone would entice me to use this app even without the ability to page forward from the left of the screen..Version: 4.1.2

Google update ruined this for apple users.I love this app, but after the last update a couple days so, I can't read any book. It try's to load and just spins and spins and spins. I have deleted play books and re downloaded twice. Still won't work. Help! UPDATE: Called support, they told me to do everything I already did. Even though there all numerous complaints on here since PlayBooks last update...they say it is an Apple problem. Looks like they don't care to resolve the problem with Apple users. Anyone have a suggestion of a replacement app for apple users?.Version: 3.1.1

Needs improvement.Good app let down by 3 big faults that Google have never fixed. 1. Books can't be sorted manually into series order. This can make finding the next book in a series really difficult. 2. There's no vertical scrolling. 3. There's no clock while reading. Google keep updating the app but fail to deal with the faults so many people will buy elsewhere costing Google money..Version: 6.2.0

Cannot purchaseWhy would I even use the app to GAIN NEW KNOWLEDGE if the option of NEW books is not avaliable?.Version: 5.4.0

Does not Keep my Place Across DevicesOther than that Mrs Lincoln... When I go from one device it does not show my place on another device! Perhaps this is because I use Apple or perhaps because it's a preview but frankly that would not change my rating, Google has no excuse for that feature not working perfectly alll the time..Version: 5.1.2

Really easy to delete booksI read a book using this app and that experience was fine. Nothing to write home about but it got the job done. What really is annoying is how quickly I ACCIDENTALLY (and yet *permanently*) deleted the book I had JUST FINISHED. Gone forever and I’m going to have to rebuy it. How did I manage to do this, you might ask? I was poking around the app for features and saw that you can create “Shelves” – basically a way to categorize your collection. The … menu next to a book goes (in this order!): - Remove Download - Delete from your library - Add to shelves Yes, the options are next to each other. So you can imagine how easy it is to accidentally click on the delete option. And if you are already in a cadence of adding books to your shelves, how easily it is to tap delete, thinking you are confirming which shelf you’re adding the book to. I looked up how I could get the book back and it turns out I’m going to have to REBUY IT. I had just finished it and annotated it and everything. I have two unread purchases that I will read first, but I’m not going to use this app and really won’t recommend it to anyone either..Version: 6.1.1

Appalling!I have recently got the app for google books. This is THE WORST website I have ever used! I have finished a book and it suggests a further book. Great, I want to buy it but HOW. Instead of making it easy it is the most impossible website to navigate. Google needs to make it easy to buy, but oh no! If you suggest a read make it easy to buy with a "buy me" button. After a great deal of searching I have come to the "sample" offer. I want to buy it not sample it!! On another occasion I read the sample and when finished wanted to continue and buy the book. It was EXTREMELY difficult to do this. Google books - YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR WEBSITE EASY TO NAVIGATE AND BUY YOUR BOOJS..Version: 3.1.1

Worst app everI have never ever ever once been able to read a book i’ve downloaded to Google Play. I downloaded a few free ones (just to make sure it works before I pay for any e-books). The app just spends and spends and spends and never loads. I go back to the app days later there is an image of the book I click on it and it spins and spins and spins and never opens. Each time there’s an app update I update the app in hopes then I can read in the book in Google play but no I click on a book and it spins and spins and spins and spins and never opens. You would think it being Google, you could trust it would be a top notch product, but this app has taken Google down a few notches in my estimation. 😡.Version: 3.1.2

Like it if only though....I use this app to read at night but recently it’s freezing a lot n I can’t use it ... you can’t change page or do much at all..... what happened was working fine ..... I agree on second note about how to also purchase apps it’s blooming ridiculous too.Version: 5.0.2

Good app but needs a vertical scrolling optionLinks well between phone and iPad but prefer vertical scrolling option. If this feature was added would be 5 stars..Version: 6.1.1

Plz fix the problem!It was working beautifully until a few weeks ago. Recently it started crashing all the time. When I open the app, it freezes quite a while at first, then closes by itself. This app both on iPhone and iPad has same problem. Please fix this issue!.Version: 4.0.2

Download Issues unable to Contact Support easilyThe app has been great for me up until the most recent update. For some reason I am only able to read the sample and it will no longer allow me to purchase the entire e-book. Instead I am getting an error stating “books already purchased are available to read in this app.” I have not purchased the e-book at this point, what is the meaning of this? I have tried reinstalling and using the troubleshooting info, however, nothing has worked and it is extremely difficult finding an alternate way to get support..Version: 4.2.0

A dogs breakfastIn the latest version the list of bookmarks selectable from the menu gives no indication where they are and clicking on them does nothing. If text is highlighted it is invisible in the text but appears listed in the notes tab in the menu. Clicking on highlights in the list of notes tab sometimes takes you to that page, at other times it takes you to a different page. Likewise after adding a note to a section of text it is invisible and only appears in the list of notes selectable from the menu. Thus reading through text you have annotated heavily you have no indication where you have made notes and have to engage in guesswork by selecting the note list from the menu..Version: 5.5.2

Google is usually great - but not hereThis is one of those time you wish the justice department would enforce anti-trust laws. The first issue is, the book has no internal search feature. The second issue is that i kept getting an error that my book was open on another device - only i don’t have another device. It is conceivable that someone in the world hacked me and opened this very obscure book on Indian corporate governance - but unlikely. The worst part is the customer service. Or should i say the lack there of. And now the link doesn’t even work - at least they are honest. Let’s just hope their automated cars have better customer support..Version: 5.9.0

Text missing from the bottom of the pageText missing from some pages, because the page size don't fit on the screen, someone is see half of the line at the bottom. On the front page doesn't show the cover photo of the downloaded books. The previous version was awesome this current one have poor quality..Version: 5.0.2

Good selection, lousy softwareI’ve been able to find a selection of books on Play that I’ve not been able to find elsewhere. Sometimes, too, they’re cheaper. By contrast, the reading app is basic, though, with poor selection and highlighting one of its clumsiest features. Books are often scanned books that are highlighted unevenly i.e. there are highlight gaps between words in a highlighted sentence. Selection is for words only, not parts of words. Dashes between words makes individual words unselectable. You can’t select directly up because the colour selector box is plonked in the way. The product actually feels abandoned by Google, I wonder if it’s to be axed?.Version: 6.1.1


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