SimplyE

First things first: I love this app. I have gotten so much into reading again, and I’m really grateful that it’s so easy for me to read these amazing books in the palm of my hand. My only issues are that 1. there is currently no way to see what books I’ve read/reserved in the past. This is an issue because sometimes I run out of time to read something, it disappears, and I can’t remember what it was. 2. some titles that are widely available at any physical library aren’t there, and there’s no suggestion as to how we might find one, which again seems like it would be an easy fix, given that the library website has this information. A message like “sorry, this title is not available in SimplyE, but there is currently 1 copy at X library” would be a lot more helpful than simply not showing up in the search engine. Otherwise, really amazing app!

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

This is a great app for avid readers. Here’s how it could be better (I hope the developers are reading): 1. A way to gauge how far you are into a book and how much more is left. 2. Email or text notifications when your book is ready (bummer to wait months for a book, then lose it when you don’t see its available). 3. A way to leave reviews of books. 4. A reading log, that shows you what you’ve read to date. 5. An indicator on the app icon when it’s closed that you have a book available. 6. Some notice of how many days you have to check out a book before you loose it. 7. A history of books you’ve failed to check out, and lost, so you can get back in the queue easily. 8. A list of books you’d like to read, to make it easy to check out new ones when you’re ready. 9. A way to email a link to good books to your friends who use the app. I’m sure there are more, but this would be a great start. That said I do LOVE having a book on my phone at all times, for the low cost of paying my taxes. :) Thanks NY Public Library!

Update: all is fixed and I didn’t lose my books or my queue. Thank you! 1. All the books in my queue now goes into “My Books” tab, with a button to download, even though I know that just earlier today (before the update) I still had to wait for weeks for them to be available for me. 2. When I click “Download”, the button switches to “Read”, seemingly showing that the book has been downloaded successfully and now ready to read 3. When I click “Read”, an error message says “Could not display book - This book is corrupt and cannot be read”. 4. Nothing I can do to fix this error message, including quitting the app. 5. There is no option to remove the books from “My Books”. There’s no other button other than “Download” 6. All other new books that were not previously in the queue also get the same treatment as all the points noted below. None of them go to waitlist. All of them shows that it’s ready to read but when you click it, it shows the same “corrupt” message 7. Why is there no option to report the bug with screenshots??? It’s so frustrating! I agree with the review before me that says that every time there’s an update, this app becomes worse!

When the app is functioning well it’s one of my favorites and my primary way to read when commuting or traveling. The selection is great. However, there are many glitches and they don’t seem to improve year to year. Recently the app suddenly put all my reserve books into my main reading tab ready for download- when I did download then it says its corrupt. When I return and hit reserve it goes to download again. This is not the first time this has happened. Last time I had to delete & reinstall the app to get it fixed- losing all my books and having to wait for many to become available again after nearly finishing them or being at the front of the reserve order. The app has the report an issue section but there’s never any follow up- feels like asking for help into a void.