BookBuddy
reviews and complaints

When you first download the app it's a trial version up to 50 books. After the 50th book if you like it and want to keeping adding more books you must purchase it. I feel like it's worth the price which is around 5 dollars (USD). The barcode doesn't work that well but the online works great. It will keep letting you add books without clearing out the title or the author name until you want it cleared out. You can pick your book cover to match your own book by editing it. Add what vol it is if it's in a series and which series it is. Organized the books by author, title, date you entered them in and a few more options. If you're a collector of a curtain book and want different additions of the book it will let you add the same book twice, but be careful because as I said you can add the book twice. There is an option to back up the book lists and to print them out, if need be. So really just try it out if you don't like, don't buy it.

The concept is good but there are several major flaws that make this app hard to use

Most importantly: the bar code scanner fails 100% of the time on paperback novels. Works pretty well on hardbacks but ALWYS fails on paperbacks

There’s no easy way to batch input ISBN numbers. I have a number of older books without bar codes. I have to select “scan multiple barcodes” then click an (obscure) button that brings up an ISBN entry form for just *onebook. ISBN entry (including batches) should be on the top level menu

Finally, you can’t delete books from the search results. When purging books you have to either scroll to each one in the library listing or search, edit, scroll to the very bottom, click delete. Needs to add swipe-to-delete right from the search results.

Camera keeps resetting to auto flash no matter how many times I disable it

The app does a lot of things well, but the aforementioned items interfere with the most common tasks I perform.

Wow. Super useful, well designed, and continually updated app. I’ve been wanting to write down a list of the books I have but the thought became too time consuming before this. For most books that have a UPC code, you can just scan them and they’re added. The scanner is so good, you can select “scan multiple books”then just tilt books off your shelf to reveal the bar code, the scanner will register, and you go to the next book. I’ve scanned over 300 books in a few hours over the last few days. Most took 1-2 seconds each to add. As I have a lot of weird old books with no UPC, ISBN or anything like that, those I usually have to add manually, but it’s entirely good and expected. You can add a photo for each, either automatically if it can be found online, by searching online, or by taking a photo on your own. Also has a wishlist feature, a way to borrow/loan books, a way to add e-books and audiobooks, export and backup functions...it really has everything.

My use for this app was to categorize my collection. I have a few things that I would like the app to add before purchasing.

1) Bulk editing is flawed. It says book scanned, however, it may not have "found" the book. What that means? You scan 50 books, four didn't go in. Which four? Well, let me just match up the other 46 books to find what's left.

The fix? Let me know while scanning that the info was not found so I can set it aside. Tada!

2) Still with bulk. I need these 50 books I just scanned in the same personal category. It seems there is no way to bulk edit, even directly after the scanning process.

The fix? An option to put all just scanned books in same category. Or, (less desirable but maybe workable) bulk of editing by selecting more than one book to edit.

3) Within trial mode, had about 5 not scan the first time. They did let though. @.@

I'm sure there are many other things to improve on this app but this is as far as I got before my breaking point.

Amended review (original follows):

I am now at least 5 years in. I had my second contact with support this week. It was related to categorization of books following CSV import. I received an accurate response to my email within 24 hours.

This app just works. It is responsive in handling what I think is large personal collection.

>>>>>>>>>

I have used another app for years (from my iPhone 3 days) but its user interface has become difficult to use. Not long ago, I moved and unpacked my books expeditiously for emptying boxes but its not easy to find things. I decided to add location information to each book. I started using my legacy app and found the UI to be too cumbersome. So, I created a CSV export that was easily imported into Book Buddy. I have gone through a few iterations (as I tag each book case). So far, I have had one question that was excellently handled by support. The responsiveness of support compensated for lack of real documentation. The PDF export produces a beautiful catalog.

I am addicted to books! When I go to Barnes & Noble I can't tell you how many times I questioned whether I bought a particular book or if I just thought about buying it too much and thought I had it! This app fixes all problems! This may be my favorite app because I feel organized clarified and all around happy after I did the in app upgrade to unlimited (which I REALLY needed). I told my mom about it and she now has and loves the app (again with the upgrade...worth the price)!

I like how this app doesn't force you to do the whole online community thing which is why all of its competing apps were deleted after finding this app. I would like to recommend to the developers creating an identical app for CDs and vinyls etc. There are many of us who don't download music but buy our CDs at the book store with our paper books (not ebooks). All CDs apps like this are too built up in accounts and online communities. If there were a CD app like this I would immediately buy the unlimited storage version!

Again...GREAT APP!

I have a lot of books, and I have bought duplicates before. I tried the free download were I could enter 50 books for free. I really enjoyed how I can tag the books with my own tags. there are many ways to group the books and sort them. I also like the feature where you could borrow the book to someone so you wouldn't forget who has your book. I also found scanning them in easy. I paid the fee and I do not regret it at all. Fair warning if you have a lot of books it's gonna take a long time to get them all in. I'm currently at 450 and only 75% done. I break it down and only do 50 books in each setting. Downsides to this app are not all books can be scanned. It's not the apps fault, not all books have scannable ISBN codes. Tip: if the barcode on the back of the book does not work sometimes the barcode in the front cover will bring up the information. To deal with books that can't be scanned the app lets you search for the book online and if that doesn't work you can manually enter all the information yourself. So far I've only run into two books that I could not find on the Internet. I like this app so much that I also got the MovieBuddy app as well. I recommend this for anyone who has a large library. Great for teacher classroom libraries as well.

This is a great app to track the books you own and /or the books you have read. it allows you to perform an easy on-line search for book authors or titles via Google Books. The book information which is then imported to BookBuddy includes a nice brief book description. You can specify the book genre, and the book series name and number as appropriate. Books can be sorted by author , title , genre, series, date published, your book rating, etc. I found the price of $5 for BookBuddy Pro to be very reasonable for such a versatile book manager app that will store up to 10,000 books. The app allows for quick backup to your personal Dropbox account. A free Dropbox account provides 2 GB of storage which should be sufficent for thousands of books. In addition, with the help of the free Calibre program, you can convert your Kindle or other e-book format to a CSV file (comma separated values) and then import them into BookBuddy. Full disclosure: this requires a few steps in Calibre to import from Kindle, convert to a library list and then export in CSV format for import to BookBuddy. The only downside I will mention is that the ISBN scan feature only recognized about 20% of the books I attempted to scan. Because of this I generally used the on-line search feature to compile my library.

I have read reviews and decided to try Book Crawler and BookBuddy. BookBuddy is so easy to use, just pick up your device and start scanning. (Reminds me of the Fitbit app in its format, so simple.) I love how you can use your entire screen to scan, not having to align to an outlined box. And you can scan multiple books at once, before needing to review and save. There isn't a good option for marking a book as read, however, without having to choose an exact date (which is annoying if, like me, you are just starting to catalog a large home library). That's only a little thing, but I really had to think hard about choosing this app over others as it didn't recognize about 25% of the first batch of books. Of those, a few it did recognize did not have cover pics. Maybe my choices were obscure, you're thinking. Umm, no. Two were Newbery Medal winners! Really? It couldn't find Number the Stars by Lois Lowry? The Newbery and Caldecott book lists should be a priority! Same for other award lists. That being said, it did recognize a book I doubted it would find, as it is from a local author more regionally known. Books that weren't recognized can easily be searched for and added, which makes this app workable enough for me to keep using it. With updates, I assume increasingly more books will be able to be recognized.

Cons to this app are that it won’t have a lot of the books in the Amazon catalog, so they must be entered manually. The most annoying thing about this app is that it crashes about half the time when you’re manually entering or updating a book’s information. This has been a constant issue regardless of which app version I’ve used or what device I’m using. They’ve never been able to fix this this major issue, no matter what app update they devise . Now, with Version 9.3.10, the book series are no longer sorted low to high by volume number but sorted alphabetically by title as the default sorting order and users have no options to change this frustratingly inconvenient and chaotic sorting method. The sync system is never up to date. I’ve added books each day since 2/12/23 and now 13 days later, the synced device has not updated or added any books since 2/13/23 despite backing up main device and syncing the other device each day. They always say delete the synced app, reinstall, then download from the backup, but it never works and can take days to fully sync even with fiber optic internet. Why do they keep making this app worse instead of better?
Updated per Developer’s request- sort issue appears to be fixed for now. Sync issue is still a major problem, at least with the Pro version of the app, no matter if syncing with iCloud or Dropbox.

This is the best book app out there so far! I love the clean, modern font and set up. It really helps to keep everything organized.

Another awesome quality is the ads - or, rather, the lack thereof. There's no advertisement and I seriously love that, please never change it.

However, I'd really love an update or few...

First, I need to be able to do half-stars! So many of the books I read are 3.5/5 stars or 4.5/5 stars. It would be an awesome addition that would really bump this app to a 4/5! :)

Second, and this is kinda big so I understand that it's probably not gonna happen soon, but if I could view other people's libraries? Like if I searched my friend's username and I could see that she has a book i want so i could send her a message through the app and ask her to borrow it. Obviously this would need privacy settings of its own of course.

Third, I recently purchased the full version (I used to have the free). I know the large cost is likely due to the absence of advertisement (like i said, love that), but i feel it should come with more than just unlimited shelf space. the full/pro version, at $5, should bring other features too, like maybe a customizable color scheme? (this update would def bring yall to a 5!)

thanks if you read it!

tl;dr: good app, but i wish i could rate my books with half-stars and that the Pro version upgrade had more than just unlimited shelf space. :)

EDIT (1/3): I just noticed that there's another reviewer who complains about the fact that the app doesn't warn you when it skips a book in batch scanning-- in 2013. So clearly the devs are not responding to feedback regarding the issues with this app.

ORIGINAL (12/14)
Many of the books I tried with this app were found (all children's books), but there were two major flaws that, until addressed, will prevent me from upgrading.

I did a batch scan of about 30 children's books. The app "recognized" the titles, publishers and covers for many of the books I scanned, yet did not have anything in the field listing the books' authors. For my purposes, all I cared about were the titles and covers. However, the app wouldn't allow me to save a record it provided unless i manually filled in the author field. I started to do so but realized at a certain point that The books I had in a stack didn't correspond 100% with the records the app generated. It turns out that the app doesn't give any indication in bulk-scan mode when a book is not recognized (ie when the app doesn't generate a record for a scanned book. So although I scanned 30 books, at the end I had 27 records, and had to manually go through each book to see which ones were missing in the app. To save those records without author field entries, I just typed nonsense in for author names.

So the app requires a great deal of manual labor in its present state, and for no good reason other than flaws in programming.

This is the best app ever. Ease of use, fast, pleasant interface, a small learning curve, and friendly & very helpful customer service.

I have an office, clinic, home, scanned books, Kobo & kindle, and the location field alone makes this app worth it. Within a day of testing the free version of BookBuddy I was ready to upgrade to Pro.(Nothing’s free and I purchase apps I use.) Entering data is really easy. The barcode scan works great, populating all default fields quickly. Typing in an ISBN for look-up and manual entry of book details are options, too. It’s easy to switch out the downloaded book picture with a pic that you prefer. If you want to move a book from one category to another, this is easily done without going into editing mode. There are enough fields to keep track of most data without cluttering the app. I love this app’s simplicity. I wish there were a Mac version.

BookBuddy’s organization helps me keep track of where books are when I need them and whether I own a particular book so I don’t purchase duplicates or later editions of the same book.

I’ve only input a fraction of my library so far, a little over 200 books, and there is no problem with delayed response or crashing. I expect this will be true once I have most of my collection catalogued.

One tip - if you have multiple books from one location, choose that location before inputting book data. Otherwise the books will be unclassified and you’ll need to assign each a location individually. Unless there is a batch feature I missed.

My daughter and I have entered over 800 books using the Book Buddy app in about a weeks time. It is so easy to enter them, organize them, and search for them. I give it an enthusiastic 5 stars! Perfect app for us busy homeschool families that have a love for books, wish to find them easily, and wish to save money by not purchasing books already owned but cannot find or have forgotten about (big plus).

After entering the books, we then put them on the shelf in alphabetical order by title. (Could do by author's last name or other ways that suit you best.)

Pros:
- EASY to quickly enter the books. 95% of our books were entered using the "Scan multiple barcodes" or "Scan single barcode" option. Very fast method!

-For books that don't have an ISBN code (the other 5% of our books), they are easily entered using the "Search online" option, which then gathers the information from online and automatically enters it into Book Buddy.

-For the odd books that are out-of-print or not found for some other reason, then it is still very easy to manually enter the books, add a picture, and be done.

-Has multiple options as to what information to include with the books: author, publisher, number of pages, genre, physical location, status (unread, read, in-progress), series, volume number in the series, rating, favorites, category, loaned to, date loaned out, edition, date entered into library, quantity, summary, format, dimensions, weight, list price, purchase price, purchase place, purchase date, summary, and my favorite field - tags.

- Can take a picture of my book in the case that my edition doesn't match the current edition that came up when I scanned the barcode.

- Location: I appreciate that Book Buddy allows me to say where in my house the book is located, General Library, Oversized, Parents Library, Reference, [Child's name] Library, Upstairs Library, etc...

-TAGS! My favorite field! BB allows me to add as many tags as I wish. For instance, I have one book that has the following tags: "TOG Year 2, TOG Dialectic, TOG Read-Alouds, SL Core C, History: American, History: Naval, John Newberry Medal, Discoverers/Inventors, Navigating". So if I want to look in my library for books pertaining to "History: Naval", this book and all the other books with the same tag will appear. Wonderful!

- Sorting: BB gives me 23 different ways of sorting my books. Another great tool! My favorite sorting methods are by: Alphabetical by Title (or author or other fields), Physical Location, Series, Tag, & Loaned Out.

- Stable app - it has not crashed on me once.

- Export. Can export in HTML, CSV, or TSV formats. I've used CSV and successfully exported it, via email, to an Excel file.

- Can backup by linking to a Dropbox account. (I haven't tried this yet.)

- The creator of this app was obviously very thoughtful in all that they included.

Cons:
- When entering a book and checking tags, I need to scroll through my enormous list of tags. It'd be nice if it had a search box, like it does for genre.

- Biggest con for me is that they have not yet developed the same app for Windows, (I have Windows 8.1). I would LOVE it if they would develop this and make it so I can link the Book Buddy app on my iPhone with the same one my laptop, like I do Evernote. This is the one single con that had I realized this before I started using it, I might have tried a different app instead. But BB is so great that the next time I upgrade my phone, which is in a couple of months, BB has got me torn on which phone to get. I want a Windows phone, but I really like BB, so what do I do?

*** Makers of Book Buddy, PLEASE make an app for Windows! This app is such a blessing to the homeschooling community, that once the word gets out, would be used by many of us, especially if it can be linked across multiple devices with different OS's.

Five stars. If they fix the two cons I see, I'd give it 10 stars if I could!

This app has several ways you can sort the books that you scan into your library but not a single one of those ways is by author’s last name… you know, the way books are sorted in the store and in a library. Who sorts books any way other than by the author’s last name?!?

I downloaded the original free app several years ago. I don’t believe at the time there was a limit on the number of books I could include in the app. Imagine my surprise when I recently hit the new 50 book limit. And given what I’ve just read about the quality of the Pro version, I’ll be looking for a different tool.

I downloaded this app so I can have my full library at my fingertips. So I don’t buy the same book again. Problem is that I paid for a subscription or something it didn’t explain very well. But now I can’t find a way to cancel it. Because it not only said I paid a yearly subscription it charged me a monthly subscription after I already paid for the yearly.

This is good app in that it has a nice format and functions very well, but without paying $5 to upgrade, you can only scan 50 books. The free option feels misleading. I just got the app today and after barely scratching the surface of my books, it told me I reached the maximum amount of books. I don’t plan on spending 5 dollars just to catalog my books. Very disappointed and annoyed.

I needed the app to catalog my books because my shelves are SOOO messy! Anyway, after I catalogued 50 books, it said I would have to upgrade to Pro to scan any more. I wasted all my time cataloguing 50 books for this! That wasn’t even an eighth of the shelf! And I have three! Do you see what I’m getting at here?! Hahahaha. Well, I guess this app works great if you have less than 50 books

I really liked this app when I downloaded last week. It does at times not recognize some barcodes which I can understand but when using the scan multiple books option it wouldn't allow me to scan those books. I kept hitting save but it wouldn't budge. Also, one book it recognized but made me look up the author which wasn't listed so I COULD NOT save this book. Off to look for something worth my time.

I chose the paid version so I could upload all my books. Why does the app keep deleting books on me? No clue. I have around 330 in my library and it will randomly deletes some books. I can't add anything new because it will end up deleting something. That makes this app useless. I guess it's a bug or there is a hidden book limit in the paid version. If there is a limit, that is deceitful advertising.

Would be nicer if the differences between free and pro versions, such as a limitation to 50 books, was clearer. Did a lot of work to scan books in but then was forced to pay if I wanted to include everything. Also doesn't have a lot of books, about 25% of the books I own that are all recent it couldn't find the book. App seems easy to use and useful, just wish scanning worked better an the limitations were more upfront.

I was excited to finally find a book sorted that would go by genre. It split the series into random categories. ONE Harry Potter book was put under “Orphan” and most of the rest under fiction. Another HP book didn’t even have a genre apparently? Just one example but not a single book series stay together under the same genre. Sorting by author goes by authors First name?! And that’s if it even gets the author right. I had rick Riordan books under JK Rowling... -.-

If you’re looking for a free app to catalogue your home library, this app is a complete waste of time. The limit for the free app is like, 50 books. If you only have 50 books, you don’t need an app. You can easily keep 50 book titles in your head.

That being said, if I was willing to pay for the “pro” app, I would probably be writing a very positive review. They have a nice setup and it’s easy to use. But I don’t like being suckered in and then finding out that the word “free” was a gimmick.

I have waited so long for an application that would allow me to keep an inventory of my book collection, in addition to tracking books that I have loaned out! This solves everything. The scanner is a major bonus feature that I truly appreciate! I was able to scan all my books very few had to be added by online search. This is a great application for any book lover!

1/15
This was a five star review but in the recent update all my books were deleted with the exception of five. I have a back up in Dropbox created by the app and when I tried to import it, I received an error message that says the file extension is not supported. I'm thoroughly upset and have lost over 290 pieces of data. It took a lot of time to compile that and get it just the way I wanted. This is a major disappointment. I don't know if the information can be retrieved but you should fix this issue.