Libby, by OverDrive
reviews and complaints

I’ve never been a big fan of the royal family. Never quite understood how being born into a family could make one royal. I wouldn’t say I have any different opinion of that after reading the book.

What the book did change my mind about is a young man being born into royalty, and the impact that has on his life. And I don’t have this opinion, because the book is filled with complaints by Prince Harry. It is not. It’s filled with very interesting stories about what it was like, growing up as Prince Harry. People buying the book because they want all the dirt on the British family will be disappointed. I think that Prince Harry’s portrayal of his family is rather evenhanded and often filled with understanding about why things are the way they are. Understanding and some pain they all share as a result of a position that discourages feeling and sharing those feelings with the public. Diana was an exception to the rule.

He considers the same difficulties that he endured growing up royal as he considers why his father and brother have responded the way they have to what has been done by the press. The only finger-pointing that happens in Prince Harry’s book is with the press. I share his disgust of the British press. I don’t restrict it just to the British press either. The American press brought us a president who is unfit for office and continues to gain attention with behaviors that most of us as parents would not except from our children. I don’t know when it started but I know that Harry’s life has been impacted by it since he was a 12-year-old boy and before. I blame the press for Diana’s early death leaving the boys, without a mother. He’s very open and honest about his own struggles and his behaviors as a young man.

The best part of the book in my opinion is when he talks about how he felt when he met Megan. And how he continues to feel about his wife and family. I think it’s criminal that the British government and British royal family are not taking care of the security needed for prince, Harry’s family. He didn’t ask to be born royal anymore than a child born in poverty asked to be born into poverty. The dangers that go with his place in life are the responsibility of state.

I enjoyed every moment of this book. The first 2/3 felt like sitting at a campfire, listening to Harry tells stories about his life. The last quarter of hearing him talk about his feelings for Meg is what I believe every woman hopes someone will feel about her.

7~ After all the issues I was having and deleting the Libby App, I decided to try it again and reinstalled it. I had done this before with no changes in operation, however this time I reinstalled it, magic happened and it worked properly. All my books that I had tried to hold, download, etc. popped up and either showed up on my shelf or in my hold area. I was able to place new books on hold. My major frustrations were addressed! Yay. But I was still a little skeptical because after all, it had worked for a short time before off and on. I've been using it for almost 2 weeks again and so far, knock on wood, it's still working as it should.

I still feel there aren't enough titles available without having to wait for them. I still don't like that it doesn't give you a hold position so you have no idea where you are and approximately the length of time you'll be waiting on said book.

I also noticed that when I listen on my phone and then later open it up to continue on my iPad, even though it's my account, it doesn't seamlessly start where I left off on the other device.

All in all, I'm glad it's finally got some of its bugs out. Whew!
***
Libby was supposed to be superior to Cloud Library. Overdrive has been unusable for I don't know how long so I stopped using it at least 2-3 years ago and having gone back over time and recently with the supposed upgrades... it still is lacking. I haven't been able to borrow a book or even place it on hold. I had several books that were on hold be canceled with no explanation. Since then is when I haven't been able to borrow or hold a book except for once when I did allow two books to be borrowed. Again no rhyme or reason. I'm so frustrated and dissapointed! I've had to reserve books from the library and pick them up bc Libby app and overdrive are truly worthless to me at this stage. I send a request for help to problem solve and got a very unhelpful reply.., and that was back when my holds were mysteriously "canceled". I also don't like that when I had the capability of placing holds, it didn't tell me what place I was like the Cloud Library did. They even said this Libby app will offer more titles and less wait times.. so not true. Just about every book I've tried to check out is a hold whereas this was not the case on Cloud Library. I'm not sure if this app has bugs to tweak out or what, but they need to get on it bc I'm about to quit this app. I'm just overall shaking my head with this app...

Update : three weeks into it and my opinion is that it is worse than my first frustrating uses.Libby can’t nit use to not load properly on my iPad AND it keeps giving me the “ we’ve encountered a problem it COULD BE YOUR INTERNET Connection “ when my internet connection is fine fo everything BUT Libby. PLEASE FIX these issues Libby _ Overdrive was much easier to find the place where you wanted to re listen or restart and frankly just all around easier to use. I hate that we couldn’t bring our history because now I don’t always know whether I’ve listened to that particular book in a series especially when often you have to hop around in a series because the preceding Titles are being borrowed by others. Overall Libby is just a huge disappointment.

I know people like change but I am very disappointed so far, The app on both my phone and iPad eats up my battery much faster an overdrive limiting how much I can search and listen. Furthermore, I find the phone app and iPad more difficult to navigate and to search. I have not yet noticed anything on the positive although I thought there was going to be more access to a wider variety of books.
Update : I would take another star away. It is more difficult to find what I am looking for and definitely goes slower for me than overdrive. Furthermore I may be imaging things but it seems like less choices in books. My search only showed 80,in the search field and I know the field is bigger than 80books
Further update : 0 stars I completely disdain this forced new app nothing downloads on my iPad keeps saying it’s not connected which is Baloney because I have full stars and am standing right next to it
Takes what seems forever to open versus the quickness of Overdrive does not appear to be workable with or without internet
Why didn’t You fix these issues before Forcing people to give up Overdrive. I would put this all in caps to emphasize but I that may turn others off to the review .
Let Libby know it Needs to Fix these things
Two weeks into it and I am not any more pro Libby than before after being forced to change the darn app is slower, has multiple glitches and is just more difficult I general to use than Overdrive. Half of the new books I download will not play and keep giving me error messages “ it may be your internet” *#&@ which is NOT true b cause everything loads fine and I NEVER received that message with OVerdrive.
PLEASE FIX THIS APP! I listen to over two hundred books a year driving to work and doing household chores and was NEVER disappointed in Overdrive.

OMG!
I’m back to listening and reading some fanfuxxintastic Shiets! Traveling through Europe July 2 - November 17 Libby was incredible.Having bough approximately 10 books in Austria and Croatia , listening to some, “Far From the Madding Crowd” and a couple others...I’d fallen off Libby. Since then, I’ve been immersed in local and social publications about Egypt , Ethiopia , and now Kenya . Frankly, and sadly, there wasn’t much weeding tool in Egypt at least not much that wasn’t English. Sadly, we need a populace that I’ve met did not read much. Sad face! However, crossing the border – actually flying into Addis Ababa 19 January, 2022, I was pleasantly enthralled with having bookstores, and people that like to discuss politics, philosophy, psychology, social issues with cabdrivers, other locals who happen to know a little bit English, and pick up a newspaper occasionally in English.

However, LIBBY has been my best friend (ignored until recently), and revitalized after I’ve taken photos of about 15 bucks in a local bookstore here in Nairobi I’d like to read about the canyon experience, the African experience, and other others I hope you and Libby.

Currently listening to President Barak Obama’s, “Promised Land”, and the very SEXY “Come as you Are,“ by _____
I’m BACK BABY!

Libby App
1. It’s absolutely FREEEEEE!
2. There are never any possibilities of losing a book or forgetting due dates or returning anything.
3. I’ve increased my reading by at least x3!
4. Having the ability BC (Before Corona) to listen while I’ve also checked the book out so I can read along has been essential; especially with Science or other more heady materials I’ve normally struggled with, but Libby makes learning that much easier.
5. I can change the speed of audiobooks-listening to YT or other sites’ readings can get tedious because they’re read at only one speed. Libby’s four or five speeds gives me more options.

Then there’s the organization. It’s awesome planning your next reads knowing what’s available or how long you have to finish current books.

Libby may NOT have every title like, Joseph Campbell’s 2008 “The Hero With a Thousand Faces”, which I’d started the PDF in Vietnam five years ago, but had to break down last year and buy it, since my cousin was also reading it. However, like those Science, Math and other heavy books, I’d love to listen AS I read to have those TWO methods of absorbing this incredible book.

No App is perfect, but when it’s FREEEEEE! I can forgive minor inconveniences.

Rock on Libby!

Cons: The biggest drawback to this app is its search functionality. Specifically searching by title or author. I’m not sure why this app’s search is so much less powerful/intelligent, but I’m still using Overdrive as a search tool, to my annoyance. I should be able to search for any author or title and have its search words pull what I want as the very first result, but that is never the case. I usually have to scroll and scroll and sometimes it doesn’t even show up at all, and then I go to Overdrive - and wouldn’t you know it, my library DOES have it and Overdrive’s search has my search words as the very first entry, just like google would. Another con for reading apps in general: why can’t we ever zoom in on graphics without ruining the entire frame? If I’m reading White Sands (an important Cosmere entry), it’s almost impossible to read it due to the small font - and maps? Maps seem to be useless in an ebook because we can’t actual zoom in to read it without it simply turning to the next page. So in general, I think the e reading industry could make zooming more functional. Pros: the ability to push back a rental by just one day is very helpful. Sometimes you haven’t finished a previous book and you want to give others a chance to grab the next one while you finish your plate, so to speak. It makes me feel much less greedy for always maxing out my holds and loans all the time. It also means that my TBR is gigantic because it’s so easy to put off books, but that’s more a personal issue than anything. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been putting off Red Sister, but it feels like eons at this point. I will say though that sometimes it’ll show that one person is waiting even though there’s another book open for loan, and it’s really annoying to throw the book back in the stream only to discover that I need to fish it out again because nobody is actually waiting for it - but this is a very tiny problem and not really worth the rant I’ve just written. But I thought I’d mention it.

Update: just learned that my library will be ending the use of Overdrive in 2023 and I’m so irritated. Libby still has a terrible search function. And I was reading an old review from 3 years ago and they brought up a functionality of Overdrive that I use ALL THE TIME: the recommendations tab. My library’s new title buying program is absolutely stellar but it relies on Overdrive’s Recommendations functionality. Please, Libby devs, PLEASE include this before we move solely to your product. And seriously, I swear sometimes your search tool is drunk. Please take a look at it. Xo

Only using for periodicals/magazines at this time. Our library recently switched from RB Digital (RBD) to Overdrive/Libby and it took a bit of time to figure out how to find at least some of the mags we (husband and I) enjoyed from RBD. Unfortunately, some are no longer available to us. There are several features we miss:
- Being able to tell the software which mags you regularly read so it will inform you when next issue is available—RBD actually auto-downloaded it to your “shelf” so didn’t have to reinvent the wheel every time, doing a search to see if newest available yet, so could check it out. This is a feature we both miss the most.
- Being able to easily access back issues for almost every mag we were downloading—it was very easy in RBD. In Libby there are some that say “series” but it’s not all and not easy.
- The Libby search function is squirrelly about bringing up a genre or topic consistently, it varies by slight change in the key wording e.g., “knit” vs. “knitting” has given me different results where to my mind, anything to do with knitting at all should just come up using either.
- I don’t want to see books or a subset of magazines to search or peruse, or have to add the word magazine to my search Every Time—I want to open the app and be able to immediately choose ONLY magazines (as was possible with RBD) and then search, filter, or “shop” through to see if anything catches my eye.

There is a lot of stuff put in front of the user in Libby app but most of it is not useful to me or is so “weak” in what it offers to do that it is useless. A cutesy design does not a satisfactory, from a user standpoint, website/app make. They have a start but it needs work to make it truly competitive from a user-friendly and functional standpoint, at least for things I found very useful in years of using RBD.
Within the limitations, I have not had it crashing or locking up or other glitches (but only been using it for a month) and one useful feature that was NOT in RBD is the “read article” link at the bottom of each page which opens the mag page up to larger text that one scrolls through up and down. In RBD I just quickly enlarged areas I wanted to read more easily using quick “finger zoom” on my pad, so to speak, and did not find it onerous. I often do the same in Libby but I do use Libby’s link feature and it works. Hence the 3 stars. If they expanded their features to the items I discussed above, depending how successfully, I would probably give them 5 stars, but they aren’t there yet. Libby at this point might be fine for occasional users but is not what it could be.

I’ve done a disservice to this app—I slept on it for too long before realizing how cool it is.

To give some background, I’ve got an Audible subscription (which I may cancel now due to this app being so cool!) and I’ve got a few books on Apple Books and Amazon’s Kindle app. That said, they more than pale in comparison to this app.

Now, I know what you may be thinking: “who would care this much about a library app?” Well, you’re partially right—but I believe this app is one of the best things about the library services.

I’d better start off with the negatives because it’s such a short list: I haven’t encountered any yet. This app is everything that I’d want in a reading app: it’s easily navigable, it keeps track of your reading progress and even shows you how long it’d probably take you to finish the book you’re on based solely on your reading speed, and it’s just overall amazing!

To look a little deeper into some of the features that I particularly love, I’d say how easy it is to place a book on hold, get reading, and skip around in the very same book. Many of the reading apps I’ve tried suffer from the same problem that when you’ve left your place in a book to, say, see when the next chapter is, look at end-notes, or whatever, it’ll take a minute at least to navigate your way back to your spot. There’s a feature in this app, though, that’ll let you see where you left off and how long ago you left off, making it so easy to bounce between your place and end-notes. How cool is that?

The layout alone deserves 5-stars: from the first second I picked it up, it had such an intuitive design that I wish the people who designed it could be praised on it. Simplicity and accessibility seem to be their top priority and man, oh man, did they hit that! I wish I could say that I’ve encountered a bug or wish that stuff could be rearranged, anything, but no—this app is just that amazing.

Lastly, I wish I could say anything about the audio book portion of the app, but I haven’t had the chance to try it out like I have the reading portion. I think there’s something special in an app if it’s able to compel you to write a 5-star review on just half of its features and feel satisfied enough with it, but I digress. I will absolutely be trying it out in the future though, that’s unquestionable!

Overall, if there was a 6th star I could give this app, I absolutely would: it’s better than the Kindle app, Apple’s default book app, and Audible’s app combined, plus it’s absolutely free (as long as you have a library card, but come on—they last forever and you can get one for a single dollar). Don’t sleep on this app like I have—it’s worth way more than its own weight in gold!

I have been an avid Libby user for years. I like the app and have generally had no issues. However, there is one thing that I would like to see- a better handle on “mature” content.
As of right now, there’s the labels of general audience, mature audiences, etc. There are no specifications available on what exactly counts as “general content”. I assumed, since there is no easily accessible definition anywhere, that “juvenile” is for kids, “young adult” is aimed at teens, “general content” is not necessarily aimed at kids and may go over their heads, but is not inappropriate content (i.e. it’s aimed at the general population), and “mature content” is the raunchy, x-rated books. Multiple times now, I have naively downloaded a book labeled as “general” with no warnings or red flags in the description and found explicit content. Not some drug use or a few f-bombs. Full, explicit sex scenes, one containing assault, all NOT marked as mature content. Considering the platform does carry kids books, to the point where they have their own filter, you would think they would be aware of young users. I personally was 12 or 13 when I ran into this the first time. Other books under that same label had been safe, so I had no idea. I do check the intended audience, but there is no point if Libby is not going to define who each is intended for or actually enforce it.
There is also no appeal system. If I run into something explicit, there is no way besides tagging (which only works for myself) for me to mark it. To do so, I need to first at least skim the book in question, so that defeats the purpose of avoiding it.
I understand that by going on a platform intended largely for adults or children monitored by adults, there is a certain risk I will take. But the mechanism to avoid giving unknowing children literal pornography is already in place. We have the general/mature audiences specifications- could you consider using it a bit more? And giving users a way to flag content that is inappropriately tagged. To be blunt, users do look for that sort of material. I’m sure both us kids that don’t like trendy, cliche YA protagonists and the smut enthusiasts would enjoy being able to find what we’re looking for without a playing a game of general content literary roulette. Even if it’s not marked as “mature”, there could still be a marker. Maybe a little fire symbol or something on a banner across the cover, combined with a new tag. If x amount of users appeal it, it gets reviewed and the marker is officially added.
I’m 17 now, so this has been an issue for quite some time. As of right now, I only use it for travel and a few specific books I have previously read due to these issues.
Thank you.

From overdrive.com: “Borrow ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more from your local library for free! Libby is the newer library reading app by OverDrive, loved by millions of readers worldwide.” Libby is one of my favorite apps, and with good reason. I have links to the three libraries I have cards or e-cards for; I can do searches easily; Libby tracks my holds and checkouts. for all three libraries; and I can not only listen to my libraries’ audiobook selections, but I can read ebooks either directly on the Libby app or on my Kindle. Further it syncs my ebooks and audiobooks across my devices so that I can switch easily between laptop, tablet, and phone for reading or listening. Setting up my Libby was pretty easy. I found it through the library I use most often – Brooklyn Public Library – and set it up to use that library card. I then added my card for the New York Public Library system. I did not have a current card for the Queens Borough Public Library system, but Libby let me set one up using my cell phone number. Theoretically, I can add other libraries that will give me a card or let me set up an e-card, but I’m pretty happy having all three New York library systems available. Moving between the systems is easy — just a click on an icon. Searches are pretty easy, too. Once I’ve searched one library, I just have to switch libraries, and click on search and the title of my most recent search to search the same book at one of my other libraries. Even better, I can borrow, renew, and return items through Libby itself. Libby lets me know when it’s time to renew or return something, and if the item in question is on hold. If it is on hold and cannot be renewed for that reason, it gives me an option to place a new hold on the item. It also lets me know how many times I have renewed an item, and exactly what time of the day a loan will end. There are a few things Libby doesn’t do. I cannot set up an e-card for just any library through them…as an example, New Jersey’s library system does not do cards for out-of-staters, so I cannot set one up in Libby. Another thing Libby doesn’t do is to automatically add a book to my Goodreads reading challenge for the year the way my actual Kindle does. This is not a huge issue, but it would be nice if it took care of that step the way Kindle does. I also need to write any reviews I want to write on either Goodreads, Amazon, or my blog and manually copy them to wherever I want them posted. Again, more of an inconvenience than a major issue, but it would be lovely if this could happen. So, overall, I would give Overdrive’s Libby app a 9 out of 10, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys ebooks and audiobooks as well as the hardcovers and paperbacks many of us grew up with.

The outlander books are written by Diana Gabaldon and I love how she tells the story of time travelers, people that are like us. She takes us to a world where we can imagine that we lived in a different time and place and experience some of the day-to-day activities that happened years ago. Just a fantasy of reading a book and it taking you somewhere else and hearing the thoughts of the people in the book are touching. Many times these people think and express their feelings just like we would and it’s very relatable. Everyone needs to travel in their mind and live in someone else’s shoes for a while. That’s how we grow and we learn and we try to understand why people do the things they do. These book are made of strong characters who don’t cry and complain they just survive and live and carry on till tomorrow and protect their families and our admirable people. I love these experiences and day-to-day activities that help me to understand how people really did live back in those times. Just going to a porta potty or how they’re going to trade with the Indians to get corn or how they do physical things like cutting trees down or sowing plants in the ground so they have a harvest. I just love her books and the detail that she adds that tells us what things look like what they taste like what they smell like how they feel she gives you the history. Excellent books great reads. You will enjoy these. Thank you Diana for writing these books that have taken me out of my day-to-day life and to run around with Jamie and Claire and their daughter Brianna and her husband Roger. Can you believe I even know their names. A lot of times I read books and I forget the main characters names I just read about them. But these people are so strong and brave and they are mentors to a lot of us to help us to grow and to understand that people are different we have different needs we love different places we do different things we communicate differently we have different traditions and we should respect these. I like this book because they don’t judge they just live and move forward. I like how she makes these people real and are not wanting to exclude different people because of their thinking or talk down to anyone because they don’t live the way they did in the future. These books are written with compassion and understanding they live but not judge. These are actually sort of realist people. They don’t play with that political Stuff , they are actually sort of Downtown to earth people. They don’t play with that petty political crap and they don’t buy into all this culture destroying thinking. They just love live and are happy. Their basic people looking to live a good life. That’s what we should be living and is why I like these people and these books. Highly recommend.

I recently posted this to Facebook, and I feel it sums up how I feel quite well:

When I was young, I used to read all the time. Then life got busy - homework, chores, errands, and responsibilities. A never ending flow of things that seemed pressing crowded up my schedule and left no time for anything else. I remember missing it for a while, but eventually I forgot what it had been like to sit in my comfy round chair, happily gobbling up Goosebumps and Harry Potter.

Life hasn’t gotten any less busy. I still have very little free time to just sit and read, and if I were to try to carve out the time, I would have to sacrifice other things that are important to me.

However, I’ve recently found another option: audiobooks. A couple of months ago, I downloaded the app Libby. I wasn’t sure what the selection would be like, but I figured it would be fun to listen to something while I walked Luna. The selection was far beyond my expectations. I borrowed Stephen King’s “It”, and started cleaning the house. By the end of the day, I was almost a quarter of the way through. It took me just under a month to finish the whole thing.

Since then, I’ve finished 4 more audiobooks. I listen while I drive/walk to work (or anywhere else), walk Luna, clean the house, run errands, etc. Suddenly it feels like I have endless time. I just completed Ready Player One (amazing, btw), and I have 8 more Stephen King novels queued up. Any one of these would have taken me probably a year to finish - his books have a reputation for being long, and I have always seemed to have something more “important” to do. But if I keep going at the rate I have been, I can wrap up The Green Mile, The Shining, Needful Things, Hearts in Atlantis, Shawshank Redemption, Salem’s Lot (one of my mom’s personal favorites), Misery, and Pet Semetary in just under 3 months.

I know it sounds dumb, but I am very passionate about this: if you wish you had more time to read, try audiobooks.

Libby connects to your local library system (you do have to have a card), and is 100% free. You can put currently checked out titles on hold directly through the app, and the search and spotlight features are amazing.

I understand they won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, but listening to audiobooks has helped me better balance the things I HAVE to do with the things I LOVE doing. I no longer look at the bookshelf in my room with a strange combination of longing and guilt. I now enjoy the moments of my day that used to be tedious and empty.

I am so excited to keep listening.

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” – Ray Bradbury

TLDR: if “read more” was on your list of New Years resolutions, check out the audiobook selection on the app Libby. It might just change your life.

Overdrive recently informed me that my library is retiring the app in favor of Libby. I was pretty upset to see this announcement - I had downloaded Libby a few years ago and immediately discovered that it was not accessible to screen readers. Luckily, this is no longer the case. I’ve had no issues navigating Libby with voiceover. In fact, it’s been a pretty great experience so far… with a few major exceptions.

Libby still has issues with visual accessibility. The accessibility setting designed to increase contrast still favors middling gray and dark red text, which I found particularly difficult to read in dark mode. My preference is all white text on black backgrounds or vice versa, but all I really need to navigate is a bit more contrast.

I also found Libby’s audiobook interface difficult to navigate. Touching the screen or swiping in the wrong place seems to skip me around in the book by a random number of seconds, which is one of FOUR different ways that you can skip around the book using that screen (the others are +/- 15 seconds buttons, skip to next or previous track, the opaque position bar that doesn’t actually tell you what your relative position in the book is). I like options as much as the next guy, but the simpler overdrive audiobook player is much easier for me to understand and navigate. I would love an option to bring that back, or at least an accessibility option to disable some of the gestures.

Moving away from the access issues, the actual reason I started my review is that the Libby audiobook player is now giving me an error. In the six hours since I got the app it has not succeeded in downloading my one (1) audiobook, despite being connected to decent Wi-Fi.

Overdrive gives me control of my downloads - I can choose which parts of an audiobook to download (useful if I’m short on space or cellular data), delete or retry specific files if there’s a problem, and see information about download progress. Libby only gives me one option: download the entire book, with no control and no way to tell what’s wrong if there’s an error.

I can’t even tell whether Libby is still doing the thing I found most annoying about overdrive and trying to download every part of a book in parallel, which leads to parts becoming available in essentially random order and long waiting periods before you can start the book, as well as errors on every single part of the book if your Wi-Fi cuts out halfway through the process. I can’t even manually override this like I do in overdrive by managing files, because there’s no way for me to see the files.

My ideal system would have overdrive-level file management plus an option to limit the number of parallel downloads (prioritizing the start of the book, because that’s almost always the part I want to access first). I would be able to use the app functionally with just one or the other.

This is an update (Aug 2020) due to an issue I ran into...

I just experience an issue for the first time. My phone locked up and after resetting, Libby App stated there was no internet connection. I tried a few suggestions from App (clearing cache) etc but they didn’t work. I then tried the ‘reset App’ option thinking I can just sign back in. Unfortunately, I found out too late that there is no traditional “sign in” like every other app, including the original Overdrive App. Apparently, the only way you can import settings are if you have another device set up and you can port from one device to another. However, if you only have set up a single device and that goes down, you can’t “retrieve” anything. Even your history, tags and “shelf”. Why is this feature missing? Even if you didn’t want to have server space to store user info, why not use the iCloud platform?

So, while the original review below is still valid, this is something else to be aware of. Fortunately, I have only experienced this once and will hopefully not need to again. As a precaution, I will have a second device setup as backup just in case.

~~~~~~original review: ~~~~~~

I was a huge fan of Overdrive for years - being able to check out my library’s audiobooks as needed without needing to schedule time to visit library. This worked well with my hour long commutes - audiobook to listen to and convenience of browsing / checking out titles from phone.

When Libby was introduced, I couldn’t bring myself to switch. I loved Overdrive - there was no need. However, I eventually did download and use app around the beginning of this year and after giving it a chance, was surprised at how much I like this too. Of course, it helped that it was CarPlay compatibleview:
as that was the primary use environment.

What I have grown to like is how easy it is to search for titles - autocomplete fields, etc. I was able to load all of my library cards (advantage of long commute - you have access to more library systems and ability to get card) and now when searching for a particular book, I can quickly switch libraries and it remembers search history so you can easily look for item in each library.

The “spin dial” interface for reading progress makes it easy to adjust how far back you want to replay. Still has the discreet buttons for skip back and fwd which is compatible with phone home screen , iWatch and CarPlay interfaces.

I also like the fact that you can tag items with custom tags so I can easily tag for “wish list”, “read” etc. and easily view my bookshelf based on tags.

One final, but also important interface advantage for me was to set preferences for searching library. Again, since I mainly listen to books - I set mine to only return results that are audiobook format.

Thank you to the creators for creating a new app from the ground up that improves interface and facilitated access to digital content from our local libraries!

HERE’S WHY I LOVE THE LIBBY APP:

You can easily switch between library cards and libraries. This is the number one reason I love the Libby library app with all my heart. I added all my libraries (I belong to several, because we’ve moved so much) and then I could add multiple cards for each library. And if I go to check something out and one of my cards is full, it just shows me my other cards right there and I can toggle in half a second to the other one. No logging in and out. It’s seriously the best thing ever.
It doesn’t log you out. Overdrive DOES log you out and this made me nuts because my phone wouldn’t always save my library card numbers and then I’d have to go grab my cards from my wallet and re-enter them fairly frequently. Libby hasn’t logged me out of any of my cards in the year I’ve been using it. So much teeth-grinding avoided right there.
You can send Kindle ebooks right to your Kindle. This is so handy when I check out eBooks on Libby and I just click to send it right to my Kindle (it also shows up on my Kindle app on my phone).
When a book comes up on hold, it automatically is added to your shelf.This was so irritating to me on the Overdrive app because once I got the email notification that my hold was available, I had to log-in (crossing my fingers that I’d picked the right card on the first try – which happened never), and then add the book to my bookshelf. Now, when a book comes up on hold, no matter what library it’s coming from or which card I used to place the hold, it shows right up on my shelf.
You can easily see your prior Libby activity. This means I can quickly see which books I’ve checked out in the past and re-place holds on ones I didn’t finish or get to.
You can see how long the hold lines are. Every book, whether you’re just browsing or you’ve already placed a hold, shows you not only how long the hold lines are but how long you can expect to wait for your turn to come up, whether that’s three weeks or six months.
Every book shows you if it’s available in another format. If I’m looking at an e-book, toward the bottom of the description, it’ll show me if my library has it as an audiobook as well. I love this feature.
You can read or listen to a sample of any title without downloading anything or having it open in a new window. The sample is just right there in the app, ready for you.
You can set it to automatically download your items or only download when you ask it to. Because I share my cards, I don’t necessarily want 300 Boxcar Children audiobooks automatically downloading to my phone, so I’ve set it to just download when I choose. It’s one click and then I have my books, without having to clog up my phone with their books!
You can choose to stream if you’re on wi-fi instead of downloading. For all those people who’ve asked me about their audiobooks taking up too much space, this is for you! I haven’t personally had any problem with them taking up too much space on my phone, but it’s nice to have the option to just stream instead of downloading.

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I think in terms of reading experience, Libby was absolutely amazing. There’s so many different settings available so you can read your book whatever way you want. You can control the letter size, the lighting (dark mode/normal/sepia), how the sentences are structured visually on the page, line spacing and so much more. These settings allow you to read in a way comfortable to you, and they even have settings for ppl with difficulties like dyslexia. I love how there’s a search bar, so you can search for any word or phrase in the book and find it quickly. You can highlight with different colors, and write notes with each highlight, and bookmark pages that stand out to you. It’s very convenient, to bookmark all you have to do is click the top right corner. You can click the button at the top to scroll through a list of all your highlights and bookmarks. And I love how at the bottom there is a scroll that shows you all the little marks for all the bookmarks and highlights you made. That scroll has lots of little lines with page numbers in every ten or twenty lines to show you where you are in your book. When you click the screen (while in your book) you can see what page you’re on out of the total number of pages, and how far you are in the book through a percentage (ex: 60% through the book). You can quickly access a list of the chapters at the bottom and skip around through them if you need to go back or something. They can show you how many pages of your current chapter you’ve finished and how many pages of that chapter you have left.

And you’d think that to have all these settings around while you’re reading means that in addition to the actual book that you’re seeing they’ll be a million little buttons all around the page distracting you while you read and taking up space. BUT IT DOESNT. All the little buttons aren’t shown when you’re reading and all you need to do to make them appear is click the screen.

Now in terms of actually borrowing, returning and placing books on hold, it’s really easy. You can search for books by name or category or just browse books of a certain genre or category and put filters on your search/browse. You can put a child filter on so only age appropriate books are read by your child. You can see a timeline that shows you a list of all the books you’ve borrowed, returned, and placed on hold and when you did it. At the top you can click to see a list of your loans, a list of your holds, and a list of your tags. Tags are basically lists that you compile about books you’ve read, want to read, are about a certain topic, etc. So for example if you see a book you can want to read soon you can tag it as “summer reads.”

I think Libby is really useful, especially for students because it is so easy to make notes and annotate. Even when I’m not reading got school, I love to take notes as I go and that’s made me a fan of this app.

The only thing I think could make Libby better is if you could save a permanent copy of your book. Like I said I take notes a lot and I’d love to keep these if possible to look back at later.

I’ve been using this app for a long time, and the UX has always been a little funky and not-entirely-intuitive. However, it’s the platform that all of the libraries use, and I really wouldn’t complain if it weren’t for the newish Deep Search feature.

Libby says that Deep Search is “applied automatically when no results are found at your library”, which is frankly rather cruel. When I do a search, I frequently turn on the Available Now filter, so that I will only see results for books/audiobooks that aren’t already checked-out. Deep Search essentially overrides that filter by showing items that are not only unavailable, but which aren’t even owned by the library. So, now you think you have a bunch of items to choose from, but then you notice the little bell icon which tells you you’ve been fooled. Again.

You aren’t allowed to toggle Deep Search off and on, because of the absurd decision by the programmers to make it a “defining filter of the list”, whatever that’s supposed to mean.

So when you search for something that the library doesn’t own, you end up getting more results than if you were searching for something that they do own. The only apparent use of being able to see all of those tantalizing titles that you can’t check-out or reserve is so that you can tag them to receive a notification IF the library ever acquires them. Worthless. In 99% of instances, the library is never going to purchase that item.

I’ve run into this frustrating result with a lot of searches recently, but let me just detail my most recent experience:

I searched for an audiobook of Hamlet, because I wanted to listen to a recording of the play. Libby is aware of dozens of audio-recordings of the famous play, so it created an extensive list of items that are not available at my library. Oddly, it broke its own supposed rule that Deep Search will be “applied automatically when no results are found at your library”, because after quite a bit of scrolling, I found that there were a couple of actual offerings hidden deep within the results. Why the list of titles isn’t populated with the available titles at the top is completely beyond me. One of the items actually owned by the library was an audio recording of the play, but it seemed to be abridged (the other item was some kind of adaptation). So I tried to search another library that I have connected to me account. Same results: a massive list of items that the library doesn’t own, and deep in the list I found the exact same two titles that are in the other library’s collection.

So, Deep Search lied to me first by showing a bunch of titles that my libraries don’t own, and lied to me a second time by concealing the titles that the libraries do own.

I always find it enormously frustrating when programmers and UX designers decide that they know better than the users. It would be so easy for Libby to make Deep Search optional for those users who somehow find it valuable, and to allow people who don’t want to see ghost results to toggle the filter off. Why they’ve decided to force it on people is entirely beyond my comprehension.

I absolutely adore this app. I use it practically all the time, whether I’m at home or not. It’s really easy to use, and the user interface is friendly and smooth. Finding libraries, registering your card, and even transferring accounts and cards between your devices can all be done in five minutes. The home page offers up books from popularity, availability, and you can filter genres to find your next great read, or just easily search for a book or audiobook. Libby has it all!

Whenever you place a hold, Libby notifies you when the book is ready to borrow. You can see where you are in the line of people, how many copies of books there are, approximately how many people are waiting per copy, and the estimated wait time for you to be able to read the book. And, if you’re too busy, you can pass the book to the next person in line and still remain at the head of the hold list, which I think is really cool. Speaking of being busy, Libby returns your books for you when you don’t have the time to, so you can avoid late fees. I absolutely love this! This feature has saved me so many times.

When you’re browsing, you can tap on the cover of a book to see a summary, which is nice. Before you open the book, once you’ve checked it out, the app has a 3d image of the book so you can see approximately how big it would be in real life, which is a fun little perk. When you’re actually reading or listening, the app provides you with the page count, how far in you are, the percentage of how much you’ve completed, and other helpful information. You can bookmark your spot easily by swiping down and choosing the bookmark option. What I really love is that when you leave the app and come back later, Libby saves the last book you were reading and the page you were on and displays it on the bottom of the screen so you can pick up right where you left off.

Libby is super customizable, and you can set your preferences for practically anything so that the app is tweaked to be comfortable and convenient for your personal needs. You can customize notifications to arrive when you want them to, and notify you about certain things, and you can set your search engine preferences and reading preferences. You can even hook up with your kindle to make your reading experience better! For active readers who can’t constantly stop by the library, this app is definitely for you.

The best part? It’s free! Everyone is out there recommending Audible, and yes, it’s a good app, but some people don’t have money to spend on audiobooks. Libby provides a world of books and audiobooks, and there are no limits! I was shocked to hear that there are no subscriptions, no restrictions on what you can read, and no buying your way into getting more access. Every user gets 100% access to everything, without paying a penny. The only thing you need is a library card!

I know that I practically explained the entire app to whoever is reading this, but if you got to this point, thanks for patiently reading my whole review. I had a lot to say for this wonderful app. Bringing a whole library to your home and being able to effortlessly borrow, return, and place holds in the comfort of your living room is amazing. It’s the best online library that I have experienced so far, and I would 100% recommend.

I’m a librarian. I work with this product (and many others) as a part of my daily job. When Libby came out and was to replace Overdrive I was open to the change and there were aspects of it I liked better. I regularly assist patrons with the use of both products or transitioning to Libby. In the last year the app has gotten worse and worse. Crashing every few minutes while trying to listen to audiobooks even though supposedly the book is downloaded to devices (yes, devices plural, and experiencing the same issues). Patrons are complaining about the same issues I am experiencing and I look like an idiot trying to guide them through an ineffective app that has major UX issues.

Buffering is a constant issue as well despite being on solid wifi AND cell signal for myself. The frustration of trying to listen to an audiobook or read a book as it constantly crashes makes this product less and less likely that I, and my patrons, want to or are even willing to use. This makes the cost value of this product and the consideration of our library system to stay with it questionable for the future. To be honest the functions are better than the CloudLibrary app however I’m not sure which is better: having less functionality and more reliability in the delivery of the product or significantly better reliability but less functionality? CloudLibrary has its own issues with losing authentication from time to time but not as often as Libby.
I’m extremely tech savvy and am regularly called upon to troubleshoot tech issues with Apple, Android and PC devices for issues with the use of the eMedia products and fixes for resolving such issues.
I’ve reached out to other libraries experiencing the same thing with Libby to see if they have solutions and even have reached out to Libby with unsatisfactory response. The problems remain. Perhaps Libby is on borrowed time. Meanwhile I am eschewing my own library system’s Libby products and using other libraries that still allow the use of Overdrive or other eDelivery apps. Such a shame.

Notes for complaints I often hear or read here:

1) Items available- for those who complain about quality of items…that’s on your library system and what the library chooses to purchase to make available for patrons. If you’re not happy about what is available, write an email or letter to your library to let them know you want to have other options or more titles available. The library has a fixed budget for e-media (eBook, eAudiobooks, and other electronic content) but it’s most likely that your taxes sustain the library budget in whole o mr part, therefore you have a say in what you want you want to see made available. Acquisition is a complicated process but at least write to your library and let the acquisitions team know what you want.

2) Your audio item is only 3 minutes long? You likely chose the SAMPLE not the entire book.

3) Wait times too long, that’s on your library acquisitions department not Libby. It has to do with how many copies your library purchases to be available for patrons. Many eBook and eAudiobook providers like Libby charge for a number of checkouts per title. In other words perhaps the cost for 26 checkouts is $400. Compare that to the checkouts of print books that last much longer and for which the cost per use is significantly less. So acquisitions needs to make tough decisions sometimes as their budget allows.

I initially reviewed Libby around the time it debuted on the App Store. I found it deficient in a number of different ways, particularly in terms of accessibility and UI/UX. It was featured in an App Store story recently, and I decided to try it out again to see if it had improved.

This has been a bittersweet experience. There have been some improvements, including the much-needed dark mode and some font size fixes. I no longer feel like a Lilliputian reading a book designed for big people. The UI pleasantly fades away while reading, just like it should. These are great improvements, and I welcome them. Cheers to the developers for adding these. I now feel much more comfortable reading with Libby.

That, however, leads me to the things that are still missing. The app is *soclose to being exactly what I want from an ebook reader, but missing just a few more things that would put it on the same level as iBooks (an, admittedly, extremely high standard).

Specifically, while the reading experience, so core to the app as I outlined in my original review, supports dark mode, the rest of the UI does not. This means that I'm blasted with a contrast of black and white bits of the UI, rather like someone emerging from Plato's allegorical cave for the first time. If I set dark mode for the reading experience, I want it for the rest of the app, too.

Another UI gripe is that the interface for interacting with the book while reading the book (the navigation bits) is much too large. Simplify, simplify. iBooks has such tiny controls for this which don't obscure the book I'm reading. It's delightful. I'd love to see the UI for this shrink down to something more manageable and that obscures less of the text I'm reading.

A feature still missing is the vertical scrolling view that I mentioned below. Like the dark mode, it's something that not everyone will want, but adding that kind of preference shows that the developer cares for and respects the user.

The last bit is something I think I missed out in my initial review: Libby lacked a dictionary until recently. It has one now! ... but it's dictionary.com. Why, Overdrive, why? Why use such a substandard dictionary with glosses lacking in nuance and features (like example sentences, etymology) when the device already has a builtin dictionary, one with Oxford pedigree no less? Beyond this, what if the user is learning English and prefers a nonstandard dictionary, e.g. one in their native language? This is a textbook case of why system preferences should be respected. I'll concede that this is the most nit picking criticism I can make, but I should think that people who read for fun care about the language as much as I do.

The attentive reader will note that almost everything mentioned above is UI/UX, the kind of thing that shouldn't take a year to fix. That I can only make one real criticism besides the UI/UX shows that the app is getting much closer to being what I want. And I want a lot.

Original review included below.

I've been reading books from OverDrive and the iBooks Store for years. After one too many broken eink reader screens (and I don't buy cheap readers!), I've decided to read ebooks exclusively on my iOS devices. This means that I can't use the traditional Overdrive workflow of putting books on an eink reader and instead need to rely on Overdrive-provided apps for reading books from my library.

This brings me to Libby, which is a good start in terms of workflow and onboarding. These features work smoothly, but what needs far more polish is the actual reading experience (i.e. the main purpose of the app). I'm used to a number of features from iBooks which are missing in Libby.

The most important is a dark reading mode. I am very photosensitive. Dark modes are not just a preference for me; they are an *accessibility feature*. I needed to decrease the brightness on my display to even write this review. Despite reading on an iPad Pro with Night Shift and True Tone, black on white text is still difficult for me. I cannot look at a white display to read for hours, and this is one of the main complaints people who've switched to eink readers have about tablet displays.

Beyond this, the app needs a scrolling view like iBooks. This offers more control over scrolling and allows for more space for images and other dynamic EPUB3 content. The pagewise view in Libby also requires more taps to navigate pages, breaking the reader's immersion more than is necessary.

Of lesser, but still notable, importance is a greater selection of text sizes. I was not able to set a text size to my liking; everything was too large. I felt like a hobbit in a house built for stone giants.

Another criticism along the lines of immersion is that the UI should, optimally, completely fade away while reading. I don't need to worry about text size or navigation indicators or searching while reading. Hide these elements unless I need them.

Similar to this, I encountered difficulty bringing up Libby's navigation UI while reading; frequently the app thought I was trying to turn a page instead.

Fix these criticisms and I could see myself reading with Libby in the future. The rest of the app is a good start, but the core experience--the reading experience--doesn't yet compare to the polished, elegant experience I'm accustomed to with iBooks (which is, truly, the best ebook reader I've ever used in more than 10 years of reading ebooks).

The is a book app. It would be nice to enable the swiping from anywhere on any page, not just in a book, and not just in this wee circle button at the extreme bottom of the screen. How inconvenient. We don’t read in the bottom tenth of the screen, why only enable swiping there? Let the user swipe BACK and FORWARDS from anywhere on a page, like Safari pages etc

I can't seem to add my library card no matter how many times I try. It found my library just fine but I cannot get through the sign in screen to add my card. I click sign in and nothing happens. Hoping another update will fix this as I'd love to actually use the app!

My library is Jacksonville Public Library in Jacksonville, FL

I'm reading ebooks on this app and have noticed two major bugs: 1) sometimes I tap/flip to the next page and it jumps way ahead for no reason, 2) I got about 1/3 of the way through a book and all the sudden the pages are blank. I flip and flip and the page count goes up but the pages past page 131 are blank. I tried restarting the app, but it didn't help. :(

Having similar issue to brookers who posted on App Store user comments.
Have been using overdrive for long time without problems.
Libby however, won't redirect to sign in page to allow me to enter my card numbers.
Books are at Green mountain library consortium, of which I have access via Kellogg Hubbard library, and Aldrich library.
Thanks for your help.
Sam

UI is very nice. Better than Overdrive, but the app doesn’t work unless you are connected to the internet. I want to download a book and listen to it when I’m on an airplane or diving. The original Overdrive app gave me that option. This app has been out too long to still be this biggie. I have to download the book several times and still cannot use it off line. Frustrating!

This app is SO NOT USER FRIENDLY. Granted I'm not a rocket scientist but I am a 47-year-old woman who is very much familiar with the ins and outs of most of the apps for my mobile devices and laptop computers. This app is so complicated that I actually had to just go to the WWW site on my laptop to my library to get an ebook uploaded to my kindle- not through Libby or Overdrive. What a pain in the neck, 46 minutes later.

I was forced to come to Libby when Overdrive decided it wouldn't let me log in after I updated it. It drove me nuts the first day, but after a week it's gotten better. It will never be as good as overdrive was, but I've gotten used to it's terribleness. It's a complete downgrade from Overdrive. I can't even access my wishlist anymore. I have to go to Safari for that. It's a wreck, and I hate it. Give me my Overdrive back.

Like the idea of upgrading from the Overdrive app, but I'm having so many problems with this app. Almost every time I try to check out an audiobook, it says I need to contact my library due to an issue on my account. I've visited my library and there hasn't been any issues with my account. Seems like it's hit or miss when I try to checkout something for whether or not it's going to allow the checkout. Libby, please fix this issue!

While it is nice to be able to read library books electronically, this app has inconsistent performance. The book will randomly skip ahead many pages/chapters. In one book this occurred only at the start of new chapter. In another book it was random and occurred on any page. You then have to spend a few minutes trying to get back to the page you were last on. If this issue were fixed, it would be a five-star app. When compared to reading on other apps, this one currently comes up way short.

Overdrive is a superior app. Why mess with a good thing? 1. Can’t download files/partial books. 2. Can’t recommend books. 3. The layout and navigation of overdrive is so much better.
The only plus I’ve noticed with this app is that it allows me to sort my Wish List by file types so when I’m searching for an available audio book I can separate those from the written version.
Please make some positive changes to this app. I’ve had it less than two weeks and find it most aggravating to use.

I at first loved Libby. It was amazing. But one day I was in the car listening to an audiobook and it just suddenly stopped. I rewinded my audiobook. It work. But then when it got to that point were it stopped it stopped. I tried to go forward. The play and pause button had a loading sign and would play forward. Once I got back to my house I tried again. It didn't load any other audiobook except one. I'm really confused on why this is happening. It also used to say the how many hours/minutes I had left in my audiobook. Now it just says 0:00 elapsed.

I hate this new update. It took a while to figure out what happened. Than figure out how to work it. I don’t care about the chapter view. I want to know where I am in the book and how much I have left. I dislike the new way that the books are borrowed. Before they just be put on your shelf and you would get an email and a notification. Now you have to keep constantly checking. Sometimes I have a book waiting that I never knew about and get dinged because it’s there and I wasn’t notified. Really unhappy with this update. I wish I could go back to the old style.

The tag system is stupid and incomprehensible. It allows two tags to share the exact same name but not the books they are put on. I can create tags but then not have them show up on the main tag screen.

I can mark several books with a newly created tag that displays the book I want to listen to on the home screen but when I click it I just revive a blank error message.

Worst of all I can delete any of the tags that I create. Again I'll just get a blank screen I can't do anything with.

Ruins an otherwise okay app.

Review will be changed if this issue is corrected, if ever.

Every time I tap on the app from my home page, I only get a loading screen and then an error message. It says
“Technical Difficulties. We are having trouble launching the app. Try a troubleshooting option below.”
It then lists a bunch of options like checking my internet connection or checking cellular data or clearing the cache. At the bottom there is even an option to reset the app. I’ve done all of these things and nothing works! I can’t get past that darn error screen. I’ve even deleted and reinstalled the app! Please help me find the problem!
I have an IPhone 6s and IOS 11.3.1.

Idk if this is just my library or what but NONE of the ebooks are showing the "available as audiobook " option as described. The audiobook I checked out with overdrive is still on my shelf but new ones? Disappeared! There is also no option to search just through audiobooks either. When I go to collections and tap audiobooks there's NOTHING. This is true for Libby and overdrive very frustrating. I even checked on titles I had just finished listening to and know there is an audiobook format for and the audiobook versions don't show up. I primarily use this for audiobooks so I'm very disappointed.

I have used overdrive and I never had trouble downloading, listening, or moving different directions within the book, until Libby came along. Once Libby became what the library used overdrive doesn’t work. Now Libby is erratic... if you download the book for listening whole sections of the book doesn’t download. If you try to jump back or forward in the book it locks up. I started using the cloud to listen to the book because you get the whole book but it still locks up if you jump around in the book. You also use a lot of data listening this way. If I go into the Libby app while listening I have learned not to do anything in the book when I see the yellow trouble page. If you do anything but listen it locks up.

I’ve been using Libby along with overdrive for a while. This new version of Libby is not as straightforward for searching. I’m not happy with it. And the longer I use it the more frustrating it becomes.

It says the filters may be excluding books but it’s not easy to figure out how to reset them—or why. Update: the filter system does not make sense to me. Regardless of removing the filter I still have books show up with earbuds beneath them. I don’t understand how the filters are set and changed. In overdrive the system made sense and was easy to adjust.

There’s also no OBVIOUS way to search for books that were added in the last week.

It also won’t find books that aren’t in the system and allow a REQUEST for purchase to be made. I used overdrive for that.

So this looks a lot better than the Overdrive app and logs directly into my local library which has an impressive amount of e-media.

It doesn't function as well as Overdrive. My big complaint is that the developers have chosen to lock books in portrait mode on smaller devices, like my iPod Touch. You can't read in landscape on an iPhone or iPod. This isn't a bug, they took away the option because they didn't like it. I like it and have been reading that way for years. I'm a grown-up, Shouldn't I be able to chose how I read an ebook?

I don't like the way it sorts everything in a vertical list. The covers are clearer, but the useful button, the one that let's you read or play the book is actually smaller. Hit the cover now and it's like opening a page in the library's catalog.

Adjusting the text size and font of the book is more complicated than Overdrive, or most other apps. Why that is two layers deep in a menu escapes me.

You can browse fairly easily, but I can't figure out how to share a title. I like to suggest books to people and I like it when they do the same. It is really handy with parents and young readers. Most apps let you share easily, not here.

Again it's a pretty app. It just doesn't do what I want it to do.