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App Imp

Books & reading.

Sync & data runs in 9 of the 11 apps here — nobody on this shelf has fixed it.

11 apps · 4,234 reviews held · 1,413 negative · 2026-08-24 snapshot

70/100 opportunity

6 of 6 factors · not advice
Nobody's fixed it9 of 11 apps82
How far above typical5.1% vs 2.2% typical57
How angrystar2.2 · 72 reviews53
People in the market2,424,887 ratings79
Room to enterleader holds 31% of ratings69
Willingness to pay8 of 11 charge · $3.74 entry73

Mostly solved: accuracy. 7 of 10 apps run below the store’s typical rate on it — while 9 of 11 still carry sync & data complaints.

How this is scored

Weighted mean of the sub-scores, weights re-normalized over whatever is computable (nobody's fixed it 25 · how far above typical 20 · how angry 15 · people in the market 15 · room to enter 15 · willingness to pay 10). Fixed anchors map each count to 0–100: breadth and willingness-to-pay are straight shares; the gap’s heat tops out at 4times the store’s typical rate; anger scores star3 as 0 and star1.5 as 100; reach runs 104 to 107ratings on a log scale; room to enter is one minus the leader’s share of shelf ratings. A factor that cannot be counted is dropped and named — never imputed. The site’s one composite (#115, owner decision 2026-08-15); cited industry benchmarks are never blended in.

5 gaps.

01

Sync & data — unfixed in 9 of 11 apps

high · 5.1% of this shelf’s 1,413 negative reviews, against 2.2% typical store-wide, at 2.20star average anger.

What they said · 72 reviews
  • Sync fails between devices7 of 72
“Rip Off — Look for another site to read stories. Yes Tory takes your money and then your coins disappear!! Terrible customer service! Run away from Yestory!!!”Yestory - Read Books & Booktok · 1star · Aug 11, 2026
“Meh — 3/5 ⭐ Goodreads is… fine. I mainly use it because it syncs with my Kindle and it’s the standard app for tracking what I’m reading. It does its job, but honestly, I don’t think it’s a very enjoyable app to use. The biggest issue is the user interface. On mobile, everything feels cluttered and harder to navigate than it should be. Somehow, it’s even worse on PC. For a platform that’s been a”Goodreads: Book Tracker & More · 3star · Aug 6, 2026
“Lost data — I was trying to figure out why my Goodreads was not updating my reading data from my kindle and somehow lost everything when I logged out and logged back in. Disappointed because I’ve had this account for a couple years and when I asked for assistance to see if they can look to see if I had another account I wasn’t aware of they gave me a generated response with links and didn’t help m”Goodreads: Book Tracker & More · 1star · Jul 20, 2026
How it compares
this shelf
5.1%
72 of 1,413
store-wide
2.2%
typical
breadth
82%
9 of 11 apps
02

Ads — unfixed in 11 of 11 apps

elevated · 16.7% of this shelf’s 1,413 negative reviews, against 10.7% typical store-wide, at 2.59star average anger.

What they said · 236 reviews
“Seriously, ads? — I see you Amazon! It’s not like we are inundated with advertisements everywhere else. Now they’re on GoodReads. Ridiculous and frustrating!”Goodreads: Book Tracker & More · 3star · Aug 15, 2026
“New guidelines mean censorship — The new guidelines are stupid because it’s getting rid of what got them popular in the first place it’s literally stupid move on Wattpad‘s part. AO3 will always be superior because there is no censorship. There is a reason why AO3 will always be more superior. Also ever since wattpad got ads it went downhill.”Wattpad - Read & Write Stories · 1star · Aug 15, 2026
“Ads — Recently the app has started opening websites on its own, I could be reading and suddenly it’s opening up shien. I’m not sure how to get it to stop. Other than that I’ve had this app for a long time and it’s something I go back to after a long day.”Wattpad - Read & Write Stories · 3star · Aug 14, 2026
How it compares
this shelf
16.7%
236 of 1,413
store-wide
10.7%
typical
breadth
100%
11 of 11 apps
03

UX — unfixed in 8 of 11 apps

elevated · 3.5% of this shelf’s 1,413 negative reviews, against 2.9% typical store-wide, at 2.92star average anger.

What they said · 49 reviews
“Goodreads review — This app is nice in so many ways, but it’s hard to navigate; not user friendly”Goodreads: Book Tracker & More · 3star · Aug 14, 2026
“Meh — 3/5 ⭐ Goodreads is… fine. I mainly use it because it syncs with my Kindle and it’s the standard app for tracking what I’m reading. It does its job, but honestly, I don’t think it’s a very enjoyable app to use. The biggest issue is the user interface. On mobile, everything feels cluttered and harder to navigate than it should be. Somehow, it’s even worse on PC. For a platform that’s been a”Goodreads: Book Tracker & More · 3star · Aug 6, 2026
“Points are frustrating. — I wanna like this app because I like some of the stories, but it’s hard to earn coins. I follow links but the coins never appear. If I get points instead it’s hard to get coins for the points.confusing and frustrating.”Manobook: My Good Story Reader · 3star · Aug 4, 2026
How it compares
this shelf
3.5%
49 of 1,413
store-wide
2.9%
typical
breadth
73%
8 of 11 apps
04

Limits & caps — unfixed in 10 of 11 apps

3.0% of this shelf’s 1,413 negative reviews, against 2.8% typical store-wide, at 2.76star average anger.

What they said · 43 reviews
“Points — I don’t have the funds to read unlimitedly so I have to do this for points…”Inkitt Galatea: Audio & eBooks · 3star · Aug 13, 2026
“Basic & Overpriced — Stories are very basic and run of the mill - they’re okay to read, but something you could find written better on multiple different platforms. This alone isn’t worth a 2 star rating, I would have put it at four if it weren’t for their pricing model. The fact that there is not an option to do a monthly subscription and you are forced into the $70 one right off the bad is ridi”Inkitt Galatea: Audio & eBooks · 2star · Aug 13, 2026
“Don’t buy any links you are sent. — I received an email for 50% off the yearly subscription and no way to apply it to my account. I bought it from an email link. There were no promo codes and what’s stranger still it was in euros. I reached out to customer service several times and no one bothered to attach the credit to my account or refund my money so I haven’t been able to use unlimited readin”Inkitt Galatea: Audio & eBooks · 1star · Aug 13, 2026
How it compares
this shelf
3.0%
43 of 1,413
store-wide
2.8%
typical
breadth
91%
10 of 11 apps
05

Performance — unfixed in 10 of 11 apps

17.4% of this shelf’s 1,413 negative reviews, against 16.9% typical store-wide, at 2.43star average anger.

What they said · 246 reviews
“Not really free — Chapters are free for the first few to get you into the book then they expect you to either pay or wait so many hours until you can do the next chapter. My experience it ranges from six hours upwards to past 24. My point system has never yet reached past five days, and it keeps resetting with glitches in the system. Super annoying if you actually want it to be free.”Inkitt Galatea: Audio & eBooks · 2star · Aug 19, 2026
“Graced Luna — So far a great read, a little slow in the beginning but I’m looking forward to finishing it”Inkitt Galatea: Audio & eBooks · 3star · Aug 18, 2026
“Reading apps — This is probably the best reading app I’ve come across. The writers and stories are great and haven’t had a cringe moment so far from any of them 😅 only thing that I would complain about it there is no way to earn points other than checking in, which is a SLOW build of points. So you’re kind of forced to buy points to be able to read these stories.”Inkitt Galatea: Audio & eBooks · 3star · Aug 18, 2026
How it compares
this shelf
17.4%
246 of 1,413
store-wide
16.9%
typical
breadth
91%
10 of 11 apps

Is there a market for a new books & reading app?

11 apps compete on this shelf, holding 4,234 App Store reviews — and the widest unfixed complaint, sync & data, runs in 9 of 11 of them at 5.1% of negative reviews against 2.2% typical. Those are counts, not a verdict — the page shows what is unfixed, not whether to build.

What do users complain about most in books & reading?

1. Sync & data — in 9 of 11 apps, 5.1% of negative reviews; 2. Ads — in 11 of 11 apps, 16.7% of negative reviews; 3. UX — in 8 of 11 apps, 3.5% of negative reviews; 4. Limits & caps — in 10 of 11 apps, 3% of negative reviews; 5. Performance — in 10 of 11 apps, 17.4% of negative reviews.

How many books & reading app reviews did App Imp count?

4,234 US App Store reviews across 11 apps, 1,413 of them negative — counted on the 2026-08-24 snapshot, never estimated.

Searched on the App Store.

Apple’s own suggestions for books & reading terms, in their order.

book trackerfree books for kidsfree books reading appfree kids books to readread books for freebook tracker & reading logbooksfree kids books to read free

Searched, but no app on this shelf says it in its name.

Who’s in it

All 11 apps counted on this shelf · 2026-08-24.

App
Goodreads: Book Tracker & More747,8774%11%11%1%
Wattpad - Read & Write Stories705,9703%51%3%3%
Epic - Kids' Books & Reading518,633—2%1%3%
Inkitt Galatea: Audio & eBooks287,824—11%—7%
Apple Books87,19212%3%5%3%
Manobook: My Good Story Reader36,5752%34%2%5%
Bookmory - reading tracker16,07136%18%18%—
Yestory - Read Books & Booktok10,4611%21%—8%
Google Play Books & Audiobooks9,63211%0%3%2%
Skybrary – Kids Books & Videos3,3054%2%2%2%
WeRead: Popular Books & Novels1,3472%23%—6%

Each cell: that app’s share of its own negative reviews. Bold from 1.15 times the store’s typical rate for that complaint, and only where an app holds 20+ negative reviews. Click a column to sort.

What they charge, and what it costs them

Prices from Apple’s public pages; the share counts payment-mechanics language only.

AppMoney complaints
Manobook: My Good Story Reader$1.99–$29.99 · 10 tiers29.5% of 44
Yestory - Read Books & Booktok$4.99–$24.99 · 10 tiers25.3% of 75
WeRead: Popular Books & Novels$1.99–$49.99 · 10 tiers22.9% of 48
Inkitt Galatea: Audio & eBooks$3.99–$69.99 · 9 tiers15.3% of 85
Skybrary – Kids Books & Videos$4.99–$49.99 · 5 tiers8.3% of 146
Epic - Kids' Books & Reading$4.99–$13.99 · 7 tiers6% of 149
Wattpad - Read & Write Stories$0.99–$89.99 · 7 tiers2.6% of 304
Apple Booksfree2.5% of 160
Bookmory - reading tracker$3.49–$30.99 · 2 tiers0% of 11

What each one owns, where each is exposed

WebNovel - Read Novels & Manga

Owns. Massive serialized fiction catalog; 47,524 ratings

Exposed. 68% negative; coin economy generates $46-per-novel complaints; cancellation nearly impossible

Wattpad - Read & Write Stories

Owns. 705,799 ratings; dominant brand; creator community

Exposed. 56% negative; ad-per-chapter cadence drove long-term loyalists to AO3 and fanfiction.net

Google Play Books & Audiobooks

Owns. 9,627 ratings; cross-platform; no IAP complexity

Exposed. 69% negative; worst anger in set; sync and UX broken on iPad

Yestory - Read Books & Booktok

Owns. 10,257 ratings; social/BookTok angle

Exposed. 61% negative; perceived as overpriced scam with buggy content

Apple Books

Owns. 86,154 ratings; zero IAP friction; OS-native

Exposed. 46% negative; ecosystem lock-in; sync data fails; no export

Fable: Track & Discuss Books

Owns. 77,659 ratings; 24% negative — lowest anger; community features

Exposed. Performance and reliability complaints; 1–2 min load times driving users back to Goodreads

Goodreads: Book Tracker & More

Owns. 744,524 ratings; category default for tracking

Exposed. 23% negative but stagnant; mobile feature gap vs. website; groups barely usable on app

Inkitt Galatea: Audio & eBooks

Owns. 284,845 ratings; lowest neg_pct (10%); audio + ebook bundle

Exposed. IAP up to $69.99; tier complexity still present under calm surface

Browse the apps behind these counts

Every app we count, with the complaint it runs furthest above the store’s typical rate.

Open the app library
How this is counted

Every number is arithmetic over the reviews we hold, re-counted weekly — nothing modelled, nothing scored. Themes come from a frozen pattern classifier rather than a model reading reviews, so the same review always lands in the same bucket. A shelf rate is pooled across every app here; the store rate is the same count across 12,122 apps. A complaint is only called a gap when at least half the shelf carries it and at least 20 reviews are behind it — a problem concentrated in one app is that app’s bug.