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Bookshare Reader

Submitted by AnonyMouse, 12 January, 2023
Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Last updated on 26 January, 2023
Category
Education

Description of App

Listen to books and read your way

Get the official Bookshare Reader app. Access millions of ebooks from Bookshare, the world's

largest library of ebooks for people with reading barriers like dyslexia, blindness, low vision, and

physical disabilities. Listen to books in high quality audio and customize your reading

experience in ways that work for you. Read bestsellers, new releases, textbooks and

educational books, children’s books, young adult, mysteries, biographies, and more.

Read your way with these customizable features:

• Listen to books in high quality audio

• Adjust reading speed, font size, and colors

• Follow along with highlighted text

• Navigate by page and chapter

• Stop reading and pick up from your last spot

• Download books and read offline

To use Bookshare Reader, you must have a Bookshare membership. Learn more by visiting the Bookshare website.

Version

1.0.2

Free or Paid

Requires Subscription

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

16.2

Accessibility Comments

Specifically design for VoiceOver in mind so its accessible and great to use!

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

App Store Link

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bookshare-reader/id1605201737

Developer's Twitter Username

https://benetech.org

Related Podcast

https://www.applevis.com/podcasts/unlocking-world-books-bookshare-reader-app-ios

Recommendations

1 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Blind angel 444 2 weeks ago

Options

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Comments

what voice

By techluver

2 weeks 3 days ago

What voice does this app use for reading books?

RE: What Voice

By AnonyMouse

2 weeks 3 days ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Hi techluver. You can use any of the built-in iOS TTS voices. For example, I am using Zoey enhanced voice.

Couple of pain points

By The Oliver Kennett

2 weeks 3 days ago

Firstly, this isn't available in the UK store though, when I logged in with my US account and downloaded, it only seemed to access the restricted UK version of the book share library, though I can still access the full library through the website. So a little strange there.

Secondly, it' just a bit of a pain that when searching it keeps telling you results are loaded even as you're flicking through the list. Not sure of the purpose of this as it doesn't give any useful information and prevents VoiceOver from reading the intended output.

As I'm not really getting anything worth while on it, I'm deleting the app. It's a shame, I was hoping for a good library reading app that behaved with brail displays.

good alternative

By Pa. Joe

2 weeks 2 days ago

I specifically appreciate that I can read words, letters and even punctuation separately. I am primarily using the app to practice reading texts in different languages. It's working well for that, and it's free.
Thumbs up for book share.
.

Issues I am seeing

By Greg Wocher

2 weeks 2 days ago

Hello all,
I am finding some pretty big issues with the app so far. First when searching there is no way to narrow search results or to search by author or title. Secondly the app does not use the magic tap gesture to stop and play audio. Finally you cannot listen to a book with the screen locked. In some ways this app is acting like the one I used to use when I was on android years ago. I am wondering if some of these issues are because they are using the same code base between the apps.

searching for a book

By Pa. Joe

2 weeks 2 days ago

I have searched by author and by title, and it's successful. I simply enter what I am looking for. For example, Isaac Asimov

I'm happy they've got a free option for people

By Leela

2 weeks ago

I'm happy they've finally got a free option for reading on IOS. The last app they had was 20 dollars, and while for a lot of people this is fine, it's a lot of money for some.

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