Five Essential Android Apps Every Avid Reader Needs on Their Phone

Should you spend money on e-readers, especially when your phone can offer more? While some still enjoy the touch and feel of physical books or reading on a Kindle tablet, the latest Android apps on your smartphones turn this otherwise solitary activity into a hands-on experience that e-readers and physical books don’t match. With sleek aesthetics and modern features, new age apps provide an interactive experience for modern readers.

For example, readers can join virtual book clubs, write and comment on book reviews, get curated book suggestions based on their tastes, and interact with a large community of readers with just a tap. Aside from sleek interfaces and colorful designs, users benefit from features like text and theme customization, social sharing, and AI summaries, making reading more enjoyable.

If you love reading books, but at the same time want to share your underlined paragraphs, thoughts, and opinions, these five essential apps make “mobile” reading even more interesting.

Fable is an animated social platform centered around books. Its modern layout and colorful interface sets it apart from other reading apps. One of its strengths are the virtual clubs for active discussions around the book with its large community. THE book clubs are on niche topics such as magical realism, classics, and the discussions are chapter-wise, sparing the reader the spoilers and twists that general reviews can offer.

For an interactive experience, readers can highlight sections of a chapter and leave notes for others to respond to, something not seen in other e-reading apps. This app is perfect for those who want to know more about a book than just reading long reviews and endless comments. If readers like certain parts of a story, they can share the colorful graphic maps generated by the app directly on Instagram. For lovers of customization, the app offers fonts, themes, and backgrounds to choose from, creating a personalized space for readers.

Moon+ Reader is one of the versatile reading apps available on the Google Play Store. One of its main features is the ability to read any book file on your device, which means there is no need to use separate apps to read EPUB novels, Docx files or PDF textbooks. The app also has customization features, allowing you to adjust the reading experience with options like line spacing, font scaling, and multiple appearance themes.

Beyond aesthetics, it offers useful features like the ability to share selected text directly with AI tools like ChatGPT. It is useful for those who want to better understand or do additional research on books on topics such as history, psychology, science, etc.

Readers can share posts about selected quotes or texts on social media platforms. It also offers reading speed statistics and real-time dictionaries, and the app is well optimized for foldable phones such as Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.

Libby makes it easy for “broke bibliophiles” and book collectors to search for and borrow e-books and audiobooks from their local public library. All they have to do is connect their library card to the app. Not only does this save readers from having to download multiple library apps, but it also offers an auto-return feature that ensures borrowed books are back by the due date to avoid any penalties.

Another advantage is that users can manage multiple library cards, giving them the freedom to search for another library if a book is not available at the nearest one. You can also set a sleep timer for late-night audiobook sessions, and for those who juggle multiple reading devices, it has an option to send a book directly to a Kindle device from a phone (for US libraries only). If you love reading but are on a budget, this app can help you save money.

The Amazon Kindle app is an essential download for the power of its ecosystem. It brings you the largest digital bookstore, offering over 1.5 million titles, and acts as a bridge if you’re juggling between a Kindle tablet and an Android phone for reading. What sweetens the deal even more is that you can use your Kindle Unlimited subscription or take advantage of “Prime Reading” benefits to read the latest bestsellers on this app as well.

Beyond its library dominance, the app includes reading tools such as the built-in dictionary, Wikipedia access, and reading information, making it the most reliable choice for any serious reader. However, one of the most useful features of the Amazon Kindle app is the “Whispersync” feature that lets you switch between print and audio by automatically syncing your progress, making it easier to continue a book in a different format from the same place you left off reading.

The Kindle app, with over 100 million downloads on the Play Store, is a must-have for serious readers.

Goodreads is one of the most popular reading platforms, bringing together the largest community of book reviews. Besides aesthetics and functionality, the app provides space for various views and discussions. Not only can you use it to post in-depth book reviews, but this app can also help you maintain your reading streak through “reading challenges.”

You can also join book clubs to discuss and interact with other readers about their publications. What’s different here is that the platform also offers published authors the opportunity to promote their work and interact with readers. For curious readers, it has a book scanner feature that lets you scan any book cover in a store or library to see its summary, ratings, and reviews. This comes in handy if you’re unsure whether or not you want to invest in the book.

You can also find some of the best lists curated based on your reading preferences, and also participate in free book giveaways, often sponsored by authors and publishers. With more than 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store, Goodreads is one of the reading apps you shouldn’t miss.