LibriVox Audiobooks – Ad-Free App Reviews

Just lost important functionality. I really like LibriVox and it’s volunteer readers. I’ve listened to books as I go to sleep for years. However, an update seems to have eliminated the chapter scroll bar. If I fall asleep during a chapter, I now have to start at the beginning and fast jump in 30 second increments to find my place again. I used to be able to move the slider to any point in the chapter.

Free legal Audiobooks. I have recommended this to many people. Although the readers are volunteers, the quality of the narration is usually quite good. I would recommend splurging on the $1.99 version of the phone app so that you don’t get ads. It is good form to donate a few bucks to LibriVox but they do not pressure you to do so

Arggh. Something happened to my favorite ever app. I have had this app at least 10 years. I love it. But it just went whacko. All the book list titles are shoved to the right side of the screen & really all I can see is pictures of the covers. All my personal lists are gone. The search thing doesn’t work. Please, please fix it.

Used to be great. I’ve used the app for years and it’s been great but now it stops playing every few minutes and doesn’t keep its place. Many people have reported the issue with no response or solution. I bought the paid version to see if it work better but it’s the same and I’ve thrown away the money. Very disappointed.

Now demanding I connect to the internet???. Big bug! Won’t let me listen offline!! In fact some won’t play at all! Fixed it cutting off anymore. ——// Since last update ( I’ve gotta learn not to sucker into the updates!!) it cuts off after a couple of minutes. Can’t use until you fix it! Downloaded the free version and it’s quitting too!

Great audio books, without the hastle.. Better than giving my hard earned money to the jerks at audible. You can only find classic books here The readings are great!

Don’t recommend updating. I recently updated the ap and they removed the navigation bar that allows you to quickly change to different part of story. Interestingly, it still appears in the photos of the app in the ap store. Also buttons are much, much smaller making them harder to use. There is so much screen space that thus was completely unnecessary. I highly regret updating the ap. Wish there was a way I could revert back to original.

Indispensable!. I’ve used other apps to access LibriVox content, but this one is my favorite. It’s not flashy, but it’s functional, intuitive, and easy on my battery. An old friend and a constant companion - indispensable to the student of history and philosophy, or the lover of classical literature. Uh-oh… fubarred by the latest update. Fix it soon, please! I use this app daily!

4.5 stars...... Love this app! BUT.....maybe it’s my small iPhone SE, but the elapsed time is not completely displayed, nor is the chapter currently playing. But the most annoying thing is that when I go back to the app after being away (even if I didn’t close it, but just switch over momentarily to another), the book chapter I was listening to doesn’t come up onscreen, and I have to hunt for it. It’s in the “recent” section, but not at the top or bottom (in case of sorting). Other than that, love the concept, love the app (much better than trying to listen from website). THANK YOU LibriVox and LibriVox volunteers! Blessings!

Just what I’ve been looking for!. The app works great and there’s no login, no password needed plus it will save your favorite and resume where you stopped.

What a find!. During COVID, reading and listening to audiobooks have become much more important to me. Between digital membership in my county library and Librivox I am getting into literature that keeps me (as a retiree) mentally active. Librivox is especially good at allowing me to dig into the literature of the past. Generally the readers are very professional and make it easy to listen. In some cases there are multiple versions with different readers. If you like one reader especially, you can search for other books that he/she read. Thank you Librivox DIO Roswell Georgia

App is suddenly full of bugs. Have used LibriVox for months, now it freezes, turns black, refuses to load etc. All volunteers so help is sketchy at best. I loved this project but the app is basically useless now. Very disappointing.

Great app. I’ve been using this app to listen to all sorts of classic stories, mysteries and adventures. I have used this app for years and continue to come to it when I’m in need for being read to.

This is great for homeschool!. My kids love this they don’t have too read there history I and I don’t either but I would love if they added "a child’s history of the world" but it’s still amazing I really do recommend this!

Love this app but for one thing. And that is that it does not fully sync with other iOS devices. There is an online account. But it does not retrain your book or place where you ended in all but the last device you listened to. So you have to relisten or try and find your place. But if you only use it on one device it is great A bit overpriced at $4 I think.

Update again Handy Mandy in Oz. You need to up date again because they just brought in Handy Mandy in Oz audiobook in and it need to be in every LibriVox app to use it all new audiobooks now please put it in

Recordings Keep Cutting Off. In both the Pro and original versions of this app, recordings have been repeatedly cutting off, often mid-sentence. To make matters worse, the app then loses your place, so when you go to resume listening, you have to fast forward over parts you’ve already heard. This began happening the moment they began charging for ad free service. So I’m now paying for a worse product.

Invaluable. Since discovering this wonderful program, I know I am able to retire in the evening, knowing I will have wonderful books, etc to listen to. This simple pleasure allows me to listen to my LibriVox choice, timing it to stop for the night when desired. One has no idea how important this can be. It takes me away from any worries of the day, into another world. I’m in my 80’s, so the choices available to select from, allows me to go back to some childhood days. Love it. Thanks so very much.

Thanks LibriVox app. I had a technical problem with the app and they fixed it and they wrote me back, an actual human email note thanking me for letting them know and explaining what went wrong. I’m grateful. Plus, this app seems to be the most convenient way to listen to LibriVox, and I’ve tried several. I listen everyday and have for years. To be clear the app is not affiliated with the LibriVox organization.

Impressed. I’m so grateful for this app as a once homeschooling Mom; it’s such a lifesaver/ timesaver. And now I am super excited for the low-cost ads free option.

Slight annoying crash. I love this app and enjoy the books, but there is a problem as of late it keeps crashing on my iOS device. Would be great if this could be fixed with an update. That being said I have listened to over a hundred books on this app and would give it 5 stars if it didn’t crash so much on my iOS devices.

Has significant advantages over the free version. This version appears to support unlimited sequential listening. Ie listening to multiple chapters unattended. Plus no commercials. $1.99 is a an amazing price to access almost unlimited audio books.

Hardly works on iPhone, & compromised on iPad. On iPhone: something happened so half the image of the book shows; unable to access timer on iPhone. On iPad I can set the timer, but it doesn’t work and then disappears but keeps playing. This is important as I had been setting it to play as I go to bed and it really helps me eventually go to sleep! In the past I went back to the last I heard and start there again. But now, if it keeps playing all night it wakes me up again!

Life saver. I will be forever grateful to all the amazing volunteers who make these audio books available to everyone. I tell everyone about this! Truly wonderful. LibriVox helped me through a serious accident, the loss of my father, and a pandemic! Listening soothes me, and I have heard so many great books that I have never before read. Thank you to all of you!

All of the Books you were supposed to read.. This is a treasure for the audio reader. The narrators and sound systems are a challenge. Some can’t get any worse but is a small price to pay.

Valuable Resource!. Great app. Before this was available I would have to manually download the files for each audio book from the Librivox website and transfer them via iTunes to play them from my phone. This is a really good resource!

Great app!. What I love most is the ability to control playback speed via a sliding scale. This is way better than any other podcast app I have tried. Also love the ease of making lists and it serves up the newest Librivox offerings, and it displays the cover art. I could go on and on raving about this app. I have the paid version, which has no ads. Be sure to tap the wave form below the open chapter to change it out for the much more useful slide bar. And, you can contact the owners from the Settings menu to report problems, which the do answer promptly.

Enjoy Listening to the classics. There are so many free books to listen to. Some readers are better than others. But many books have been rated as to the quality of the presentation.

Priceless resource!. It is unbelievable to me that I can listen to many first person journals and accounts, also classical works on LibriVox- for free! I can’t say enough good things about LibriVox. The only drawback is that the volunteer readers can be uneven in quality. Some are amazing, like the person that reads John Muir’s early journals. Others perform readings providing only a perfunctory performance or speed through without any nuance at all. So many wonderful readers outweigh the poor ones. All in all a fabulous resource! Thank you so much!

Very good!. I have to listen to this for school which is nice because I would usually have to read the books

LibriVox is a Godsend. The hours I have spent listening to these wonderful productions have greatly enhanced my quality of life.

Everyone Needs this app!. Learn for a lifetime and be a better person. It will look good on you! First step - all books by William Walker Atkinson….and go!

Recent issues with its UI. Until a few weeks ago, this worked just as expected but lately, there are multiple problems with the user interface: sudden stopping a minute or two into a new book, and display of book contents by chapter, at least. I hope these get fixed soon

Best $2 you’ll ever spend!. Love this app - I listen to it every morning and night on my daily drive to work. The books are read loud and clear and well the volunteers who read have soothing voices that make it easy on your ear (ex. Andrea Fiore) I’m so grateful for this app & all its volunteers!

Great app. This is a great app that reads to us as we drive around town or to bring entertainment to mindless tasks like laundry, dishes, and cleaning bathrooms. Spend the $2 to save yourself from the annoying commercials or to keep your kids from accessing the web without parental controls by clicking on the ads 😬. Improvements: that there are two rating systems for books. First, for the content of the book and secondly for the quality of the reader(s). Also that it can somehow date stamp when I finish a book.

Great Find. I came across this site while looking for a free audible book. It’s a wonderful source of classics and interesting reads. Most of the narrators are very good and easy to listen to.

Best Audio Book App. I've been listening to this free-audio book app for over 10 years. Still the best app out there! NOTE to DEVELOPER: Only one frustration and don't know exactly when developer changed this but it's really annoying. For some reason the developer removed the go back or forward by chapter feature or to let you start the book over. I often fall asleep while listening and need to go back one or more chapters, can no longer do it. Or when going between listening on iPhone to iPad I need to go ahead a few chapters. Really annoying. Please add features back in.

So Enjoying. I very much appreciate being able to listen to good books from my library while driving to and from work😊

A human project. This app is the marriage of a work of love and a welcoming attitude. This means even poorly dictated recordings are allowed but it’s okay because without them many books wouldn’t be available. Get the PAID version because it’s very cheap to remove adds and for some reason the text speed reader will adjust better...

Great app.... There’s a bug with elements getting moved over from the right by about 1cm, and sometimes the icons are incorrect when showing which chapters are downloading, but there are no ads, it works both online and off (if you download the audiobooks), the controls are simple and the big buttons make it easy (meaning a lot more safe) to use if I’m driving. I hope the bugs get fixed. They have seemed to linger. I also hope they make it so artwork gets saved for offline use when downloading an audiobook. Right now, it shows a generic cover when listening offline. Please don’t take my constructive criticism as a condemnation. This is a great app! I use it all the time, which is testimony to that. I’m very happy with it. I’d like to see some fixes done, but I’m also very grateful and happy with it as it is. Thank you to the developers for creating it and also for making sure to note “no ads” when issuing an update. I have had other developers put in ads without warning me and it’s really upset me. None of that here! Just honest updates. Thank you!

Novel history. I have listened to many novels from LibriVox. If you pay attention to the settings as well as the story you will get a history lesson in architecture, household furnishings and the general tenor of life of humanity over the centuries.

Last chapters don’t work. Lovely app but it seems like the last chapters of a lot of the books just don’t work?? No rhyme or reason, they’ll work fine and then stop working for a while and then work again. Downloading doesn’t help. Seems like a pretty serious problem to me!

Constant glitches & download failures. When you click out of a book to go back to the list of other books, it does not let you see the titles and they all get shoved off the screen to the right and you have to close the app and come back or it will not let you fix it. This happens every single time. Also, even if I download the books it does not let me listen to them when I am off-line. Very disappointing.

Love it but recent issues. I love this app and LibriVox in general, but in the past few days, the app has been closing out on me every few minutes. I’ve tried deleting and reinstalling, but it’s still glitching just the same. It could be my phone, but no other app is giving me trouble, so I’m inclined to believe it’s the app itself. Still no better app I have found for free listening, so I’m sticking with it.

Scroll bar gone. As others have mentioned, the recent update removed the rapid access scroll feature, which I often used. Also removed were the quick chapter fwd/rev controls. The font was decreased too. The app is not as useful as before.

Amazing resource. Tons of incredible books and lots of absolutely outstanding readers. I've listened to hundreds and hundreds of hours of great books and Great Books.

What’s Not to like. Lov to listen to books on LibriVox. Nothing recent? Not much recent worth listening to. Maybe that’s harsh, but my book LISTENING certainly skews older because of this great App.

best app ever. for learning history, reading/encountering all of the classics we should have read in our youth, for musement, and amusement, we are now without excuse for being intellectually shallow, or ignorant . May God bless the volunteers, the readers, the genius that put such a good thing within reach of all. A word of caution though: “choose wisely, for the mind is a terrible thing.” 😎☕️

So disappointed because I love LibriVox!. Just got the pro version for my iPhone 7+. As soon as I click on a book, I see a piece of the book cover, and have no controls. When I turn the phone sideways, I can adjust where in the chapter it is, but to change chapters, I have to exit the app and restart. No other settings are available. I tried deleting the app and downloading it again. All that did was lose all of my favorited books.

LibriVox. LibriVox is a precious app, one of my very favorites. It is a gem. Getting caught up on and appreciating all the books I never read when I was younger. I have the ad free version, which I love.

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Books. Great app. Some people hard to understand with accents but most clear and well paced. A good selection of books. I'm hooked on short stories at the moment.

one orientation. Since the last update, this app is stuck in a portrait orientation, which is really annoying. The Ads version seems to be ok. And what happened to the sleep timer ?

This is great. This by far is my favorite app on my iPhone! It’s great to use when winding down, in bed, or going for walks. This app is seriously the best audio book app out there and worth the cost!

I use this every day. This is the best app for listening to LibriVox audiobooks

Waste of Money. The newest book on here is from 1890, disappointing to pay.

Martin. The best thing that’s happened to me

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App keep crashing iOS 15. App crashes after 1-3 mins in, reset did not help

Excellent app!. I really enjoy this app.

Search results are very limited, compared to your older version a few years back.. I enjoy this program for listening to all kinds of audiobooks for free, however I have noticed that your search results have gone down to about 40 to 60 results maximum. May you please fix this so it shows unlimited search results like your older version of the app used to do. thank you peace out.

Awesome. An a1 app with classic reads.

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Loved!!!. It was really good! And I loved it!

LibriVox Audiobook Pro. For a decade I spent $20 each month for audiobooks. This App works very much better. The variety of books is excellent. The readers are terrific with rare exceptions

Shuts down OFTEN. I listened to a recording on a 6 hr road trip and the app kicked me off at least half a dozen times. Painful, and dysfunctional. I’m going to endure through it because the books are so valuable to me not because I appreciate the app in any sense. 🤬🙉🙈🤦🏻‍♂️

Broken catalog. The Catalog genre listings are vastly incomplete versus the LibriVox web site, such that Children's Fiction is empty of their 484 listings. The app simply called Audiobooks also accesses LibriVox and seems the best of all I tried, even having speed play, and not requiring a silly Load More button just to scroll through a list.

1 thumbs up.. Great app. I use it all the time. There are varying levels of readers, but they’re almost all enjoyable and there are some great ones.

I use it Daily. There are some very minor bugs in the app but generally, it’s wonderful.

Bookmark headaches. Please fix the bookmark function. Other than that thanks for the access to great works.

Zzz. Can not fall asleep w/o being read to...

Needs improvement. Having to unlock my phone and go into the app every time I want to pause what I’m listening to is just annoying, especially while driving.

It’s good. Books are good for brain.

Audio ads in the middle of chapters now. Audio ads in the middle of chapters now. Cheesy ad banners are not enough? Unbelievable.

Honorary. It does not stay on. The screen turns dark and then the audio stops. The free version does not do this. In fact I can browse away and it still plays in the background

Love this app but.... What’s with the sudden influx of religious sermons. I mean, to each his own, but there are literally hundreds of them 😳

Not loading a single audiobook. I just purchased the app, but none of the audiobooks are loading. Please help!

Amazing. The people who reads the books, plays, etc, are doing a fantastic job. The app works great, and any problem can be fixed with a restart.

Disappointed.... Have used free version for years. Just started quitting randomly. Upgraded to paid version, but same thing happening — random quit a minute or two in... frustrating. Has been a fave, but gotta give low rating now due to this nagging glitch.

Audio. An excellent way to access out of copyright literature

Not working. Every time I open an app says error. I lose my money with this

First few seconds announcing the story title are skipped over. I’m listening to Grimms fairytales read by Bob Neufeld, wonderful listening, however each story skips a few seconds so you don’t hear the title. It’s very irritating, and you should fix it.

My go-to. I love librivox for giving me quality readings of my favorite books and authors. It is a wonderful resource. It makes my commute fly by.

Great Classic Books!. Wonderful selection of classic books! Pretty and easy to use. Thanks to all the readers - this makes my commute so much more pleasant!

I’ve the PAID app. No instructions Cannot sort to select BOOKS ONLY Issues every time Apple updates

No longer syncs across my iOS devices. No longer syncs across my iOS devices. Please fix.

Good, but does not play well with others.... This app works well in general for finding, downloading and streaming audiobooks. But it does not conform to Apple UI standards - for example, swipe left to expose delete should be used instead of a button on chapter screen. The major UI issue is that “play” persists when unplugging earphones (Apple auto stops and remembers place on all other apps I use). Worse, when answering a phone or using sound on an activated app, the app does not suspend but continues to play over the conversation or voice message, etc. With these bugs fixed, it gets 5 stars.

Emma. Wonderful reader ....wonderful book. Getting me through the pandemic. Thank you.

A top favorite audio book. This rich and enjoyable novel is my top favorite. The narrator is absolutely superb. Enjoy!!

AlaskaSD. Easy to use. Great selections.

LibriVox is Great!. It’s amazing to have a free source of many audiobooks in many languages! What a gift!

awe inspiring!. Open access to some of western civilization’s greatest thinkers! Truly awe inspiring!

Paid but doesn’t work. I got less than two minutes into my first book and it cut off. Tried again and it did the same thing. Please refund my money.

App closes automatically after 20 seconds while listening. The point of an audiobook app is that I don’t need it to be open on my screen all the time in order for it to work. Not even worth $3, absolute garbage

Buggy. Used to work great. Now shuts off after about a minute. Deleted and reinstalled. Didn’t help. Don’t bother until they fix it.

2 dollars.... 2 dollars..... I get this many great books for free and this convenient app for 2 fregin dollars. I’m so excited thank you. Audible classics has nothing on this.

Lousy. I have the free one and I can listen to any of the books. I thought, “why don’t I get the $2 version!? It will be ever so much better!” NOPE, can’t get it to work at all.

Great books! Free!. I love your classic books! You can tell the Bible readers are sincere in their faith. Thank you for this wonderful app!

Love it. It's a great app, I love to listen to audio books before I go to bed. I do wish they had some newer content (hence the 4/5), but I love the books on there. Also it lets the listener control the speed of the reader, which is great. Love the app, worth the money for sure.

Write patch notes, please.. Users care.

Fastest playback speed should be faster!. Otherwise v solid

CarPlay would make it better. Great app, very large selection of audiobooks. CarPlay integration would make the app even better!

Search doesn’t work. This is a piece of crap. Search never works. Use the free version, search works fine on that version

Love it, free stories- thanks!. What else can I say?

Please stop over eating all books. I love this app but every single book is rated four and a half stars. This makes it very difficult to find good books. So if you get this app please rate books that are not good or entertaining better than others for everyone’s sake. Also the delete all your review if you leave a bad review

We all use it daily. This is such a great resource! We use it ad-free - totally worth it.

Ok. We really liked it and used it for homework as a family. But since the new Apple update it won’t play.

Swann’s Way- surprisingly well done!. Both readers do a very good job. This is not an easy novel to interpret but both readers seem to have done their homework, know and love the material and give an honest and believable rendering!

Love. This app is amazing! Not all readers are equally good but no matter. I can listed anywhere. Love it and my kids love it.

Hate being lied to. Paid for the app and the first book I listen to I get an ad before the second chapter if that’s the case would of never paid for it plan and simple

Grrrrr..... LOTS of glitches! So much so, that I have not been able to listen to a book yet. Downloaded a book, but can not get it to play. Another book won’t pick up where it left off. App has trouble & stalls when I have my phone plugged in to a charger.

Favorite App working perfectly now!. Thank you!

Overcharged. The app is listed as 2.99 and I was charged $6.86