Best ePub Reader apps for iOS and Android

TechObservatory
9 min readNov 1

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In this digital age, research shows that books are losing a war with visual mediums for knowledge and entertainment, such as videos and games. On the bright side, new technology has only made books more accessible than ever, giving users the freedom to choose between different novels or textbooks with the press of a button. Whether you’re a student or vacationer, you no longer have to carry bundles of books with you wherever you go.

While a dedicated eReader such as Amazon’s Kindle gives you easy access to digital format books, not everybody can afford them or want to carry them. Fortunately, numerous ePub reader applications help you read books natively on your PCs, phones, or tablets. This post looks at the 11 best ePub readers available for popular operating systems including Android, iOS, Windows & Mac to choose from.

What are ePub readers?

ePub or Electronic Publication is a popular format that different operating systems and devices support for eBooks. ePub Readers are essentially software/apps that help you read these digital books from your device’s screen, wherever you are. There are dozens of options for iOS and Android users, many of them with many features to appeal to any book worm.

With so many options available, it can become overwhelming to figure out which app you should get started with. So let us take a look at some of the best ePub readers to help you.

What are the best ePub readers?

Kobo Books

Available On Android, iOS, Windows & Mac

A well-known name among eReader apps, Kobo Books lets you explore its huge catalog of eBooks. You can find free and paid books on the app and read the free ones without registering for an account. The app is available for a variety of platforms for computers and smartphones, including iOS and Android.

The app gives you the ability to read eBooks and listen to audiobooks. You can also preview books before buying them. Kobo Books can read many different file formats on your devices, including ePub and PDF. Kobo Books also features a built-in dictionary to find the meanings of new words you come across. It also has a multi-device sync that allows reading across your computers and smartphones without losing track of your last session.

Google Play Books

Available On Android, iOS, Windows & Mac

Play Books from Google is one of the most commonly used eBook apps on Android smartphones, although it is also available on the App Store. It brings with it a large collection of books and recommendations. It even lets you access audiobooks. You can purchase eBooks and audiobooks from the store and listen or read on the app. You can even preview samples to make your decision easy. There are also many public-domain and free books available to download. There is also a page turn animation function that makes it seem like reading a real physical book.

Google Play Books offers sync support for multiple devices to let you continue reading on other devices from where you left off. You also get the functionality of bookmarking, note-taking, and night mode for a convenient night-time reading experience. In addition, the app supports a wide variety of eBook formats, including ePub and PDF, and even reads out the book for you using the TTS function.

PocketBook

Available On Android, iOS & Mac

PocketBook allows users to read ePub books and listen to audiobooks on Android and iOS devices. It supports more than 26 formats, including Mobi, FB2, CBZ, DJVU, PDF, and EPub. You can also take notes while reading or listening to audiobooks and even use the text-to-speech functionality to play text files.

PocketBook offers powerful features like creating collections, smart search, and sort/filter books. It also has an in-built translator making it extremely useful for those reading in a different language. In addition, Pocketbook gives users two night-reading modes that reduce blue light and prevent eye strain while reading at night. It also has a free offline reading mode and a facility to sync your saved notes and bookmarks with cloud storage.

eBoox

Available On Android, iOS & iPadOS

A simple, clean and elegant eBook reader app available for Android smartphones and iOS, eBoox supports a large number of eBook file formats like Doc, PRC, Mobi, FB2, and ePub. It allows you to upload digital books in various formats from your SD card or phone. You can also choose to read from the catalog of books it offers.

eBoox also gives you the convenience of making your reading experience personalized with several customization options in the settings menu. Like any other eReader, the app supports all standard features like note-taking, annotations, and bookmarks.

In addition to these interesting features, eBoox also has a dedicated night mode that makes your night-time reading experience pleasant by reducing backlight. It also has cloud support to sync multiple devices and offers customizable options to change text size, font, brightness, and other settings to suit your liking.

FBReader

Available On Android, iOS, iPadOS, Windows, Mac, Linux

FBReader is another excellent ePub reader app for book lovers. It works on multiple devices running Android, Windows, Linux, Mac OS, and other platforms, giving you the flexibility of reading anywhere. It is designed to be one of the most versatile apps available, with support for a large number of eBook formats.

FBReader organizes your library based on author and titles to allow easy searching and lets you read in up to 34 different languages. But, of course, you can do a lot more with this app, from bookmarks and font adjustment to synced reading positions and cloud storage. You can also change the background and brightness to match your preferences.

Moon+ Reader

Available On Android

A popular ePub reader application for Android, Moon+ Reader lets you read eBooks in various file formats, including PDF, ePub, Mobi, DJVU, HTML, and more. In addition, it allows users to customize their reading experience with several customization options like changing fonts, line spacing, and other settings. You can also choose from more than 10 themes and even select different day and night modes.

Based on how you use your smartphone, Moon+ Reader has options that allow you to choose how to flip pages inside the app, with options such as volume keys, touch screen, and others. Furthermore, this reader supports various auto-scroll modes such as by page, by line, by pixel, and more for efficient reading, which suits your needs. In addition, Moon+ Reader provides you a real-time multi-sync capability so that you can continue reading across multiple devices without losing the page you were on. It even includes backup and restore functions to make sure you always have access to your eBook libraries.

ReadEra

Available On Android

A simple eBook reader for Android smartphones, ReadEra focuses on making your reading experience convenient. It supports various file formats, including ePub, Txt, PDF, DJVU, and Word, and does not require registration or logging in. In addition, the app offers a free offline mode without any ads on the interface.

ReadEra is equipped with many exciting features, including a split mode that allows opening two files simultaneously and an auto-sync feature to continue reading from where you left off on other devices. It also supports auto-detection and the automatic grouping of documents and books. In addition, ReadEra lets you enjoy additional features like page pointer navigation, footnote text, and bookmarking. It also provides powerful customization options to adjust screen orientation, brightness, font type and size, margin, and line spacing.

Lithium: EPUB Reader

Available On Android

This is a smart eReader app for Android that features a clean and simple design. Lithium lets you choose from sepia and night themes to suit your requirements. It is designed to offer an ad-free experience so that you can enjoy a pleasurable reading experience without any distraction from ads popping up on the interface. Lithium Pro also features automatic book detection and the ability to manage books automatically. It lets you select between page switching and scrolling modes apart from basic operations like note taking and highlighting.

The paid version of the app gives you access to additional perks like syncing your reading positions, bookmarks, and highlights across multiple devices so that you can enjoy a seamless reading experience from anywhere at any time. It also gives you more themes and highlights.

Apple Books

Available on iOS, iPadOS, Apple Watch, Mac

Apple’s eBook reader app has a vast collection of audiobooks and eBooks to meet different preferences. Apple Books gives a free preview for each book to help readers choose the ones they like the most. In addition, this app supports a wide variety of formats, making it a highly versatile ePub reader for iOS.

You get many exciting features with Apple Books, including multi-device cloud sync and a night mode. You can also personalize your reading experience with customization options like color theme, font, and more. Apple Books also offers an auto day/night theme that adjusts the backlight and screen brightness automatically.

Marvin 3

Available On iOS & Mac

The third generation of the popular Marvin eBook reader app for iOS, Marvin 3 supports a wide range of file formats. It not only allows reading DRM-free ePub books but, uniquely, it also supports CBX and CBR formats for comics. In addition, you can choose between different themes along with automatic switching between day and night and features like Slide Over and Split View.

To make your reading experience better, Marvin 3 also adds features like Goodreads integration, TTS support, and Karaoke reading. It also offers a fully customizable multi-column mode and integration with a variety of libraries. Of course, you can also do a lot more like highlighting content, adding bookmarks, notes, and annotations, and switching between library viewing options. Among other things, Marvin 3 offers import and export functionality, choice of view modes, cloud sync support, and the ability to side-load fonts.

KyBook 3

Available On iOS & Mac

Another amazing ePub reader app for iOS is KyBook 3, which boasts a wide variety of features that eBook enthusiasts would appreciate. It has a clean, modern, easy-to-use interface and a large catalog of eBooks to choose from. Apart from these, it also offers a collection of audiobooks. In addition, KyBook 3 supports several file formats, including TXT, RTF, PDF, ePub, and others.

KyBook 3 gives you different options for themes and backgrounds, TTS support, automatic scrolling, page turn animations, and more. You can also annotate, bookmark, look up for meaning and translate words to different languages. In addition, the app offers you a personalized reading experience with some customization options like changing text sizes, fonts, margins, indentation, etc. One of the most exciting things about KyBook 3 is that it automatically fetches the metadata for books and allows you to modify them in easy steps, allowing for your ebook collection’s easy and customizable organization. It also supports auto-syncing for metadata, bookmarks, reading progress, and annotations across devices. In addition, KyBook has the ability to connect to several external libraries and servers.

Conclusion

These are some of the best ePub reader apps across many platforms that will certainly improve your daily reading experience. With these apps, it is easier to uncover the joy of reading. You will no longer need to carry magazines and books, nor dedicated eReaders, when you travel. Everyone owns a smartphone, and these are the best apps available on iOS and Android. Get quick access to your favorite books right on your smartphone.

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