Libby, by OverDrive

OverDrive, Inc.

About this app

All over the world, local libraries offer millions of ebooks and audiobooks. You can borrow them — for free, instantly — with a library card and Libby: the award-winning, much-loved app for libraries.

• Browse your library’s digital catalog of books — from classics to NYT best-sellers
• Borrow and enjoy ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines
• Download titles for offline reading, or stream them to save space
• Send ebooks to your Kindle (U.S. libraries only)
• Listen to audiobooks via Android Auto
• Use tags to create your must-read list and any other book lists you want
• Keep your reading position automatically synced on all your devices

In our beautiful, intuitive ebook reader:
• Adjust text size, background color, and book design
• Zoom into magazines and comic books
• Define and search for words and phrases
• Read and listen to read-alongs with your kids
• Add bookmarks, notes, and highlights

In our ground-breaking audio player:
• Slow down or speed up the audio (0.6 to 3.0x)
• Set a sleep timer
• Simply swipe to skip forward and backward
• Add bookmarks, notes, and highlights

Libby is built by the team at OverDrive, in support of local libraries everywhere.

Happy reading!

Ratings and reviews

The original Overdrive version was great! I could download a bunch of books for long flights or if I was in a place without Internet connections. Now, with Libby, libraries should rethink using this app. The major problem is that it requires an internet connection --akin to streaming -- to be able to READ. I can see needing the connection for downloading and returning. It also seems to use too much of my phone battery. Otherwise, the app seems fine.

I think it's terrible that when I go to read a book on Libby the first thing I see is how many other people are waiting to read it. I'm reading as fast as I can and having that notification looming over my book each time I open it is not helpful and a bit stressful. Very counter to relaxing and reading a book. They should allow users to turn off that notification setting. Much prefer usong Overdrive.

Overall, this app is more convenient than OverDrive, however there are a few problems that makes me wish OverDrive was still an option. OverDrive had better file management, allowing for individual files to be downloaded, this helps with the limited storage on low end devices. The more important issue is that downloads on Libby are not reliable. I have had multiple problems with downloads being unavailable without wifi. Overall, I enjoy this app, but have problems with its download management.

What's new

Bug fixes, performance optimizations, accessibility improvements, and preparation for our next round of features. Thanks for supporting your local libraries!