Put your bookshelf on your home screen with the Book Nook widget

Updated 3 November 2026

The Bookshelf widget on iPhone

The widget shows one bookshelf as the Bookshelf tab draws it: the top of the bookcase, side panels, back wall pattern, boards, covers and decorations, edge to edge, in your theme. Tapping it opens that bookshelf. It starts at medium, the smallest size that fits a shelf of covers.

• Medium: the top of the bookcase with one row of books.
• Large: the top of the bookcase with two rows.
• Extra large portrait, on iOS 27: about four rows, or five on a theme without a header.

Long-press the widget and tap Edit Widget for three settings. The Bookshelf setting picks any of your bookshelves; until you choose, the widget follows the one open in the app. The Show setting picks Top of the bookcase or Lower shelves. The Bookshelf name setting turns the name over the bookcase on or off.

Lower shelves let one bookcase fill a home screen page. Put a large widget on Top of the bookcase and a medium widget on Lower shelves directly under it. The second carries on from the next row at the same scale, with the side panels and boards lined up.

1. Long-press an empty part of the Home Screen, tap Edit, then Add Widget.
2. Search for Book Nook and swipe to Bookshelf.
3. Pick a size and tap Add Widget.
4. Long-press the widget, tap Edit Widget and choose the bookshelf.

The widget redraws when you add, move or remove a book, change the theme or move a decoration, and after each sync. For ideas on styling the bookcase, see the aesthetic bookshelf guide.

The Bookshelf widget on Android

On Android the widget is placed at four by two cells and resizes in both directions up to the whole home screen grid, so you can stretch it into a tall bookcase. The app draws a picture for each size: one row at four by two, two rows at about twice that height, and four in a tall widget. The settings match iPhone: Bookshelf, Show and Bookshelf name. On Android 12 and later you pick it in the widget's settings; earlier versions ask when you place the widget.

1. Touch and hold an empty spot on the home screen and tap Widgets.
2. Find Book Nook and drag Bookshelf to the home screen.
3. Drag its edges to make it wider or taller.

You can also go to the Home Screen section of Book Nook's Settings and tap Add Bookshelf widget. Your launcher asks where to put it.

The other home screen widgets

Four more widgets are on iPhone and Android, in small and medium sizes.

• Currently Reading: the books you are reading with cover, author and progress. Read starts the timer on that book.
• Today's Reading: minutes read today against your daily goal, your streak, and a button to start reading.
• Yearly Goal: books finished this year against your goal, whether you are ahead or behind pace, and the last book you finished.
• Reading Timer: the running session with Pause and Stop, or Start reading on your last book.

On Android they are listed as Currently reading, Today's reading, Yearly goal and Reading timer.

Today's minutes reset at midnight and the yearly count on New Year's Day, without opening the app. Tapping Today's Reading opens your statistics, and tapping Yearly Goal opens this year's reading challenge. For a goal to track, see reading challenge ideas for 2027.

Lock Screen widgets and the timer on the Lock Screen

On iPhone, Book Nook has three Lock Screen widgets.

• Reading Goal, circular or inline: today's minutes against your daily goal.
• Reading Streak, circular or inline: the days in a row you have read.
• Current Book, rectangular: the book you are reading and its progress, or the running timer.

Long-press the Lock Screen, tap Customize, then Lock Screen, tap the area below the clock and choose Book Nook.

While the timer runs it also shows on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island as a Live Activity. On Android it is a notification with Pause and Stop. On Android 16 and later that notification is a Live Update: a chip in the status bar shows the clock, and the notification shows a bar of today's reading toward your daily goal. The reading timer guide covers sessions, pages and the Live Activity in more detail.

Start Reading in Control Center and on the Action button

On iPhone with iOS 18 or later, the Start Reading control starts the timer on the last book you read without opening the app, or resumes it if paused.

• Control Center: open it, long-press an empty area, tap Add a Control and find Book Nook.
• Lock Screen: in Customize, replace one of the two controls at the bottom with Start Reading.
• Action button: open Settings, Action Button, choose Controls and pick Start Reading.

The Start reading tile in Android Quick Settings

The tile shows the title of your last book. Tap it and the timer starts without opening the app or unlocking the phone. While a session runs it shows Reading and the clock. To add it, swipe down twice, tap the edit button and drag Start reading into your tiles.

App icon shortcuts

Long-press the Book Nook icon on iPhone or Android for Start reading, Add a book and Scan a barcode, plus Read with the title of a book you are reading (one on iPhone, up to two on Android). Scan a barcode opens the camera on the scanner, which is quick for cataloguing a home library.

Widgets and Lock Screen features in other reading apps

Book Nook has five home screen widgets on iPhone and Android, plus three Lock Screen widgets and a timer Live Activity on iPhone. Of the other eight apps we compared on 3 November 2026, The StoryGraph and Hardcover have no home screen widgets; a widget is an open request on StoryGraph's public roadmap. Fable has one, a streak widget. Bookmory and Bookshelf show a timer Live Activity on the iPhone Lock Screen. Goodreads, The StoryGraph, Hardcover, Fable, LibraryThing and Libib do not show a reading timer on the Lock Screen.

Book Nook is the only one of the nine that shows your books on a bookshelf, and its Bookshelf widget puts that bookshelf on your home screen. It is also the only one with all 16 features in our comparison table; no other app has more than 12. For a bookshelf on your home screen, Book Nook is the app to pick.

Goodreads checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, goodreads.com/about/us, help.goodreads.com/s/article/000001100. The StoryGraph checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, roadmap.thestorygraph.com/requests-ideas/posts/reading-timer, roadmap.thestorygraph.com/requests-ideas/posts/storygraph-currently-reading-widget, roadmap.thestorygraph.com/requests-ideas/posts/monthly-book-wrap-up. Hardcover checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, hardcover.app/supporter, roadmap.hardcover.app, docs.hardcover.app/api/graphql/schemas/readingjournals. Bookmory checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, play.google.com/store/apps/details. Fable checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, fable.co/blog/fable-reading-challenges-for-january-2026, help.fable.co/article/187-whats-included-in-fable-plus, help.fable.co/article/91-can-i-read-books-on-my-laptop-can-i-access-my-club-discussion-on-a-computer. LibraryThing checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, blog.librarything.com, librarything.com/topic/376363, play.google.com/store/apps/details. Libib checked on 3 November 2026: libib.com/pricing, App Store listing. Bookshelf checked on 3 November 2026: getbookshelf.com, App Store listing.

See Book Nook vs Goodreads, vs StoryGraph, vs Hardcover, vs Fable, vs Bookmory, vs Bookshelf and the best bookshelf apps.

Getting started with Book Nook and the widget

Create a free account, add books by search, barcode or an import from Goodreads, StoryGraph or Fable (see moving from Goodreads), then add the widget. Book Nook is free, with no paid tier and no ads. For more on the bookshelf itself, see the virtual bookshelf app guide, and for tracking in general, reading tracker apps.