Book Nook vs Bookshelf

Updated 3 November 2026

Bookshelf (listed on the App Store as Bookshelf: Book Tracker & List) is a reading tracker by Bookshelf LLC for iPhone, iPad and Mac, with paid features in Bookshelf Gold. Book Nook is free on iPhone, Android and the web and draws your books as covers on a themed bookshelf, with a reading timer, monthly Wrapped and book clubs.

Book Nook and Bookshelf side by side

Bookshelf checked on 3 November 2026: getbookshelf.com, App Store listing.

Book Nook has all 16 features in the table. Bookshelf has no bookshelf view, no shelf themes and no book clubs. Its site and App Store listing do not mention reading challenges, a friends feed or Home Screen widgets. The comparison of nine bookshelf apps adds Goodreads, StoryGraph, Hardcover, Bookmory, Fable, LibraryThing and Libib.

The bookshelf view: themes, decorations and book sizes

Book Nook opens on your bookshelf. Your books stand on wooden shelves as covers, or as spines when you want more on a row, and you drag a book to move it along a shelf or up to another one. There are five themes: Simple, Dark Academia, Cottagecore, Coquette and Matcha Cafe. You can also design your own colours, frame, boards, back pattern and title font.

65 decorations, such as plants, candles, lamps and dragons, go between the books. The Real book sizes switch draws each book at its edition's size, so a mass-market paperback stands shorter than a large hardback. Shelf lights put a warm light under each board, with a brightness slider from 10 to 100. You can tilt a book so it leans, from Tilt in the book menu on iPhone, Android and the web, or with a two-finger twist on the phones.

You can have as many bookshelves as you like and swipe between them. List and Mosaic views show the same books with pills for All, TBR, Done, Reading and DNF, and every book keeps its place on the bookcase while you use them. A bookshelf marked Show on profile appears on your public profile, drawn the way you set it.

The bookshelf widget shows one bookshelf on your Home Screen. On iPhone it comes in medium and large, and in extra large on iOS 27. On Android it starts at 4 by 2 cells and stretches to any larger size, up to a tall bookcase. See the bookshelf widget guide.

Bookshelf shows books as collections of covers, with no shelf themes or decorations. More on shelf design is in the aesthetic bookshelf app guide and the virtual bookshelf app guide.

Adding books: search, barcode or by hand

Search by title or author: results show at once, and Book Nook fills in missing authors, covers, page counts and descriptions from its catalogue, ISBNdb and Google Books. Scan the barcode on a book with the camera. Add a book by hand with your own cover photo when it is rare or self-published. Bookshelf scans barcodes too. The steps for a home library are in cataloguing your books by barcode.

Reading timer, Live Activity and the Android notification

Book Nook's timer records each session with its minutes and pages read. On iPhone the running timer shows on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island as a Live Activity. On Android it shows as a notification with Pause and Stop. You can start it without opening the app from Control Center, the Lock Screen or the Action button on iPhone (iOS 18 or later), and from Quick Settings or a widget on Android. The Currently Reading widget shows up to three books in progress, each with a Read button.

A daily reminder on iPhone and Android names the book you are reading, at 6:00 PM by default or a time you choose.

Bookshelf has reading sessions and a Live Activity on iPhone. Its App Store listing names Reading Sessions, Reading Streaks, Reading Reminders, Cloud Sync and Library Export among its features and says "some features require Bookshelf Gold for access or unlimited use". In Book Nook all of these are free. More in the reading timer app guide.

Reading statistics and goals

Book Nook's statistics show minutes and pages over time, a reading calendar, your current and longest streak, the genres you read and a chart of your ratings. You set a daily minutes goal on the reading timer and a yearly books goal through the yearly reading challenge. The Today's Reading widget shows minutes against your daily goal, and Yearly Goal shows whether you are ahead or behind pace. On iPhone, Lock Screen widgets show your goal, streak and current book.

Bookshelf has charts, a yearly goal and a daily goal. Book Nook adds a reading calendar, a genre breakdown, a ratings chart and goal widgets on the Home Screen and Lock Screen, all free. See the reading tracker app guide.

Reading Wrapped for each month and each year

Book Nook makes a Reading Wrapped for every month and year: books finished, hours read and favourites. The pages are 9:16, ready to share to Instagram Stories and TikTok from the phone apps, or to share and save from the web. Bookshelf has a Year in Review; Book Nook also makes one every month. See how Reading Wrapped works.

Friends, reviews, book clubs and challenges

Book Nook has a feed of what the readers you follow are reading, finishing and reviewing, with likes and comments. Every book page has reviews and threads. Spoiler tags hide part of a post until a reader taps it.

Book clubs read one book at a time. A comment from a member further ahead stays folded until you reach that page or tap it. Of the nine apps we compared, Book Nook is the only one with both a reading timer and book clubs. See the book club app guide.

Anyone can create a reading challenge with a goal and a deadline, and there is a yearly reading challenge. Nooks are groups for talking about books in a thread of posts. You earn points, such as 10 for a written review and 25 for finishing a reading challenge (10 for the yearly one), and stamps such as First review show on your public profile. See reading challenge ideas for 2027.

Bookshelf lets you share collections. It has no book clubs, and its site and App Store listing do not mention a friends feed or reading challenges.

Platforms and sync

Book Nook runs on iPhone and iPad (iOS 17 or later), Android 8.0 or later, and the web at trybooknook.com, with one account syncing your books, bookshelves and reading sessions across all three. You can export your data as a JSON file at any time. Bookshelf runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac, with a web app for sharing, and has no Android app.

Price

Book Nook is free, with no subscription, no paid tier, no ads and no limit on books. Bookshelf is free to download with Bookshelf Gold at $6.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $79.99 once, and its App Store listing sells token refills from $0.99 to $9.99 for its AI features.

Book Nook for each kind of reader

Readers with a physical bookshelf at home

Scan your books shelf by shelf and make one Book Nook bookshelf for each real bookcase. With Real book sizes and some books shown as spines, the screen matches the shelf in your room.

Readers who want an aesthetic digital shelf

Pick a theme such as Dark Academia or build your own, add plants, candles and lamps between the books, turn on the lights and put the shelf on your Home Screen as a widget.

Readers who track their reading with statistics

Time every session from the Lock Screen, set daily and yearly goals, and follow minutes, pages, streaks and genres. Wrapped sums up every month.

Readers who keep a book journal

Each book keeps its start and finish dates, a quarter-star rating and your review, and every session is saved with its pages. Turn on Hide from my profile for a book and it no longer appears on your public profile.

Which to pick: Book Nook or Bookshelf

Pick Book Nook. It shows your books on a themed bookshelf, has a reading timer, statistics, Wrapped for every month, friends and challenges, and is free on iPhone, Android and the web. Bookshelf lists its reading sessions, streaks, reminders, sync and export under "some features require Bookshelf Gold"; Book Nook does not charge for any of them, and it adds an Android app, book clubs and a bookshelf view.

How to switch from Bookshelf to Book Nook

1. Create a free account on iPhone, Android or the web at trybooknook.com/signup.
2. If your Bookshelf library came from Goodreads or StoryGraph, export it from there. On goodreads.com, open My Books, choose Import and export under Tools, then Export Library. On StoryGraph, open Manage account and choose Export StoryGraph library.
3. Open Import books in Book Nook. On iPhone it is on the Profile tab, under the settings icon at the top right. Choose Goodreads or StoryGraph and pick the file.
4. Check every book before it comes in. Choose where the books go: new bookshelves by status, bookshelves named after your Goodreads shelves or StoryGraph tags, or one new bookshelf. Ratings, reading dates where the file has them and written reviews come across.
5. Add books that exist only in Bookshelf by scanning their barcodes or searching for them.
6. If something looks wrong, undo the import under Recent imports. Undo removes the books, bookshelves and reviews it added, for 7 days.

The full steps for Goodreads are in moving from Goodreads to Book Nook. Goodreads alternatives covers other apps.