Barnes & Noble NOOK Reviews

by CMC171

After 8 years of having a Nook account, first on an actual Nook device, then on my iPad, I can no longer download or read any of my books. I get an error message that states that my account can’t be verified. This has been going on for at least a month. I’ve sent feedback at least 3 times over that period. They finally responded with information that is not helpful at all for the problem I’m having. If they’re going to wait so long to respond, the least they can do is send information that makes sense. All I was told was to update BarnesNobleNOOK , but there’s no update available or to refresh BarnesNobleNOOK , but when I tried that, the refresh button or whatever it is called does not appear. I’m sure the person reading this will just assume I’m being a “Karen”, but I’ve been having trouble with Barnes & noble for over a year now, in addition to this. I’ve sought help numerous times & dont receive a response or get a reply giving generic advice that doesn’t seem to apply to the problem.

by KA Jiang

I used to love my nook app - it was easy to use for all ages. There have been so many unnecessary changes rolled out so poorly that no one in the family wants to use their nooks because BarnesNobleNOOK keeps changing, is counterintuitive, and frustrating - they’ve all downloaded kindle instead, and have asked me to simply buy paper books. Problems include: I can’t sort my archive - while it appears as an option in another family member’s profile, my profile does not have that option. With more than 400 books in my archive, it’s extremely difficult to find the books I want to read. Even if I know the author and exact title, the search function does not call up books we know are in the archive - they appear when I scroll through the archive, but not in search. Additionally, here’s the most ironic bug: the send feedback/report a bug feature doesn’t work - you can type, but the “send” button is grayed out and unavailable. Every time there’s an update I have to spend several hours scouring the FAQs to see if they took away functions or if we’re just seeing a bug, then analyze whose profile and account works correctly, then try it figure out why some family members have x function but others don’t. EVERY update at least one family member’s account or profile has a bug; and now, to even report the sorting bug, I had to go into one of my kids’ profiles since I couldn’t!

by Too Old To Tap

When I started this review, I was more glad (see next paragraph) than I am now. Every update seems to decrease function and, today, no txt appears for any book I open. I may be finished trying to make it work. Sorry I recently purchased several new titles!

Glad to have Nook on my iPad but wish maneuvering through BarnesNobleNOOK wasn't so clunky. Not close to ease of Nook device but still better than earlier version. Why BarnesNobleNOOK can't let you purchase but the device can is unfathomable. Other reviewers have mentioned the inconsistent sync function which appears to have gotten worse: why can't you fix this? Your tech support doesn't take the time to read the question being asked and makes useless, futile suggestions. Had thought I wouldn't change because I have too many titles to use different one, today's experience may have convinced me to move on.

My final comment relates to the inability to utilize coupons for Nook purchases. The price fixing on e-books is a disgrace. The only advantage is portability and it does not outweigh the cost differential and the inability to lend any book I own to anyone I wish. Technology has bypassed common sense again!!

by Jv Wijrvberuifnjeornfojer

The layout is overly complicated and annoying. BarnesNobleNOOK deletes books from the device without permission. The “recent reads” are books I read three years ago and I have to dig for the actual book I am reading every time. Detail vs cover view does not toggle for the library list, only for shelves which I consider a waste of time and don’t use. The registered devices no longer show up on my account on the site either. It has become annoying enough that I have been using Kindle more and more, and the only books I have gotten through B&N in ages were from gift certificates people gave me. Also, downloads take forever. Kindle books, even illustrated ones, are ready to go in under a minute, usually in fifteen seconds or less. This thing is taking two to five per book, occasionally longer. Is it because it is updating all those stupid preview samples in the store first? It sounds silly, but when you are in a hurry to leave and BarnesNobleNOOK has taken all the books off yet again, it adds to the frustration considerably to have to stand there and wait for the download to finish. If I could get the books I own from b&n into the kindle app I would pitch the nook app for good.

by Adj1949

While I have had my Nook reader for several years now, I generally read on my iPad (iOS 14.6) which I use for many tasks. Lately, I have noticed some quirks in the Reader such as:
1) Turning a page to find the next page to be a previous page that I read several minutes ago. The following pages all repeat in order until…once again, the whole section of pages continues to repeat. If I continue to advance forward (hoping to arrive at the next page where I had departed from) the section of pages just continue to repeat. I don’t know if this is a problem with this book I am reading or the Reader, or the link to the B&N Website.(???)
2) Sometimes my attempt to turn a page will not work. I have made several following attempts immediately following, but have discovered the page will only turn after I have paused my attempts approximately 15-20 seconds. (again..???)
These events have not been regular or predictable. I also have a newer model iPad and have high-speed wifi with good coverage around my home.

by Nemo Software Engineer

I have had few problems with BarnesNobleNOOK and I am relatively sure the they are acting on crashes that generate dump data but when I run into non-crash problems: there have been two recently (1) portion of text after end line hyphenation not displaying for certain font sizes, and (2) app freeze to an unresponsive colored screen that I had to reload BarnesNobleNOOK to clear, the responses I get from support are canned. Yes, for most users it might be what they need to clear the problem but I already said I fixed the problem. I am giving information about the problem, for (1) how BarnesNobleNOOK developers can reproduce it, and for (2) everything I tried and failed to clear the problem and as much information about the circumstances and behavior I can gleam. I have been a software engineer longer than probably any of BarnesNobleNOOK developers have been alive and I know the importance of information rather than a simple it's broke or doesn't work. However, I do not get any feeling that my support e-mails are leading to to any bug investigation or fixes.

by Waldo32

I am absolutely sick and tired of the Nook app suddenly deciding I am running a little too low on disk space for its own comfort (2.26 GB available) and removing the books from my device and making me download them again. STUPID. No other app does this to me. So, on multiple occasions, I open my Nook app because I’m in the middle of no where (meaning “NO INTERNET ACCESS”) and low & behold ... all my books are gone. My books are the most important item on my iPad ... more than my music, movies, etc. I sure wish Barnes & Noble agreed with me, but obviously not. Nook really, really needs a switch where I can select “NEVER REMOVE A BOOK FROM THIS DEVICE WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT PERMISSION. I AM AN ADULT AND FULLY AWARE OF THE POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES OF MY DECISION.” If this is something Apple forced on you, that would be good to know too.
Please get this fixed. I’m tired of lugging around a semi-useful paper weight when I’m traveling in remote areas. BTW, it’s also a pain to keep re-downloading my books over and over.

by Annefj

I’ve owned a Nook Color since they first came out, then continued to read on my iPad when it’s battery stopped taking a charge. I now also own a Nook Paperwhite and the problem I have with the device and BarnesNobleNOOK is font size. On my iPad Pro, I can’t get the font size to increase as much as I need for my poor eyesight and on the Paperwhite, the largest font size is so big it seems only a few words fit on the screen, while the next size down isn’t quite large enough. I didn’t have this problem with my original Nook device and seem to remember being able to increase the font size further on the Nook app before it was last updated.
This is why I read ebooks nowadays—because the print size on everything else, from books to magazines, is too small. It would be wonderful if an intermediate font size could be provided for the Paperwhite and the ability to further increase font size in the Nook app.

by Kgil5588

I was always someone who swore I'd never use nook or read on my phone/tablet, because I loved feeling my book and holding it, turning the page, etc. But I'll honestly never go back! Lol! Nook is incredible!! Sooo easy and convenient to use. I eat all the time when I read, & it's soo much easier to just tap my screen to turn a page rather than try and hold my book down and turn a page while I eat and read. I also love how nook prices are so much cheaper than buying an actual, physical book. I love that I can read anywhere, anytime at just the touch of my screen. No bookmark required and I always have my phone on hand. I love it!!! I love how I can see what books are rated high and/or recommended for me. I honestly can't say enough good things about nook!!! Love it love it love it!!! BarnesNobleNOOK is amazing!! 👍🏻 👌🏻 💞 🌟 ✨ 💖☺️🙏🏻😍🥰💝🤗😚💓

by JShalimar

I’ve been reading with the iPad app for Nook for several years. It just keeps improving — with the exception of the last update. There’s definitely a bug. I saw a similar review about the Nook failing to keep the last page read and returning to an earlier position. I have had that problem also. Then the other thing is as I open BarnesNobleNOOK , several times the book fails to open and I’m told to restart my device. Actually, I have to close BarnesNobleNOOK and reopen it and then it will be fine. But this is a consistent problem. Not a huge issue, but still annoying. All in all, though, the Nook app is definitely the best book-reading app out there. Hopefully, the developers will correct these latest bugs soon!

by Roebling Grid

I’ve been a Nook customer for about nine years, first with the original Nook reader, then a Nook Simple Touch, and now as an app on my iPhone. I simply love it in all of its forms. The only complaint I have is with the latest update on my iPhone. In previous versions the capability existed to look up a definition for any word you wanted, not just one highlighted from the text you were reading. You simply highlighted a random word and then changed the it in the definition to whatever you wanted. That feature seems to have disappeared. You can still look up a word from the text but you can no longer change it to find the definition of another word. This was one of the features I enjoyed the most and would really like to have returned in a (hopefully quickly developed) future update.

by Iluvb&n

What I enjoy most about this Nook is how easy it is to use. Ordering books is so simple.i just do a search and press the purchase button. No fumbling to find my password or credit card. I also love my Nook library and how I can assign my books and magazines to shelves for easy organization. I can regularly see deals and special sales, new releases and more at my leisure. Pictures are crisp, download speed is good and the price is right, compared to an Ipad. The screen is a little more delicate than an Ipad would be, so I make sure I use a protective cover and don,t abuse it. I get all of the apps and browsing I would with another device. This is the largest of the Nooks with the highest storage capacity. . I don’t recall the model number. But I love it. Even more than my Ipad, which was a gift.

by 2832!

So I noticed this past Saturday morning, my nook app kept saying it wasn’t connected to the Internet. I checked my Internet and called Xfinity and have them restart my Internet, which my Internet is working absolutely fine to all the devices in my house, plus it’s working for everything else on my iPad except nook app. I called NOOK customer service who then told me that there was some bug issues they were trying to FedEx and I should be ready 14 to 24 hours.

I called them again tonight, around six, and they went on to tell me that they are still resolving trying to figure out this bug issue, and to give them another 24 to 48 hours. What has me very upset is I thought maybe I needed to restart my iPad entirely and log out of my NOOK app and log back in thinking that’s the way it would get updated or whatever.

I logged back into my NOOK which now all 600 whatever plus books are now disappeared, it’s still saying not connected to Internet, and I am mad because all 600 books are gone. A lot of money has been spent into my nook app/NOOK tablet I am giving another 48 hours for not to resolve this problem.

My next call will be speaking with the manager because I can only think of 2 solutions to this problem.

by JAMarsh65

Before the update you could see the cover of all the books you had available to read in your library. Now you have to scroll through either by author or title and click on each to see them. Of course you can see recent ones that way, but I want to see all my books like it was before. Plus I have to do this with all my archived books also which takes forever if you can’t remember who wrote it or the exact title. I do not understand why they had to change that aspect of BarnesNobleNOOK . Bring that option back, please!! Ok, they let me know I could view them that way by title or most recent, which is good, but why take away the choice by author? For those of us that read a lot this seems like a crazy change to make, this is a reading app after all, anything available in title should be available in author also(the same format). So, still no 5 stars because of that. Don’t understand why you changed that option:(
Thank you for listening and adding back the choice to search by author or title with the book cover. I am very happy!! You get your 5 stars back:)

by Cjmhsssad

I've had my nook for years. I found taking hard covers places difficult due to size and weight. I don't have a problem with the hyphenation or wrapping of text since I u sweats s that different font sizes will place differently in the viewing page. One suggestion to display by author is a good one since sometimes it alphabetizes by 'The'. For people who can't remember what they've read, they can try archiving books once finished. They are available to unarchive if they want. Keeps the volume down.
The fact that I also have BarnesNobleNOOK on my iPhone and tablet allows me to read anywhere. You can also archive a book from your phone or tablet.
One suggestion I would offer is Xcode the reader to be able to group 'like' books together while still grouping by author, i.e. Mystery vs Horror vs Self Help vs Health, etc.
I would recommend nook for everyone.

by Not So Happy In Atlanta

I enjoy reading on Nook, but really dislike a couple of the "improvements" that came with the upgrades. The first was a change in the dictionary feature - one can no longer modify a word to look up another, and the second, and much more aggravating, is the change in locating archived books. One used to be able to access all the archived books by simply changing the drop down box in the library to "archive", and there they all were. Now, supposedly, you touch "all titles", then "recent", then "filter" under that, but on my iPad, this does not do anything helpful. It merely gives you recently archived books. It certainly does not give you your entire
archived library. I fail to understand why it seems that most upgrades in technology must then become less user friendly and require more step to get what was once easily available. "Irritating" is an understatement!

by Hacienda57

Buyer beware. So after who knows how many years of using the nook app, i can tell you i have downloaded 411 nook books from Barnes and Noble i finally got royally scr**** . I ordered a new book and it got stuck in permanent processing. Called customer support and was told their system was undergoing maintenance. Very well, i asked them to cancel my order. Was told they couldn’t as the order was “ already in processing” i stated the obvious, “how can it be in process if the system is undergoing maintenance”? They also couldn’t specify how long the maintenance would last. So, the upshot is i could have my nook book in 10 minutes, or 10 days, OR i could roll out to my local B&N which is 20 mins away and buy the paperback at the same price. Kind of defeats the online purpose i feel. I would have thought i could have gotten a pop up warning about the maintenance and my order could take longer than normal but I guess we all know why THAT didn’t actually happen.

by Vineyardtim

I like Barnes and Noble. I’ve been a faithful customer for twenty five years. And I used to like the Nook App. But this new version is frustrating to the point of not being worth using anymore. Since the update, BarnesNobleNOOK doesn’t keep my place in the book I’m reading. It freezes on one page in a book and returns to that page every time, no matter how far past the page I’ve read. If I turn the iPad, instead of changing orientation to landscape or portrait, it take me back to the page it’s stuck on. If I close BarnesNobleNOOK or go to the library, when I return to the book it takes me back to the page. At this point I have to write down the page number to search for it or scroll for some time until I get to where I left off. I tried bookmarking the page, but it also clears the bookmark whenever I turn the iPad or get out of the book. It also isn’t syncing across devices. The updated app was supposed to make reading and keeping your place easier. It does the opposite. Very disappointing.

by Minttoann

I used to have a Nook, but abandoned it after I saw that BarnesNobleNOOK Store's nook app is better than the Nook itself. There's not as much lagging with page turn animations, it's more stable, the different color schemes look better, overall it's just better. Now I've also tried the Kindle app, and what really sells me on the Nook is the book stacking feature. I own Piers Anthony's series "Xanth" which is currently 34 books and running, and it definitely helps to have all those Xanth books in an automatic collapsable folder. Now some book series are filed under slightly different series names so you have a series split into 2 folders, but I see less and less of them with each update. Unless you're designing your own ebook reading app, I believe Nook is the best out there.

2019 update: Overall impressions unchanged. Nook has continued with quality of life and stability updates while Kindle on iOS lags behind. Series breaking greatly reduced. I don’t believe any in my current library suffer this issue. Kindle is no longer an option for me, even with Amazon’s occasional sales.

by Twirlingirl

I love the nook app I can read all my favorite authors when I want where I want as long as I have my phone!!! My only issue is that when I’m trying to group books that apart of the same series once you’ve reached your allotted regrouping number your not allow this bugs me because there are times when I purchase books they don’t always go into the already grouped series group and when you go to group sometimes you get a message that says the Nook team will look into the matter you sent us your concern about the next time BarnesNobleNOOK updates well I don’t like this because there are times when BarnesNobleNOOK doesn’t update so you have about 11 books that belonged grouped together but I have to wait until the new update comes out! But besides this I love BarnesNobleNOOK and enjoy reading all the hundreds of books I have saved onto my account!!!

by Awaketoolate

I’ve had the nook app for a few years now, and for most of that time I’ve felt that it wasn’t quite as good as the nook device because the device felt more like reading a real book than BarnesNobleNOOK did. In the past few months, it felt like BarnesNobleNOOK was closing that gap, especially by making page numbers visible all the time. I’m no longer abruptly jerked out of a story because I wasn’t aware that I was at the end of a book. Today they took the page numbers away and replaced them with the percentage of the book that I’ve read, and I just ..... I hate it. I know it’s not logical, an ebook doesn’t have physical pages, and with the various settings for page layout and fonts, representing reading progress as a percentage is more accurate than page numbers, but I just want to feel like I’m reading a book. I don’t know if anyone will read this through, but please, at the very least, create a setting to see progress as page numbers instead of percent completed.

by Ananna Mouse

I'm sorry and this says more about apple products than anything else. Everything is very user friendly and harmonious with my samsung devices (note I said devices, as in more than one) but anything I try to do with my apple products is apparently protected by the CIA and NASA. At one point I was even questioning my own existence and security trying to log into my own account. Thinking to myself, "It's me right, that's my name and password." Then after a fingerprint, my password, a hair sample and my second born later, I still can't open the book I paid for (over 5 years ago, yes I'm a re-reader) and am trying to retrieve from the archive 30 minutes later. But if I log onto my phone or computer (not apple products) I can do so and then update my apple device to read my book.

by Harley Gram

I loved my Color Nook and when it finally died after several years of using it I was very excited to learn I could have BarnesNobleNOOK on my tablet and still read all of my collection. However, i found out you can't actually do that and it is actually a very troublesome process to get a bit ok. I do not understand why in the world that a person can't order from BarnesNobleNOOK . It is so aggravating to have to log in one place and order then leave that to go download the books and read them somewhere else.

I find myself turning to Kindle more and more because it is a one stop shop.

If you want to keep your readers then fix this huge problem.