BookBuddy: My Library Manager Reviews

by Ddrgfts

I wish I could give this a 5 star review. The organizational capabilities are superb. However- I’ve had BookBuddy for over a year. And the syncing problems between devices have resulted in so much wasted time and frustration- including requiring me to re scan several hundred books due to sync problems: either the sync Will not sync or it takes a very long time for it to show up- it doesn’t help if info doesn’t sync from 1 device to the other like it’s supposed to. BookBuddy really needs some kind of sign in process to store things online and easily access info from any device without constantly having to check to be sure things are “syncing “ from
One device to another. Would also be nice to have compatibility with Google cloud for storage…would also be nice if info was stored on the web instead of device (or at least the option to pick either one) for people who don’t have tons of storage on their actual device.

by SantoLuzbel

It has to be better.

PROs
Structure:
Structure is the best this reviewer has found in library apps for iOS

Design is easily navigable and logical, clean, uncluttered, very friendly

Good selection of developer-created fields that can be added to book info page

CONs
First off, customer service:
From within app Support tab takes you to static web site page describing features of one or several apps, it isn't clear, and to a Contact page with email form.
No Forums.
No FAQs.

So, basically, invisible developers.

Accessibility:
Few if no accessibility options

Book image offered in one size only

No option to customise fields, that is, to allow users to create their own book info fields, such as: Foreword, Preface, Print Run Total, Print Run Number, Signed, etc

No option to rearrange layout of book info page

No option to insert user's own values to field values, for example, the default status for a new book cannot be set to be a value not included among the three offered

All in all, the best available, BUT it has to be more flexible to be worth the $4.99 developer charges for unlimited-entries version.

by Bmsamson

I have whittled my library down as I’ve downsized my home, but still have a couple of thousand volumes that I’ve collected over some 40+ years. Guess what, most do not have a barcode. It would have been so much better if one could search/add by entering the ISBN (still not good for everything) instead of the search function that is here, especially when there are multiple editions of a title and one wants to get the correct one. For a newer collection this is probably just fine, but not for me.

Update- just found the enter isbn feature which is very nice. Now how about LC or other older systems?

by TWINkiesMommy2009

BookBuddy works really well, and I can make it work for my needs. One really frustrating thing as I set-up and log all of my books though is the function and location of the stars to rate each book. When I’m trying to adjust the category and add tags, I continuously hit those stars accidentally. It’s adding a rating to the book that Incan change but can’t remove. I don’t want to add a rating to a book we haven’t read yet. If the location remains where it is, it would be useful to have the ability to remove all stars and ratings, in case of accidental use. Thanks!

by Scatter Joy

I tried several apps before deciding on this one to organize my home library. I was looking for something that would sort my books by genre and alphabetize them so I could put them on the shelf in order. I like that this scans ISBN; however, the majority of my books are older and can’t be scanned. It would be nice if this incorporated business card scanners so that I could simply take a photo of the cover and it would recognize the text. Instead I am using the search online feature to look up titles and add them. The other thing that could be improved is the genres. They get ridiculous. Nancy Drew mysteries will come up as fiction for juveniles, juvenile fiction, adventure, young adult, etc. Fortunately, you can manually change the genre, but it would be nice if there were a way to limit the options. I’ve entered close to 200 books at this point and have several hundred more to go. It is time consuming, but I’m looking forward to finally having my library organized!

by Jcm1979

I started with the free version and then quickly upgraded to the plus which I’ve had for a little over 3 years. I teach middle school and I’m constantly checking books in and out. Some suggestions/wishes I have are the options of uploading a document to have all students names at once, like a CV card or something? I don’t know what those are called. That as well as it would be great if I could simply scan the book when its time to loan it out and then return it. Searching each time, whether it’s checking out or returning, is time consuming. This is definitely the best app to keep a library organized and I love having knowledge of all the books I have and all the ones checked out. I even use this for my teacher books since I loan out Kagan books and reading resource materials! Excellent app but just a few minor fixes would get it 5 stars from me.

by Rigormorti

This is probably nitpicky but I was testing the free version out before I bought then-aid version and I scanned 4 books and 1 came up with a ‘cover coming soon’ picture when the book has been our for a few months. I like this program specifically because it shows the covers but if they aren’t going be keeping up to date with new release covers then what’s the point? Also covers get released way before the book even comes out so there really is no excuse. I like the multi scan feature and the simplicity but what’s the point if I can’t see the picture.

Edit: I found the edit title option but once again if I’m going to be paying for this I shouldn’t have to do this except for maybe special editions not in the system

by TMascara

I love books. While my library is probably small compared to many, I have about 1,000 currently. For years I used Delicious Library. However I felt like their iOS presence was not that great. I also recently moved offices, which meant moving my books, which gave me the opportunity to update my catalogue. I downloaded about 6 other apps and ways to catalogue my books. Book Buddy is my favorite of the bunch. I like the features and the design compared to the other ones. The only thing I wish it had was batch updating/editing and smart shelves (categories). Hence the four out of five.

by Dormitorius

I would of given this a 5/5 if it weren’t for the fact I don’t have a have to fix the way it sorts multiple numbered volumes of a series in order. It will list for example volumes 1-9 in order numerically, but then volume 10 will be inserted after volume 1 and not after volume 9. Not sure if this is how things are sorted via some method I’m unaware of. I am admittedly not a librarian, just a guy trying to keep track of my books.

However, other than that BookBuddy works great. I can scan multiple books via barcode, or manually enter. Multitude of sorting options. Interface is good. I did pay $5 to unlock unlimited cataloging, which if you have a big collection I think is worth it for ease of use.

by Maylanie Bosg

I love BookBuddy a and it’s sister MovieBuddy. The Only downside to BookBuddy is when searching online it doesn’t automatically add it to the series it is in. I find that frustrating because in MovieBuddy you can add the movie by tv series and not have to list what is in it and what order it goes in. Even when adding movie series it still shows all the possible movies in the online search. You just have to add the order they go in. I think it would make BookBuddy easier if it not only added the author and title but the book series and the volume of the book in that series. When adding from online. Otherwise great app.

by Mfletcher1213

I’m an education student preparing for teaching. I’ve been buying a lot of middle grade books and really wanted an option for me to catalogue books and let students check them out. I haven’t used it with students yet to know how easy and effective it is but it seems like it will be a good option for the price. The only thing I would love to see is being able to use the barcode scanner to loan books to make it super fast. The scanner is awesome for quickly adding books although it won’t work for every single book. Hopefully I’ll remember to update once I’m using it in my classroom.

by Successfultea

I didn’t know how much I needed BookBuddy in my life. I am a true book lover. I have bought multiple books on by accident not realizing I already had the book in my collection. Now no matter where ever I am in the world I have my entire book collection in my hand with a picture of it. It also has a feature where you can list the exact location of the book. So if you have a book in a storage location, you can included that under the book’s profile. There is a feature for loaning books, borrowing books and a wish list. Absolutely love BookBuddy. It also tells you how many books you have ( for those of us who don’t know how many books we have.) You can included the exact price of each book, also it contains the list price a great feature for people who love to buy bargain books.

by Blessed By Jesus

I am enjoying BookBuddy very much. We are a home school family and have many books coming and going from multiple libraries. Keeping track of them all can be a crazy task. With BookBuddy I can enter in all of the books as I check them out and know quickly what books we have. I really like the feature of returning the books. Sometimes our libraries may not get a returned book scanned in and I comes up over due. But I have no way to prove I have returned it. With BookBuddy I can have a record I have returned it.

One change I would make to BookBuddy would to allow scanning in movies, cds, magazines, anything that could be checked out in a library. This way app users could keep track of these loaned items also.

Thank you for a sanity saver!

by Vocalartillery

I have tried many apps to store my large book collection and they all fell short. BookBuddy blows them out of the water.

Take the step and GO PRO! It’s so worth it. All the books you want to store, a huge wishlist, online search function, an endless amount of categories, book ratings, reviews, and a borrowed list are just a few of the amazing things BookBuddy has to offer.

I am obsessed with books and to have found an app that loves my book’s as much as I do is priceless.

by Ed&Ben

I have given this a 5 Star review, but it seems to be lacking a critical function for some book collectors. I cannot find a way to search for book data by ISBN. Many older books lack barcodes and the author has written many books. Thus an ISBN search function would be great. Other than that it is easy to use and a very good library style database. I’m still giving it 5 stars because it’s been so incredibly helpful in organizing my extensive book collection.

by GreenVariety

I love this ap. I have almost 600 books logged in it. It makes searching for books easy and keeping a catalog of my library very easy. We homeschool and I’m an avid second hand book buyer so this ap also comes in very handy at the second hand stores when I can’t remember what’s in my library. The only criticism is that when I add a book from my wishlist by scanning it still stays in my wishlist. Would love to be able to skip that step of going into my wishlist and having to manually move if I scan a book in. Would also be cool if it worked with Goodreads.

by OhUh Gee Rick, I Dunno

I started with the free version a few years back and quickly decided to upgrade. It was the best financial decision I’ve ever made. I’m still working on getting my entire library on (it’s grown a lot and I’ve been lax about my this app use), but I’m nearly 500 books deep (I have at least 800 books in total) and it’s already saved me hundreds of dollars from unintentionally buying multiple copies of the same book.

There’s a movie version of BookBuddy I’m confident works just the same. My only complaint is that there isn’t one for a video game library. =(

by PatLRO

I read a lot, including many books by the same author, so it’s easy to forget which ones I’ve read. For years I have kept a manual record but recently found Book Buddy. I have now downloaded over a thousand books from about 20 years of reading. With BookBuddy it was quick and easy, taking about 20 hours to enter all the books from my manual record and now the new books can be entered in a few seconds by scanning the barcode. I love BookBuddy and would recommend it to anyone who wants to keep track of books owned, read,etc.

by Linnzeemarie

I can’t say enough good things about BookBuddy!!! You can even do a backup to Dropbox or Google drive with ease. Great app for a home library, classroom, office, or small library & anyone who needs to quickly keep track of a small collection. The following are merely suggestions as I’m hoping the develops will read this review: As a librarian, I love how it allows you to choose your own categories and it allows you to get down into the details. As a layman, there are just too many options. Suggestions for update1)Create two areas one that is simple and one advances users. 2)More suggested answers for say genres, categories, & format for the non-librarians vs the advances users

by Triplovingmoma

After much research, I decided on BookBuddy for my classroom library because of its ability to label which books go in which book boxes. Checking in books is a breeze (as with other apps), but because of the labeling, I can have parent volunteers return books for me.

Update: BookBuddy has now turned into a lifesaver during Covid. I can have students browse books virtually by uploading sections of our library as a PDF. The upload is in color and includes covers and book descriptions. Wow!!!! (Note: I do my labels by reading level and by book box name.)

by FireWrite

When upgrading from this app to this app Pro there is little to no guidance on how to integrate the basic and upgraded versions of BookBuddy. I spent many hours over the past few days scanning ISBN numbers and manually inputting book data into the basic version. I expected that the upgrade would be seamless, incorporating the previously cataloged books into the Pro version with its larger capacity. Not so. I have tried syncing the data, tried importing, tried to contact the developer — no phone number—tried You Tube, searching for a how-to video, all to no avail. The books I catalogued are still sitting in the basic version, and when I click on “upgrade” it instructs me to buy the Pro version for $4.99, which I already did! I even phoned Apple’s support line, and they insisted on remotely accessing my laptop, even though BookBuddy was only on my iPad. That felt invasive and violating, and unnecessary. In the end, they offered no help, just the suggestion to contact BookBuddy developer. Square one. Kimico Ltd. needs to do a better job of creating a user friendly app and providing adequate support. Some of the books I listed in the basic version also are not showing up in the overall list, although when I tried to relist them, a message appeared saying the books were already included, although they could not be seen in the master list. At this point, I am considering alternative book cataloguing apps.

by Mkbenton

I really like BookBuddy except for a couple major issues for me. It would be nice to have the files on my PC, to be able to scan with my phone and then have them transfer to my PC. Also wish there was a sign in, don’t know if this would be efficient then using the cloud? Tried other apps that did that and it was instant and worked very well. As I am typing I can’t get my iPad to sync to get additions although I pushed the sync now. Was working earlier? I choose BookBuddy because of several other features, one being that you are able to scan multiple barcodes without having to click after each one.

by Ilovebooks100k

This is my first and probably the only book catalog app I will purchase.
Easy to use. Just scan and save! If you have older books, you may have to manually enter them. No biggie really.
The only thing that would make it perfect for me, is to be able to search duplicates. I tend to purchase duplicates to give away as gifts; and it would make so much easier to search by duplicates so that I know which ones I can give away.
Other than that, I love it!
Thank you!

by Hgtg42

I searched App Store for Book Library apps—only saw several true book library apps. I tried several that were free or had in-app purchases (wasn’t going to pay for this kind of app without trying it first). Every one I tried gave me some kind of problem: couldn’t find the book, didn’t save the entry, didn’t save the cover photo I took, etc..,
I tried this one before throwing in the towel and just going with a generic database app like Tap Forms (which I really like)... but lo and behold...it worked on everything I tried.
Will definitely be upgrading.
Good solid app.

by Whisper_Aces

I’ve been trying to get in touch with the developers and their customer service all day, but apparently they’re not interested in helping their customers. I’m very frustrated and let down.

Edit: I changed to four stars because although it took a few days to get back to me, when they did contact me they were very helpful and solved my problem quickly and elegantly.

by Theocritus125

Today I became a convert to this app after holding out. For updates from a rival book manager. BookBuddy has all I need, the ability to sync between devices, easily use multiple tags and formats (I have many ebooks as well as traditional print books).

*the only thing lacking is a desktop version. Would really like to see this.

by Makk6453

It took me forever to try and find an app that would allow me to not only keep track of my book collection but also sort it however I wanted too. I love being able to scan more than one barcode at a time and the online search has found all my books, even my really old ones. Would recommend this to everyone!!