SWAN Libraries Reviews

As you open SWANLibraries it ask for Library Card # and when you click return from keypad it does NOT work. It should have submit button or go button to take to the next step. Developer not test SWANLibraries fully before rolling out for consumers.

Who says new app is better. Like people says “Old is Gold”. Older app was working just fine.

SWANLibraries is cumbersome and a downgrade from the previous version which crashed in late 2023. How do you endeavor to make something worse?

SWANLibraries won’t even open! It just keeps crashing. I tried uninstalling, reinstalling, restarting. Help?!?

SWANLibraries crashes when it starts, so I can’t even use it. I have this problem on both my IPhone and my IPad.

For about a week, I can’t even open SWANLibraries . It immediately crashes and closes.

Won’t even open for me anymore. I click the icon and it just crashes immediately. Already tried deleting SWANLibraries and re-installing but that didn’t help.
So disappointing because I loved the prior version.

I can’t even select my library location to get past the initial screen. Please reconnect the catalog to the old app, SWANLibraries doesn’t work.

Title says it all

Heavy library user and heavy swan app user very frustrated with this new app and was totally fine with the old one

Boots me out and I have to re-log in regularly
Slow load screen
Same facts on load screen every time
Error when requesting certain holds that are allowable
Doesn’t filter properly when searching
Just a really awful slow and clunky app with lots of bugs and issues

Would have been happy to wait for an app that was well designed to roll out rather than this that was pushed out in a panic

SWANLibraries is extremely limited in its functionality which is a shame as this type of application should be child's play these days. Let me first state in trying to be fair, that I wonder if some of the shortcomings of SWANLibraries aren’t caused by the libraries themselves - in trying to make a one-size-fits-all utility, working with many different libraries, the performance might be hampered by poor implementation or configuration on the library's side. My library has gone through several different apps, I don’t understand the churn. But none of these apps have worked all that well hence my implementation statement. Anyway, one big irritant with the Swan attempt is searching, and filtering searches. There is no guidance provided by SWANLibraries to help the user enter good search terms. Do I search by author? Title? Keyword? Based on results I think any term is just treated as a “keyword. Next, filtering seems kind of useless. I often want to look up movies at my library, trying to filter the search to just return dvd, blue-ray, or combos, is ignored - you get the exact same search results with or without the filters. I’d rather reach out to app support, but any attempt just links to library, and they can’t help.

SWANLibraries is slow and buggy. I get logged out constantly. It takes forever to open. Awful update. Why lose the old one? It was much better than this.

Not even once! An 11 year old just learning how to code could do better than this. This is an unmitigated disaster of an app. Don’t waste your time.

To start, releasing a new app instead of making a version 2.0 of the existing one is unnecessary in today’s world. Moreover discontinuing support for the original app (not by updating the server/website framework itself but rather by disconnecting SWANLibraries and catalog provider) is a slap in the face to your users and an inconvenience considering no notice was given within SWANLibraries beforehand. But anyways, the one star is for the current app so let’s move on to that.
I’m not even joking I counted 7 bugs/flaws within SWANLibraries on my first use. Let’s go over what I remember:
•App doesn’t support the automatic iOS light mode/dark mode preference like the original did. You have to toggle this manually via a moon/sun icon hidden not under more or a settings pane, but under account.
•Correct login info is returned as incorrect when first inputted. You have to tap enter again and it will go through
•Tapping forgot PIN just returns a blank window with a functional x button.
•The progress bar that follows is not only choppy but is irrespective of the amount of loading time that has passed or remains. It also should reach full and the homepage immediately appears after. A percentage would also be nice.
•There are only 3 fun facts above the progress bar (which are recycled on later app launches). More variety and perhaps one unique fun fact for each library in our system would be nice??
•The process of enabling notifications also needs tweaking as others have mentioned.
•After exiting the display card page the brightness doesn’t always return to what it was originally before being cranked up to 100%.
•There should not be double/back to back loading icons at the start of future app launches when info is saved. It just doesn’t look good.
Well there you have it. A lot of room to improve SWANLibraries and I even thought of 1 more. Where was the quality check before this was published? What was wrong with the old design and app? The developers should either fix the issues mentioned above or reconnect the original app so that it is functional again. Wish I could give 0 stars.

P.S. Your library list in SWANLibraries Store description is supposed to be alphabetical but Westchester is out of place.

Tapping holds crashes app. Facial re ignition to open app should be available. App startup is cumbersome because you need to select your library each time and read thru the same library trivia screens and have you library card handy with pin each time. It is much like going to the library website. SWANLibraries provides no convenient access to the library.

I don’t remember the pin I used years ago, and when I click on ‘Forgot pin?’ nothing happens. I don’t see an option to create a new account, so I’m unable to use SWANLibraries .

I use my local library a lot, so the Swan app was very useful for me. The developer suddenly discontinued it and this is the new replacement app. So far, it’s useless for me as it keeps crashing and/or losing my account info during a session, so I have to shut it down and start again. I’ll update this review if things improve, but right now it’s a 1-star because I can’t do anything with SWANLibraries . Needs more testing and bug-squishing for sure!

I don’t really care for SWANLibraries. It takes a long time to load compared to other apps, it constantly logs me out, and the filters for searches frequently don’t work.

I can reserve books and get my ecard but other important features like search filtering and offline ecard access don't work

Lots of bugs. Slow to load. Have to force quit and go back in to see account info. Was QA even done before this was released? Hopefully it improves with time.

SWANLibraries asks you EVERY TIME you use it to respond to “allow notifications” and for every book you order you have to input your library.

SWANLibraries is satisfactory at best. It is slow to start up, and categories such as New DVDS do not not open/populate if you tap on it. You just get the dreadful spinning wheel. SWANLibraries is not horrible but, certainly more work needs to be done to get it working properly!!

The loading screen forces me to read the same two facts repeatedly every time I open SWANLibraries . Considering it’s an app for libraries it could have a little more variety, like tell me new facts or just show me a little animation of a book opening instead.

Managing browsing categories is painful. Literally the only business I want to retain my data is my library so that finding interesting material would be easier, but alas my discover page is uneventful and irrelevant.

It’s ok but one of the things I liked best about SWANLibraries before was that it had a self checkout option. This is not available. Yet? Hopefully soon that will change?

hj

Whoever made the list of libraries where one can pick up a requested book forgot to include Flossmoor. Frustrating.

It’s an improvement over the previous app with a lot of potential, but tapping my holds list keeps crashing SWANLibraries .
In notifications there is an enable all switch but when I set it I can still disable some of the individual alerts which is confusing.
SWANLibraries tells me I don’t have notifications enabled but I do.

I see reviews about filters not working or having to sign in repeatedly, crashes, etc. I’ve had none of these issues. I’ve been able to open SWANLibraries on multiple days already signed in, filter my searches and place holds for books to be transferred to my local library. I’ve also used SWANLibraries 's digital library card instead of carrying the physical card. App hasn’t crashed at all. I don’t have to manually select my library every time I open SWANLibraries . Everything seems to work just fine. Will update if I spot any problems

I don’t know what I