NetGalley Shelf

let people read on kobo and don’t be condescending ❤️

They changed their file format for downloaded books so now if you have a kobo you’re forced to use this app or stop using Netgalley altogether. It’s unfortunate because I already hated listening to the audiobooks in this app, now I won’t be able to request ebooks anymore because i only use my kobo for that.

app mostly works fine, though i prefer to read on my ereader. my main annoyance is that the custom dark mode option doesn’t seem to work at all — even when i set the colors i can’t seem to get it to actually select. if that feature worked it would be my fav way to read arcs on my phone!

All I want is my words in white and my background black but it does not go through with the command. My eyes hate light backgrounds. If the app didn’t any bugs it would be a 5 out of 5

I’ve used the app before (with some issues, but successfully) but now when I click to log in, it brings up a pop-up of the website inside the Shelf app, and if I try to log in there, nothing happens. It’s an endless cycle of not being able to log in. I have tried everything. My app is updated. I deleted it and redownloaded it. It’s just useless.

I can adjust the brightness but not font size which leaves me with only the option of zooming in which makes scrolling a pain. Also, no highlighting. I won’t be requesting anymore books that can only be read on the shelf app.

I was expecting an app version of the website. I should start off by saying I feel like the website really amped up the app, encouraging me to download and use it as part of the netgalley experience- to enhance, or at least complement it. So I guess my low rating is due in part to my expectations not being met. The only feature the app has, what the whole app is, is your shelf. You can read the books on your shelf. That’s it. I guess it’s helpful to keep your ARCs separate from your other books, but I was hoping to be able to use the app to do what I can do on the website, but on the move without having to log in to the website on my phones browser. As for the e-reader portion of the app, (I guess I shouldn’t say portion since it’s the only thing the app is, though!) I find it hard to read with. I was glad to see you can change the font, with a good amount of options for reading settings and a lot of accessibility features (including a font for those with dyslexia- props for this!), but even playing around with the different settings I can’t figure out how to get it to look- not better, but easier (?) for me. It makes me sort of dizzy, no idea why. I’ll play around with the settings a bit more, the lighting seemed off (and you can change this, but again, can’t figure out how to get it to my liking for some reason). It allows you to bookmark, make notes, even listen to the book even if it’s not the audio version (I haven’t tried this yet so not sure what that’s like, but I appreciate this feature because for some reason kindle app doesn’t have this along with many other reader apps!). Anyway, I’ll probably just read my galleys on my kindle, and delete the app. Would love to be able to write my reviews here, request books, and access the other features of the website to help me utilize my galleys and enhance my experience on netgalley. I do really appreciate all the accessibility features, as I said, especially for those who have trouble reading on kindle app or other apps, they did great in that aspect. And if I wasn’t expecting more, I probably wouldn’t have been so let down and inclined to give a low rating. Again, website really hyped it up for no reason! I feel like it’ll just take up storage on my phone.

I send all my ebooks to my kindle, but audios have to be listened to in the Shelf app, and the functionality leaves much to be desired. The speed options are only available in .25 increments, so depending on narrator, it’s often either too fast or too slow because I cannot fine tune. I also couldn’t find a place to adjust skip forward/back times, leaving 30 sec as the only option. A simplified car interface would be a nice option for listening while driving and not having to focus to closely on the screen to start/stop/rewind.

The remove download option does not work. This app takes up multiple gigs when you cannot remove downloads.

Is this a joke because there’s literally nothing on this app like it is on the website. You can’t access your account, dashboard, look at books or anything. It’s basically a black app with nothing useful on it.