Five great eBook reading apps!

The musty smell of yellowing pages will never lose their magic, but it doesn't mean we can't indulge in the cheaper and environment-friendly alternative every once and a while: eBooks.

There are special eBook reading tablets, but you can also turn your ordinary tablet or smartphone into an eBook reader thanks to the myriad of apps available. Some come with built in stores, others with cloud storage so that you can save content across devices.

It doesn’t make sense to get every app, of course – books you buy in one app can’t be read in another, thanks to Digital Rights Management (DRM). This is why we’ve listed some of the top eBook readers here, so that you can choose one according to your preferences.

Aldiko for Android

This app is available in the Google Play store, which is on every Android device.

Aldiko has support for a number of different formats, including Android DRM encrypted books, which is very useful for those who have signed up for sites which share advanced proofs of books. It also connects to Dropbok, which means you can install Aldiko on multiple devices and still keep your books in one place.

Aldiko is the app for you if you already have a collection of eBooks and are looks for something that is fast as well as easy to use.

Kobo

This app is free and available for Android, iOS and Blackberry 10 devices. A Windows Phone version is supposed to release soon. Kobo launched its range of eBook readers in India and their apps also have access to the same book store. So if you want an app where you can buy books, Kobo is a great choice!

Kobo adds to the gratification of reading by giving you badges for completing books, and for things like reading at a long stretch or multiple nights in a row. Even though it might sound silly, you end up looking forward to the next badge because it actually is quite encouraging! This way, Kobo is great for those who are trying to develop the habit of reading.

Kobo also has a desktop app, so that you can use your laptop or desktop to read books.

Google Play Books

Google Play Books is the default Android ebook app, but a lot of users turned to alternatives because it used to be pretty basic. Today though, Google Play Books has shown steady improvement, with visual customization and a great design.

You can even upload your own PDF and ePUB files to the app, and the app now has all features that are considered basic necessities of any eBook app like a dictionary lookup, bookmarks, notes, etc..

Kindle

The official Kindle app is available on Android, iOS, Blackberry 10 and Windows Phone, and it’s a must buy for those who already own a Kindle eBook reader like Paperwhite. The library from your eBook reader will be available on your phone and tablet, and will sync which book you are reading right down to the page you were on.

Amazon’s library of books is available to buy books from your device, with the exception of iOs devices, where you must buy books via the browser.

The app itself is fast and offers features like highlighting, annotations, font resizing and dark mode. But these are pretty standard features, and there are better alternatives to those who don’t own a Kindle device.

iBooks

This iOS app has set the gold standard in eBook apps, and it continues to offer the most visually impressive book reading experience today. Actions as simple as turning pages are still performed better by this app than any other, and you need to download it on your Apple device, especially if you have an iPad.

One downside is that the iBooks store is still pretty limited in India, so the app works best for those who already have their own collection of books or are buying DRM free books from other sellers.

Other apps

Other great apps include Flipkart eBooks which lets you buy and read eBooks from Flipkart: the selection of which is great, but might prove to be expensive. There’s also the Rockstand app which lets you buy books and magazines from the app, but the app itself has a lot of bugs which results in it crashing occasionally.