A catalog of Android reading apps
Everyday more and more folks are getting Android based phones and tablets. For readers these devices can be a great way to read both on the go and in a more relaxed setting. The problem comes when looking for reading apps. There are so many out there and searching the Android Market often dosn’t give great results unless you already know the apps name (which doesn’t help if you’re browsing).
This is my attempt to catalog the multitude of reading apps available for the Android platform (and there are a lot more than I ever thought there were). I’ve tried to include a listing for every app available along with basic information such as the formats it supports and its system requirements. Hopefully this will give users looking for apps an easy way to see what’s out there since searching the Android Market can give mixed results.
This is just a catalog so there are no reviews, but I have done reviews of some apps that you can find here, here, and here. While all of the links go to the apps listing on the Android Market (where you can read about features and user reviews) many of these apps can be found at third party markets or direct from the developers website. If you don’t have the Android market and need info on sideloading and third party markets, I wrote about that here.
First up we have the apps which are primarily for use with a specific store, however some of these apps allow sideloading which can greatly expand on their usefulness. I myself find that I use the Kindle app more than any of the others, but occasionally do use the Kobo app as I have a lot of books on my “shelf” there as well.
 Kindle Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  Nook Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  Kobo Formats: Requires Android: Price: |
 Google Books Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  Sony Reader Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  eReader (beta) Formats: Requires Android: Price: |
Other bookseller apps
Ebook Reader: Supports books purchased from ebooks.com; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Borders Australia: Supports books purchased from borders.com.au; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Angus & Robertson: Supports books purchased from angusrobertson.com.au; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Whitcoulls: Supports books purchased from whitcoulls.co.nz; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Dymocks: Supports books purchased from dymocks.com.au; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
Inktera: Supports books purchased from inktera.com; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Blio: Supports books purchased from the Blio store also imports DRM free ePubs; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Book Place: Supports books purchased from toshibabookplace.com also imports DRM free ePubs (this is the Blio app re-skinned); Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Go Spoken: Supports books purchased from gospoken.com; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
DNL eBook Reader: Supports DNL DRM’d books purchased from ebook.com and drm free ePub; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Non-English language eBook store apps
Numilog: Supports books purchased from numilog.com (a French eBook store); Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
BooksV: Supports books purchased from booksv.fmworld.net (a Japanese eBook Store); Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
E-books by greekbooks: Supports books purchased from greekbooks.gr (Greek eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
My eBooks: Supports books purchased from myebooks.gr (Greek eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Tradebit eBook Reader: Supports books purchased from tradebit.com also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Libri.de eBookS Reader: Supports books purchased from libri.de (German eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM & txt; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
OYO eReader: Supports books purchased from thalia.de (German eBook store); Requires Android 2.0 or higher; Cost Free
Weltbild.de eBooks: Supports books purchased from weltbild.de (German eBook store); Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Weltbild.ch eBooks: Supports books purchased from weltbild.ch (Swiss eBook store); Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Weltbild.at eBooks: Supports books purchased from weltbild.at (Austrian eBook store); Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
textunes eBooks: Supports books purchased from textunes.de (German eBook store); Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
PagePlace eBooks: Supports books purchased from pageplace.de (German eBook store); Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Carturesti Reader: Supports books purchased from librarie.carturesti.ro (Romanian eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Metaixmio: Supports books purchased from ebooks.metaixmio.gr (Greek eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
eLibris: Supports books purchased from ebooks.metaixmio.gr (Finish eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Libroteca: Supports books purchased from libhumanitas.ro (Romanian eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Tavasli Reader: Supports books purchased from tavasliyayinlari.com (Turkish eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Biblio.bg Reader: Supports books purchased from biblio.bg (Bulgarian eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Evripidis Reader: Supports books purchased from evripidis.gr (Greek eBook store); Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
TD Bookstore: Supports books purchased from tritiumdigital.com (Singapore eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM, Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
DLivre: Supports books purchased from dlivre.com (Belgian eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or highe; Cost Free
CLB eBooks: Supports books purchased from clb.ro (Romanian eBook store) also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Digibooks4All: Supports books purchased from various bookstores also ePubs & PDFs both DRM free and with Adobe DRM; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
HyRead eBook: Supports books purchased from ebook.hyread.com.tw (Tiwanese eBook store); Requires Android 2.0 or higher; Cost Free
iPubu: Supports books purchased from pubu.com.tw (Tiwanese eBook store); Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Handheld Culture: Supports books purchased from handheldculture.com (Chinese eBook store); Requires Android 2.0 or higher; Cost Free
UPaper: Supports books purchased from upaper.net, ePub (Chinese eBook store); Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
MuchMarts eBook/app market: Supports books and apps purchased from MuchMarts (Chinese eBook store); Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Nexto Reader: Supports books and audiobooks purchased through the app (Polish eBook store); Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
E-Booki T-Mobile: Supports books purchased at ebooki.t-mobile.pl (Polish eBook store); Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Saraiva Digital Reader: Supports books purchased at livrariasaraiva.com.br (Brazilian eBook store), ePub and PDF with or without DRM; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Naver Books: Supports books purchased at books.naver.com (Korean eBook store); Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Mekia: Supports books purchased at mekia.net (Korean eBook store); Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Ridi Books: Supports books purchased at ridibooks.com (Korean eBook store); Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Bookcube: Supports books purchased at bookcube.com (Korean eBook store); Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Next up are general purpose reading apps. These apps support various formats and some support DRM’d content, but they aren’t primarily tied to any give store (some do have catalogs/links to various stores such as Aldiko’s link to All Romance eBooks catalog). I’ve used a fair number of the more popular apps and have settled on Mantano as my go to app. Other apps I’ve liked for various reasons include Aldiko, BlueFire, Moon+ and Cool Reader.
 Mantano Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  Aldiko Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  Bluefire Reader Formats: Requires Android: Price: |
 Moon+ Reader Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  FBReader Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  Cool Reader Formats: Requires Android: Price: |
 OverDrive Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  Wordoholic Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  iReader Formats: Requires Android: Price: |
Other general reading apps
txtr ebooks: Supports Adobe DRM ePub (uploaded through txtr website), drm free ePub, Adobe DRM PDF, drm free PDF; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
DL Reader: Supports ePub & PDF (drm free, Adobe DRM, B&N DRM); Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
SE-ED Reader: Supports ePub & PDF (drm free, Adobe DRM, B&N DRM); Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
AReader: Supports ePub, PDF, txt; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
DuoKan: Supports ePub, txt; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Nomad Reader: Supports ePub, fb2; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
iSilo: Supports iSilo, Palm Doc, and plain text files; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost $19.99
Booqua: Supports fb2; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
LDS Reveal Reader: Supports ybk (YanceyWare), oeb; Requires, Varies by Device; Cost Free
Palm Book Reader: Supports pdb (palmdoc, no iSilo or eReader), txt; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
Android txt eBook Reader: Supports txt; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
Android chm eBook Reader: Supports chm; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
HyReader: Supports ePub, txt, chm, umd, html; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost $0.99
eBook Reader (by SpicySquid): Supports prc, epub, oeb and fb2(.zip) [based on FBReader]; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
eBook Reader (by S4BB): Supports S4BB format; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Speak Text Easy: Supports ePub and PDF; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost $1.45
Captionary eBook Viewer: Supports ePub, txt ,zip, pdf; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
ePub Reader for Android: Supports ePub; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
Himawari: Supports ePub; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free/$1.56
Wattpad: Supports stories from wattpad.com; Requires Android 1.1 or higher; Cost Free
Nightbook: Supports txt; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free/$1.50
Multireader: Supports PDF, ePub, txt, Word, RTF , Power Point; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost $4.82
Foliant (beta): Supports ePub, txt, fb2; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Legimi: Supports ePub & PDF uploaded to Legimi cloud; Requires, Varies by Device; Cost Free
GeckoReader Lite/Paid: Supports txt; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free/$1.59
Chaek: Supports ePub, txt, html; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
PDB Book Reader: Supports pdb, txt; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Fanfiction Reader: Supports, for reading material from fanfiction.net; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free/$2.96
Fiction Press Reader: Supports, for reading material from fictionpress.com; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Compact Reader: Supports txt; Requires Android 1.0 or higher; Cost Free
aReader: Supports pdb (palmdoc); Requires Android 1.1 or higher; Cost Free
ZXReader: Supports docx, fb2, ePub, txt; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
EBookDroid: Supports PDF, djvu, xps, cbz/cbr, fb2; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
GO Book: Supports ePub, txt, umd, PDF, fb2; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
epubReader: Supports ePub, txt, mobi; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Bookfm: Supports doc, docx, pdf, txt, ppt by converting to ePub when you upload to bookfm.com; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
Book Troupe: Supports ePub read from your DropBox or Box account; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
General reading apps for non-Latin/Asain text (many supporting both horizontal & vertical modes) [some apps above also support non-Latin text]
KingReader: Supports ePub, txt, html; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
SnowLamp Reader (Korean): Supports ePub; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
cBook (Chinese only): Supports pdb and updb files from www.haodoo.net; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Tulip Reader: Supports pdb (Haodoo, PalmDoc, zTXT Mode 1), txt, umd; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
CuckooReader: Supports ePub, chm, txt, umd; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
AlmorBook: Supports unsure, but does support haodoo.net; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
SmartBooks: Supports ePub; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
qqReader: Supports txt, umd, pdf, chm; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
BestReader: Supports txt, umd, html, chm; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
TxtReader: Supports txt; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
GobyReader: Supports pdb/updb; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Vertxt Reader: Supports txt (UTF-8, UTF16, Big5, EUC_JP, EUC_KR, GBK, and SJIS); Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
Apabi Reader: Supports cebx, txt; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Now we come to dedicated PDF readers. I find that I no longer use a dedicated PDF reader as Mantano does a good job with them, but in the past I’ve been quite happy with ezPDF and Adobe Reader.
 ezPDF Reader Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  RepliGo Reader Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  Adobe Reader Formats: Requires Android: Price: |
Other dedicated PDF viewers
Foxit Mobile PDF: Supports PDF; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost $2.99
BeamReader PDF Viewer: Supports PDF; Requires Android 1.1 or higher; Cost 10 day trial/$4.99
qPDF Viewer: Supports PDF; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
MobilePDF Viewer: Supports PDF; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
ODGPdf Viewer: Supports PDF; Requires Android 2.2 or higher; Cost Free
APV PDF Viewer: Supports PDF; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
Android PDF Viewer: Supports PDF; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
PDF GView: Supports PDF; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
Ebooka PDF Viewer: Supports PDF; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
Last up are apps designed primarily for viewing Comics and Manga. I’ll admit my experience here isn’t as in depth as with other reading apps, but I’ve been happy with Droid Comic Viewer, Comics by ComiXology and the Marvel app in the past with very limited use.
 Droid Comic Viewer Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  Comics Formats: Requires Android: Price: |  Perfect Viewer Formats: Requires Android: Price: |
Other Comic/Manga viewing apps
Comic Reader Mobi: Supports rar, zip, cbr, cbz; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost $14.99
ComicRack: Supports cbr, cbz, (CB7, CBT, PDF, DJVU and WebComics via conversion with Windows app); Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free/$6.89
Marvel Comics: Supports comics purchased from Marvel; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
DC Comics: Supports comics purchased from DC; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Dark Horse Comics: Supports comics purchased from Dark Horse; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Graphicly Comics: Supports buy and read comics from publishers such as Image, IDW, and Archie; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
AveComics: Supports comics purchased from AveComics; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
e-book/Manga reader: Supports manga (& eBooks) from eBookJapan; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
jjComics Viewer: Supports cbr, cbz, rar,zip, jpg, gif, png, bmp; Requires Android 2.0 or higher; Cost Free
Komik Reader: Supports cbr, cbz; Requires Android 3.0 or higher; Cost Free
Comic Reader: Supports, read 347 of the most famous comics including Dilbert, Xkcd, Abstruse Goose, Geek and Poke, Calvin and Hobbes, PhD Comics, Pickles, Garfield, Spiked Math and many more; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Manga Watcher: Supports manga from a bunch of manga websites; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost $2.99
MangaWhat: Supports manga from a bunch of manga websites; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
TIViewer (comic & text viewer): Supports zip (jpg, bmp, gif, png), txt; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Simple Comic Viewer: Supports zip, rar, cbr, cbz, jpg, png, gif, bmp; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Comic Strips: Supports over 300,000 comic strips from over 120 comics; Requires Android 2.0 or higher; Cost Free
Comic Viewer: Supports images and compressed files (zip); Requires Android 2.0.1 or higher; Cost Free
AyaComicViewer: Supports zip, rar, jpg, png, bmp; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
Manga Reader: Supports manga from MangaStream, MangaReader; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
Our Comic Viewer: Supports jpeg, png, gif, bmp, zip/cbz, rar/cbr; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Esay Comic Viewer: Supports image & zip files; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
Comics by ArcaMax: Supports more than 65 of the funniest comic strips ever known to mankind — including famous strips such as Wizard of Id, Dennis the Menace, Blondie, Mutts, and Mother Goose & Grimm; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free
xkcdViewer: Supports access to the xkcd archives; Requires Android 1.5 or higher; Cost Free
Calibre Library: Connect wirelessly to your Calibre e-book library; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost $2.99
Aldiko Sync free/pro: Sync your books and bookmarks from Aldiko across your devices using your Dropbox account; Requires Android 2.1 or higher; Cost Free/$0.99
FBSync: Sync your position (by paragraph and word) in every e-book you’ve opened with FBReader to the web, Dropbox interface that will allow you to sync your actual book files from one devices to another, REQUIRES ROOT ACCESS; Requires Android 1.6 or higher; Cost Free
I hope this catalog will be a useful one stop place for folks to be able to find out what’s available to them for the various formats that are out there. I’ve no doubt missed some (especially when it comes to non English stores and apps) so if you see your favorites missing be sure to leave a comment so that I can add them to the list.
Next month I’ll share some of my favorite non-reading apps with you.
I personally don’t think Mantano does a good job with PDFs. Or I’m doing something wrong. So I read my PDFs in BlueFire, everything else in Mantano.
Great list! Thank you.
Wow, thanks for your hard work!
Thank you for this list! When I started reading reviews on DA, I didn’t expect it to also become a go-to place for all things related to ereading, but between these recommendations and Jane’s Calibre tutorials, it definitely has and I’m very grateful.
I had just switched from a 7-inch to a 10-inch tablet and somehow I didn’t find that my old app (Aldiko) did as good a job on the new device. I just gave Mantano a try today (just with epubs so far) and love it.
iReader will read secure mobi and secure ereader, which is useful if you have a large older ebook library. Or you can use Calibre according to the “guide for the perplexed” and read with whatever app/format you want.
@romsfuulynn:
Does it still support those DRM’s? The last real info I could find was from a couple years ago and someone had told me that it didn’t anymore since a new dev took it over.
A seriously fantastic list. Thank you so much for doing it up, Brian. Much appreciated!
Thanks for this great list! Looking forward to filling in my blanks. I did notice (after I tweeted, unfortunately) that you have a typo in the title – android/andriod – fyi.
@DMcFarland: Thanks. You’d think I didn’t spell check it three times, lol.
Mantano for me, all the way. Even pdf’s (I read Mantano on a rooted Nook Color). But I find that some pdf’s are okay, some are iffy. I do try to convert them in Calibre to epub before loading them up, but that doesn’t always work.
but the library, the catalogues and the details are great. It reads tags, you can take notes.
Overdrive “Adobe DRM ePub from OverDrive sources”
I don’t like installing lots of extra stuff, and mostly use my Sony for reading books. So, the only ebook reading app I’ve got on my Thrive is Overdrive for library books, and it works just fine for DRM free books from ARe. I don’t have any DRM’d books, so I have no idea if it works with them.
@De: De, it will work with DRM’d ePub’s distributed by Overdrive (like those from Books on Board), but not DRM’d ePub’s from other distributors like LightningSource.
I have TONS of ebooks from fictionwise and my book store and more that I cannot figure out how to read on my android.
Which of the programs would work best for the mobipocket, eReader formatted files?
@mandy: IIRC iReader will do both DRM’d Mobipocket and DRM’d eReader files. Kindle for Android will do Mobipocket files if they are DRM free and there is also an eReader app (beta) available from the eReader website that works with eReader DRM’d files from both Fictionwise and eReader.com
this is all i needed .. thank you very much :)
Very nice and thorough list… :)
I’d like to nominate PageTurner Reader for inclusion… it’s open source, not tied to any store, reads ePub files and syncs your reading position across devices.
Full disclosure: I’m the author.
There is certainly a great deal to know about this subject.
I really like all the points you made.