libbyapp.com Reviews 122

Hi, Libby app runs well on desktop (as in libbyapp.com) but the app version for Android has flaws like being unresponsive due to connection issues; which usually happens when it shouldn't (I don't have internet connection issues with other apps or browsing but Libby would usually fail to open borrowed media (usually an audiobook) despite clearing cache and fully downloading the book's source from the library into the phone's storage.)
The Overdrive app didn't have such issues and ran very well. If I could, I'd very much prefer they continue with Overdrive than Libby.

BRING OVERDRIVE BACK.
It was so easy to use. I loved reading my books. Libby is so frustrating finding anything.

I always used the Overdrive brightness control icon to dull my screen especially when reading it at night, when the bedroom light off, so not to disturb my husband.
There is no way to change the brightness of the screen in Libby, You have three choices for the type of brightness. I chose the Sepia hoping that would dull the brightness a bit but just end up with a headache and aching eyes and not wanting to read my books anymore.

I find the whole Libby experience is not user friendly as advertise.

It's very frustrating. I like to get audiobooks from the library. Overdrive has been effortless and seamless and intuitive. Libby is a huge hassle. And when I finally get the book I can't listen to it because it stutters and quits. I tried the troubleshooting trick that they suggested. No effect.

latest version downloaded, but this library reading app never offers to remember my sign-in details, so I have to always have my library card number and pin number to hand. Then 4 more hoops to jump through.
Never remembers previous borrowings.
Always 'automatically synchronises to' last page in magazine, no way to change it, take 3 minutes to get back to first page.
etcetera, feels like an app under development but rates itself as superb!

The old overdrive has important features that are missing in libby. What i use most often in overdrive is the brightness control. There is no way to change the brightness of the screen in libby, you can choose the dark mode but there is no way to change brightness of the words. The definitions box is way too small to read. The table of contents icon is gone, instead you have to scroll across the bottom. The dark mode only darkens the book, not the bookshelf, so at night when you open libby you are blasted with intense light. If you have multiple libraries it is easier to navigate in overdrive. Overdrive keeps your current book first on the bookshelf so it is easier to find. Libby is inferior to overdrive.

This app is SO LOGGY, it takes forever to just load, then it is impossibly difficult and unresponsive much of the time. I HATE this app, having happily used Overdrive with zero problems, this is just appalling its a HORRIBLE thing. Its just questionable every time I use it if it is really even worth trying to use it.

So frustrating! I have been using Overdrive which is wonderful and very easy to use. Recently it wouldn't download the books I wanted, so I finally switched to Libby, which was a chore to find. I have a Surface Go tablet and had to jump through hoops to get the Libby downloaded which only works with WiFi so that is no convenient for when I am traveling or weekends at the cabin where there is no Wifi. It is difficult to work through the app to find the books you want to check out. Not at all intuitive. I wish that my library would continue to use the Overdrive, so much better. You know now may pages are in the chapters, you know how far into the book you are at. So easy to work with. Hopefully Libby will improve and be more user friendly.

It's not very good. So many options for improvement. I suggest you show the remaining borrow time specifically (I was just trying to finish the last 40mins of a book that was to be returned 'today' only to find it cut out half way through a sentence. Or - how about having the option of a 24 hr extension, rather than 3 weeks? I will now have to wait several weeks to finish a book because other people have requested it. It's maddening.

I am very unhappy that Libby will be replacing Overdrive. Libby is complicated and not intuitive to use at all. I hope a great number of improvements will be made to Libby before it replaces Overdrive. Better still, why not just abolish Libby. Overdrive is fantastic!

I have a Surface PC with Windows 10 and there is no Libby app for Windows. So... I'm stuck with the Libbyapp.com website, which is REALLY limited and hard to navigate. It seems to be missing a lot of info that the regular website (still currently available, thankfully) offers.

Because there's no Windows app, it means streaming only. Extremely inconvenient when you are on the move and/or WiFi isn't always available. I've installed BlueStacks (Android emulator) to try the Libby app on it and attempted to download an audiobook via the Libby app there. It's been an hour and the icon is still spinning as if it's downloading, with no info on progress. In the OverDrive app, one audiobook took only a few minutes to download, so there's no reason it should be so slow.

I'm trying this out now because the OverDrive app will be phased out sometime next year. I am EXTREMELY disappointed with the functionality and user interface of both LibbyApp.com and the Libby app. They are terribly dumbed down compared to the older OverDrive website, and it is difficult to find the detailed information on each book and my checkouts/holds that I'm used to seeing. I hope they keep both websites so I can at least BROWSE and CHECK OUT books through the OverDrive website.

I LOVE the Libby app - so easy to read a book on my phone or thru the Kindle app. But I am taking away 1 star for 2 reasons - first, because the wait time is so long for new books -- even when I have tracked a book and added my name the same day (sometimes first hour!) it showed on the app I am still always way down on the list). The 2nd reason is because I just do not understand the "wait time". On 8/4 I was 15 out of 19 on a popular book (I requested on 7/6), so ALL 19 have to be returned by 8/18 - correct?? So why, on 8/13 does it say 5 weeks - shouldn't it say 1 week (especially since it now says I am 9 out of 26 copies). Just makes no sense to me. I did send the question to Libby but no one answered (which is surprising since they usually do answer questions right away). Also -if a copy becomes available to you, and you are not ready to read it - you can opt to have the next copy delivered to you after a certain amount of days -- but know that it might be much longer - depending on when the next copy is returned --AFTER the amount of days you requested is returned. For example - if you request a book to be re-delivered to you after 4 days, and 3 days later ALL the available books have been returned and given out to new people - you might have to wait an additional 2 weeks (on top of the original 4 days). I may be wrong about this, but that is how it seems to work.

I have questioned people in my library but they don't seem to know how Libby works, and since no one from Libby has answered my email, I have a feeling no one there knows how it works either.

So anyway, the app is DEFINITELY worth having - especially is you are interested in older books and can download a book immediately. Just be aware of the wait times on new books.

I currently use the original Overdrive app for ebooks loans from Kent County Council's libraries. Overdrive itself is a wonderful app, Very simple to use. Easy to navigate. Yet now KCC are pushing Libby. Libby is awful. I have never seen a reading app that is so user UNfriendly. None of it makes any sense. I will use Overdrive until KCC removes access, and at that point I will no longer use the library, because I'm not stooping to have to use the awful Libby app just for sake of reading.

The Libby app replaced the old RB digital app which is available to borrow books/magazines etc from your county library free of charge. At first the Libby app seemed better designed but it soon deteriorated into a poorly managed and maintained site which is difficult and frequently impossible to navigate. It is currently unresponsive and refusing to open (in Leicestershire). I suspect that staff who designed and set up the App may have been made redundant ?

If your local library uses Libby then it really is a Hobson’s choice, use their digital service or not.

Whether you’re using the Libby website or their apps, it all comes down to the same thing. The app is serviceable and on the surface doesn’t look too bad, but it’s ridden with bugs. Books often reload or despite being downloaded won’t load without a network connection.

Beyond the simple act of reading through a book or magazine, most interactions are made needlessly complex and fiddly. There’s far too much hidden UI that takes too many taps and swipes to reach, if you even remember the process in the first place.

There’s too many different pages and the whole thing desperately needs looking at with fresh eyes.

Recently I placed a hold on a book, the book became available, but when I went to borrow it, I was told that someone else had a hold on it – yes, that was me! There was no-one else with a hold on the book, as I could see through a lot more checking in the app.

More recently I have had a brief interaction with ‘customer support’. The support agent told me she was ‘happy to help’, only to then tell me that my little bit of content feedback would be ignored. (Apparently having a book description SCREAMED OUT IN ALL CAPITALS is not only okay with them, but something they couldn’t do anything about. How about they contact the publisher?) Useless. I found another bug in the process of telling them about that, but I’m really not going to bother.

If I were directly paying for Libby and OverDrive – and really I am paying through my Council Tax – then I would be even more incensed.

It’s a below average service I wouldn’t use if it weren’t for my local library.