MapleRead SE

I was a loyal Marvin user for over 13 years. Kris built a great app in Marvin and my devotion was absolute. I had figured out how to keep Marvin working on my devices. . . until 26.2, which completely kills the app. Like many, I went on a desperate hunt. For me, only Mapleread and Readest came close to meeting my needs. Both allow you to customize the book interface to almost Marvin levels. Mapleread beats Readest for me in a few key areas: 1. Mapleread allows you to download multiple titles from your opds catalog. Readest only allows one download at a time. 2. While I appreciate the open source collaborative approach to Readest feature development, I want a professionally developed and maintained app. Readest doesn’t have any real documentation and support on reddit is ok, but not preferred. With Mapleread, I emailed the support alias with a question about using a specific font—I received a response and my request was addressed in the most recent release. If you’re looking for something to replace Marvin, I recommend Mapleread. I’m happy to have found a home for my ebooks. I hope they’ll continue to add feature requests from the Marvin loyalists like me!

Overall, this has been a great epub reading app coming from many years of using Marvin. But, like any app, there is always room for improvement. A recent issue (which is probably not the developer’s fault thanks to iOS 18) is that the “Lookup” option (dictionary) is gone from the list when pressing on a word. Other minor issues: I’d love for the clock to always show onscreen in the upper left (without needing to tap the screen). Also, syncing reading progress between iPad and iPhone is great but takes attention since it needs to be done manually on each device every time you want to switch between devices. Lastly, on a really positive note, the developer reads and responds to feedback and is still making improvements to the app. That’s worth the price for the paid version.

I want to thank the developers very much for their quick reply and support ... it is greatly appreciated! May I also take the time to compliment them on a wonderfully done app! I love the many options they have included, especially being able to import and use my own chosen fonts... I use a font called Happy Monkey that imitates the written had, one that no ebook reader would ever use, so having the ability to import my own fonts is a heaven sent on these old eyes! When reading an ebook and looking at a screen the majority of the day, this ability becomes a true blessing ... a soothing background color and choice of font makes all the difference on one's ability to enjoy an ebook, so thank you for such a incredibly well thought out app! This old man's eyes truly appreciate it... I know developers probably only hear complaints, via support, and on the majority of their reviews, so I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for such a well thought out app and design! I love and appreciate your app so much I purchased all versions to show that appreciation. I also try to tip the developers, as much as possible to show my appreciation , and as frequently as my wallet allows ... I believe it is one way we all can continue to support the development on this app!