Kobo Books & Audiobooks vs Barnes & Noble NOOK

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 60 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

1. [R2] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 5/5 · US So happy I made the switch: Switching from Kindle to Kobo has to be the best decision I’ve made for my reading life. Aside from being a better device, the app is so clearly considerate of the reader’s experience. Recently, Kobo and Storygraph partnered too for simplified tracking similar to the Amazon/Goodreads connection but not as invasive as it would feel on kindle.
2. [R14] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 4/5 · US Kobo audiobooks: I like just paying a flat monthly fee and listen to as much as I’d like. The type of books I like are limited but still worth price compared to others. Wouldn’t pay more than current fee but I will continue to use for now.
3. [R22] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 2/5 · US Doesn’t sync: I hate that Kobo doesn’t sync books you loaded externally. I loaded a bunch of free (legal) epubs onto my Libra Coloyr but they don’t appear in this app. I wouldn’t have bought the device if I knew about this limitation. Even Amazon supports this for Kindle devices.
4. [R24] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 3/5 · GB Good but needs better search functions: Really needs better functions for searching for books & seeing similar book recommendations. Also that authors don’t have a page with their books easily listed is annoying. Has so much potential but is just a bit clunky. Still using though as once downloaded the book reading experience is good.
5. [R5] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 4/5 · US Good App!: Easy to use with good features. My one complaint is that you can't mark a book as finished without having to thumb through the entire book. I have two iPads and download and read books on each one. The books will show on both devices in my library but will not show as finished on the device that I didn't use to read.
6. [R7] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · US Book Doesn’t Open: Your ebook app fails to open books that have been purchased, and downloaded. I cannot justify to myself the use of something whose purported utility is gravely wanting.
7. [R9] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 3/5 · US Over all good: I’ve NEVER been able to use my credits purchasing on my iPhone… Have to use computer to use credits. Additionally, have trouble downloading purchased books to iPhone. Have double checked to make sure there’s enough storage memory left on phone, have signed out and then signed in to app, and have restarted the iPhone… And then without me doing anything it will download. Frustrating.
8. [R10] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 2/5 · US Terrible Accessibility: I love Kobo as a company and think they do most things well, but I can’t use their apps for ebooks because I heavily rely on screen readers and their app stops on every single page. I have to flip to the next page manually and then re-listen to the last sentence on the previous page before it will read more. It’s excruciating. My policy is to only buy ebooks on Amazon or Ap
9. [R13] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 2/5 · US Buggy and unpleasant to use: I really want to like this app. I strongly support kobo’s storefront model as opposed to their… competitor. I have a Kobo Libra that I use about half the time. However, this app is a very notable step behind its main competitor from a reliability and stability standpoint. The main issues are: highlights flash on and off and disappear entirely; search works *maybe* half
10. [R15] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 3/5 · GB Helpful and speedy support but …: I had an initial problem with purchases showing up on my iPad but not on my iPhone. However, I got a response from Kobo support by return which fixed it. However, I find the inaccurate synching between tablet and phone infuriating.
11. [R1] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · US Hard to cancel: I’ve canceled this account back on April 16, 2026. I received confirmation that it will take 48 hours to cancel. It’s now July and they’re still charging me!
12. [R6] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 3/5 · US Eh: I like the app but don’t like that when I want to get a book you can’t buy it in the app it takes you online and you have to sign in every single time
13. [R11] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 4/5 · US Great app but confusing payment system: The app is great! Runs nicely, dark mode, nice UI, and also has a dictionary option to look up unknown words! The only thing is the payment system. From what I can tell, a subscription only covers some books, and not all in its collection. Some ebooks and audiobooks you just have to purchase.
14. [R18] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 3/5 · GB Three stars for now: Discovered you can contact Kobo on facebook with an issue and get an immediate response. It'll go back up to five stars if my problem has gone away.
15. [R19] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · US I can’t get in: I have tried and tried to get in. But it says it will send me a code but I never get it. There doesn’t seem to be a way I can get in to see if there is a mistake in my phone number.
16. [R35] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 2/5 · GB Not Great: The app itself is great for reading books. I think it is poor that you cannot see the prices of books in the store, purchase books from the store or write reviews on books you have read. Logging into the web site seems to be the only way of doing this.
17. [R41] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · GB Sub: Can’t sub through the app
18. [R37] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · GB Makes it very hard to cancel your account: Don’t bother with a free trial - you will be charged