Name: hoopla Digital
Rating: 4.83592 (1007671 reviews)

User Reviews for hoopla Digital

4.84 out of 5

1M Ratings

7 months ago, vdguujfdt

Problems

I really think I could like this app of hoopla if you would fix a few problems. I use the Libby app and really like it. So I thought I would try hoopla as a second choice to Libby since they’re both related to the library. The first problem is I like to read my books with the two column choice. So when I select that option on hoopla, it duplicates a lot of sentences and paragraphs. And that happens too often for me. Then comes the bookmark, which is laughable. Sometimes the bookmark will take you to where you’re supposed to be and sometimes it won’t. You need to set up your bookmarks like Libby does. So that your bookmark tab is showing the whole time you are reading that page so it reminds you to disable the tab, while you are reading. the way you have it set up is very awkward. Another problem is that when you quit reading for a while during the day, or power down for the day, a lot of times when you go back to read, you have to start from the very beginning, instead of taking you right to your place that you left off. Another situation I ran into , when you go to the area where you read a few paragraphs of what a book is about so you’ll know whether you want to choose that book or not. A lot of the words are running together. Is there no proofreading? like I said, in the beginning, I think I could really like this app of hoopla, but the website itself needs quite a bit of work.

2 years ago, Linds2286

Must have!

I am OBSESSED. I am a public library director so the I have helped the library make this possible for our community. If your library doesn’t offer it, ask! Unlike other providers of digital content, though also amazing in their own right, Hoopla offers ebooks, audio books, comics, tv, music, and movies. All items in their catalog are instantly available- no wait! How many check outs a month is set by your library as its free to the user and paid for by the library but its a great compliment to other digital platforms! The app’s interface is easy to use and they are constantly improving it. You can download ebooks and audio books to your device for the 21 day check out so you can listen even when you cannot stream. If the item “falls off” after your checkout (because 50 hour audio books are a thing), you can re-borrow and it picks back up where you left off! You don’t have to start over. There are even more benefits I haven’t mentioned! And from the backend as a director, working with the staff at MidWest Tape is awesome; quick to answer questions & reach out for support. It’s easy to access your portal and check stats, make changes to checkout limits and controls, and review spending. I can’t say enough nor can my patrons!! We love it! CHECK IT OUT!

3 months ago, Mamamuhs2

Great selection, dislike the collective daily limit

App gives me this message more often than not- “The collective daily borrow limit set by your library has been reached and will reset at midnight. Please browse and add titles to favorites so you can easily access them after midnight,” despite not having a single item checked out, often times for weeks at a time. I will try to check out a single book here and there (like one every 2 months), but will still receive this message, and it never “resets at midnight” like it says it should. Very frustrating…! Edit: I take back what I said, now understanding that this message I’m receiving (often late at night, when I have time to sit down to read, with young children being a factor in my life) is due to the total limit for daily borrows set by my library, not just for me individually. (It would be like going to the library at 6 PM and being told “sorry other people were here before you to check out all the books they wanted and so you can’t check a single item out”). Though that limit seems to be unfair, and a flawed option to even have available, I do now understand this is not entirely Hoopla’s fallout. That being said, I do really enjoy the app when I can check out a book. There are a lot of selections available compared to other online library apps! Thanks for the feedback and explanation of the problem I’ve been encountering… Will check things out earlier in the day from now on!

1 year ago, LGuezzie

Saves Me Lots of Moola!

This may be my first app review, but I wanted to tell you how thankful I am for Hoopla. There is plenty of content of interest and I’ve even seen some really recent books on here. I’ve stopped using Audible since discovering it (when someone mentioned it in a review of the Libby app, which I also use, but Libby can have long waits and has shorter borrow times). I do wish we could read the ebooks in Kindle form because that’s better for eyes than a typical tablet screen and my Kindle has much better battery life than my ipad. It’s great how we can highlight within the ebooks, but I don’t think there’s a way to save those highlights or add notes like on Kindle. As I don’t really like reading whole books on the iPad, I usually stick to audiobooks here, but am very grateful for them. Occasionally, Hoopla doesn’t succeed in accurately syncing my place between devices (phone and iPad), so that’s something they might want to take a look at. I also appreciate that you can toggle in and out of Kids mode, but would prefer a password to enter back into adult mode, for when my kids use it on their own. It is tricky to constantly supervise all content kids select and I’m not comfortable with all the options in the Kids section either. Perhaps a parent could enter a password to approve each borrow before a child can borrow while in Kids mode. Thank you for a great free app though. I’m happy to be a member of a library that participates with it.

5 years ago, casa viejo

Problems

Originally I liked the Hoopla app. Now not so much. It seems to be having what I consider insurmountable annoyances. It first started with the app freezing right in the middle of a book. I switched from using the app to read a book to just clicking on read now without using the app. That worked for a while but is now doing the same thing. Very frustrating when you have only so much time to read and then it freezes and you can’t. It isn’t my device at fault either since it happens not only on both tablets I use but also on my phone. I’ve written to them twice with no response about this problem. I was sure they would fix it but no such luck. Also it doesn’t sync between devices. The other library apps like Overdrive will pick up whatever page you’re on when you change devices. Not Hoopla. I’m sorry to say. This means endless scrolling page by page in order to get to your current page. Oh and the latest annoyance is after reading maybe 10 pages a banner pops up and you have to click out of the book, it comes up with the download page and you then have to click on resume in order to keep reading. It’s almost enough to quit using this app. The only reason I come back to it occasionally is they have some books that the other services do not..if you want to try an app that works the way it should try Libby. They’ve got their act together. Merry Christmas one and all. Hope the powers that be read this and fix these basic problems.

5 years ago, TV All the Time

Mostly good

Hoopla was recommended by my public library and I’ve mostly liked it. It’s frustrating that unlike other audiobook apps, there isn’t a way on Hoopla to listen to a preview of a book before borrowing it. So a few times I’ve gone ahead and borrowed but have been disappointed. I’ve sometimes given the book as much as a 20 or 30 minute chance, but a couple times I had to stop much sooner, largely due to the narrator or the production quality. Sometimes, while the book is probably good and the story or characters are appealing, the person chosen to be the narrator is simply bad or inappropriately cast. Sometimes the audio levels are all over the place, varying in volume and quality. I know no audiobook is read all in one recording session, but most manage to maintain consistent levels and some sound like there’s suddenly a different microphone or sound engineer or he narrator was having a bad day. In any case, I wish Hoopla allowed a short preview. The way it is, I have to borrow the book, thereby using up one of my monthly allotment of books and then have returned it within a few minutes because I was disappointed in some way with the book. I’m glad I discovered the option to give the book a rating, but it would also be extremely helpful to be able to write a review. That way I could tell prospective readers which books (and narrators) I really like enjoyed a lot and caution readers about the books (or narrators) I found to be not worth my time.

3 years ago, Rbw43

Very good app

Hoopla is a very useful app and I’ve gotten a lot of books out of it: mostly audiobooks, quite a few ebooks, plus some music and graphic novels. It’s biggest problem is the very limited number of checkouts you have per months; occasionally I’ve run into limits on how many checkouts that my *library* is allowed. Because of this, I use Hoopla after I’ve exhausted all other options because, when ripping through a series of ebooks, it is very frustrating to have to wait for the next month to finish a set. I recall no standout problems with quality (every software can have bad moments) but for some silly reason Hoopla’s audiobook skip-backward function does not work with my vehicle’s sound system controls. It’s a long standing problem and very frustrating when you’ve missed something and, as you’re driving, there is nothing safe or legal to do about it but stop listening. Hoopla is one of five audiobook apps in my phone and it’s the only one with this problem, which suggests it should be a fairly easy fix On the plus side, it has a standout smart Lookup feature. It has the usual dictionaries but also connects into Wikipedia and if it finds a reference it shows a snapshot with pictures right up front. I’ve not noticed whether it’s good at language translations or not but perhaps I’ve not read that type of book yet on Hoopla.

6 months ago, Phoenix LN

LIBRARY APPS FOR THE AUDIOBOOK WIN!

I found this app when I was doing a deep dive comparison for different audiobook listening apps and almost gave up when it looked like Audible or Spotifys sad credit/15hr listening caps were the only option when WHAM I happened upon a Reddit forum directing people to download Hoopla an app accessibile via your local library. Legit just input your library card information and a plethora of audiobooks were up for checking out. Not to mention 1)the books get returned automatically after 3 weeks 2) if you’re like me and love falling asleep listening to your audiobooks but hate when way too many chapters have been read through while sleeping (aside from your phone batter draining too) you can literally set a timer to how long you want it to keep playing for be it the end of the chapter your currently on or a designated amount of time. 3) If you also share my affinity for logging your reading on your Goodreads App you can see the listed chapters on Hoopla and reference the % of book read on Hoopla to add to your Goodreads progress. 4) There’s a digital bookmark capability, car & activity mode. 5) Most importantly there is no listening cap! It is literally the perfect audiobook app. DOWNLOAD NOW!!!

5 years ago, Chriscddo

Used to love it a lot

I used to enjoy hoopla a lot and only wished I could check out more than 8 books/audiobooks a month. I even liked it better than Libby because it had more audiobook selections. But lately, I keep having difficulty with it. Sometimes it won’t download or open an audiobook. Today it won’t let me borrow an audiobook even though I have four more books available. I don’t know if it’s because I recently discovered Karen Kingsbury and enjoy listening to her books or what. I even tried to download a different author and it wouldn’t let me. It keeps telling me there’s an error and I can’t borrow more books until tomorrow because the collective daily borrows have been reached. I didn’t even borrow any books today or in almost a week. When I first signed up for hoopla a year ago I borrowed my limit in less than a week when I discovered audiobooks. Last week when I had problems I just deleted the app and reinstalled it but it didn’t work this time. I’m so disappointed because I took the week off to clean for an open house so I have all the time to listen while I clean but I can’t. Leaving later this month on a trip and hopefully can download stuff for the drive and plane ride. I hope they fix the app soon.

3 years ago, margaret_holmes

Loses my place when I close the app

I have to use this because my old library account with a library that uses Overdrive expired, which is the only reason I bother reviewing this. My place in ebooks and audiobooks keeps resetting every time I close the app out and I have to actually place a bookmark to mark the spot. I don't think this is supposed to happen. And it doesn't ever in overdrive. Also the ebook format is irritating. I want to be able to see the time, cell service, and battery percentage at the top of the screen. Maybe they could switch out the unnecessarily wide band at the bottom reserved for the 'percentage left' or whatever, make that smaller, and let us see the top indicators on phones. And the way the pages flip in the ebooks is jerky and annoying sometimes. But really my biggest beef with Hoopla is losing my place in ebooks/audiobooks and not showing the time/battery percentage/cell service indicators at the top of the screen when reading an ebook. I need to know what time it is when I am reading because I like to read during my lunch break at work and I don't want to have to set an alarm or check my watch every few seconds to make sure I am staying within the allotted time. And I raise these issues knowing full well they could fix them because Overdrive has everything down perfectly basically. I wish my current library used their platform. Sad times.

6 years ago, Nina Evans

Get hoopla now!

I have always like audio books. I am a young girl, and I am dyslexic. I have always struggled with reading despite my best efforts. I eventually found out about audiobooks, and convinced my parents to get me a radio so that I could listen to the cds at the library. It helped so much, and I started making progress with my reading and reading comprehension. However, a radio would always lose my spot when I unplugged it to bring around the house with me, and I eventually ran out of books I liked to listen to. I can still recite most of the lines from Harry Potter from how often I listened to them. Anyways, one day, I was at the library, and I say a sing for hoopla. It was exactly what I needed. I downloaded it onto my phone, and fell in love with it. Hoopla’s free and easy to use. I listen to hoopla daily, and it’s a perfect way to read books while getting dressed, driving, or even just so you can follow along. You can even adjust the speed of the book depending on your reading level. If you are looking to have this for a child, you can put restrictions on. Since I got hoopla, I have also gotten Overdrive. I am so happy to have a site that has free audiobooks, and doesn’t even require WiFi.😁

4 years ago, crabpatty

The Henna Artist

This was a very enjoyable, albeit long audiobook. I would not cut it because all the details are relevant. Her early life her marriage, her escape, her reinventing herself to be able to create a lucrative business. Her ability to pamper the wealthy women she has as customers, in her quiet submissive fashion is just noteworthy. I do not know how I would have dealt with the overbearing snobby rich women. The ones who could ruin your business with just a few seconds. I loved the gentle care Lakshmi gave the young queen when her son was sent to England at the tender age. Her ability is a gift of compassion. Later when she goes to the Himalayas, what an interesting time. It speaks of her ability and compassion which turns into her next chapter. The young man she “adopts” as her ward, the streetwise imp who is in a way her guardian as well. When her sister shows up totally out of the blue since Lakshmi did not even know Rada existed. (Please excuse the possible errors in spelling names, since the audiobook did not have correct spelling included). All in all, the audiobook was 10 hours, but excellent story, wonderful book. The ending is such that we can add our own final chapter. I know I have!

6 years ago, VS Raine

Getting worse

While on the whole, hoopla is a nice app to have, to easily borrow books from your library, constant glitches make it frustrating to use. Consistently it zonks out-after a couple of pages and especially after the end of a chapter, the app just stops. One has to click done, go back to menu and reopen the book. Updating the app has not helped. I am also not a fan of the 10 books per month limit. I prefer the “five books at a time” limits posed by other digital reader apps like Overdrive and Axis 360. Update: Borrowing e-books and videos is easy. But videos have an extremely short check out time. On the negative side, the book selection tends to be too heavily leaning on the romance/family genre, and most bestselling authors will not be found here. I had previously given this app three stars, but the glitches have become too annoying to use the app. You have to read the book in portrait mode. Landscape is not available. The page will not reorient itself nor can you set it in one mode over another. They updated the app to give you a page turning experience, but after once or twice, you will not be able to proceed to another page. You will need to shut down the app and restart it. Additionally, it will also shut down on its own while you are reading. There are many readers on the market now. I find overdrive and cloud work best with my library. Hoopla—give it a miss.

5 years ago, Mom w/ Migraines

Convenient but borrowing limit & PAGES STICK

Pros: I don't have to go out to the library (spending time and gas) to get a book. I don't have to worry about damaging the book, losing it, or late fees. It also saves my place in a book with roughly 80-90% accuracy. And, it offers books I otherwise would not be able to get from my library. Cons: It's not easy to check different pages for something because you swipe to turn a single page at a time. (I can't find a menu or "how to" section to see if there's another way.) Sometimes pages stick (pages stick way too often), have a black spot, go halfway off the screen, etc. so text is unreadable. I would hit the X to go out and back in, but that is often missing too. To fix, I have to power my device off and back on. It's a real pain, but it ultimately works. Finally, there is also a monthly borrowing limit unlike the limitless books I can check out from my library per month. (My Hoopla limit is 10/month.) Honestly though, I would rather have a physical book in my hand for the ease of checking different pages and not having to be tied to a charger, but I am glad to have access to titles that my library doesn't physically have (even if the pages do stick infuriatingly so). (Seriously though, please fix the page sticking. Thanks.)

1 year ago, BaileyJD

Please convince my library to allow more monthly Hoopla borrows!

I love Hoopla, even more than my library. When my library is missing books or audiobooks in a series, I can almost always find those at Hoopla, which is awesome! My library severely limits the lifetime number of books I can request (to 5!) so it makes it unreasonable for me to request books missing from a series when I can find them at Hoopla. However, now my library has severely limited our number of monthly borrows from Hoopla. I’m hoping Hoopla can help with this and convince libraries to make that number much higher, like it used to be. I want to be able to read missing books/audiobooks and also read other series that my library doesn’t have but Hoopla does have, but this is hard to do when my library only allows 4 monthly borrows from Hoopla. I loved when Hoopla recently (in February) offered bonus borrows that didn’t count against the few that our library allows. I have used my borrows since then to complete series that I began during the February bonus borrows. Thank you, and I hope you bring this feature back again!

3 years ago, Giossio

It’s getting ridiculous...

I’ve had this app for a few years now. It has been slightly irritating at times. Sometimes it won’t play so I’ll have to restart it. Sometimes it randomly pauses so I’ll have to restart it again. But the past few days have been way worse. It keeps telling me I’m using my account on another device. I have never logged into another device. So I change the password to my account just in case. Twice. Then it won’t load. My books won’t show up under borrowed. So I keep killing the app and restarting it and half the time (I’d say I did it over 35 times) it would show my books on the home screen. But if I click on any of them to listen to them or return them it freezes and shows a blank screen. Of the very very few times it actually showed the page with the book it hardly ever started playing. And if it did, it made an awful squeaking, stuttering noise. I have restarted my phone, deleted and reinstalled the app, used different wifi’s, and reported the problem. I’ve noticed other people have said the same thing since the last update and the response is that it was fixed. It is not so. I have been having the problem for the past 3 hours. I am still - right now - trying to play my audiobook and as I write this review I am hearing squeaking. The problem is most certainly not fixed. It seems to me it shouldn’t be this hard to play an audiobook.

1 year ago, letgo stinks like poo

Malfunctioning when checking out books

I have now had four failed attempts to check out a book on hoopla. In all instances I had not checked out any books for a few days, but the app refused to let me check out saying “you have exceeded the amount allowed by your library for the day”. I don’t know whether this is a library problem or hoopla problem but it is very aggravating. I’ve called the library and they say there is nothing they can do. That sort of indicates it must be a hoopla problem. Either way, we need a fix, soon! OK, so the Hoopla app developer did respond to me! That is a pleasant surprise. However, the messaging that comes to the app user still needs to be corrected. The way it is currently worded it makes it sound as though I had exceeded my daily limit. What it needs to clearly state is that all the patrons of the county library have exceeded the daily limit the library buys from Hoopla. That way at least I would know I am not being accused of exceeded my limit when I know I have not done so. As usual, “what we have here is a failure to communicate.” if hoopla will actually correct this problem I will be happy to increase my rating. Overall I don’t have too much trouble with this app especially given the fact that it is free, and it allows me to listen to many more books that I would if I had to purchase them elsewhere.

4 years ago, MatthewH08

Too many limitations.

First off I really enjoyed this app and how I can read any books I want. I have read most of the Avatar the last airbender series but I want to read more. That is the problem. I can’t. Only 10 books a month is kind of ridiculous. Especially all the Atla comics are split into three parts! So they each count as a book which is dumb since there only 80 pages each. Also just having a 10 book limitation is dumb since real libraries don’t have that limitation so why should a online library have it? If you can’t change it for free I suggest charging 5-10 dollars for unlimited books a month. So I can at least finish my series and avid book readers can read when ever they want to. Also this app has weird book availability. So your telling me this app has every Atla book series and book but not the series straight in the middle of the plot line. Why is smoke and shadow not in this app? I’m seriously dumbfounded as to why they have every other series but this one. I’m not spending 20 bucks on Apple Books to get this so I guess I’m just gonna have so skip it. By the way its says suggest titles in the settings and it’s says “coming soon” and it’s said that for like a month. So get that fixed. This really great app could be 5 stars if it fixed these three problems.

3 years ago, At Night

Barrow Audiobooks

I understand that you’re allowed to check out so many per month, but I don’t understand why you can’t check out other books when I have return them with in a day to a week at the most. But I’m not allowed to check out any other audiobooks when I don’t even have any because I was responsible In returning them for other people to listen to. It’s like your punished for returning what you downloaded way before the return date. And with not a single audiobook waiting for me to listen to on my account, I’m still not able to download any. So being a truck driver and having the time to listen daily and nightly I’m unable to listen or download. I know before audiobooks I was able to take a certain amount and when I returned them I was able to take more, just as long as I returned them. Now with the automatic download and with them being able to take them back at there time I’m having a hard time understanding returning before the due date and not allowed to check out any other, and with all this technology they can’t see that but the old time returning work better.

12 months ago, dixiegirl😘4771

Great…BUT??

I read a lot of different authors, I’ve never tried any of the audiobooks, to me a book is all about being able to see and read the words not having some one else read it to me, and this app has started making its way towards more audiobooks than actual Ebooks and that saddens me. But on the other hand I’m also able to come on to Hoopla and find many of my Ebooks that aren’t on the actual Overdrive App, or what is now the Libby App and that makes me very happy, I may start a series on Libby but am unable to finish it on there because for some reason they just have the very first Ebook of that series but then I’m able to finish the series here on Hoopla. But I have many issues with the borrowing of books, it will tell me I’ve met my download quota for the day and need to come back at MIDNIGHT to try again, but I’ve not downloaded anything from Hoopla that day meaning that was going to be my first book, smh. But all in all I think it’s a really great reading APP and have been using it for years as I read a lot. I will continue to use it Hoopla as long as it’s made available…

6 years ago, mcateer15

Used to love this app

I’m not sure if this is a problem with Hoopla or the library’s it works with but using Hoopla has become almost impossible. I used to listen to audiobooks all the time & was very grateful that I could borrow 8 per month as if I were going to my local library & borrowing from them. Then a few months ago I started getting the message “The daily limit has been reached & will reset at midnight”. It turns out that libraries didn’t like so many books being loaned out & set a limit. This means that A) when I’m ready for a book I usually can’t get one because the limit has been reached (turns out there are a lot of us who like to read or listen-who knew?) B) if I want to be sure to get a book I have to get it at midnight because I’ve tried at all hours of the day & the limit gets reached pretty quickly C) if I do manage to borrow books before that daily limit gets hit I tend to want to borrow my monthly limit of 8 & I hoard books. Which is probably why the limit keeps getting reached so quickly. Others are also hoarding. All this to say I’m extremely frustrated & have stopped using a site I used to love & encourage others to use. I hope someone figures out a way to fix this problem. Otherwise I’ll continue staying away & tell others not to bother. Too much frustration.

1 year ago, candtstlc

Good omens

The book moved very slowly and was hard to comprehend could not keep my interest I didn’t even finish the whole book. Would rate it very slow. It was an introductory book and only had about 10 lines in it. Very difficult to review. But I like the boxcar books in general. I would like to inquire why when you have books already downloaded does hoopla not bring them up. I have been so upset that it refuses to bring my audiobooks app where I can select them to continue reading . I would also like to know why kids selections come up and it will not show me adult reading in the audiobooks. Since hoopla is the only out look to get audiobooks through the library anymore, I find it extremely difficult for your site to continually provide access to the audiobooks. It is so annoying to me that the audiobooks will not appear Under the bar road heading. If you can correct these problems it would be amazing and very much appreciate it. C . Petit large audiobook reader. My estimated time presently per day is four hours and 30 minutes.

2 years ago, keisharanae

3.5 Stars

Overall, I love the app and glad that my library offers it. I use it mostly for audiobooks and often find that it has titles I’m looking for that Libby or Kindle Unlimited does not. However I have experienced several difficulties with the app: 1) When listening to an audiobook, if I pause it and then try to play again, it will either play with no sound or remain frozen. I will have to close the app, reopen and try to play again although this does not always solve the problem and will have to close and reopen again and again until it works. 2) Sometimes I will open the app and click to resume my audiobook and it starts the book completely over. If I close and reopen the app, at times it will find my place again but this has not always been the case. 3) When trying to submit a help/question for a book (at the bottom where it says “having trouble with this title?”) I can click that and click one of the issues listed and am able to type what I’m experiencing but don’t see an actual button to submit my request/concern. 4) I wish I could preview an audiobook before using up one of my borrows and disliking the narration or the book.

3 years ago, Emma56762

Worst audiobook app

Hoopla is the most frustrating audiobook app I have used (and I use several). It is much worse than overdrive for several reasons. For some reason it takes forever to download titles, and it downloads all as one big file. Plus sometimes the download doesn’t work and you don’t realize until it’s too late and you’re already on your road trip, etc. overdrive is superior in this regard. It downloads individual files that save faster, plus you can delete them one by one to free up space on your device. On hoopla it is also difficult to navigate between chapters/sections (once again, one huge file for whole book). As far as I know hoopla doesn’t let you listen to a sample of the book before borrowing. The 15 seconds back/forward feature seems to have a multiplicative effect if you hit it several times, which can sometimes send up far backward/forward in the book when really you just wanted to listen to the last minute or so again. Finally, I tried hoopla on another device and on this one, despite downloading titles, it doesn’t let me access them unless I’m logged in... which requires WiFi. For me, this defeats the entire purpose of the app. I hate this app and only use it through my library when I can’t find specific titles on overdrive.

3 years ago, Sven the Returned

Great concept, terrible ebook reader

I love being able to borrow ebooks and audiobooks, but this app is painful to use. I am a voracious reader but I seldom have the time to read for hours at a stretch, so I like to sneak in a few minutes here and there throughout the day when I can. And hoopla is TERRIBLE for this purpose. If I close the app mid chapter and open it again, I am randomly sent to the beginning of the chapter, or the beginning of the LAST chapter, or the beginning of the book. If I forget to lock the screen and accidentally rotate it, the same thing happens. This would be annoying regardless, but if you try to use the scrolling feature at the bottom of the screen to jump back to the page you were on, it simply doesn’t work. Similarly you can bookmark a page, but from your bookmarks there is no way to automatically jump to the bookmarked page so you have to manually flip back through the pages to get there. I’m currently reading Snuff by Terry Pratchett which has no chapter divisions so it’s one 700+ page chapter, and anytime I close the app or rotate the screen or let enough time pass, I have to flip back to the page I’m on FROM PAGE ONE. This app makes ebooks less convenient than checking out physical books in a brick and mortar library and carrying then everywhere I go.

2 years ago, Tess329

Amazing app

I tried Hoopla a few years ago and wasn’t too impressed. Recently I picked it up again and wow, this app has improved and it’s amazing. It literally feels like getting away with something to have this much free content - not just books but also audiobooks, music, even tv shows and movies - for FREE at my fingertips. Between this and the Libby app it’s like having a huge library you can take with you anywhere. You can download anything you borrowed to your device with one tap. This means I can listen to music and audiobooks in the car without streaming! Yay! The only downside I have found to this app is the borrowing limit which, with my library, is 6 items per month. I have to ration my picks carefully! However, I believe this is specific to the library your account is linked with, not universal for the app. The only issues I have encountered are so slight they’re not even worth mentioning - an audiobook that skipped/lagged for a few seconds, and occasionally the app crashes or loses my place in my book. This app is so great!

4 years ago, sptower

The worst piece of crap

A much improved app. Many of the problems I’d had with it - and, as you can see below, they were numerous - have been fixed. Time will tell whether it’s more stable, but for the moment, it no longer gets in the way of my enjoying my books. What I originally said: It’s a shame, because what it does - give people access to ebooks - is fantastic, but everything about how it does it is stupid. The formatting of the books is wrong. It counts page number incorrectly. Navigation within the book is unreliable. The books don’t rotate with my ipad even though the app does. There’s apparently no way to get to a complete list of genres. WhenI list books from a genre, and I inspect one, returning to the listing always takes me to the top of the listing, no matter how many pages I’ve traversed. It’s as if the person who designed this app has never been in an actual library, or possibly doesn’t know what a book is. My library subscribes to both Overdrive and Hoopla, and I avoid Hoopla like the plague because of its terrible app. The new Libby app from Overdrive beats the pants off it in every conceivable way. I would give this app negative stars if it were possible. Just set it on fire and start over. Bleagh.

2 years ago, A. Shure

Glitchiness dropped the rating

Please note that I have only used this app for reading e-books, so my rating is based on that. This app is fussy when it comes to turning the page. If you don’t do it just right, you either end up several pages ahead of where you were, or it freezes and crashes. I also don’t like that you can’t adjust the screen brightness. I read in bed a lot, and even using the low light filter on my iPad doesn’t dim things enough. I’ve used the gray background color, but it does not extend the full width of the screen, so there’s an annoying white frame around the gray page. (There is a white-on-black setting, but that bothers my eyes.) The search feature is okay, but it would be helpful if you could filter by language; some of the books I read have French, Italian or German translations, and it’s a pain to have to slog through those. Also, searching by author is somewhat hit or miss. With all the complaints, why do I still give this four stars? Because I can read books by some of my favorite authors, without having to purchase their books. So it’s worth that.

6 years ago, Bald Norske

Wish I Could Love It

I use this app primarily for ebooks. That all titles are free (via local library membership)and easily downloaded is a great benefit. However, the reader app leaves much to be desired. Constantly, I find that I cannot multitask on my iPad without losing my place. I have to relaunch the app, reselect the book, and hit resume reading, only to find that the app has gone back to a seemingly random location. There are no page numbers or location identifiers. So, even if there were a “go-to” function, I wouldn’t have anything to enter. I have had to resort to constantly entering bookmarks and then selecting the latest one to get back to where I was. A recent revision has overcome a flaw in the text readability; so this is no longer a problem. Have only used audiobooks aspect one time a couple months ago and found that file downloaded quickly, but here also, we would lose our place for no apparent reason and have to hunt for where we left off. In summary, this is an app with great potential, but is no Kindle Reader.

3 years ago, 10USUS

It Works so well for Me

I had to jump through a few hoops but I got it to work. I even found a book online that I really wanted to read but was always reluctant to buy it. Fortunately, that book was available to listen to for free which was a real joy considering there are so many words use I could not pronounce much less understand. But hearing the book being read was a much better experience. And, it is not just another unread book on my bookshelf. Kudos to the reading app and those who actually do the reading. It makes some of the most difficult language easier to understand being read to me. There were so many words I didn’t know and pronounce were better understood in context when the whole sentence was spoken. This is a very rich tool for me when I find reading the book much more difficult than hearing the words being spoken to me. I really appreciate this tool that lets me hear what I would have struggled to complete by reading. It gives better meaning to “Thanks for Listening”.

9 months ago, Maynard Handley

Hoopla is a great service, but a terrible app!

And unfortunately the app(s) never get better. Things change, but usually for the worse, or for a different kind of horrible. Let's list some of the many issues: - the apps (web, iPad, AppleTV) are all unconscionably slow, forcing random pauses for no reason - the apps (iPad and aTV) STILL do not remember, from one playback to another, that I want Closed Captions visible. Every other app on iPad or aTV gets this right; Hoopla is the only one that insists on forgetting Closed Caption state every time new content is opened. - scrolling the current iPad app through your favorites literally makes you feel like you are having seizure. Items randomly appear and disappear with no obvious pattern. The effect is, seriously, really really unpleasant. - the aTV app has its own version of scrolling issues where, randomly, as you are scrolling through your Wishlist, it will reset the scrolling to the top of the list. Every other aTV app seems capable of proper scrolling just fine, but not Hoopla. - the app doesn't provide multiple lists. In particular it doesn't distinguish between a WISHLIST (things I want to see/read/listen to) and a FAVORITES list (things I've seen/read/listened to, and want to remember, maybe to see again with friends).

2 years ago, Idontusallyreview

Love and hate relationship

So I Love hoopla, specifically the audiobooks. A large selection of free e-books, audiobooks, and movies/tv shows. However you have limited borrows. The way hoopla makes money is your local library pays for the content on hoopla and each borrow we make costs them money (this is the way I understand it). So for me I can only borrow 6 titles a month. So let’s say there is a tv show on hoopla, each episode costs one borrow. So you borrow 4 and watch them. Then you borrow a comic books and read that. After that you borrow and listen to a audiobook. That’s all your borrows gone in one day(depending on your library’s limit). I think hoopla is missing out on a payday here. So I was thinking that after we pass our borrows for the month we pay a fee for additional borrows. Or a recurring payment for unlimited borrows. Sorry this is kinda long but I’ve been think about this for awhile. Thanks for reading! Edit: oops I forgot something lol. Maybe think about adding like you have 10 mins after you borrow a title to return it to get your borrow back because it’s super frustrating then you borrow the wrong thing and wasted your borrow

5 years ago, Gseivert

Great selection but quirky app

I love the selection of books available. Often books that have very long waits on other library apps are available here. I also love the three week checkout. Unfortunately, the books and audio are quirky. The books do not show page numbers only how Many pages left in the chapters. The audio does not show chapters at all so if you are reading and listening, which I often do, I have to search for a long time to find where I am in the audio after having read a few chapters. I finally gave up reading and listening because I was spending too much time finding my spot. It would be great if the books and audio worked together. Also, the book pages don’t fit great when I read on my iPad because there is a bottom bar showing how many pages left in the chapter. It often covers up the last line on the page and it does not seem to go away. These are minor issues for a free lending service so don’t be deterred by them but it would be excellent if they were fixed! Enjoy reading!

2 years ago, M t lb

Love the app but needs some modifications

I waste so much time going into my past borrowed books to see if I already read the books that I’m browsing. It would be nice to have it show that you already borrowed it or make the history searchable. There are a few other quirks that I’d like to see changed but insignificant. Overall, I enjoy that this library app offers a great variety of books - stuff that my other app doesn’t. One additional update that I would love to see is a feature that would allow a short preview before borrowing. I mostly listen to audiobooks- I have a few favorite narrators and would listen to them reading the dictionary but I also waste a bunch of borrows on books that I just can’t listen to because the reader makes the content unbearable. Updated review- Wow…. A prompt response from the app developer. That upped my 3 star to a solid 4 star!!!!! With all of today’s technology , it is nice to see a response to a review or suggestion. I hope they are able to incorporate a way to flag items that have been borrowed previously and get a preview clip of the books. Bravo app developer!

3 years ago, Sassysweetness

Not very responsive anymore

I used to love this app. And I still think it’s a wonderful idea. It gives people the opportunity to borrow books through their library without having to leave their home and go to the library. And it gives you more choices that might otherwise not be at the local library. That being said this app isn’t as responsive as it use to be. It is horribly glitchy lately. Whatever the developers did when they updated this app it wasn’t for the better. It kicks you out whenever you are looking though book titles. Starts you back at the beginning. And isn’t very touch responsive. Please fix this app. Update it for the better this time not for the worse as it is now. It needs to be better. And also allow you to play a sample before borrowing an audiobook. There is so much you can do to make this app better. I only hope you take the opportunity to do so. Also needs to have a better way of telling how many titles you borrowed. A counter so you know how many you have left to borrow. And allowing to borrow more would be nice like 10 a month. Especially with audiobook and movies. The bonus borrow is a nice touch I hope that continues.

4 years ago, steveymacjr

Good app, so so accessibility features

I like most of the features of this app, but as someone who uses apple’s accessibility features this app’s bad support for them makes me dock it two stars. I rely on Apple’s “Spoken Content” accessibility feature and it is very tedious with this app. While I can use the “speak screen” setting and have words read to me, anything else I am out of luck. For example the page on the screen doesn’t follow the words being read, so the app thinks I’m at the beginning of the chapter, Which means if I have to pause the reading for any reason I have to start the chapter over because I cannot have speak screen start from the middle of a chapter (this is after I have guessed if I found the right page in the chapter to continue since the app doesn’t follow the speaking.) Another issue with this same feature is that once the chapter ends speaking doesn’t continue on to the next chapter, it just stops, but I cannot quickly enable speaking again because the app didn’t flip to the end of the chapter, I have to use the table of contents to flip forward to the next chapter. Fix these major issues and the app would be great.

5 years ago, heyitseru

Changing Libraries

It works fine until you want to change your library. The text overlays with the buttons you click and I literally had to put in my card number for my new library seven different times each time I went to the screen because it kept erasing and then I couldn’t scroll down half the time to see the library card # and pin # boxes. Also once I switched it said, “error” that is already had that card but when I logged in and out it still showed my old library but then my new card in settings. What? And I tried looking for a book my new library has but my old once doesn’t and I’m still stuck in the old not in name on the display only but also in terms of what I can borrow. Logged out and uninstalled and reinstalled the app but seriously why the delay? Does the app consist of solos of information that don’t talk well to each other? With overdrive and Libby I can switch between libraries like a breeze. Hoopla is not a UX friendly app when it comes to changing libraries—atm it is glitchy and frustrating.

1 year ago, Jaclyn430

Love the selection of books, but can’t get it to work

I love the selection of books available, especially the audio books. However, I have tried for a week straight to borrow a book, and I keep getting the same message, “The collective daily borrow limit set by your library has been reached and will reset at midnight. Please browse and add titles to your favorites so you can easily access them after midnight”. Ok, so I did that. I have even tried on multiple nights to borrow after midnight. Same message. I’ve tried at 6am, and so on… still the same message. I called my library to ask them if they need to reset something on their end, or if something was up with my library card (there isn’t anything), everything should be working, except it’s not. My library recommended a different app to use, and while I appreciate their suggestion, I’m disappointed because the selection isn’t as great as Hoopla. Unfortunately, Hoopla seems to think the library needs to reset something, and the library says they’ve updated everything, and there’s no way every single borrower is jumping on right at the stroke of midnight to borrow books. It’s ridiculous! And this used to be such a reliable app. I’m disappointed for sure.

2 years ago, sunshin3girl

LOVE this app! Would recommend, but one small thing...

Ok! First things first. I love this app! Highly recommend! Has most of the Warrior cats series. Love it. Can read on or offline. There's a kids mode. One small problem. Why can't you return the books when you're done with them? In a real library, you're given a specific amount of time to finish and return or renew a book. Here however, you can only borrow five books, and they will only automatically return at the end of each month. I am a fairly fast reader, so this frustrates me. I love actual libraries because you can return the books anywhere in the time range given, and check out other books. But then you could ruin the book, lose it, and then you have to either buy a new book and donate it, or pay a fine. Digital books are easy to use and you don't need to remember or bookmark a page. Although I would like some more freedom where this is concerned, I have learned to live with it. But I still don't like it. Anyone else who can relate? Also, any other Warriors fans? ~Dapplefrost

3 months ago, Nicky12323321

Favorite library app out there

There are so many options, I like a lot of more obscure things so I usually have a difficult time finding what i’m looking for with library apps, but hoopla has pleasantly surprised me many times with what’s available! along with ebooks there are also audiobooks, comics, movies, etc. it’s such a diverse selection depending on what you’re in the mood for. I love the favorites option that also automatically sorts what you favorite by media type, it’s so convenient, helpful, and organized. There’re also no long or unknown wait times before being able to check out a book, so you can borrow them when you know you’re not busy and have the time to actually read it, and maybe check out something else if you’re really not liking it. the only criticism I have of the app is it can be buggy and crash when searching up or browsing titles. I’ve never experienced a crash when actually reading though, so it’s not a major complaint

2 years ago, DarJohnSlayer-IPhone8

No question the 3-4 main apps get 5 stars

The reason is not because the 3-4 of them deserve it based on pure functionality like crashes, failing to sync your reading progress after you load up the book the next time, and limits that seem restrictive (Hoopla) for how many reading items you can borrow per month. Libby (Formerly Overdrive) is an extremely solid 5 star and is the clear leader in every aspect EXCEPT Hoopla offers the ability to borrow other content that others do not loan out or own. Ebooks & audiobooks I prefer Libby, Kanopy for borrowing videos, and Hoopla for comic books, TV shows sometimes and movies…oh yes music as well. The video content can and is different from Kanopy to Hoopla. The fact that I can “borrow” books and magazines and choose digital copies to read or the audio version and I pay NOTHING EVER, not a single penny to billions of items….how can these 3-4 apps be anything less than a 5. We owe these teams recognition that the countries hand out for exemplar civilian service to communities.

3 years ago, I Watch Too Much TV

Great except for a couple of things

I am very happy to have found hoopla! I listen to a lot audio books and I like being able to check out audio books from the library for free (YAY!!) This app works well but there are some narrators readers who need to be slowed down (or sped up) just a hair and the available speed change utility slows it way too much. Instead of going from 100% to 75% it would be great to go to 95% or 98% because 75% is way to slow and distorts the voices. Also, if I want to move to a different part of the book and I haven’t set a bookmark and I am going to a place where tapping the 15 second arrow is cumbersome (and I am aware it makes bigger jumps the more you tap it), I at times try to slide to dot to the correct place. Sometimes it is super easy but other times it slides the entire page. I wish every audio books was broken down into chapters but not all of them are so being able to more easily move the slide would be great. Thank you for listening!!

2 years ago, manju3t

Best way to borrow audio and ebooks from library

This is a useful and simple way to borrow digital media from your local library in the comfort of your own home (my library system allows 10 titles per month). True, selections available are not the latest releases but I'm enjoying catching up with many classic books on audio recordings while gardening, driving and other chores. I agree with other reviewers that chapter markers would be helpful, and I will keep back one star for that and for frequent delays I experience when returning to the app after switching apps or pausing. I'm very impressed with the quality of the readers in the audiobooks I've borrowed so far (about a dozen). I was also happy that when 1 book was returned after its 21-day period was over, the app retained my place in the 35-hour recording. For a free app that allows access to books, music, and movies with just my library card -- this is a great service. Kudos and thanks to the developers!

4 years ago, ncesare

Excellent resource!

We are a reading family and use Hoopla daily. Very happy with our library’s partnership with Hoopla to offer excellent selection of audiobooks and other media. I only have one bone to pick with the latest version. When I do a search and look through results or browse through genres, I should be able to click a title and read the description and info, and then go back to where I left off. Instead, I could be browsing through, say, the entire genre of fiction audiobooks (which is huge) to make it to the S titles, find something interesting looking and click on it, decide it’s not for me and go back, only to find that it doesn’t hold my spot but refreshes and goes all the way back to the beginning. This is so frustrating! Please consider fixing this! It didn’t used to be this way! I love browsing Hoopla and adding books to my favorites to read later! Would also love if Hoopla added the ability to create “shelves” and separate favorites into different categories! Thank you for all of your hard work! Hoopla really enriches our reading lives!

3 years ago, Clarity2020

Problems with e-books…

As a blind user, I love the audiobooks and never have any problems with them. The e-books, however, are always a problem and it’s getting worse! I use the app on my iPad and iPhone. When you try to use voice over to listen to an e-book, it will give you all kinds of problems. It used to at least let you listen until the last page in the chapter. Now, I pretty much missed the whole chapter because it keeps stopping. Very annoying! Anybody that uses Kindle knows that you simply turn voiceover on, swipe down with two fingers and it will read to you automatically. Hopefully, they can duplicate this technology so that Blind people can enjoy more than just audiobooks. Thank you I am updating this review… They did make some changes where the voiceover reading experience is smoother. However, after each chapter of the book you must stop voiceover and then restart it for the next chapter which is beyond annoying! It would be wonderful if you guys could make a consistently smooth reading experience such as on the Kindle. Thank you

4 years ago, Keep your💸

Title

Lol tried to make this funny. So I’ve been using hoopla for a while now and I like it a lot but there are some problems. First there are a lot of glitches I’m sure they’ll work themselves out but it sometimes is very annoying when you are looking for an author on your favorites and you can’t find them because of glitching. When loading it can sometimes become blank although I haven’t experienced that to often. My biggest complaint is that I’ve tried to access the content of one or another creator and it will not show me the full collection. It didn’t do this before an certain update that brought some other rather good things so I don’t know if this is just a bug or some other kind of issue but if this was built in I don’t know of an easy way to access the catalog. Having said that if you are looking for an app for library media that you can’t find on overdrive or Libby this does have a different collection depending on what your library has. Would I recommend it yes but don’t expect it to be the best out there it’s still working things out from my perspective.

8 months ago, Nematode Sam

Soo many good reads

I love this app, I’ve always loved reading but because I’m busy all the time I’ve spent majority of the time listening to audiobooks while I clean the house or while I’m driving, I love the selection because I read to my niece and she loves comics as well, hoopla has something for everyone. It’s perfect for online reading but you can also download the book you are reading to your device for offline reading it’s literally magically. I never have to wait for books they are available immediately. If you haven’t already, get the app! It’s literally amazing and you have about 3 weeks to read before your book is automatically returned butttt the best part is if you didn’t finish and you wanted to you can borrow it again! And if that doesn’t make you wanna get this app did I mention it was free? Lastly if your book gets returned before you finish it and you decide to borrow it again it resumes from where you left off!!!!

4 years ago, amandajune97

Used to love it

I don’t normally write reviews for things especially apps but I felt this was needed. I used to love hoopla, it started out working so well for me. Recently tho it’s been giving me difficulties. For some reason if I don’t use the app for a few days in a row, when I go in to search for books nothing comes up. Like I can’t search for anything bc it says that nothing exists. At that point I have to log out and log back in in order for it to work properly. Additionally, at times when I log out and try to log back in it’ll ask me to recreate my entire account again which is an annoyance I wish I didn’t have to deal with. The final straw was that I was logged out of my account and everytime I’ve tried to log back in it says that using my email it can’t find an account connected to that email. Then when I go to try to recreate and account it says that I can’t because there’s an account holder using that email! It keeps driving me in circles and I don’t know how to remedy this. Hoopla needs to get this app in order bc it is such a cool and convenient app to have for a book and audiobook lover such as myself.

8 months ago, Awsome Rae

This app is wonderful! But some things…

This app is fun, useful, and great for borrowing books! It has audiobooks, ebooks (basically an online reading book), magazines, and even movies! Of course you have to borrow all of those things (in the morning specifically) and you can only have 5 titles every 21 days. But it’s still a great app! You can even read offline! (As long as you’ve already borrowed a book) Oh! And it’s all completely free! I recommend this app to anyone who is considered getting it. Word to creators: I recently have been trying to borrow an audiobook (Yes I am trying to borrow it at like 8 am in the morning) and when I click ‘borrow’, it says again; your collective daily library has set a limit and will be reached by midnight. So, I try the next morning, same thing! Its very frustrating when I’m trying to borrow an audiobook before I finish the hard cover book at home. I really would like this book so if there is anyway to fix this, please fix it soon. Thank you so much! Don’t forget! Bye!

12 months ago, goodsummerg

Problems FOR MONTHS!

I’ve been using HOOPLA FOR IOS for forever and I have enjoyed it immensely! I appreciate having so much entertainment and knowledge right at my fingertips. I am very grateful that it’s free to use as well. HOWEVER, I am at my ABSOLUTE WITS END WITH THIS APP. FOR MONTHS, at LEAST 6, I HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO BROWSE FOR ANYTHING, because NO MATTER WHERE I GO IN THE APP, or what I’m looking at, I AM JERKED AWAY BACK TO ONE OF THE MAIN SCREENS. I AM SO FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY OVER THE MULTIPLE ISSUES THIS APP HAS. I HAVE CONTACTED THE COMPANY MULTIPLE TIMES, detailing the problems that are going on, carefully explaining exactly what is happening. But NOTHING HAS BEEN FIXED!!! Nothing!!!! FOR MONTHS!!! There are OTHER PROBLEMS BESIDES WHAT I’VE MENTIONED- DUPLICATION OF TITLES IN A LIST. I.e. I Look up books by LOGAN RYLES, AND SAY 4 books come up, then the same 4 BOOKS WILL SHOW OVER AND OVER DOWN, down, down the page, FOREVER!!! That doesn’t upset me as much AS NOT BEING ABLE TO SCROLL DOWN ANY LIST OR CATEGORY, or READ THE SUMMARY OF A MOVIE OR BOOK OR EVEN SEE WHAT THE HOOPLA MOVIES OF THE MONTH ARE-BECAUSE THE SCREEN IS JERKED AWAY, AND I’M TAKEN BACK TO THE HOME SCREEN. AAAHHH I’M SOOOOOOOO FRUSTRATED!!!!!!! Please please PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FIX THIS APP!!!! PLEASEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and yes I’ve deleted again and again and downloaded again and again. NOTHING WORKS!!!!

Description

Discover limitless entertainment and knowledge with hoopla Digital. Access more than 1.5 million audiobooks, eBooks, comics and manga, music, movies, TV, and more with BingePass. Read, listen, and watch 24/7 without ads or late fees, free with your library card! eBooks: From gripping mysteries to thought-provoking non-fiction; heartwarming romance to captivating historical tales, hoopla's vast eBook collection celebrates diversity by offering titles that resonate with readers from all walks of life. Audiobooks: Turn your commute, workout, or leisure time into an enriching experience with our extensive audiobook collection. Listen to captivating narrations by talented performers that bring stories to life. Movies and TV: hoopla's expansive video content library offers popular movies, TV shows, and BingePasses for every age and interest. Whether you're in the mood for Hollywood blockbusters or indie gems, you'll find it all here. Music: From chart-topping hits to hidden gems, dig into a music library that suits your every mood. Create playlists, check out new artists, and enjoy uninterrupted album streaming. Or use the shuffle feature to have songs randomly played from one album or all albums you have currently borrowed. Comics and Manga: Read classic comic, graphic novel, and manga series, discover fresh titles, and follow your favorite characters on exciting adventures. Our groundbreaking ActionView reading technology brings comics and manga to life with a panel-by-panel reading experience. hoopla BingePass: With just one borrow, get unlimited access to entire collections of content for a limited time. It’s a great way to explore awesome online content Stream or Download: With no waiting, titles can be streamed immediately or downloaded to phones or tablets for offline enjoyment. Apple CarPlay Compatibility: Access your favorite content on the go—whether you're embarking on a road trip or just running errands—by integrating your entertainment experience with your vehicle using Apple CarPlay. Easy Access: Seamlessly switch between devices and pick up right where you left off. Your bookmarks sync across platforms, ensuring you never lose your place in a great story. Dark Mode: Enjoy reading and browsing comfortably in low-light environments with hoopla's Dark Mode. Enhance your viewing experience and reduce eye strain during nighttime use. hoopla puts your public library at your fingertips—all you need is a library card. Download the app today! Content availability may vary based on library.