Appworthy

Absorb - for Audiobookshelf

Books

Nathan Poulson
Download on theApp Store
App Store rating4.9★164 ratings
PriceFreeListed price
Age4+Store age rating
Size69 MBiPhone download
CategoryLifestyle
DeveloperNathan Poulson

What we found

Full report

Too little checked to say Store information only. We haven’t analysed this app or read its reviews yet.

Money

  • Free to download.

Not yet tested.

The store currently lists version v1.12.0, updated 2026-10-21.

Preview

Screenshot 1Screenshot 2Screenshot 3Screenshot 4Screenshot 5Screenshot 6Screenshot 7Screenshot 8

Store screenshots supplied by the developer.

About this app

Absorb is a free, open source audiobook and podcast player built for Audiobookshelf, a self-hosted media server for your personal book library.

Connect to your own Audiobookshelf server and enjoy your audiobook collection with a clean, polished mobile experience built specifically for iOS.

Features:

Stream or download books for offline listening

Full playback controls with chapter navigation, sleep timer, and playback speed

Home screen widgets for quick playback controls

Listening stats and streaks to track your progress

Bookmarks with notes

Series tracking and discovery

Light and dark mode

CarPlay support

And much more!!!

Absorb is built by a solo developer and is completely free with no ads, no subscriptions, and no data collection. Your library stays between you and your server.

Requires a self-hosted Audiobookshelf server. Visit audiobookshelf.org to learn more.

From the developer’s store description.

For developers and the curious

The full report

The evidence, sources, measurements and versions behind every label above.

Findings and evidence

Not yet tested
Not yet tested. No analysis has been published for this app. A missing label is not a clean bill of health.

What reviewers report

No review coverage

No review analysis published for this app.

Measurements

3 measured · 5 not assessed

“Not assessed” means we could not measure it. It is never a zero and never a pass.

From store data and reviews

Developer replies to reviews
Not assessed
Fewer than 50 reviews scanned — too few to state a rate
Price in the store description
The store description doesn’t list prices (most don’t)
Cancelling, in the store description
The store description doesn’t say how to cancel (most don’t)
Themes reported by reviewers
Not assessed
This app's reviews have not been assessed yet
Five-star share of ratings
90% or more five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.

In the app package we scanned

No package has been scanned for this app, so nothing is published about what it ships. That is an absence of evidence, not a finding.

Sensitive permissions
Not assessed
No package has been scanned for this app
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
Not assessed
No package has been scanned for this app
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
Not assessed
No package has been scanned for this app
How we know

Supporting measurements: not a complete list of possible harms or positives. Measurement vocabulary 1.4 · how these are measured

Versions and dates analysed

Not yet tested

Not yet tested. No analysis has been run for this app, so there is no version or date to report.

Store update history

Each store’s release notes, as the developer wrote them. They are the developer’s words, not ours.

App Store

Version v1.12.0 · 2026-10-21
Read along: the narration highlighted in the ebook Live transcripts for podcasts and books without an ebook Ebook scroll mode, offline ebooks and comic reader bookmarks BookOrbit server support with Smart Scopes and book requests (still being worked on, this is early days for Bookorbit support) Speed up to 5x and a stronger loudness boost Choose what the notification and car screens show Download several books at once and play offline from Downloads Lots of playback, sync and series queue fixes https://github.com/pounat/absorb/releases/tag/v1.12.0

Assessment record

Status
Not yet tested
App identifier
absorb
Sources used
None recorded
Reviews read
None recorded
Package examined
No package scan
Human inspection
Not completed
How we know
Measurement vocabulary
1.4

Store facts

App Store

What the stores publish. Store ratings are the stores’ numbers, not Appworthy’s, and are never averaged across stores.

App Store

Store rating
4.87 ★ · 164 ratings
Version
v1.12.0
Updated
21 Oct 2026
Price
Free
Age rating
4+
Size
69 MB
Open in App Store
Developer
Nathan Poulson
Category
Lifestyle
Listing price
Free

No itemized purchase list is available for this listing.

Method and limits

What this report can and cannot show

What a missing label means

Not yet tested. No analysis has been published for this app, so there is no method to describe for it yet. A missing label is not a clean bill of health: it means nothing has been read, not that nothing is wrong.

Limits of this report

  • A package scan is static. It identifies code and text in one Android build. It does not measure a live ad session, test a deletion request, or count the steps needed to cancel.
  • Reviews keep their sample. A review-only charge shows distinct reviewers, the share and the sample size, and is published only once it clears that label’s published threshold. Calibration labels are machine-drafted and not yet confirmed by a person.
  • Not assessed is a state. It is never a zero and never a pass.
  • A missing label is not a clean bill of health. It means the evidence did not support one, not that the app is problem-free.
Not yet human-reviewed. A human review gives an app hands-on, recorded measurements. None has been run for this app. Hands-on inspections are not yet open.
Review thresholds Read the methodology For developers

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