Appworthy

BookBuds: Read with friends

Social book reading & friends

Starter School
Download on theApp Store
App Store rating4.2★155 ratings
PriceFreeIn-app $7.99–$49.99
Age4+Store age rating
Size52 MBiPhone download
CategoryLifestyle
DeveloperStarter School

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 · in-app purchases $7.99–$49.99 (7 listed). Weekly plan $7.99 (about $415 a year); monthly plan $9.99 (about $120 a year); yearly plans $29.99, $39.99 and $49.99. The other purchases’ names don’t say how often they bill.
  • If you subscribe through the store, cancel in iPhone Settings → your name → Subscriptions. Deleting the app doesn’t cancel a subscription.

Not yet tested.

The store currently lists version 1.0.38, updated 2026-06-18.

Preview

Screenshot 1Screenshot 2Screenshot 3Screenshot 4Screenshot 5

Store screenshots supplied by the developer.

About this app

BookBuds is a cozy social reading app that makes reading with friends easy, fun, and motivating. Sit around your own virtual bonfire, track reading time, build daily streaks, and compete on a shared leaderboard to see who’s reading the most.

Whether you’re trying to read more books, finish your TBR list, build a reading habit, or simply stay accountable with friends, BookBuds turns reading into a shared experience instead of something you do alone.

Read Together Around a Virtual Bonfire

Start a reading session and watch your BookBud glow as you read. Your friends can join you anytime, making reading feel cozy, warm, and connected.. even when you’re miles apart.

Track Your Reading Time Effortlessly

No more manual book logs. BookBuds automatically tracks your reading minutes with a built-in reading timer.…

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 says how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
Not assessed
This app's reviews have not been assessed yet
Five-star share of ratings
Under 65% 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 1.0.38 · 2026-06-18
We've been hard at work improving BookBuds. Here's what's new: NEW FEATURES • Custom Shelves — Organize your library your way. Create your own shelves, add and remove books, and arrange them in any order. • Dark Mode, now free for everyone — No paywall, no sign-in. Turn it on in Settings and it applies across the entire app and remembers your choice. • Profile & Avatars — Your finished books now appear in the order you finished them, and members without a profile photo get a clean, colorful initial avatar. READING TIMER & LIVE ACTIVITY • The session timer and the lock screen / Dynamic Island Live Activity are far more reliable when you switch apps, lose connection, or…

Shortened here; the full notes are on the store listing.

Assessment record

Status
Not yet tested
App identifier
bookbuds
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
4.23 ★ · 155 ratings
Version
1.0.38
Updated
18 Jun 2026
Price
Free · In-app purchases
Age rating
4+
Size
52 MB
Open in App Store
Developer
Starter School
Category
Lifestyle
Listing price
Free · In-app purchases

Purchases the store lists

 What this app sells

From the store listing. Billing terms are read from each purchase’s name — the stores don’t publish them — so treat them as a strong hint, not a disclosure.

Subscriptions6
Weekly SubscriptionWeekly$7.99
Monthly SubscriptionMonthly$9.99
Free Trial AnnualYearly$49.99
Yearly discounted subscriptionYearly$39.99
Yearly second discountYearly$29.99
Yearly SubscriptionYearly$49.99
Show 1 more purchase we couldn’t categorise

These are really on sale; we just can’t tell from the name whether they recur.

Three day trialTerm not stated$49.99

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

Request a correction

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