FBReader — a fast, lightweight, and customizable ebook reader FBReader opens…
FBReader.ORG LimitedSome warnings 5 things we found but could not confirm. Nothing confirmed. Checked: 400 reviews, the Android app’s code, the store listing and the privacy label.
From our automated analysis, 24 Oct 2026. Every label links to its evidence in the full report below.
This analysis describes version 4.0 beta 80 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-24 .
The store lists the version as varying by device, updated 2026-08-02.
Store screenshots supplied by the developer.
FBReader — a fast, lightweight, and customizable ebook reader
FBReader opens DRM-free ebooks as well as titles protected with Readium LCP.
Supported ebook formats:
• ePub (including ePub3 features), PDF, Kindle azw3, fb2(.zip)
• Comic books (CBZ/CBR)
• DOC, RTF, HTML, and plain text
Great for language learners:
• Instant word and phrase lookups through your preferred dictionary app
Cloud sync (optional):
• Sync your library and reading positions using the FBReader Book Network, a Google Drive based service
• Disabled by default; enable it in Settings
Highly customizable:
• Use your own TrueType/OpenType fonts and custom backgrounds
• Day and night color themes
• Adjust brightness with a simple swipe along the screen edge
• Fine-tune layout, gestures, and appearance…
From the developer’s store description.
For developers and the curious
The evidence, sources, measurements and versions behind every label above.
Specific evidence of a useful property, within the stated scope.
Offers a one-time or lifetime purchase: "Հավանո՞ւմ եք FBReader-ն ու հավելյալ հնարավորություններ փնտրում, գնե՛ք FBReader Premium-ը։ You pay once; this is not a subscription."
The app's own text offers a one-time or lifetime purchase, or reviewers report that the price is stated clearly.
Package artefact
Appworthy
sha256:16d7ba862162e73e194c722f028f917fc818ba952cb5e22df5aac9860f16859cThe developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
No advertising or mediation SDK among the 1 SDK detected in the package
No advertising or mediation SDK of any kind was found in the package.
Package artefact
sha256:16d7ba862162e73e194c722f028f917fc818ba952cb5e22df5aac9860f16859cOpen observations that have not cleared the evidence bar.
Ships a purchase screen ("Upgrade to Premium") with no dismiss, skip or "continue free" text anywhere in the package
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
A paywall screen ships with no dismiss, skip or 'maybe later' affordance anywhere in the package, so the app's own text offers no way in without paying.
Package artefact
sha256:16d7ba862162e73e194c722f028f917fc818ba952cb5e22df5aac9860f16859cSells a subscription in-app but ships no cancel or manage-subscription text of its own, leaving the store's settings as the only exit
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
Cancelling the subscription is blocked, hidden, multi-step, or simply does not take effect.
Package artefact
sha256:16d7ba862162e73e194c722f028f917fc818ba952cb5e22df5aac9860f16859cThe app's own text says: "Online translation is a premium feature. Buy FBReader Premium once, and use the feature forever. This is not a subscription."
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
Advancement or competition is gated behind spending money rather than playing.
Package artefact
sha256:16d7ba862162e73e194c722f028f917fc818ba952cb5e22df5aac9860f16859cThe app's own text says: "Reading aloud is a premium feature. Buy FBReader Premium once, and use the feature forever. This is not a subscription."
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
Package artefact
sha256:16d7ba862162e73e194c722f028f917fc818ba952cb5e22df5aac9860f16859cOffers a trial ("“Open Premium” dialog") and states no renewal price, renewal date or auto-renew notice anywhere in the app's own text
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
The app's own screens offer a free trial without stating, beside it, what happens when the trial ends. Read this as context rather than as a charge: renewal terms are normally shown on the store's purchase sheet instead, which we cannot see, and we can only observe one kind of evidence for this — so it is shown, but never counted as a charge.
Package artefact
sha256:16d7ba862162e73e194c722f028f917fc818ba952cb5e22df5aac9860f16859cThe app's own text says: "Use Google auth if available"
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
The app's own screens offer a way past sign-up — guest access, skipping, or browsing before registering — rather than gating the product behind an account. The store's privacy disclosure is checked alongside it: that disclosure is self-reported, so it corroborates this credit rather than establishing it.
Package artefact
sha256:16d7ba862162e73e194c722f028f917fc818ba952cb5e22df5aac9860f16859cThe app's own text says: "Offline…"
This observation has not cleared the required evidence standard.
The app's own copy describes working without a connection — offline mode, downloading for offline use, or content saved for later. Shown because readers filter on it; it is a feature, not a fairness property, and never counts for or against an app.
Package artefact
sha256:16d7ba862162e73e194c722f028f917fc818ba952cb5e22df5aac9860f16859cNothing was published as a thing to watch for in this assessment. That is not a finding that nothing is wrong with the app.
No review-based observation is published in this assessment. That does not establish that reviewers had no problems.
“Not assessed” means we could not measure it. It is never a zero and never a pass.
Android package 4.0 beta 80, scanned 24 Oct 2026. These describe that package, not the current store version.
Supporting measurements: not a complete list of possible harms or positives. Measurement vocabulary 1.4 · how these are measured
This analysis describes version 4.0 beta 80 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-24 .
The store lists the version as varying by device, updated 2026-08-02.
Each store’s release notes, as the developer wrote them. They are the developer’s words, not ours.
No release notes were provided for this version.
fbreaderAssessed 2026-10-24 from 400 user reviews, the app's package, the store listing and its privacy label.
What the stores publish. Store ratings are the stores’ numbers, not Appworthy’s, and are never averaged across stores.
No itemized purchase list is available for this listing.
This assessment is produced automatically. Six independent signals are read — user reviews, SDKs in the app package, the app's own on-screen text, the app manifest, the store listing and the store privacy disclosure — and each candidate finding is filed under the sources that support it.
No charge stands on one kind of evidence — with one published exception. A finding is either a measured fact that anyone can reproduce (an ad SDK is in the package; every subscription bills weekly; the privacy label omits a tracker we can see), or it is an interpretation — and an interpretation needs independent sources to agree before it reaches the catch list. The exception is a harm only users can see: a charge may publish from reviews alone, as “Reported by N users”, once enough reviewers raise it to clear that charge’s own published bar. That agreement rule is what replaced the human reviewer, not a model’s confidence.
There is no overall score, on purpose. A 0–99 number was published here until 2026-09-15. It was withdrawn because it discriminated too weakly to be the instrument — 44.7% of every pair of apps tied — and because a single number is a verdict where a count is an observation. What publishes instead is a row of measurements, each of which says what was counted and, where we could not look, says that instead.
Findings under One source only are real reports we do not stand behind as findings. They are shown because withholding them entirely would hide a genuine complaint, and labelled because publishing them as charges would be an accusation off a single source.
Write to [email protected], or use the form. Name the finding, the app version and the evidence that needs correcting. Factual corrections are free and never depend on buying anything.