The key facts
- Readwise Books combines buying, reading, and tracking books in one app
- The store offers millions of ebooks from the Big Five publishers, so far only in the US
- The app is in beta and requires an invitation unless the user is a Readwise subscriber
Readwise's new product
Readwise, the company known for its spaced-repetition reading app and a service for collecting quotes and highlights from books, has introduced the Readwise Books app. Its founders call it a mix of Kindle and Goodreads: in one place you can buy, read, and track what you've read. TechCrunch reports on this.
What the app can do
Unlike Goodreads' basic statistics, Readwise Books shows detailed reading metrics: number of words read, pace, depth of immersion, and sessions. Founders Daniel Doyon and Tristan Homsi compared the approach to Strava for reading and explained that tracking sessions makes reading measurable instead of guilt-inducing. According to the company, users most often note that they now read more — without goals, streaks, or schedules.
The store and openness
The store offers millions of ebooks from the Big Five and other publishers, so far only in the US; print books are also available through the distributor Bookshop.org, along with some audiobooks. The app supports uploading DRM-free EPUBs, text-to-speech narration, session tracking via the Kindle cloud reader, and progress marks based on photos of print books. Unlike Goodreads' closed ecosystem, Readwise offers a public API and an MCP server for AI agents. AI features (session recaps, translations, questions about the text) launched with publishers' permission — so far only HarperCollins has signed on.
Context and availability
The launch comes amid a wave of new reading apps and trackers challenging Goodreads, but few independent developers have dared to compete with the Kindle store, which, according to Good e-Reader, holds 83% of the ebook market when Kindle+ is included. The app will remain free, with some AI features later moving behind a paywall; Readwise's existing apps cost $7.99 per month each or $9.99 for both. Readwise Books is currently in beta and requires an invitation, unless you are already a Readwise subscriber.
