hoopla Digital

I love reading, and I love this app! There are only two things I don't like. Firstly. all the Graphic Audio books come in parts, meaning I went through almost all of my "borrows" on one books series in less than a week instead of 4 borrows. Secondly, if you accidentally borrow something you've already read or don't like the narration, those borrows are also lost. It's very disappointing for someone who is very particular and reads (or listens) constantly. It would be nice to change those.

it's a good app. My biggest issue is audio books. after it starts a handful of times in the car the book will restart. No matter how far into the book I am eventually it will restart from the very beginning. I don't know why. I've emailed customer support about it and they had me install and reinstall the app. I still have the same issue. it's an inconvenience when listening because I constantly need to remember where I am in the book so I can get back to a close location.

I love that my library connects to Hoopla and that I can download books, audiobooks, even movies on demand. 5 stars for that. Hoopla as an app is buggy. More than once, when I've prepared for a trip by downloading my book ahead of time, Hoopla says, NOT TODAY, and makes it impossible to read my book. Super frustrating. Sometimes it just starts an audiobook from the beginning, and loses the position I was at - not easy to get back to the same spot. 3 stars for the app itself.

What I like: I can get books that are on hold or not available thru other apps without the wait. Lots of titles I can get on Hoopla that I would have to pay for elsewhere. What I don't like: app is a bit buggy. Sometimes it kicks me back a couple chapters or even to the beginning and I have to sift thru to find where I left off. Also, book limit.is slim. In my case, only 4 per month. Not a deal breaker bit kind of a bummer.

So this app usually works well / as expected, but for longer audiobooks it inevitably will lose my place at some point halfway-ish through and restart from the beginning. This leaves me to play a fun game of "fast-forward until I figure out where I left off". I appreciate the functionality and access to free books though, so it's well worth it!

Great content, though that varies from library to library. I wish you could sample audio books before you borrowed them. I listened to some dramatized versions I really didn't like, and even though I listened to less than 10 minutes, it's still counts toward your borrowed total. I've also had the problem recently where not all the books are broken up by chapter. This is the first time I've encountered that, and I've been listening for 2 years.

This is one of my favorite apps, i use it to listen to audiobooks while I'm at work. It uses your library card. The only issue is sometimes when i pause the audiobook for too long, it'll close it without saving my progress so i use the bookmark function frequently. There unfortunately is a limit of how many books you can borrow per month. I like that i can immediately listen to the audiobooks without waiting for a copy to be available like physical copies or like on the Libby app.

Good navigation, but the app simply cannot reliably keep track of where you left off in an audio book. It clears itself from memory if you so much as sneeze, and you'll find yourself anywhere from 5-30 minutes rewound because it doesn't keep track of where you are as you listen. Also the widget does not work, and will say you're not currently listening to anything until after you've gone back into the app, thus making the widget useless. And yes all this is after uninstalling and reinstalling

Overall pretty good app. But a huge downside for me is that the audiobook player does not pause when you get phone notifications. It just lowers the volume of the audiobook, making it completely inaudible and forcing me to constantly rewind the book to hear what I missed every time I get a notification, which is fairly often. Other players like Libby and Audible autopause during notifications and do not have this problem. I'm always disappointed when an audiobook is only available on hoopla.

Great app and you get to keep the book a long time. The cons are it can be fussy about wifi even when the book is downloaded. That said it is better than borrowing a long book and having a very limited time. Plus it has books available others don't, and it is free through your public library. I also agree with bookmarking being important. but I have never had the app skip around while listening to a book or while reading a book. I use this app quite often hiking with no wifi signal.

Pros: Good for audiobooks b/c there's no queue to borrow. Cons: The app quits if I pause the book for more than a minute and I have to reopen the app to resume. The app glitches when I'm listening to an audiobook b/c it randomly starts at the beginning. I have to remember to bookmark a lot. Would be great if there was a listen log similar to audible.

4 stars because it can get finicky and have to be removed and reinstalled. I wish there was a glossary or way to opt out of "instant borrow" for every title, because I don't know what happens after I run out of titles for the month. Otherwise, the interface is clean, the widget works well, and the selection is pretty wonderful. Would (and do) recommend

I love this app! I love audiobooks and they're so expensive online which makes this app amazing. Rarely do I come across an audiobook with any errors or strange accents that make it hard to understand. This is my #1 go to app for listening. I just wish they had more authors. I find most of what I'm looking for but some authors just don't seem to have their books listed here.

Very grateful to the library for the books, but... The app constantly loses my place in audiobooks and freezes. Also, it would be better if I could start it from my drop down menu on my phone instead of having to open the app every time. Again, though, the concept and the books are great. Just wish it was more like Libby.

overall good experience with the app, I sometimes have issues where it will stop playing while im listening and when I try to play it again, it restarts the book entirely and I may not have it bookmarked so then im playing catch up. Good selection of available books, more than Libby sometimes. Dislike the hold limit as I always max it half way through the month.

Great platform with access to so many audiobooks. I love the suggestions feature based on what you listen to, as well as right after you finish an audio book. The algorithm for suggestions are on point. ONLY drawback: audio does not pause when GPS voice comes on. It continues playing in the background at a lower volume.

I enjoy reading every day, so my only complaint is that the app limits me to 15 books per month. Figured how to read more! Collection sets only count as 1 book!! Yay!!! 8/12/25 Edit: It would be helpful if book series would list them according to the date order to read them. I sometimes read them out-of-order because I don't know which should be read first. I need that info before I actually Borrow the book.

I've foolishly used audible for years before finding out about hoopla through my local library. It is rare I search for an audiobook that isn't available on here! I get 5 books a month which is plenty bc I use another app connected to my library as well. Hoopla's selection is incredible. Zero complaints. I still can't believe this is all free. I'm a very happy woman.

Pros: No wait time on items. Has some TV shows, movies, and music. It's the best way I have to access Spanish albums. The BingePasses are a great way to get the most bang for your buck, given the monthly checkout limits libraries place. Cons: It's a bit expensive for libraries. The selection leaves a lot to be desired, especially for TV shows and movies.

The app makes utilizing basic library functions considerably more accessible. I like it for that. however, I'm not clear on why there is an 8 unit limit on the number of items I can check out in a month. maybe it's to limit load on the servers? cuz, in theory, I can check out multiple items each day from the physical library so long as i return them. idk, it's the one noteworthy inconvenience for me, but by no means a dealbreaker. I'm reading mostly manga too, might not matter to other formats