Productivity & writing · ebook reader app
KOReader
Hacker Approved
An open-source e-reader app for Kindle, Kobo and Android with deep customization, strong PDF and EPUB handling, and plugins; expect a confusing, cluttered interface and some setup effort.
Summarized from 303 comments.
An open-source e-reader app for Kindle, Kobo and Android with deep customization, strong PDF and EPUB handling, and plugins; expect a confusing, cluttered interface and some setup effort.
- recommend
- 193
- criticize
- 32
- months recommended
- 11 of 13
- median owned, 7 owners said
- 1 year
Why people love it
Customize almost everything · 6
It's very configurable and extensible. As some have mentioned, the interface can be a bit confusing at times but once you're used to it it's mostly out of your way.
Jul 2026 · commentKoreader is far and away the best. Definitely suffers from the top many knobs problem but if you spend a little time to go through the settings
Sep 2026 · commentLove all the options, especially the ability to use folders on the device storage as the primary way to organize my books
Jul 2026 · commentExcellent PDF reflow and cropping · 4
With its reflow for PDFs, I've used it on my Kindle Oasis 2 to read everything for my undergrad and graduate degree.
Jul 2026 · commentThe main benefits for me is dealing with poorly formatted epub and sensible viewing of pdf on small screen
Jul 2026 · commentsane PDF scaling/reflowing, the ability to handle large PDFs, and multiple export formats for annotations
Nov 2025 · commentHandles EPUBs stock readers reject · 3
Every Kobo reader is capable of running KoReader, that's the first, and probably last, step I'd take to render a book that the default reader takes issue with.
Jun 2026 · commentBeing able to put epubs bought elsewhere and reading them without needing to convert the files is a huge plus
Jul 2026 · commentThe main benefits for me is dealing with poorly formatted epub and sensible viewing of pdf on small screen
Jul 2026 · commentOpen source, own your data · 5
it is the superior piece of software, the freedom it offers by dissociating the choice of hardware from the choice of software
Jul 2026 · commentIf you want open source software that builds on proprietary hardware, KOReader is what you want. (I use it, it's great.)
Jul 2026 · commentNow that I know my highlights aren't locked up in Amazon/Kindle's ecosystem I'm more likely to highlight something.
Aug 2026 · comment
What people warn about
Confusing, unfriendly interface · 7
It's very configurable and extensible. As some have mentioned, the interface can be a bit confusing at times but once you're used to it it's mostly out of your way.
Jul 2026 · commentKoreader interface with syncthing is not that user friendly to non techs, very powerful can do anything but i don't think i would advise that to non techie
Sep 2026 · commentI'm a heavy KOReader user and absolutely adore it, but I think it definitely trades user-friendliness for power and flexibility.
Jul 2026 · commentCumbersome setup process · 3
It's a bit cumbersome to setup but once you're done it pays back in how pleasant it makes the device to use.
Jul 2026 · commentI tried to set up KOReader multiple times and always got stuck figuring out where all the settings are and how exactly they work.
Jul 2026 · commentthey whole process is a miserable experience between the stale blog posts and the dead links
Jul 2026 · commentNo Japanese vertical text support · 2
It's a great reader app, but as a reader of Japanese light novels it's sadly not fit for my personal purposes
Jul 2026 · commentKOReader doesn’t support Japanese vertical rtl layout without a hack (e.g., rotating the fonts) is the single reason I don’t use it.
Jul 2026 · commentLacks DRM and store integration · 2
I've tried KOreader, but never switched to it because I like my Overdrive library books and Kobo Store.
Jun 2026 · commentKoReader doesn’t work with drm protected books which means I can’t use it with most books I buy.
Jun 2026 · comment
Every quote
The 40 most detailed of 303 comments. Each links to the original.
It's very configurable and extensible. As some have mentioned, the interface can be a bit confusing at times but once you're used to it it's mostly out of your way.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “More Tailscale tricks for your jailbroken Kindle”
Every Kobo reader is capable of running KoReader, that's the first, and probably last, step I'd take to render a book that the default reader takes issue with.
Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Your ePub Is Fine. Kobo Disagrees. Blame Adobe”
Koreader interface with syncthing is not that user friendly to non techs, very powerful can do anything but i don't think i would advise that to non techie
Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “F-Droid 2.0”
Koreader is far and away the best. Definitely suffers from the top many knobs problem but if you spend a little time to go through the settings
Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “F-Droid 2.0”
I'm a heavy KOReader user and absolutely adore it, but I think it definitely trades user-friendliness for power and flexibility.
Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
it is the superior piece of software, the freedom it offers by dissociating the choice of hardware from the choice of software
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
Love all the options, especially the ability to use folders on the device storage as the primary way to organize my books
Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
If you want open source software that builds on proprietary hardware, KOReader is what you want. (I use it, it's great.)
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Freeink: Open Ecosystem for E-Readers”
With its reflow for PDFs, I've used it on my Kindle Oasis 2 to read everything for my undergrad and graduate degree.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
Now that I know my highlights aren't locked up in Amazon/Kindle's ecosystem I'm more likely to highlight something.
Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “A Claude Code skill that recovers export-blocked Kindle highlights”
It's like a new device. I can connect to WebDAV, I can customise almost anything, I can have better dictionaries
Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
Being able to put epubs bought elsewhere and reading them without needing to convert the files is a huge plus
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
It's a great reader app, but as a reader of Japanese light novels it's sadly not fit for my personal purposes
Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
It's a bit cumbersome to setup but once you're done it pays back in how pleasant it makes the device to use.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “More Tailscale tricks for your jailbroken Kindle”
The main benefits for me is dealing with poorly formatted epub and sensible viewing of pdf on small screen
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “More Tailscale tricks for your jailbroken Kindle”
sane PDF scaling/reflowing, the ability to handle large PDFs, and multiple export formats for annotations
Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Why I love my Boox Palma e-reader”
better standards compliance it also is a lot more performant and has niceties like auto cropping of PDFs
Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Your ePub Is Fine. Kobo Disagrees. Blame Adobe”
I've tried KOreader, but never switched to it because I like my Overdrive library books and Kobo Store.
Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “Your ePub Is Fine. Kobo Disagrees. Blame Adobe”
it's really "set and forget" with some lovely features and power to customise absolutely everything
Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Quill OS: An open-source OS for Kobo's eReaders”
I never had any issue with it. The amount of stuff you can customize to your liking has no limit
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “More Tailscale tricks for your jailbroken Kindle”
I love having my entire book reading experience end-to-end be fully open source and self-hosted.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
KOReader paired with BookOrbit is my sweetspot and I love having all the data under my control.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Freeink: Open Ecosystem for E-Readers”
they whole process is a miserable experience between the stale blog posts and the dead links
Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
KOReader doesn’t support Japanese vertical rtl layout without a hack (e.g., rotating the fonts) is the single reason I don’t use it.
Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
I tried to set up KOReader multiple times and always got stuck figuring out where all the settings are and how exactly they work.
Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
the thing that frustrated me most was that some options are not *visible* when you're in the "file manager"
Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
KoReader doesn’t work with drm protected books which means I can’t use it with most books I buy.
Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Your ePub Is Fine. Kobo Disagrees. Blame Adobe”
if we are talking about UX for the average user the koreader UI has a long way to go in general
Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Quill OS: An open-source OS for Kobo's eReaders”
is an incredibly ugly UI/UX, and the latest version doesn't seem to even work with BookLore
Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “BookLore: A self-hosted, multi-user digital library”
KOReader has bookmark support; if I need to go back a few pages (or use the search), I'll just set a bookmark for my current place so I can easily jump back.
Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Singapore’s National Library Board offers micropayments to build reading habits”
It shows you chapter and section divisions in a single screen, along with black bars to show you which pages and chapters you've spent a lot of time on.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
I can recommend using a Filebrowser plugin for KOReader, that way you can access the file system over a web interface and upload that way.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
Kindle jailbreak[5] + KoReader[6] + Z-library[7] extension allow you to seamlessly download any book you'd like, directly on your Kindle.
Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions”
once people use it for their way of reading (including doing things they coudlnt) they can't use an ereader any other way again.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “More Tailscale tricks for your jailbroken Kindle”
KOReader (an open-source reader that runs on Kindle) can fetch RSS feeds and even Wallabag/Readeck content natively over wifi
Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “I turned my Kindle into my own personal newspaper”
Despite never using the stock interface anymore I've left it alone because it's not much of a bother to relaunch koreader
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Freeink: Open Ecosystem for E-Readers”
KOReader + Bookshelf are, for at least a power user, a potentially far superior experience compared to baseline Kindle.
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
I love KOReader on Android, but unfortunately it requires granting permission to manage all files on the device.
Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
the plugin environment is excellent and there are several UI plugins that make using the software easier
Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “KOReader”
you can jailbreak many of the models and install KOReader in them if you want to keep using the hardware
Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “F-Droid 2.0”
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