Kindle App vs Logos App

For those of you who are familiar with the Kindle App on iOS...

I really want to enjoy reading books in Logos, but I typically wind up frustrated and going back to the Kindle app for a number of reasons. I'm hoping that some of you may understand the issues that cause this frustration and be able to help me.

First, the Kindle app gives me the ability to "flip through pages" in the book I'm reading by scrolling through them at the bottom of the screen without losing my current place in the book. This is extremely helpful when wanting to browse a book or if being part of a discussion group where you are constantly flipping pages. Is there a way to do this in the Logos app?

Second, the Kindle app gives me the ability to tap one button at the top of the page and instantly pull up all of my highlights in the book I'm reading. They are neatly organized from top to bottom and under chapter headings. Accessing my highlights in an extremely organized fashion literally takes me less than two seconds. No matter what I try, I cannot seem to access my highlights in the Logos app in the same easy and organized way.

Nothing in my life can touch Logos when it comes to research on the desktop. Yet, as a pastor, a huge part of my life is reading books cover to cover while sitting on my couch. The pure enjoyment and pleasure of reading a book are often turned into frustration and unnecessary tinkering when trying to read in the Logos app. In the end, I wind up just buying it on Kindle so that I can make it through the book without spending more time messing with the Logos app than actually reading the book.

Does anyone else who is familiar with the Kindle iOS reading experience share these same frustrations with Logs? What has been your solution? I have no problem admitting that all my frustrations could be user error on my part due to ignorance in how to replicate in Logos what I'm able to do with my Kindle app.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

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Comments

DMB

Welcome, welcome!

Regarding 'first', if I understand you, touching the text area in the Logos app brings up the menus etc. There's a scroll bar at the top ... horizontal. And return arrow. Nothing like the ios Kindle app though, with in popup viewer to browse.!

You're right on highlights. Yesterday, I wanted to scan my highlights for key points. I gave up on key points!

My biggest frustration is their layered TOC (can't see below without clicking every single level). And they absolutely refuse to show you where you are on a book (chapter, etc). The scroll bar says somewhere near the front. It's a serious pain, if you're reading, stop for another book, and come back. From a post the other day, apparently the app is other duties as assigned.

Daniel Di Bartolo

Hi Mark! I’m Daniel, and I am the project manager for the logos mobile apps. Thanks so much for taking time to share some of the challenges you’re facing, these forums are great place to ask for help or you can feel free to email me personally at daniel.dibartolo@faithlife.com. I’m happy to help.

Nothing in my life can touch Logos when it comes to research on the desktop. Yet, as a pastor, a huge part of my life is reading books cover to cover while sitting on my couch. The pure enjoyment and pleasure of reading a book are often turned into frustration and unnecessary tinkering when trying to read in the Logos app.

We’re hearing this from more and more people— that reading a book cover to cover is a use case we can improve on with Logos generally but through our mobile apps specifically. I know we can do better.

Second, the Kindle app gives me the ability to tap one button at the top of the page and instantly pull up all of my highlights in the book I'm reading. They are neatly organized from top to bottom and under chapter headings. Accessing my highlights in an extremely organized fashion literally takes me less than two seconds. No matter what I try, I cannot seem to access my highlights in the Logos app in the same easy and organized way.

In the Logos ecosystem, Highlights are a type of Note. You can view all of your Highlights, and filter them down by a variety of attributes (like book, subject, Notebook, author, many others). Here are a couple of videos that you may find helpful if you’re unfamiliar with the Notes Tool on mobile: https://support.logos.com/hc/en-us/articles/360026434012-Logos-Mobile-Notes. One thing that I like to do is keep the Notes tool opened in a split or adjacent tab with the resource I’m reading.

First, the Kindle app gives me the ability to "flip through pages" in the book I'm reading by scrolling through them at the bottom of the screen without losing my current place in the book. This is extremely helpful when wanting to browse a book or if being part of a discussion group where you are constantly flipping pages. Is there a way to do this in the Logos app?

Currently there is no way to accomplish this exact behavior, but if you use the “back button” after navigating with the slider or the input box you’ll move back through the previous locations. I also really enjoy that feature on Kindle. We designed the tabbed browsing to allow you to easily navigate between separate resources, as opposed to navigation within a single resource. I know there’s a downside there and I‘d like to see us improve our internal navigation within single resources. Thanks for the feedback.

Merry Christmas!

SineNomine

I know there’s a downside there and I‘d like to see us improve our internal navigation within single resources. Thanks for the feedback.

I really hope you succeed in the near future. Mark's mobile use case here is also my own (and on desktop it is a major use case for a lot of folk on the forums, myself included). An equivalent problem--on both mobile and desktop--is when I'm reading a monograph over a somewhat extended period and I end up opening it up as a result of a search... and thereby automatically lose my place where I was actually reading it straight through. I run into this problem with annoying frequency with both mobile and desktop.

Michael G Parry-Thomas

One of the big problem I have is the book marks

I an always losing my location in books, a visible book marks would be a big help

and they don't seem to synchronise with the windows version

I have to keep a note of the book and page, chapter, with the last sentence

Book marks just don't work in the Android app

Mick

Brian Evans

As for the first part, I usually have two copies of my book side by side so I can swipe sideways between them. That may mess with reading progress but I've been using "Add to Favorites" for that lately.

Mark A Moore

I appreciate the responses you’ve all given. Daniel, thanks for taking the time to address my post from the developer’s side of things. It seems to me that perhaps this would be a good place to make the Faithlife Ebooks app a bit different than the Logos app. It would be great if we could use that app as the place to do extended reading of our Logos books, but with more of the functionality of the Kindle app (basically a great reading app with easy access to highlights and easy ability to flip pages). The Logos app would still be the ideal setting for mobile research and access to the more robust features. Currently it seems that for Logos users the Faithlife Ebook app is a bit redundant when you have the Logos app and all the same books. What is really needed is a dedicated reading app for Logos books that actually functions like Kindle or Apple Books.

I am so grateful for Logos and the way it has enhanced my work as a pastor. I can’t imagine how I lived without it. I’d love to give you more of the money that I keep giving to Amazon 😉

Christopher (Greenfield, WI)

I appreciate the responses you’ve all given. Daniel, thanks for taking the time to address my post from the developer’s side of things. It seems to me that perhaps this would be a good place to make the Faithlife Ebooks app a bit different than the Logos app. It would be great if we could use that app as the place to do extended reading of our Logos books, but with more of the functionality of the Kindle app (basically a great reading app with easy access to highlights and easy ability to flip pages). The Logos app would still be the ideal setting for mobile research and access to the more robust features. Currently it seems that for Logos users the Faithlife Ebook app is a bit redundant when you have the Logos app and all the same books. What is really needed is a dedicated reading app for Logos books that actually functions like Kindle or Apple Books.

Mark does have a point in that there is redundancy between the Faithlife & Logos apps. I am leaning more and more towards doing all of my reading from the Faithlife app and everything else through the Logos mobile app. Although I have zero experience with the Kindle app, what is being about the end-user experience on a Kindle device makes sense. Looking forward to how the Mobile side of Faithlife / Logos develops over time!

Juan Elias Medina

Hey Mark! I followed up on your thread. Yes! I am exactly on the same page! Thank you!

Peter T. Hofman

Daniel,

I too am in a Men’s Study group where two people have the book on Kindle and I have it on Logos. As we are discussing the book they are always referencing certain paragraphs on certain pages but Logos doesn’t seem to show page numbers like Kindle does. Am I missing something or is the Logos app missing page numbers?

Simon’s Brother

It's not so much that the Logos app is missing page numbers but rather its a design choice to approach page numbering differently to the Kindle app. Faithlife stick to the traditional page numbering and you can see those in the Logos app if the book has page numbers. Another design choice is Faithife do not include page numbers in books they publisher in their cheaper ebook format.

Randy B

Wow Mark loved your post.... why can’t reading on an iPad with Logos be an enjoyable experience? Please Logos make readability a priority on your mobile app. If I want to do serious study I use my computer. If need be take a lesson from other apps set up for reading. Sorry, but being able to use a bluetooth keyboard to easily change pages should be high on your list of improvements.... who wants to be constantly reaching out to touch your screen to turn every page..... I don’t need carpel tunnel. Please Logos developers are you listening?

Mark Moore thanks for acknowledging Logos is behind... I would like to hear this is in your plans to develop. Sooner the better.