Books - Read and Download

Review by eFreeware

The most distinctive thing about Books - Read and Download is that it deals only in books whose copyright has expired. The developer is explicit about this: everything in the catalog is public domain, free to read and free to keep. Don Quixote gives you the flavor of the shelf.

That single fact shapes who the app is for. If your reading life revolves around new releases from bookshops, this is not the shelf you are browsing. If you want the older end of English literature on your phone without paying per title, it is built precisely for that, and the numbers suggest plenty of people agree: over 5 million installs and a 4.5 average from more than 138,000 ratings.

I should be upfront about the trade-off that comes with a free catalog of this kind. The app carries ads, and there is no in-app purchase option. Whether that matters depends on how much you mind interruptions while reading, but it is the price of admission here.

Reading inside the app, or taking the files with you

The app splits its main screen into two jobs: read a book now, or download it for later. The read-now route gives you a list of classic works to open and work through on the phone itself, which is the simplest path if you just want something to pick up. The download route is for people who would rather own the file.

The format list is unusually generous for a free app. You can pull books down as epub, mobi, pdf, html or plain text, which covers dedicated e-readers, tablets, computer reading software and the plainest possible option. That spread is the part I find most appealing, because it means the app is not trying to lock you into its own reader.

There is a wrinkle worth understanding before you start. Downloads require you to accept the relevant permissions, and the files land in a new folder on your device rather than appearing somewhere obvious. The developer's own advice is to check your folders to find the book in the format you chose. That is not difficult, but it is a step that assumes you know your way around a file manager.

Recent updates have also added saving of reading progress and started books, so a title you began in the app resumes where you left off. That closes what would otherwise be the most annoying gap between reading on the phone and reading a downloaded file elsewhere.

Choosing what to read next

Beyond the raw list of titles, there are two ways to narrow things down. The first is by language, which the developer added specifically so readers can work through a book in a language they are learning. English, Spanish, German and French are named, with more besides, and the idea is that reading a familiar story in an unfamiliar tongue is a gentler way to build vocabulary than drilling word lists.

I would temper expectations slightly on that front. The catalog is a public-domain one, so the language filter is selecting from what is available in that collection rather than from modern teaching material. For someone comfortable reading at length in their target language, that is a real resource. For a beginner who needs graded texts, the fit is looser.

The second route is by theme and collection. Mystery, science fiction, classics and adventure are the categories the developer highlights, so you can follow a mood rather than hunt title by title. The most recent update added further books and categories, which suggests the shelf is still being stocked rather than frozen at launch.

Between the two filters, the app does a reasonable job of making a large, undifferentiated pile of old books feel browsable. That is not a small thing when the alternative is scrolling an alphabetical list of authors you have never heard of.

What the app asks of you before you read

Setup is deliberately thin. You install it, and the main screen presents the two options: read or download. There is no library card, which keeps the barrier to a first page very low.

The one requirement the developer does spell out concerns downloading. You need to grant the app permission to write files to your device, and once you do, the books are saved into a newly created folder. If you only ever read inside the app, that permission step does not come into it.

The rest of the experience is shaped by updates rather than by a lengthy setup process. Dark themes, a refreshed reading interface and improved settings arrived in the most recent release, alongside the progress-saving feature. The app has been on Google Play since July 2020 and was last updated in August 2025, so the developer is still tending to it.

For anyone who has wrestled with an e-reader app that demands an account before showing you a single page, this restraint is welcome. You can be reading within a couple of taps of installing.

The reader this library suits

The clearest fit is someone who reads the classics and does not want to pay for them. If your taste runs to nineteenth-century novels, older adventure stories and the foundations of science fiction, the copyright situation means this material is legitimately free, and the app gathers it in one place with formats that suit whatever device you own.

The second fit is the language learner at an intermediate level or beyond. Reading a long book in Spanish, German or French is slow work, but it is the kind of work that sticks, and the language filter exists to make that possible. The lack of modern or graded texts is a real constraint on how far that goes for a beginner.

The third is the reader who wants files rather than an app. Because downloads come in five formats, you can treat this as a source of public-domain ebooks and do your actual reading in whatever software you already prefer. The app becomes a supply route rather than a destination.

What all three have in common is patience with the trade-offs: ads in exchange for a free catalog, and a shelf limited to what is out of copyright. The 4.5 rating from a large body of ratings suggests most people find that exchange acceptable.

A free shelf for public-domain reading

Books - Read and Download does one job and does it without asking for money. Saved reading progress, dark themes and a tidier reading interface make it a more comfortable place to spend an evening than a bare file list would be.

The case for installing it rests on two things: you want classic literature, and you want it free. If both are true, the ads are a modest cost and the format range is a genuine bonus. If you mostly read contemporary books, the catalog will feel thin no matter how nicely it is presented.

My recommendation is straightforward. Install it if you read the classics, or if you are learning a language and want long-form material to practice on, or if you simply want a source of public-domain ebooks to load onto another device. It is a library, not a bookshop, and judged as a library it holds up well.

What's new in version 1.3

Thank you so much! 💕 In this update, new books and categories have been added! your reading progress and started books are now saved and automatically resume where you left off. Enjoy our new dark themes, enhanced reading UI and improved settings. Remember, reading is traveling without moving your feet 📖