Best Audiobook Apps of 2021

I began by searching for the highest-rated and most popular apps on the market, and once I found the top 10, I downloaded them onto my phone. I tested them over a period of 10 days and spent approximately an hour a day testing the apps. 

How the apps performed was very important to me, so I also spent time exploring them to see just how well they worked. I wanted to know how easy they were to use, what areas could be improved, and how efficiently these apps helped me find the content that I wanted. 

Many of the apps claimed to have huge libraries of audiobooks available, so I tested this too. I searched for a range of different books on each app, some that were commercially successful, some from popular, well-known authors, and others that were a little more obscure and harder to find. Once I had the titles that I wanted, I downloaded and listened to each book, usually using my commute or morning walk as the perfect time to listen. 

I was able to use this time to assess the audiobooks' performance and get a better feel for the audio quality. It also allowed me to look at things like the playback controls in real-time while using the apps.

It’s hard to have any complaints with Audible as it truly does provide a gold-standard audiobook experience. However, if there were one thing we’d like to see improved, it would be the price. 

At $14.99 a month, we admit there are cheaper options out there. Although to be fair, many of the other apps don’t provide as good of an experience as Audible does. We would love to see the price closer to, or even below $10, but if we’re being completely honest, Audible is worth the higher fee, especially if you’re going to be using the app a lot.

It’s estimated that over 40,000 audiobooks are available to download on Scribd, which, while less than some apps, didn’t give us much trouble when searching for our titles.

The sound quality is good, as is the app interface and navigating the app was fairly simple too. 

When listening to an audiobook, that experience was very similar to many of the other apps, and when using Scribd, you will find features such as a ‘sleep timer’ or ‘playback speed’ being included as standard. 

While Scribd is cheaper than Audible, we found that there was a good reason for this as it had a few features that Audible did not, including lower audio quality and the fact that you don’t actually own the books. That means that if you cancel your membership, you will no longer be able to listen to your titles. 

However, it’s still a strong app and one that you should certainly consider.

When you download the app, you can access both eBooks and audiobooks, and with a gigantic library of 5 million titles, you won’t ever be stuck when looking for something to read. 

The app itself is easy to use, with a very clean interface, and you can find everything that you need with no trouble at all. Browsing the app is straightforward, making your whole experience a breeze. 

There is a range of features available in the Google Play Books App that many users will find enjoyable, including the ability to add a ‘page-turning effect’ to your playback and even make the narrator sound more ‘natural,’ and we’re sure that most users will also like how you can alter the skip back amount, which can be a frustrating feature on some apps as it automatically jumps back 30 seconds or more. 

If you’re a casual listener that wants to enjoy a premium experience, Google Play Books is a great option.

Priced at $14.99 a month, Libro partners with over 1300 bookstores, giving you access to a huge range of audiobooks. It’s great if you want to support a local bookstore, but we had issues with finding some titles and, in some cases, finding a local store. For the same price as Audible, we didn’t think it was worth it.

Kobo Books is a very strong app, and at $9.99, it almost cracked our top 3. It has a huge database of eBooks and audiobooks, 5 million in total, but it just fell short of making our list. Our main concerns were how long the app took to load up and how smooth the app experience was. Once we loaded and listened to our audiobook, we were happy with the results, but we’d be able to enjoy it more if we didn’t have to wait for the app to respond to our instructions.

A Free app that syncs to local libraries, the idea behind Libby is great. However, we found there wasn’t a big enough catalog to find the type of books we were looking for. As a free option, it’s good, and if you intend to listen to audiobooks casually, this could be a good option for you. Libby syncs to OverDrive to make listening to your favorite audiobooks possible.

Unfortunately, this app didn’t work at all. It wouldn’t download and said that my brand new Pixel 4a Android device wasn’t compatible. The idea behind Hoopla is similar to Libby in that it syncs with local libraries, allowing you to borrow digital movies, music, eBooks, and more.

Overdrive is synced to Libby and uses the same servers to provide you with books from your local libraries. You don’t need a library card to access OverDrive, and you don’t even need to use your local library. Just like Libby, it could be a good option for people who are looking for a free option and who are simply looking for casual books to read when they can.

We loved the layout of the app, the range of titles available, and how easy it was to find and listen to the titles that we wanted. However, we ran into one huge problem with this app, our title cut off before we finished, and we couldn’t get it back. It seemed to lose the remaining chapters, and we couldn't get them back. This may have only been a one-off, but it was enough to move the app down our rankings.