What this update is about
BookSafe 1.2 brings five new features — and alongside them a lot of work on something you don’t see but do notice: covers now appear instantly, even offline.
This page describes both in more detail than fits into the App Store release notes.
Version 1.2 · released on 14 September 2026
Five new features
1Backup — your library as a single file
Save your entire library as one file: every book with its data, your reading sessions and the covers you picked from your own photo library. On a new device you bring it back — you choose the file, see a preview of what is about to happen, and then confirm.
Restoring only fills gaps and never overwrites anything. A book that already exists on the device keeps its values; the backup only adds fields that were empty. Reading progress and reading status are never rolled back.
2The scanner also reads the printed ISBN
Books with a damaged, covered or missing barcode can now be added anyway. In a single pass the scanner looks for both — the barcode and the printed ISBN on the cover or in the imprint.
A number is only accepted if its check digit is valid. If several possible numbers are on the page, the scanner asks instead of guessing.
3Reading status “Abandoned”
For books you deliberately stop reading. They leave “Reading” without counting as finished — not in your statistics, not in your yearly goal, not in your reading streak. In the statistics overview they get a line of their own, separate from “Finished”.
4Share a reading update
One tap in the Today tab creates a finished story image of the books you’re currently reading, progress included — 1080 × 1920 pixels, so it fits an Instagram story or a WhatsApp status without cropping.
5Wishlist and reading history
Your wishlist now shows the edition’s language underneath each release date — which title is the translation and which the original is right there in the row. And tapping a polaroid in your reading history opens the book instead of just looking good.
Improved
Covers appear instantly — even offline
BookSafe keeps a small preview of every cover on your device instead of reloading it every time you scroll. Browsing your library, the images therefore come from the device and not from the network — and they are there even when you have no connection. After a restore or a device change the app refills that layer on its own.
The cover picker finds the right book
For series it no longer offers another volume, empty and placeholder tiles are gone, and a cover address that can no longer be reached is replaced automatically. A cover you picked yourself stays your pick — the automation leaves it alone.
English-language books
English-language ISBNs are now searched in additional catalogues, and the edition’s language is detected more reliably. If an ISBN turns up nothing, you go straight to the title search instead of being left with empty fields.
Apple Watch
After an update or a reinstall, covers arrive on the watch again instead of staying grey.
Fixed
- a wrong finish date for reading sessions added later
- a book that jumped to “Finished” when its page count was corrected during a session on the watch
- “2,026” instead of “2026” on the final page of the year film
- text from a publisher’s website instead of the blurb in book descriptions
- a Today tab that shared a different quote than it showed
Plus many further refinements.
Good to know
| Requirements | iPhone and iPad on iOS 18 or later, Apple Watch on watchOS 11 or later |
|---|---|
| Your data | No account, no tracking. Your library lives on your device and syncs through your own private iCloud. |
| Price | Free for up to 50 books. BookSafe Pro lifts the limit for good: €3.99 once, no subscription. |
| Updating | Comes through the App Store — on iPhone under “App Store → profile → update apps”. |
