F.A.Q.

First, please check the F.A.Q. It only takes a few minutes, and you have a chance to resolve the issue quickly.

If you are sure you need to ask your question, please chat with us via our Telegram Group. That is the primary and most quick way to get online support. Please, be polite. The chat is public.

And by the way, you also can search in the group for recent questions and answers.

FBReader for Windows/Mac/Linux is free. For Android and iOS, we suggest both free and paid versions. Free versions have some limitations that depend on the platform. The paid version on Android is a separate application named FBReader Premium. On iOS, FBReader is upgradable to the full version via in-app purchase.

Sorry, there is no way. We sell Android and iOS versions separately.

Sorry, there is no way. We sell Android and iOS versions separately.

FBReader Premium is a separate application. It provides all the features of FBReader. Additionally, it includes

• Built-in PDF and comics support
• Network translators (Google and DeepL) integration
• Automatic reading aloud

On the Google Play store and Huawei App Gallery. Please note that Google Play purchase is only valid on devices with Google Services, and the same works for Huawei. Please read the Purchase Terms for details.

You pay once and have access to the Premium for unlimited time. Please note that the purchase is per Google/Huawei account. If you change the account, your purchase cannot be transferred, sorry.

You don't need to pay twice. The purchase is per Google/Huawei account. You can use the app on any number of devices linked to the same account. And yes, you can use it on several devices simultaneously.

Open the Google Play (or the AppGallery) app, look for “FBReader Premium”, and click the “Install” button.

Firstly, be sure your device is linked to the Google account used for the purchase. If you are sure, it looks like there is an issue with the Google Play app on your device: it did not get the list of purchases correctly. Typically, the issue goes away in a few hours. But if you want, you can fix it manually. There are two ways.

Way 1 On the device, open the Preferences app. Go to the “Apps” section, and look for “Google Play”. Now click “Force stop”, then “Clear data”. Done? Ok, now start the Google Play app again. It re-reads the data from the Google server, and the issue has gone. Note: there is also a button named “Clear cache”, it does not help.

Way 2 On the computer, open FBReader Premium page on the Google Play, and click the “Install” button. Select your device from the list, and the app will be installed on the device in a few minutes.

You do your purchase on Google Play (or Huawei AppGallery), and we have no additional information about the purchase. We cannot even check if the account purchased the Premium or not. The Play users can review their purchase history on the Google site.

There is no way to move a purchase to another account, sorry. However, you can share purchases from one account to another using Google Play Family Library.

We are sorry that you are not satisfied with the app. The answer depends on the marketplace you used for the purchase.

Google Play. You can refund via the Google Play site. Please read their support page. You can also send a request to support@fbreader.org. We do the refund for a purchase made up to 30 days before the request date. Please send us your purchase id (a string like GPA.123-456-78910). To find it, look at your purchase history. Our support is not 24/7, so please be patient.

Please note that if you make a refund, it can take some hours (or even days) until the money reaches your card/bank/etc. The time depends on your bank, not on Google or us.

AppGallery. We have bad news for you. We have no access to the list of purchases in Huawei AppGallery. And as far as we understand, their refund policy is very strong, and from a practical point of view, you cannot get your money back.

The purchase of the full version

• Removes the limit of ten books in the library
• Unlocks network translators (Google and DeepL) integration

In the future, if we add new paid features to the reader, all of them will be available in the full version with no additional fee. Please note that this does not include possible access to paid books.

You pay once and have access to the full version for an unlimited time.

In the reading mode, tap the centre of the screen, then the reader logo at the top. In the popup dialogue, select “Already purchased”.

In rare cases, this way does not work due to App Store cache failure. If you are sure that your Apple ID is the same as you used for the purchase, select “Purchase” instead. It is not possible to buy the full edition twice for the same account. So, instead the iOS would say “Already purchased”, and activate the full version for you. Please, only use this way if you are sure regarding the Apple ID. The refund procedure is complicated, and we cannot help with it.

We cannot refund an App Store purchase for you, sorry.

You can do the refund via the Apple interface. Please read a third-party instruction.

The primary formats for FBReader are ePub and fb2. For a comprehesive list, please refer to our table of supported and unsupported formats.

FBReader can open ePubs protected with Readium LCP. There are various DRM solutions for ebooks, but Readium LCP is the one supported by FBReader.

“Kindle format” is also known as mobipocket. FBReader opens *.mobi but does not understand their DRM-protection. That means FBReader works with unprotected Kindle books only.

Swipe your finger along the left edge of the screen. The gesture increases brightness if you swipe up and decrease when the finger moves down.

If you do not like this feature, you can turn off the manual brightness control. In the “Appearance” section of the settings dialogue, if your device runs Android or in the “Screen” section on iOS.

Starting from Android 11, Google changed the file access policy. The app has a choice: only have access to its files stored in a hidden folder or request access to all user files. There is no granularity.

The first way does not work for an app that reads books from user folders. That would be nice to request access to files in the Books folder only. Unfortunately, there is no such choice on Android 11+.

An application needs two permissions to access all files. The first is from Google; it allows requesting users for such access. And the second is from you. Google has granted permission to the most popular book readers, including FBReader. It is your turn now. You can believe that FBReader does not steal or damage your data or can choose another reader you trust.

Add your *.ttf or *.otf files to the Fonts folder next to the Books one. FBReader will add them automatically. You can customize the folder name in the “Directories” section in the preferences.

Yes. You can create a file keymap.xml in the books folder. Here is an example. You have to find the keycodes for your device buttons.

The list of possible actions can be extracted from the source file.

In FBReader, there is no difference between bookmark and highlighting. To add a bookmark, select text and click the “Bookmark” item in the popup menu. Depending on the platform, the menu item might be a style name (to choose the bookmark style) or an icon .

In the desktop version, you can also click the bookmark icon on the toolbar to add a bookmark at the beginning of the page.

You can create a new style in the preferences dialogue in the desktop app.

There is no way to add styles directly on mobile devices. However, if you sync devices over the cloud, the styles from the desktop reader will appear on your phone or tablet.

Sync your books with the cloud, then log in to the web interface. Go to the section “Books with bookmarks”, click the book, and then the “Bookmarks” button.

We have a tutorial on this site.

As for today, FBReader includes automatic reading aloud only on Android and only in the Premium version. We are working to implement the feature on iOS and in the desktop version.

Unfortunately, no. As for today, the reading aloud is only implemented for “text” formats. This means PDF, DjVu, and comic books do not suit. We plan to implement the feature soon, at least for PDFs.

FBReader has no own speech generator. Instead, it uses text-to-speech engines installed in the system.

On Android, you can install different engines and voices. Some of them are free; some others have to be purchased. Look to the system text-to-speech settings and for engines in your software store.

Most probably, the voice engine selected on your device uses network resources. That requires significant traffic and might work with intermittency. Try to choose a non-network voice.

That might be related to energy-saving settings. On many modern Android devices, the system tries to stop background processes to save the battery.

The solution depends on your device model. Some manufacturers allow to include an application to the list of “exceptions” from the power optimisation mechanism. If your device has such an option, you need to include two apps: FBReader Premium and the text-to-speech engine.