Reviews for Hoopla Digital

I've foolishly used audible for years before finding out about hoopla through my local library. It is rare I search for an audiobook that isn't available on here! I get 5 books a month which is plenty bc I use another app connected to my library as well. Hoopla's selection is incredible. Zero complaints. I still can't believe this is all free. I'm a very happy woman.

Good could be better. I can only complain so much about free audiobooks. however, it would be wonderful if I could listen to a 5-minute preview to decide if I really want to listen to that book before committing to using one of my borrows. Also, I haven't found it, particularly user friendly to find book recommendations.

This app needs improvement. It's very glitchy and I don't use it unless the books I'm looking for are not available on Libby - which is a far superior app. hoopla is not reliable. if you're in the middle of a book sometimes it'll close and when you open it back up it restarts the book to the beginning. Sometimes it will open to a blank screen and no amount of troubleshooting will work you just have to wait until it works also randomly log you out. Don't use it unless you have no other options.

Very grateful to the library for the books, but... The app constantly loses my place in audiobooks and freezes. Also, it would be better if I could start it from my drop down menu on my phone instead of having to open the app every time. Again, though, the concept and the books are great. Just wish it was more like Libby.

I love this app! I love audiobooks and they're so expensive online which makes this app amazing. Rarely do I come across an audiobook with any errors or strange accents that make it hard to understand. This is my #1 go to app for listening. I just wish they had more authors. I find most of what I'm looking for but some authors just don't seem to have their books listed here.

I love that my library connects to Hoopla and that I can download books, audiobooks, even movies on demand. 5 stars for that. Hoopla as an app is buggy. More than once, when I've prepared for a trip by downloading my book ahead of time, Hoopla says, NOT TODAY, and makes it impossible to read my book. Super frustrating. Sometimes it just starts an audiobook from the beginning, and loses the position I was at - not easy to get back to the same spot. 3 stars for the app itself.

Overall pretty good app. But a huge downside for me is that the audiobook player does not pause when you get phone notifications. It just lowers the volume of the audiobook, making it completely inaudible and forcing me to constantly rewind the book to hear what I missed every time I get a notification, which is fairly often. Other players like Libby and Audible autopause during notifications and do not have this problem. I'm always disappointed when an audiobook is only available on hoopla.

What I like: I can get books that are on hold or not available thru other apps without the wait. Lots of titles I can get on Hoopla that I would have to pay for elsewhere. What I don't like: app is a bit buggy. Sometimes it kicks me back a couple chapters or even to the beginning and I have to sift thru to find where I left off. Also, book limit.is slim. In my case, only 4 per month. Not a deal breaker bit kind of a bummer.

I have used this off and on for a few years and stopped because it wouldn't let me download anything. It was working fine but half the time lately it gets lost on the way to my downloaded books. Still using it hoping it straightens out. 0ct - 2024 Working fine lately, just wish I didn't have to have a WiFi or cell service to open the app, and if I didn't have to reopen it to restart after I pause. But considering the cost, I recommend it.

4 stars because it can get finicky and have to be removed and reinstalled. I wish there was a glossary or way to opt out of "instant borrow" for every title, because I don't know what happens after I run out of titles for the month. Otherwise, the interface is clean, the widget works well, and the selection is pretty wonderful. Would (and do) recommend

Great platform with access to so many audiobooks. I love the suggestions feature based on what you listen to, as well as right after you finish an audio book. The algorithm for suggestions are on point. ONLY drawback: audio does not pause when GPS voice comes on. It continues playing in the background at a lower volume.

Keeps randomly jumping back to the beginning of the book, which is incredibly annoying. I listen to audiobooks while I multitask, so I very rarely know where I am in the book, taking me several minutes to find my place again. It also doesn't play nice with the rest of my phone. Instead of pausing while my GPS speaks or a notification goes off like Audible does, it just continues playing inaudibly so I then have to hit the back 15 seconds button. This is particularly problematic when I'm driving.

Good navigation, but the app simply cannot reliably keep track of where you left off in an audio book. It clears itself from memory if you so much as sneeze, and you'll find yourself anywhere from 5-30 minutes rewound because it doesn't keep track of where you are as you listen. Also the widget does not work, and will say you're not currently listening to anything until after you've gone back into the app, thus making the widget useless. And yes all this is after uninstalling and reinstalling

This is one of my favorite apps, i use it to listen to audiobooks while I'm at work. It uses your library card. The only issue is sometimes when i pause the audiobook for too long, it'll close it without saving my progress so i use the bookmark function frequently. There unfortunately is a limit of how many books you can borrow per month. I like that i can immediately listen to the audiobooks without waiting for a copy to be available like physical copies or like on the Libby app.

Great content, though that varies from library to library. I wish you could sample audio books before you borrowed them. I listened to some dramatized versions I really didn't like, and even though I listened to less than 10 minutes, it's still counts toward your borrowed total. I've also had the problem recently where not all the books are broken up by chapter. This is the first time I've encountered that, and I've been listening for 2 years.

So this app usually works well / as expected, but for longer audiobooks it inevitably will lose my place at some point halfway-ish through and restart from the beginning. This leaves me to play a fun game of "fast-forward until I figure out where I left off". I appreciate the functionality and access to free books though, so it's well worth it!

Great app and you get to keep the book a long time. The cons are it can be fussy about wifi even when the book is downloaded. That said it is better than borrowing a long book and having a very limited time. Plus it has books available others don't, and it is free through your public library. I also agree with bookmarking being important. but I have never had the app skip around while listening to a book or while reading a book. I use this app quite often hiking with no wifi signal.

Pros: Good for audiobooks b/c there's no queue to borrow. Cons: The app quits if I pause the book for more than a minute and I have to reopen the app to resume. The app glitches when I'm listening to an audiobook b/c it randomly starts at the beginning. I have to remember to bookmark a lot. Would be great if there was a listen log similar to audible.

I enjoy reading every day, so my only complaint is that the app limits me to 15 books per month. Figured how to read more! Collection sets only count as 1 book!! Yay!!! 8/12/25 Edit: It would be helpful if book series would list them according to the date order to read them. I sometimes read them out-of-order because I don't know which should be read first. I need that info before I actually Borrow the book.

I love this book app, especially using it in tandem with the Libby app. I like that most books I want to read are always available because of how they do the borrowing system. I took a point off because of the now limit to 5 books a month when just in June and before I had a 10 book limit. i think it is punishing me, but who knows.