ShelfLife Download

Your taste in print. Visual bookshelves, built spine by spine, from the books you've read.

Track and rate books, build dangerously tall stacks, set a Top 12 that says who you are, and trade recommendations with fellow readers who get the mood. Free on iOS, Android, and the web.

4.8 on the App Store39 ratings
Download the app Or start your shelf on the web Take the tour

  • A bookshelf the way you'd arrange it.

    Dangerously tall stacks. Books arranged by mood, color, or genre. Build a shelf with no limitations.

  • Reading goals beyond a number

    Define creative goals such as a book in every country, 5 relevant books for women in translation month, or something as simple as 25 books in a year.

  • A signal to the reader who gets it.

    Need a book that feels like In the Mood for Love? Jane Austen in a cyberpunk world? Send up a Book Signal to your fellow readers. Somewhere out there, the right reader knows the title.

    How Book Signal works

Made to be shared.

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  • A reader's shelf in ShelfLife, titled Crying in Public: two rows of book spines, stacks, and decor against a night-sky backdrop
  • ShelfLife home feed showing a Book Signal request and what readers you follow finished and shelved
  • A ShelfLife Book Signal from another reader asking "in the middle of a weird girl summer, what should I read next?", with the three books they're thinking of and buttons to pass, save for later, or answer
  • A ShelfLife profile with the reader's Top 12 shelf, their Month in Books, and what they are reading now
  • ShelfLife's Community tab: other readers' public shelves to browse, like, and save
  • ShelfLife share-shelf screen: a reader's "Asian Lit" shelf as a card, with backdrops to restyle it before posting to Instagram or iMessage
  • ShelfLife Feats: reading goals in progress, including a book from every country and 52 books in a year
  • A ShelfLife book page for The Dispossessed, with its rating, reading status, add to shelf, and community reviews
  • The Peanut Gallery for My Brilliant Friend: readers' short takes on the book
  • A ShelfLife Book Signal request opened up, with the three books the reader is thinking of and buttons to respond or pass

Behind the curtain

We're a married couple in the Washington, DC area, with a lot of books to our name and a small apartment that can't quite hold them. Many have left for e-readers, secondhand stores, and little free libraries. We built this app to keep them all.

ShelfLife is the online book community of our dreams. We hope it's yours too. We're a highly responsive and nimble team of two, and we plan to incorporate community feedback to make this the best app for books.

ShelfLife is out now: free on iPhone and Android, and right in your browser on the web. Come build a shelf!

Questions readers ask

What is ShelfLife?

ShelfLife is a book tracking app where your library is something you can look at. Instead of a list of titles, you get shelves made of real book spines that you arrange yourself. You can track what you read, review it, and share the shelf with other readers.

How is ShelfLife different from Goodreads?

Goodreads is a catalog. ShelfLife is a bookshelf. Your books appear as spines you arrange by mood, color, or memory, your Top 12 sits at the center of your profile, and recommendations come from readers you trust rather than from a retailer's algorithm. There are no banner ads.

Is ShelfLife free?

Yes. ShelfLife is free on iOS, Android, and the web, with no banner ads and no in-app currency. The standard backdrops and shelf objects are free for everyone, and Box Seat, an optional membership where available, adds a new drop of decor and backdrops each month. Full details are on the pricing page.

Can I bring my Goodreads or StoryGraph library over?

Yes. Export your library from either service and import the file into ShelfLife. Your statuses, ratings, start and finish dates, and written reviews come with it. Importing changes nothing in the account you exported from, so you can try ShelfLife without committing.

What is a Book Signal?

A Book Signal is a recommendation request you send to other readers. Describe what you are after in your own words, including what you do not want, and readers whose taste overlaps yours answer with a title and a reason.

Do I need physical books to use it?

No. Most readers build shelves from books they have simply read. If you do own the physical copy, you can photograph its spine so the book on your virtual shelf looks like the one in your hand, worn corners and all.

Does ShelfLife work on the web?

Yes. The full app runs in a browser at app.theshelflifeapp.com, including shelves, reviews, and the social feed. Spine scanning uses your phone camera, so that part stays on iOS and Android.

That's all folks!

Download the app Or use it on the web

Free on iOS, Android, and the web.