I built a book summary app that actually reads like a book

I've wanted to build this app for years. The idea was always simple: what if book summaries actually felt like reading, instead of skimming a list of bullet points?

When I finally sat down to build it, I tried the existing apps to understand the landscape. They all had the same problem: key takeaways, endless scrollable feeds, mechanical summaries that strip out everything that makes a book worth reading in the first place.

So I built Readsome.

What is Readsome?

Readsome is a nonfiction book summary app built around narrative summaries — written to preserve the author's voice and the book's natural flow, not just extract facts. Pair that with a paginated reading experience (no infinite scroll) and synchronized audio playback, and it actually feels like reading a book.

800+ titles available today, on iOS and Android.

The build

I'm a software engineer based in Romania. No co-founder, no VC, no accelerator. I started building in September 2025 and launched publicly today.

The hardest part technically was the e-reader itself — I built a custom paginated reader using React Native Skia that took about a month to get right. Getting text to paginate correctly across different screen sizes, fonts, and dynamic content is genuinely painful.

Where I am today

• Live on iOS and Android

• 800+ nonfiction summaries

• Free daily book summary

• Freemium model with a 7-day free trial

What I'd love from this community

Honest feedback on the product, the positioning, or anything else. And if you've launched a content app before, I'd love to hear what actually moved the needle for you in the early days.

👉 readsome.app 📱 App Store · Google Play