EPUB Reader

An EPUB file is a book, but it is not a PDF with a different extension. It is a single archive containing the text, the images and the styling instructions, which means the reader decides how to lay it out on your screen. That difference decides whether reading on a phone is comfortable or a fight.

This reader opens EPUB files in the browser. Nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and the page keeps working once it has loaded.

Why a PDF is awkward to read on a screen

A PDF was designed in the 1990s to look identical everywhere, and it succeeds. That is exactly the problem when you are reading on a phone: the text is whatever size the typesetter chose, usually too small, and zooming in means losing your place. A PDF does not reflow. An EPUB file does, so the same book at a larger font is still a book rather than a set of cropped images.

Search also behaves differently. A PDF is a picture of text in many cases, so search either does nothing or is approximate. An EPUB file holds real characters, so the search finds what you mean and shows it in context.

What the reader does

Font size adjusts continuously and the text reflows as you change it. Light, dark and sepia themes are remembered for the next book, which matters more than it sounds: reading at night from a white page is the fastest way to give up on a long text.

Any paragraph can be highlighted and the highlight colour chosen, with a mode that turns highlighting off so you can read without marking everything. Highlights can be exported as plain text afterwards, which is what you want when a passage goes into a note or a study sheet.

There are three ways to move around: the table of contents jumps to any chapter, the previous and next buttons move one chapter at a time, and the page box takes you to a number directly. Your place in each book is saved on the device, so closing the tab and returning next week resumes the paragraph rather than the title page.

Where your book goes

Nowhere. The file is unpacked in the browser with JavaScript and never sent to a server, which has two consequences worth stating plainly. It works with the network off as soon as the page has loaded. And nobody else can read what you are reading, because there is no copy on any server. Your reading position and your highlights are stored the same way, locally on that device.

What it does not do

It does not open DRM-protected books. Some stores sell encrypted EPUB files that only open inside their own app, and nothing outside it can read them, including this reader. That restriction is deliberate on their part.

It does not sell books. An EPUB file has to be one you already have, downloaded from a source that permits it, or one of the public domain books that ship with the app. It does not sync across devices either: your position stays where you read, because there is no account and no server to sync with.

A free EPUB reader for reading books in the browser, with highlighting, themes and navigation, and nothing to sign up for.