Frequently asked questions

Digitalbook.io is a free audiobooks and ebooks discovery platform that aggregates public-domain works from trusted sources. Powerful search and browse features make finding the best audiobooks and ebooks accessible to everyone.

What we offer:

• Listen or read without subscription or membership.
• Search 100,000 titles from well-known online libraries.
• Popular, trending, genre, and language bookshelves.
• Started bookshelf to pick up where you left off.
• Liked bookshelf to save your next big read.
• Viewed bookshelf to find your way back.
• Preview content with the audiobook clip player or ebook clip reader.
• Suggestions for your next read with "People also liked..."
• Search results from Apple, Amazon, and Google for a wider choice.

Digitalbook.io features a vast collection of free audiobooks and ebooks in multiple formats.

Audiobooks:

• Human-narrated classics
• Multi-voice dramatic readings
• Poetry and short works

Ebooks:

• Classic literature and novels
• Historical documents and essays
• Philosophy and ancient texts
• Poetry collections
• Non-fiction and reference works
• Short stories and anthologies

For newer releases and contemporary titles, we provide affiliate links to purchase from Amazon and Apple Books.

Digitalbook.io works on any device with a web browser and internet connection.

Devices and browsers:

• Desktop computers: Windows, macOS, Linux, and Chrome OS
• Tablets: iPad, Android tablets, Kindle Fire, and other tablet devices
• Mobile devices: Smartphones and tablets running iOS, iPadOS, or Android
• Web browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera (latest versions recommended)

Our responsive web design ensures a great reading experience on screens of all sizes, from phones to large desktop monitors.

Digitalbook.io is free to use. There is no membership, no subscription, and no recurring fee of any kind. A small number of titles are sold individually as one-time purchases, and those are always clearly priced before you buy.

What's free:

• Our entire public-domain catalogue of audiobooks and ebooks
• Listening and reading online in your browser
• Creating an account for synching across devices
• Saving unlimited books to your personal bookshelves
• The background-noise filter in the Digitalbook audio player
• A preview clip of every paid audiobook

What costs money:

• Some audiobooks published directly on Digitalbook carry a price, shown on the book's page in US dollars
• Each one is a single purchase that you keep — never a subscription
• Payments are securely processed through Stripe
• Everything in our public-domain catalogue stays free whether or not you ever buy anything

How we sustain the service:

Digitalbook.io is supported by those individual purchases and through the Amazon and Apple Books affiliate programs. When we provide links to newer titles or contemporary books that aren't in the public domain, and you choose to purchase them, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps us maintain and improve the platform while keeping all public domain content completely free.

No account is required to browse and read books on Digitalbook.io. However, creating a free account provides significant benefits.

Without an account (guest access):

• Discover your next big read using search or browse
• Listen to audiobooks using the free audio player
• Read ebooks using the free ePub reader

With a free account:

• Books you start listening to or reading are automatically saved to "Started"
• Manually save books to your "Liked" bookshelf by clicking the ♡ icon.
• Both these personal bookshelves are synched cross desktop, tablet, and mobile.
• Buying a title, and access to everything you have purchased from your "Purchased" bookshelf.

How to create an account:

1. Click "Log in" on digitalbook.io
2. Sign in or sign up with email, Google, or Apple
3. Verify your email address (if using email sign-up)
4. Start building your personal bookshelves immediately

Account creation is quick, free, and requires no payment information. You only enter payment details if you choose to buy a title.

We respect your right to control your data so you can delete your account at any time.

When you delete your account:

• Both "Started" and "Liked" bookshelves will be permanently cleared
• Your locally-stored "Viewed" bookshelf will also be cleared
• All profile data for you identity will be removed
• You permanently lose access to any titles you have purchased, and deleting your account does not entitle you to a refund for them
• Your account cannot be recovered after deletion

Important notes:

• You'll still be able to browse and read books as a guest without an account
• You can create a new account later if you wish, but your previous bookshelf won't be restored

How to delete your account:

1. Sign in to your account
2. Go to Settings
3. Click "Delete account"
4. Confirm your decision

All free content on our platform is in the public domain, meaning it's free for everyone to read, share, and enjoy.

The overwhelming majority of our catalogue is public-domain work from Librivox, Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive and Open Library, and all of it is free, forever, with no account required.

Separately, some audiobooks are published directly on Digitalbook and sold as one-time purchases. You can always tell the difference before you commit:

• A paid audiobook shows its price on the book's page, in US dollars, alongside a "Buy now" button.
• Its chapters are marked "Buy to unlock" until you own it.
• A free preview clip lets you hear the narration before deciding.
• A free book has no price and no "Buy now" button — you simply press play.

If you are browsing outside the United States, your bank or card issuer may apply its own currency conversion or foreign transaction fee on top of the price shown.

Buying takes a moment and happens without ever leaving the book's page.

1. Open the audiobook and press "Buy now", or press any chapter marked "Buy to unlock".
2. Log in or create your free account if you haven't already — a purchase has to belong to an account so that it can follow you between devices.
3. Enter your card details in the secure Stripe checkout panel that opens.
4. The chapters unlock as soon as the payment clears. Nothing to download, no code to redeem.

Payments are processed by Stripe, our PCI-DSS Level 1 certified payment processor. Digitalbook never sees or stores your full card number, expiry date, or security code. You will receive a confirmation email once the payment has gone through.

You get a personal licence to listen to that title through your Digitalbook account, for as long as you hold the account. It is a one-time purchase — you are never charged again for it.

• Every chapter unlocks immediately and stays unlocked.
• The title appears on your "Purchased" bookshelf, and picks up where you left off from any device you log in on.
• A "Receipt" button on the book's page opens your Stripe receipt whenever you need it.

What a purchase isn't:

• It is a licence to listen, not ownership of the work itself, which stays with its rights holder.
• It can't be transferred, resold, lent, or gifted to someone else.
• It does not survive account deletion. If you delete your account you lose access to everything you have bought, so please don't delete it if you want to keep listening.

Yes, within limits that are worth understanding before you buy, because digital content works differently from a physical product.

• You have a 14-day right to cancel a purchase — but, because the audiobook is made available to you the instant you pay, that right ends as soon as you start listening to it. This is standard for digital content and you confirm it at checkout.
• So if you bought a title within the last 14 days and have not played it, you are entitled to a full refund, no reason needed.
• After the 14 days, or once you have listened, purchases are non-refundable — except where the law says otherwise, or where a fault on our side stopped you reaching the content you paid for.

How to request one:

Email support@digitalbook.io with the title you bought and the reason for your request. We read every request and assess it on its own merits. Approved refunds go back to your original payment method within 14 days, though your bank or card issuer may take a little longer to show it.

The full detail is in our Terms & Conditions, section 6.

The payment failed, or the card was declined:

Nothing was charged and the title stays locked. Check your card details and try again, or use a different card.

You were charged but the book is still locked:

Unlocking can take a few seconds to register. Refresh the page first, and make sure you are logged into the same account you bought it with — a purchase belongs to one account, so it won't appear if you signed in with, say, Google when you bought it with email. If it still hasn't appeared, email support@digitalbook.io and we will put it right.

You need a copy of your receipt:

Open the book and press "Receipt" to view the Stripe receipt for that purchase. Stripe also emails you one at the time of purchase.

Digitalbook.io aggregates audiobooks and ebooks from several trusted sources.

Trusted sources:

• Librivox: Free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers worldwide
• Project Gutenberg: The oldest digital library, with over 70,000 free ebooks
• Internet Archive: A vast collection of digitized books and texts
• Open Library: Community-curated public domain works
• Other public domain sources: Various curated collections of copyright-free literature

All free content on our platform is in the public domain, meaning it's free for everyone to read, share, and enjoy.

Digitalbook.io primarily focuses on public domain content, however, we help you discover both classic and contemporary literature.

What we provide:

• Free reading: Unlimited access to public domain classics
• Purchase links: Affiliate links to buy newer titles from Amazon and Apple Books
• Recommendations: Suggestions for both free classics and paid contemporary books
• Author information: Background on classic authors and their complete works

When you click a link to purchase a book through Amazon or Apple Books and make a purchase, we earn a small commission that helps keep Digitalbook.io free for everyone. You're never obligated to make any purchases.

Our catalog includes tens of thousands of titles and continues to grow.

Catalog includes:

• Classic literature: Works by authors like Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Leo Tolstoy, and many more
• Genre fiction: Mystery, adventure, science fiction, romance, and horror classics
• Non-fiction: History, philosophy, biography, science, and reference works
• Poetry: Collections from renowned poets throughout history
• Multiple languages: Books in English, French, German, Spanish, and many other languages

Our collection is constantly expanding as more works enter the public domain and as we integrate additional sources. In the United States, works generally enter the public domain 95 years after publication, meaning new titles become available each January.

Saving books to your personal bookshelf is simple and only requires a free account.

Steps to save books:

• Create a free account or sign in if you already have one
• Search or browse the catalog to find books you want to add
• Click the ♡ on any book cover image to add it to your "Liked" bookshelf
• Books added to your "Liked" bookshelf are synced across all devices

Managing your bookshelf:

• Save unlimited books (no storage limits)
• Edit "Liked" to remove individual or all saved books
• Access your bookshelf from any device by signing in

Without logging in, you can still read any book, but you won't have access to your "Liked" bookshelf.

Digitalbook.io offers free audiobooks narrated by volunteers from Librivox and other sources.

How to listen:

• Browse the audiobooks section or search for specific titles
• Click on an audiobook to open the player
• Stream audio directly in your browser - no downloads required
• Use playback controls to adjust speed, skip chapters, or rewind

Audiobook features:

• Free streaming: All audiobooks are completely free to listen to
• Chapter navigation: Jump to specific chapters or sections
• Playback speed: Adjust from 0.5x to 2x speed
• Background listening: Continue listening while browsing other books
• Mobile friendly: Works on phones and tablets through your browser

Narration quality:

Most audiobooks are read by volunteer narrators through Librivox. Quality varies, with some featuring professional-level narration and others being more casual community contributions. Many classics have multiple versions, allowing you to choose your preferred narrator.

You can bookmark pages using the iOS and Android apps, but this feature is not currently available on the web. Bookmarking pages on the web and syncing across devices, together with highlighting text, is on the roadmap, so hopefully something we'll offer in the future.

What you can do now:

• when reading a book in the iOS or Android apps, click "Add bookmark " to save a location
• Then in the bottom navigation, click the bookmarks icon to view your saved locations
• Your reading current position is always automatically saved on the web and in the apps

Alternative options:

Digitalbook.io includes several features to enhance your reading experience.

Feature list:

• Dark Mode: Toggle between light and dark themes for comfortable reading in any lighting condition
• Multiple Languages: The site is translated into numerous languages, making classic literature accessible to readers worldwide
• Book Lists & Blog: Discover curated book lists, recommendations, and reading guides on our blog to help you find your next great read
• Personal Bookshelf: Save your favorite books and access them across all your devices
• Reading Progress: Your current position is automatically saved

We take your privacy and security seriously with industry-standard protections.

Security features:

• Encryption: All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using HTTPS/TLS
• Secure storage: Your account information is stored securely on protected servers
• No payment data: Since the service is free, we don't collect or store any payment information
• Limited data collection: We only collect essential information needed to provide the service
• Regular backups: Your bookshelf data is backed up regularly to prevent loss
• Privacy compliance: We comply with GDPR, CCPA, and international privacy regulations

You can review our complete see our Privacy Policy. for detailed information about how we handle your data.

We believe in transparency and collect only the minimum information needed to provide our service.

When you create an account:

• Email address (for login and account recovery)
• Username or display name (optional)
• Authentication tokens if you sign in with Google, Apple, or Facebook

As you use the service:

• Books saved to your "Started" bookshelf
• Reading preferences (font size, theme, etc.)
• General usage statistics (pages viewed, features used) to improve the platform
• Device and browser information for compatibility

What we DON'T collect or do:

• We don't track or analyze what you're reading beyond your saved bookshelf
• We don't collect payment information (the service is free)
• We don't sell your data to third parties
• We don't use your information for targeted advertising
• We don't read your personal reading activity beyond basic analytics

Affiliate links: When you click on Amazon or Apple Books affiliate links, those companies may track the referral. We receive commission data but not your personal browsing information. For complete details, see our Privacy Policy.

You can delete your Digitalbook.io account at any time.

Here's what happens:

• Your "Started" bookshelf is permanently deleted
• Books saved to your "Liked" bookshelf are cleared
• Your locally-stored "Viewed" bookshelf will also be cleared
• Your account information (email, username) is permanently deleted
• Your account cannot be recovered

What remains accessible:

• All public domain books remain freely available on Digitalbook.io
• You can continue browsing and reading as a guest
• You can create a new account anytime, but your previous bookshelf won't be restored

To delete your account:

1. Sign in to your account
2. Go to Settings
3. Click "Delete account"
4. Confirm your decision

Since Digitalbook.io is free and doesn't involve payments, there are no billing or subscription concerns when deleting your account.

If you're experiencing issues accessing or reading books, try these troubleshooting steps.

Books won't load or display:

1. Refresh your browser page (Ctrl+R or Cmd+R)
2. Clear your browser cache and cookies
3. Try a different web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)
4. Check your internet connection
5. Disable browser extensions temporarily to see if they're interfering

Can't find your saved books:

1. Make sure you're signed in to your account
2. Check that you're using the same account you used to save books
3. Navigate to the "Started" or "Liked" section from the main menu

Audiobooks won't play:

1. Audiobooks are typically hosted by archive.org. Check the status of their platform.
2. Check your device volume and browser audio settings
3. Some older browsers may not support our audio playback - try updating your browser

If problems persist, contact our support team at digitalbook.io/contact with details about your device, browser, and the specific issue.

When you create a free account and sign in, your "Started" and "Liked" bookshelves are synced across all your devices.

What syncs across devices:

• Books you listen to or read that are automatically added to the "Started" bookshelf
• Books saved to your "Liked" bookshelf

How it works:

• Sign in to your account on any device
• Changes sync in real-time when you're online
• Add a book on your phone, see it on your laptop
• Start reading on one device, continue on another

What is not currently synced:

• Your current reading position in each book
• Your reading preferences (font, theme, size)

How it works:

Syncing happens automatically only when signed in. Creating a free account ensures your synched bookshelves are accessible across devices.