The best note-taking apps, photo tools, and reading gear people are actually using right now
A roundup of real reader favourites, from Bear's clever new Workspaces update to the apps quietly replacing expensive Adobe software.
Key points
- Bear 2.9, a note-taking app for Apple devices, added Workspaces in its latest update, making it easier to organise notes without extra complexity.
- Aphera, a new Mac photo editor, is positioning itself as a cheaper alternative to Adobe Lightroom, a popular but increasingly expensive professional photo tool.
- Readers across hundreds of responses named the Kindle Paperwhite and iPad Mini as their most-used reading devices.
- Library apps Libby and Hoopla came up repeatedly as free ways to borrow ebooks and audiobooks using an existing library card.
- BookBub, a site that tracks discounted ebooks, and its audiobook sister site Chirp were flagged as money-savers by multiple readers.
Sometimes the most useful tech coverage is not about a billion-dollar product launch. It is about what real people have quietly decided works.
This week's Installer newsletter from The Verge collected hundreds of reader responses on one topic: how people actually read, and what tools help them do it. The results are practical and, for anyone drowning in tabs and unread newsletters, a little reassuring.
What tools are people actually using?
The clear winners for reading devices were the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, a dedicated e-ink reading tablet with no distractions, and the iPad Mini. Kobo e-readers (both the Clara and Libra models) had loyal fans too, as did the Boox Palma 2, a pocket-sized Android device that runs reading apps.
For apps, Kindle and Apple Books led the pack. But Readwise Reader, a paid app that saves articles, PDFs, and newsletters in one searchable place, earned strong praise for its organisation tools.
Tracking reading progress matters to a lot of people. The StoryGraph, a book-tracking site, and Book Tracker, an app, both came up frequently. Many readers said they had quit Goodreads, a well-known book social network owned by Amazon, or were looking for a way out.
Libraries got a big cheer. Libby, Hoopla, and several smaller apps let anyone with a library card borrow digital books and audiobooks for free. That point alone is worth bookmarking.
On the software side, two updates stood out this week beyond the reading theme.
Bear 2.9 arrived with a feature called Workspaces. Bear is a note-taking app for iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Its previous system organised notes with tags, short labels you attach to each note, which some users found limiting. Workspaces groups tags together into separate views, so a writer can keep work notes, personal notes, and research in distinct areas without juggling multiple apps. It is a small change that makes a meaningful difference.
Aphera is a new Mac photo editor aimed squarely at people frustrated by Adobe's subscription pricing. Adobe Lightroom, the industry-standard photo editing tool, requires a monthly payment that has crept up over the years. Aphera charges differently and promises comparable speed. It has not yet been tested thoroughly, but early impressions are positive.
One unsolved problem came up again and again in reader responses: newsletters. Too many of them, no obvious place to put them, no consensus on whether to route them through Gmail, a reading app, or an RSS reader, a tool that collects updates from many websites in one feed. If you have cracked this, readers and writers alike would like to know.
