Reading Circle

Reading Circle is for a group of friends and one physical book. Not a copy each. One copy, passed hand to hand, with everyone reading their own book at the same time — and when you finish yours, it moves on to the next person in the circle, whether or not they have finished theirs. That is the whole idea. The app just keeps track of where things are. WHAT IT DOES • See every book you are part of, and which one is in your hands right now. • Say where you got to in two taps — or add ten pages without typing anything. • Watch your circle's progress fill up as everyone reads. • Know whose turn is next, and how many pages are left before the book moves. • Hand a book on: finish it, sign the inside cover, and pass it to whoever is next. The app records the handoff; the signature happens on paper. • Photograph a moment — where you read it, the page that stopped you — and only your circle sees it. • Nudge whoever is holding a book, gently, and not too often. • Put a widget on your home screen so the last thing that happened is there without opening anything. WHAT IT DOESN'T DO There is no feed of strangers. No follower counts, no reading streaks, no leaderboards, no algorithm deciding what you see. A circle is up to fifty people who already know each other, and nothing you record leaves it. It does not sell your reading to anybody, and there is nothing to buy inside it. HOW A BOOK MOVES Add a book by scanning the barcode on the back, and tell the app how many pages your copy has — the number printed in the book you are holding, because that is the only one that makes every percentage afterwards true. Then read. Record your page whenever you like; it is not a chore, and nobody is counting the days. When you have finished, you say so — reaching the last page does not decide it for you, and stopping early is still finishing. Sign the inside back cover so the next reader finds you there. Then hand the book over. If they are standing next to you, that is all there is to it. The next book you are given may be someone else's, from the same circle or a different one, and it will be waiting on your shelf. BUILT FOR A SMALL GROUP Everything is scoped to a circle. Photos, page numbers, thoughts you leave when you finish — they are visible to the people in that circle and to nobody else. You can block someone, report anything, and delete your account from inside the app, and deleting it really deletes it. Sign in with Apple. That is the only way in, and it is the only thing we ask for.