An open-source ebook reader

Sheafs

Reads like a paperback. Works with the books and servers you already have.

I wanted an ebook reader that felt like reading a paperback and worked with the EPUBs and the home server I already had, so I made one. Sheafs is native through and through, with no ads, no tracking and no account to sign up for. The code’s on GitHub under the MIT license.

Download on the App Store View the source

For iPhone and iPad on iOS 27.1 and later. Made for the foldable iPhone Duo.

Sheafs on an unfolded iPhone Duo held like a book: a two-page spread of Pride and Prejudice, the fold for a gutter

Made for iPhone Duo

Got a Duo? This is where it gets fun.

Closed, you read one page on the cover screen. Open it up and you get a two-page spread, with the fold running down the middle like the gutter of a real book.

A closed iPhone Duo showing one page of Moby Dick on its cover, in front of an open one showing the same page on the right of a spread

Your line stays put.

Pagination is anchored to where you are: the line at the top of the cover page is the first line of the right-hand page after you unfold, and the other way round when you close it.

An iPhone Duo folded halfway and standing on a table, the page on the upper half and the reading controls on the lower half

A deck below the fold.

Half open on the table, the page sits on the upper half and the progress bar, page buttons, contents and appearance controls live on the lower half, under your thumbs.

A page curling over mid-turn on the iPhone Duo's inner display

Paper, bent in Metal.

The sheet bends under your finger, the bend travels to the spine and the leaf falls over, with its shadow on the page beneath. A spread turns like a book. There’s a plain slide too.

What you get

A proper book, on a phone.

Bring your own books.

Sheafs reads EPUB 2 and EPUB 3. Import them from Files, AirDrop or the share sheet, or point it at an OPDS catalog and download straight from it. If your library lives on a home server, add its feed and browse the whole collection from the couch. Public catalogs work too: Project Gutenberg has one.

Keep your place on your own terms.

Sheafs speaks KOReader’s sync protocol, so you can run your own sync server and pick up where you left off, whether you were last reading in Sheafs or in KOReader.

Pages, not a scroll.

Your books are laid out in proper pages, with good type and decent margins, a running head and a page number. Swipe to turn and the page curls over. If that’s a bit much, there’s a plain slide too, or you can turn pages with the volume buttons. Tables come out as tables, the book’s own styling is kept, and a double-tap opens a picture full screen.

Fuss over the fonts.

Nine typefaces, including New York, Georgia, Palatino, Charter and Iowan Old Style, then fiddle with size, spacing and margins until it looks right. Justified or ragged, hyphenated or not.

One more chapter.

There’s a paper theme, a sepia one, a dark one for late nights and a pure black one, or it can follow your phone’s light and dark mode.

Highlight the good bits.

Five highlight colors, underlines, bookmarks and your own notes, all shareable as Markdown when you’re done. Search inside the book, share a quote straight from the page, and a Home Screen widget gets you back to whatever you were reading.

Screens

On iPhone and iPad, too.

Any iPhone gets the one-page reader. Turn an iPad sideways for a two-page spread, like a book lying open on the table.

Just you and the book. Nothing in the way while you read. Tap the middle of the page when you want the controls.
Just you and the book. Nothing in the way while you read. Tap the middle of the page when you want the controls.
Pages that actually turn. Swipe and the page curls over under your thumb, the way paper does.
Pages that actually turn. Swipe and the page curls over under your thumb, the way paper does.
Fuss over the fonts. Nine typefaces, plus size, spacing and margins. Tweak away until it looks right.
Fuss over the fonts. Nine typefaces, plus size, spacing and margins. Tweak away until it looks right.
One more chapter. A dark theme for late nights, or let it follow your phone’s light and dark mode.
One more chapter. A dark theme for late nights, or let it follow your phone’s light and dark mode.
Bring your own books. Import EPUBs from Files, or download them straight from an OPDS catalog.
Bring your own books. Import EPUBs from Files, or download them straight from an OPDS catalog.
Proper pages. A running head, a page number, and a page break where the line ends, not mid-word.
Proper pages. A running head, a page number, and a page break where the line ends, not mid-word.
Turn it sideways. In landscape you get two pages at once, like a book lying open on the table.
Turn it sideways. In landscape you get two pages at once, like a book lying open on the table.
One page, portrait. The measure is capped, so lines stay a comfortable length on the big screen.
One page, portrait. The measure is capped, so lines stay a comfortable length on the big screen.
The appearance panel. Themes, size, font, spacing, margins, justification and hyphenation, with the page in view.
The appearance panel. Themes, size, font, spacing, margins, justification and hyphenation, with the page in view.
Night on iPad. The dark theme, the same type.
Night on iPad. The dark theme, the same type.

Open source, no strings

Yours to read, and to read the code of.

Sheafs collects no data. No accounts, no analytics, no advertising, and nothing goes to its developer. The only servers it ever talks to are the catalog and sync server you add yourself.

1

Add your books

Import EPUBs from Files, or add your library’s OPDS feed in the Catalogs tab and download from there.

2

Point it at your sync server

Optional. In Settings, enter any KOReader sync server (kosync) and your position follows you between readers.

3

Read

Tap the edges or swipe to turn. Tap the middle when you want the controls. That’s it.

Download on the App Store Star it on GitHub