Testing E-Reader Apps with Henry Lowenstein’s Autobiography

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These test notes are by no means comprehensive, but represent some very basic testing of the autobiography .epub files. I used the hardware that I have available (noted in parentheses by the platform name), so other devices and operating systems may give you different results.

This kind of testing is complex and hard to maintain consistency and accuracy. I only made one pass on each app/platform combination, so there may be inconsistencies or incorrect data below. The user is warned!

Summary of Testing

NT = Not Tested, but available. Scores are out of five possible stars. Perfect score just means it worked well with the “yespopups’ epub file. Dash means the app wasn’t available on that platform or at least I couldn’t find it quickly.

eReader Apps	Mac OS 15	iOS	iPadOS	Android	Windows 11
Kindle	4	4	4	3	3
Apple Books	5	5	5	–	–
Calibre	–	–	–	–	5
Lithium	–	–	–	5	–
Librera	–	NT	NT	3	–
ePub Reader	–	NT	NT	3	–
Moon+ Reader	–	NT	NT	4	–
Adobe Digital Editions	2	2	2	2	2

Test Plan
- File loading methods – via hard drive, download or other sync system
- Alternative file load (thumb drive, online storage, etc.)
- TOC
  - Pages at front of document work
  - HTML TOC works in some way with a menu icon
- Pictures
  - Can be zoomed
  - Captions stick with pictures
- Links
  - Web links in text and footnotes launch properly on browser
  - Links in footnotes work
- Footnotes
  - Popup file displays footnotes in popup with clickable/tapable hyperlinks
  - Non-popup file displays list of footnotes at end of file with return links to lead back to chapter
- User Experience
  - Look & Feel
  - Navigation issues
  - Configurability of fonts, columns, size, colors, etc.

Mac OS (MacBook Pro 14 inch 2021; Mac OS Sequoia 15.5)
- Apple Books [5 stars]
  - Files open from any drive (File => Import…)
    - Option to sync to other devices via iCloud
  - TOC pages work
  - TOC list drops down from hamburger menu at top right. Gotta hover over the menu before it appears, though.
  - Pictures
    - Double click to open viewer, zoomable. Triple click or click “Done” in upper right corner to return to text
    - Captions consistently stick to pics
  - Links
    - Footnote links take you to list at end of doc. Click number to return. Gotta remember what number you clicked.
    - Web links work in text and footnotes, but always come with an annoying pop-up that asks if you want to open the page (duh!).
    - Popup Footnotes version works properly and web links don’t ask first
- Kindle for Mac OS [4 stars]
  - File opens from hard drive or Send to Kindle/WhisperSync
  - TOC pages work
  - TOC in pop-up works via: click-in-center => click on hamburger menu
  - Pictures
    - Zoomable if you have a trackpad to pinch out over the image
    - Opens modal window, click upper right x to get out
    - Captions don’t stick to pics
  - Links
    - Footnotes – pop up drawer at bottom of screen.
      - Cursor doesn’t change when hovering over links.
    - Links in text and footnotes
      - Work in text
      - Don’t work at all in footnotes
  - User experience
    - Similar to Apple Books, but footnotes pop up in a drawer with no indication of what text is referred to
- Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) [2 stars]
  - File opens from hard drive or thumb drive.
  - TOC pages work
  - TOC in left pane works
    - Steps: click on hamburger icon upper right corner, click arrow next to “Contents” to open list
    - Landmarks section seems pointless; not in my original document
  - Pictures – no zoom!
    - Can’t zoom in, pic’s are rendered at resolution of the type, so using Mac OS zoom doesn’t help either
    - Captions spaced further from pics than other type
    - Captions don’t stick to pics
  - Links
    - Footnotes
      - Takes you to list of all footnotes compiled at end of doc. Better remember the number you clicked!
      - Click on footnote number to go back to text
      - Popup footnotes don’t work: takes you to list, no return numbers, no idea what the actual footnote is.
    - Links in text and footnotes
      - Work in both
  - User experience
    - Generally awful
    - Option to sync via Adobe account.

iOS (iPhone 12 Mini; iOS 18.5)
- Apple Books [5 stars]
  - File opens from iCloud
  - TOC pages work
  - TOC from menu works
    - Steps: tap text anywhere => tap menu icon lower right corner => tap “Contents”
  - Photos
    - Tap on photo to enlarge
    - Pinch to zoom
    - Swipe down or click “Done” to return to text
    - Captions don’t stick to pics
  - Links
    - All links work
    - Popup footnotes bring up a drawer that covers the screen, tap “Done” or swipe down to close it
  - User experience
    - Configurable, clean look
    - Two columns would be stupid, so not tried
- Kindle [4 stars]
  - File opens from WhisperSync
  - TOC pages work
  - TOC from menu works
    - Tap center of text to show hamburger menu icon
  - Pictures
    - Sorta zoomable, gotta hold the pinch to see
    - Picture returns to text with out holding fingers on screen
    - Captions don’t stick to pics
  - Links
    - Popups don’t popup – goes to list instead, but works normally
    - Web links all work from text and footnotes
  - User experience
    - Clean, easy to use.
    - Configurable
iPadOS (iPad Pro 11 inch 4th gen.; iPadOS 18.5)
- Apple Books [5 stars]
  - File opens from iCloud or download
  - TOC
    - Pages work
    - TOC from menu works
      - Steps: tap text anywhere => tap menu icon lower right corner => tap “Contents”
  - Photos
    - Tap on photo to enlarge
    - Pinch to zoom
    - Swipe down or click “Done” to return to text
    - Captions don’t stick to pics
  - Links
    - All links work
  - Footnotes
    - Popup footnotes work
    - Non-popup footnotes make the list at the end
  - User experience
    - Configurable, clean look
- Kindle [4 stars]
  - File opens from WhisperSync or download
  - TOC
    - Pages work
    - TOC from menu works
      - Tap center of text to show hamburger menu icon
  - Pictures
    - Sorta zoomable, gotta hold the pinch to see
    - Picture returns to text with out holding fingers on screen
    - Captions don’t stick to pics
  - Links
    - Web links all work from text and footnotes
  - Footnotes
    - Popups don’t popup – goes to list instead, but works normally
    - Non-popup works just like popup version does
  - User experience
    - Clean, readonably easy to use.
    - Configurable

Android (Samsung Galaxy Tab A; Model SM-T350; Android 7.1.1)
- Lithium Reader for Android [5 stars]
  - Found file in downloads after “Refresh”
  - TOC pages work
  - TOC from menu works; nice wrap of titles that are long
  - Pictures
    - Double tap to zoom, then pinch in or out to zoom
    - Click x in upper left to exit
    - Captions stick to pics mostly
  - Links
    - Work in text
    - Work in popup footnotes
    - Work in list-at-end footnotes
  - Footnotes
    - Popup footnotes work! Can work with either file
- Kindle for Android [3 stars]
  - Opens from file or Send to Kindle/WhisperSync
  - TOC pages work
  - TOC from menu works
    - Steps: tap center of screen => tap hamburger icon upper left
    - TOC is right side of page, cuts off some of title without wrapping
  - Pictures
    - Double tap to open detail screen – zoomable
    - Click x in upper right to return to text
    - Captions stick to pics most of the time
  - Links
    - Popup footnotes doesn’t work – no return numbers in list of footnotes
    - Non-popup footnotes file does work, but remember what number you clicked.
    - Web links work from [non-popup] footnotes and in text
  - User experience
- Moon + Reader [3 stars]
  - Read file from SD card
  - TOC pages work
  - TOC via tap in center, tap on hamburger menu icon works
  - Pictures
    - Shown at full column width
    - Captions mostly stay with pic, but not always
    - Tap and hold to bring up picture viewer with all pics in document
      - Zoomable windows
      - No captions come with pics
      - Close via very subtle x in upper right corner
  - Footnotes
    - Clean pop-up
  - User experience
- ePub Reader, also ReadEra and LibRera – all about the same [3 stars]
  - File transfer via OneDrive OK
  - Read file from micro SD card
  - TOC
    - Pages work
    - TOC from menu works
  - Pictures
    - Displays pics at full width of column; splits pic if too tall for column
    - Zoom via pinch gesture, but zooms entire page. Double tap to return to full page zoom – very clunky
    - No separate picture view
  - Footnotes
    - Popup file doesn’t work
    - Non-popup works, hard to tap the numbers
  - User experience:

Windows (ASUS VivoBook Go 12; Windows 11)
- Calibre [5 stars]
  - Easy install and import of file from hard drive.
    - Decomposes epub file into many little ones
  - TOC pages work
  - TOC in left pane works
  - Pictures launch in a separate zoomable window
    - Captions stay with pics
  - Popup footnotes work correctly
    - Non-Popup file works correctly also
  - User Experience
    - Smooth page turns and looks clean
    - Couldn’t get arrow keys to change pages via settings
- Kindle for Windows [4 stars]
  - Import from file or use WhisperSync – both work
  - TOC
    - Pages work
    - Menu TOC works
  - Pictures
    - No zooming of pics
    - Captions not tethered – frequently float to next page
  - Footnotes
    - Popup file doesn’t work
    - Non popup file does work
  - User Experience
    - Not as pretty as Mac OS, no zooming of pics, overall pretty dismal
- Adobe Digital Editions [2 stars]
  - File opened from thumb drive and hard drive
  - TOC pages work
  - TOC in left pane works
  - Pictures
    - No zoom, no viewer
    - Captions don’t necessarily stay with picture
  - User experience
    - Better looking on Windows than on Mac OS
    - Still clunky looking page changes
    - Doesn’t change two columns at once in two column mode – shifts them one position over. Weird!

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