Name: Blinkist: Book Summaries Daily
Rating: 4.40 (4837 reviews)

Joe Eaton

3 years ago

While this app started out great, they seem to have shifted focus from reading to listening. The number of new titles to read doesn't seem to be growing and the app is constantly pushing audio and podcasts. I can get that anywhere for free. I paid for blinkist to read summaries of nonfiction books. If the service continues to depart from that mission I guess it isn't for me anymore.

A Google user

6 years ago

Perfect blend of summary with actionable content. I have found that the nonfiction genre, especially relating to business and self-help, is generally rather long-winded and "fluffy." This app cuts through all of the unnecessary parts and presents the main ideas of what you would ultimately walk away with after reading the whole book. I like the idea of a subscription instead of buying each book individually.

Ken O'Day

2 years ago

The basic app is okay. I really like the length of 20-30 minutes per book - perfect for a quick walk or short car ride. But the UI could be improved, the integration with my Kindle doesn't work, and the link for the extra account that is supposed to come with Premium doesn't work either. Should also be able to provide feedback through the app about Blinks and not have to email it.

Katherine Young

2 years ago

I enjoy Blinkist. It has taken me a little bit to learn how to maneuver around the app, and how to use the audiobook controls in order to move past a chapter by a little or a lot, or get out of one book and into a different one. Titles are limited, but good. The product itself delivers and is true to it's promise of giving key points af a book and allowing me to get the main ideas from something I want to learn without reading a long, repetitive, and perhaps cumbersome, self-help book

Sebastian Speyrer

4 years ago

Very unstable on the android system. You can't make a playlist. Once you make a blink episode a favorite,you can't remove it from your favorites. If you download a blink episode,delete it and try to download it again,the app glitches super hard. Sometimes it lets you do it,sometimes it doesn't. When I try to play blink books I have downloaded, they don't play. I have to click on another blink book and then come back to the original one I was trying to play so that it does play. The app is so slow on the android system. I have contacted support yet they keep linking me to solutions for the apple app The developers seem to favor improving the apple version. Please work on the android version. I have emailed you all numerous times about the issues. When it works,it's great. But it seems to becoming more unstable as time goes on. New review based on app update released 2/17: It's still super slow and unstable. I don't know what they are doing in terms of fixing it. The issues I have mentioned still aren't resolved.

Frank Pernice

4 years ago

The Android Auto integration needs to have a "seek" feature so that I can go back in time 15 seconds or so rather than starting the whole blink again. Especially helpful when you get distracted for a quick second while driving, like trying to avoid a squirrel or something. The Android Auto Experience sucks in general. It keeps overriding my other apps and it makes it really difficult to get what I want to get to.

A Google user

6 years ago

I'm very pleased with my decision to subscribe to this app and their service. I'm a classic "I want to read more often, but never make enough time to do so" type person. A blink will only take a few minutes. A full book won't take more than 10-15 minutes. The audio versions - which can be downloaded automatically and only when connected to WiFi - are perfect for travel. Play one or two on the commute to or from work if you want. In my case these come in handy on flights. Highly recommend.

Anthony Leonardo

3 years ago

Whatever your listening to restarts if you don't finish it in kne session. You have to look for your spot. This is the biggest deal breaker. It also takes way too long to load. Like longer than video streaming to start a blink. Lastly, the concept seems brilliant, but they don't really do into enough detail for information to stick. If not for the restart issue, I'd use this as a way to sample books I'm interested in. But the tech problems make it not worth it.

Luke Browning

3 years ago

Update since Oct 2020... Still love the concept and how things are to the point. But this is still literally one of the most unfriendly user interfaces I've experienced on a app. Especially one I've paid for, meaning I will definitely NOT be renewing. Idk if they're trying for something fancy & unique or what but it really needs to be simplified. The que disappears and can't be easily found again, it's difficult just to re-listen to a "blink" I've already heard, the list goes on...

Rishikesh Muchhala

2 years ago

Overall, great app. But sometimes it is hard to navigate through and manage 'saved', "finished', 'favorites', and 'collections'. Also, doesn't sync with the website very well (in case you prefer to read on a laptop and listen on a phone). In fact, the laptop doesnt even have the 'favorites' section. Lastly, sometimes it is hard to tell which examples / opinions are by the author and which are by the reviewer / narrator.

R Ciastko

4 years ago

I used to love this app. I love the concept of book summaries to explore a books content. I love the ability to choose to read the "blinks" or listen to them like an audio book. The problem is they have changed the "Listening" option. They have added a second, unnecessary narrator's voice to each 'blink' interrupting the flow. This is quite disruptive for those of us who are audible learners. It makes it difficult to stay attentive while listening. :( I have canceled my paid subscription. :(

Vienna Raglin

1 year ago

Overpriced for simply summaries but they have the largest selection of books in their market. When they're not going over the top trying to relate to the reader, plus sound effects in their audio version, their highlights are a fun, intresting snippet of many books, especially new ones. The free blinks are the best and I've made a routine listening on the way to work. They're not however full summaries, by nature they exclude much. I'd like to see a better/cheap way to buy/rent the full version

Jane Lee-Laurent

3 years ago

There's a typo in your intro. "..you discover our our Blinks,..." The word "our" is twice. Hire me! I'm a UX designer 🤪 Also, I wish there was an option to add my own notes as I'm highlighting. That would be WONDERFUL. Also, if you can add 3 whole seconds of pause or soft music as the blinks are transitioning, it will allow listeners to digest what was being said.

Shyla Mani

2 years ago

W/this app, I get the main ideas from many books in a shorter amount of time than reading/listening to the full book. I like that I have the option to read &/or listen to the Blinks. There is other helpful content from professionals in various fields too. From a technical perspective, I have had issues with casting from my Android phone to my Google Assistant. The Blinks start off playing well but then they randomly stop casting and return to playing on my phone.

Breeonna Minter

11 months ago

Blinkist makes it very hard to cancel my membership. I go on the website, tap on manage Subscriptions so I could cancel, and it takes me straight to my google wallet app 🫠. (I don't have it set up at all...) Maybe I need to set one up to access my subscription, I'm not entirely sure, but the process sure is dumb af.... the subscription doesn't even show on my Google play app either, so I don't know what's going on there... 🤦🏾‍♀️

Jon LeRoy

1 year ago

I've had the paid version for more than a year and am now thinking of canceling my subscription. I abhor the audio-heavy version since the last update. I don't like audio books due to a hearing loss, nor do I like reading "scripts." Go back to the option to read like we used to be able to do; page turning, not scrolling. I used this app daily; now I can't stand it. As an aside, I've already uninstalled and re-installed the app as previously suggested without resolution to this problem.

Liz Crichlow

1 year ago

Edit 2024: I've been using this app for years. I've paid for premium because I love it. I've stockpiled downloads for months and had a queue lined up that I've been listening to every day for the past few weeks until 2 days all of my downloads disappeared. I download the titles I want to listen to next. Now I have no record of my downloads or queue and their customer service response was "too bad, sorry." Very disappointed. 2018: Get it for the free daily summary!

Basil Hayek

1 year ago

Not a fan of the audio heavy approach. I don't want to listen -- ever -- I want to read. But now the blinks are the script of what a narrator would read and it's continuous scrolling vs discrete blinks. Not a fan of this change. EDIT: I know I can pause the audio. I shouldn't have to. It shouldn't default to playing. Let me turn audio off completely.

Akasha Tsang

1 year ago

The service/concept is great. There is a ton of content. However... The app is terrible. It doesn't sync well across devices. It doesn't update completed blinks as finished. I have to manually flip through the pages to get to the mark as finished button because there isn't a way to check box multiple blinks and bulk mark as finished. I can queue specific blinks like a playlist. The autoplay doesn't always work. The episodes won't mark as finished within the app.

Joe Hobbs

10 months ago

I do not like the latest UI which combines reading and listening automatically, and gone are the "blinks" and instead one long continous text section. These have made the app harder and less enjoyable to use. Too often I am reading, and with accidental screen touch I lose my place in the text, or start the audio. Very irritating and sometimes embarrassing.