Which reading apps can re-orient you after a gap?

This page summarizes the study Recap and spoiler-safety features in 30 reading apps (November 2026), which has the full dataset, every source and the method.

Why "up to your place" matters with ADHD

After a few weeks away it is easy to forget who anyone is, and the usual choices are starting over or giving up. A general summary does not help much, because it either skips what you need or gives away what comes next. A recap that stops at your page is built for exactly the moment of coming back, which is why our method for coming back to a book you abandoned starts with one.

What the 30 apps publish

Of the four recap features, three cover ebooks, two cover audiobooks, and one (Magic Bookmark) covers print books.

Two more apps offer something close. Basmo turns your own notes into an audio recap, and Thus Far lists chapter recaps as a setting for hosted book clubs without saying how they are made. Neither recaps the book itself up to your page.

Matching the tool to how you read

• Kindle ebooks: Story So Far, in the US, on Kindle devices and the Kindle iOS app. Kindle X-Ray can also remind you who a character is.
• Google Play ebooks: Catch me up, part of Book insights. Google's help page says it gives "an overview of what you've read so far" and runs on Android, iOS and the web for select English-language titles.
• Audiobooks on Spotify: Recaps cover only what you have already heard. Spotify says your first recap appears after the first 15 to 20 minutes of a book.
• Paper, library copies, or switching formats: Magic Bookmark. Photograph the page or type the page number; for audiobooks, type the last words you heard. It gives a recap, a cast list built only from what you have read, and answers to your questions, all stopping at your place. iPhone only, supported titles only, paid per book after the first. More in our Magic Bookmark guide.

External memory you control

Not every reader wants AI, and you do not need it to come back to a book. Two lower-tech habits show up in the data:

• Log your page every time you stop. Eight of the 30 apps rely on you typing pages or running a timer. A logged page also makes any recap tool easier to use later. Our session card does this on paper.
• Keep your own character notes. Bookly has a manual character log, and Bookmory lets you tag notes as Summary, Thought or Question. A printable cast list does the same job without a phone.

Audiobooks as a way back in

Two of the four recap features cover audiobooks: Spotify's Recaps, and Magic Bookmark, which added audiobook support in version 1.1 on 21 October 2026. If listening is easier for you on low-focus days, a recap you can use on the audiobook and the print copy alike lets you switch formats without losing the thread. See audiobooks for ADHD.

Privacy, briefly

12 of the 30 apps list data used to track you on their App Store privacy labels, most often identifiers. If that matters to you, read the label before you install; it is on every App Store listing under App Privacy.

Limits of this study

It counts what makers publish, on one date, in the US. A feature can exist and still not work well for you, and a feature can be missing from a listing but present in the app. We did not use every app hands-on, and we did not test recap accuracy.