Releases

• Fixed a crash that could occur when opening the app
• Fixed some EPUBs failing to open with a “multi-disk ZIP” error
• Fixed widgets showing a book’s old cover after its artwork changed
• Fixed a leftover skip bubble appearing on Now Playing after skipping from another player page
• [Mac] Possible fix for a crash when starting a search

Added:

• Reader: read along with an imported EPUB or PDF as you listen, with the current word highlighted as it’s spoken. Open it from the Reader tab in the player
• Live transcripts: read an on-device transcript of a book as it plays, for books without an ebook
• Snap to Sentences: once a book is transcribed, skips and automatic rewinds land at the start of a nearby sentence. Can be disabled from Settings > Playback
• Play Collection shortcut action: plays a chosen collection, series or playlist
• Server refreshes now show each step’s progress in the server list
• Support for iPhone Duo
• [Audiobookshelf] Ebooks attached to a book on the server are available in the Reader
• [Audiobookshelf] Filter book lists by language, with support for selecting multiple languages
• [Watch] Downloads list on Home, showing every book downloaded to the watch
• [Watch] Download Remaining for partly downloaded books
• [Watch] Home now shows when the watch last synced with iPhone

Improved:

• Library imports and refreshes are much faster, especially for large libraries
• [Audiobookshelf] Tracks, chapters and attachments are imported with the library, so books no longer need to load them when first opened or played
• [iPad] Layout when rotating or resizing the window
• [Watch] Tapping the book that’s already loaded plays it without streaming it again
• [Watch] Progress and listening history are kept on the watch until iPhone has received them, including across relaunches
• [Watch] VoiceOver now describes downloading, paused, failed and partly downloaded books

Fixed:

• Bookmarks edited or deleted offline could be reverted by a library refresh
• Listening sessions waiting to upload could lose their progress during a library refresh
• Books removed from the server could stay in the library, and their downloads could be left behind when cleaned up
• Quick refreshes didn’t update changed book details, and could miss new authors
• Playing a finished collection reset its books’ progress without starting playback
• [Audiobookshelf] Could be signed out if the app went into the background while refreshing its login
• [Audiobookshelf] SSO sign-in could fail with “unsupported URL”, or fail when signing in again
• [Audiobookshelf] Sign-in could stay loading after a failed SSO sign-in
• [iPad] Settings layout
• [CarPlay] Possible fix for progress resetting when skipping, resuming or after an interruption
• [Watch] Playback didn’t start automatically after choosing AirPods or another audio route
• [Watch] Progress from the watch could be rejected by iPhone or overwritten by older progress
• [Watch] Downloaded books could be removed from the watch when they dropped out of recent or pinned books
• [Watch] Progress received from iPhone during playback could stop the watch from saving progress
• [Watch] Sync Now did nothing when the watch had no progress to send

Improved:

• [Watch] VoiceOver labels for playback controls, book actions and download status

Fixed:

• Tracks in multi-file audiobooks could download out of order
• Seeking could stall or jump in some xHE-AAC audiobooks
• Skipping to the end of a book could leave it unfinished and prevent the next queued book from playing
• [Watch] Books removed from the reading list on iPhone could remain in the watch’s reading list
• [Watch] Downloaded books in progress could disappear after relaunching the app
• [Watch] Leftover download files could continue taking up storage after books were removed
• [Watch] A crash during background syncing with iPhone

Fixed:

• Downloads could fail repeatedly with error 401
• Automatic rewind could incorrectly fire after a manual seek
• Inflated app size in 4.3.0

• UI adjustments and polish
• Added Simplified Chinese translation
• Added Croatian translation
• Added Polish translation
• Updated for iOS 27
• Dropped support for iOS 18

Improved:

• App responsiveness when returning to the foreground

Fixed:

• Family Sharing purchases could fail to restore
• Playback progress could sometimes fail to sync
• Several crash fixes

Improved:

• Search results now close after selecting a book, author, or collection

Fixed:

• Potential freeze when attempting to add initial account or server
• Sleep Timer Live Activity could fail to update after extending a timer
• Sleep timer countdown could be clipped on iOS 26
• Chapter-relative playback times could display incorrect values near chapter boundaries

• Various UI adjustments and fixes

Improved:

• Bookmark lists now support sorting, show clearer progress, and allow bookmarks to be deleted from the player

Fixed:

• VoiceOver could announce empty or incorrect text for the download button on book view
• Player could open automatically on launch when no book was loaded

Added:

• Sleep Timer live activity
• Dynamic player theming based on cover art. Can be enabled from the player settings sheet (near playback speed/voice boost controls) either globally or for books on an individual basis
• Settings for the finished books widget (Include manually marked books / Include reset books)

Improved:

• Widgets now respect selected app font
• Playback started from intents (widget/siri/shortcuts etc) no longer clears buffer when the book is already queued

Fixed:

• [Audiobookshelf] Handle empty bitrate values
• [Plex] Skip load of embedded chapters with invalid duration/time values
• Various issues with tinted/accented widgets
• Multiple crashes

Added:

• Chapter list on CarPlay now playing

Improved:

• Widgets use full resolution covers
• Libraries are displayed in alphabetical order

Fixed:

• Widgets not displaying progress indicators on iOS 26

Added:

• Norwegian translation
• Spanish translation

Fixed:

• [Audiobookshelf] Books with no chapters are now handled correctly
• Purchase view displaying correctly when accessed from player context menu

Improved:

• Layout and spacing adjustments throughout the app
• Album search results and ordering
• Performance while playback is active

Added:

• Support for reordering player pages
• Option to set default player tab
• Search and pull-to-refresh to Collections tab

Improved:

• Player automatically dismisses when book finishes
• Player bar now hides when nothing is playing (iOS 26+)
• Audio playback interruption handling
• Streaming reliability and performance
• • [Plex] Added insecure connection fallback when HTTPS isn’t required

Added

• Restored metadata settings view
• Book metadata is loaded in background when device is charging
• Option to include downloads in iCloud/iTunes backups (Settings > Storage)
• Clear queue button and swipe-to-remove on individual queue items

Improved

• [Plex] Display more than two tags
• Tags are now displayed in same order as server

Added

• [Plex] Show connection type on server list
• [Plex] Show per-connection latency and connection status on server view

Fixed

• Cached covers slow to load when on slow network
• Image cache limit in Settings > Storage not respected
• [Plex] Stale relay connections aren’t cleared correctly
• [Plex] New book additions not being assigned to author

Added

• Option to export debug logs
• Finnish translation
• Ukrainian translation

Improved

• Display of multi-disc books (#273)
• Seeking back/forward can move past chapter boundaries in multi-file books
• Correctly detect chapter additions to and removal from existing books
• Context menu in reading list interferes with drag gesture

Fixed

• [Watch] Books not syncing to watch (#243)
• [Watch] Chapter display on multi-file books
• [Watch] General stability and improvements
• [Plex] “Request timed out” errors when starting playback
• [Plex] Missing books due to latin1 decoding error
• [CarPlay] Downloaded multi-file books displaying multiple times (#270)

Added

• Support for Siri “skip back” and “skip forward” commands

Improved

• Offline mode behavior and reliability
• Player seek bar now shows loaded buffer

Fixed

• Images being cleared when offline

Added

• Grid view option for collections
• Playing a collection will now queue up all unfinished books in that collection
• Tap Now Playing button on player view to view playback queue
• The Start Sleep Timer shortcut action now supports different modes (time/duration/chapter)

Fixed

• Player context menu flickering
• Loading of some embedded chapters
• [Plex] Narrator being cleared after library refresh
• [Plex] Books not sorting correctly by author last name

Added

• Migrate 3.x bookmarks from iCloud
• Download button on collection view

Improved

• Plex connection reliability
• CloudKit sync reliability
• Maximum automatic rewind after interruptions increased from 10 to 60 seconds
• More detailed logging

Fixed

• Display of books with multiple files where only some files contain embedded chapters
• Sort menu display on macOS

• Fixed migration of old book history data. Bookmarks will be migrated in the next update. Apologies!
• Fixed books in Finished section displaying “Now” instead of date finished
• Restored displaying chapter headings when book consists of multiple files with embedded chapters
• Fixed potential freeze/crash when scrolling grid view quickly
• Tapping a book in search results should no longer cause the book to jump to a new position

• [Plex] Support for quickly switching between Plex home users
• [Plex] Improved book load performance
• [Plex] Fixed a few issues when re-authenticating
• [Plex] Potential fix for embedded metadata not loading correctly
• [macOS] Fixed crash when attempting to add bookmark or present playback info
• Potential fix for crash/lockup when searching

• [Plex] Fixed home user authentication
• [Plex] Fixed playlist loading
• Fixed books failing to load when they contain invalid duration values

Prologue 4.0 is here, rebuilt from the ground up with Audiobookshelf support and a fresh new look.

Highlights:

• Audiobookshelf support
• Per-book playback settings
• View listening stats and streaks
• Countless fixes and improvements across the app

If you run into any issues, please report them or get in touch.

I hope you like it!

• Support for basic html formatting in book/author/collection descriptions (e.g. bold, italics, etc)
• [Watch] Support for finer-grained playback speed. Tap the label (e.g. “1x”) to show presets
• [Watch] Fixed an issue where chapter skip controls could show “x of 0” chapters
• [Watch] Fixed an issue causing book title to be displayed twice on placeholder covers (i.e. when cover images haven’t yet loaded)
• [Watch] Potential fix for additional “Other” storage usage after downloading a book

• [Watch] Complications should update more reliably when playback progress changes on the iPhone app
• [Watch] Fixed a crash when downloading large files (2.1gb+)
• Don’t show watch app purchase button on Settings tab when a paired Apple Watch is unsupported

• [Watch] Added chapter skip controls (under the “…” menu on the now playing view)
• [Watch] Fixed an issue causing the initial watch app data load to fail
• [Watch] Fixed a couple of crashes

• Fixed a crash when starting playback from CarPlay when “Show automatically” player setting is enabled
• [Watch] Fixed a widget/complication load issue

Prologue is now available for Apple Watch

• Stream books you’re currently reading, or books in your reading list
• Download books to listen when you’re offline
• Widget and complications

Prologue for Apple Watch is the culmination of months of work by a single developer. To keep Prologue financially sustainable, I’ve decided to ask for a small extra payment to use the app.

Thank you for the continued support!

- Lachlan

• Widgets can start playback without launching app (iOS 17)
• New “Play in Background” widget option to restore iOS 16 functionality on iOS 17
• New “End of next chapter” sleep timer option
• New “End of selected chapter” sleep timer option
• Chapter-based sleep timers now display correct time remaining based on current playback rate
• New gold accent colour (default for new installs)
• Fixed an issue where widgets wouldn’t refresh after switching libraries
• Prologue now requires iOS 16

• Internally reworked how book progress is tracked in the app. I’m hoping this fixes the issues some users are seeing with loss of progress
• Fixed a crash on launch
• Reduced app size by ~30%
• Updated Chinese (simplified) translations

• Fixed an issue preventing log file generation

• Minor fixes

New

• New family-shareable premium tier. Users on the existing Premium tier can upgrade from the Settings tab
• Redesigned purchase view
• An error message will now be displayed on the Home tab when Plex authentication fails (e.g. after a password change)
• Enable text selection for book / collection titles, author names and summaries
• Library contents are now visible during initial collection/playlist metadata load

Fixed

• Fixed an issue causing author list to scroll to top when an author is selected
• [CarpPlay] Chapter skip buttons now respect the current system theme
• Fixed a crash on import

• Fixed (another) crash when iCloud storage quota has been exceeded
• Fixed possible crash on library refresh

• Fixed a possible crash when iCloud storage quota has been exceeded

• Fixed sync issue causing high battery usage in some circumstances

• Lock Screen widgets (iOS 16)
• Completely rewritten iCloud sync service in preparation for the upcoming Watch app
• New iCloud status info under Settings > iCloud
• Support for custom collection/playlist covers
• Restored functionality to show more than 15 search results
• An error message is displayed on Home tab if Plex authentication fails (e.g. due to a password reset)
• Raised minimum iOS version to 15.0

• Fixed a potential crash when displaying Collections tab

• Fixed a rare crash on launch

• Books in the Reading List can now be reordered by dragging and dropping. Order is synced via iCloud.
• New refresh library button on Home tab
• Pull to refresh library on Home, Book, Author and Collection tabs
• Libraries are automatically refreshed in the background when device is charging
• The “Refresh Now” button under Settings > Metadata should no longer cause the app to hang when loading a large number of files
• Opening the app from the widget will no longer display a duplicate book view if that book is already displayed
• Additional Voice Over actions mirroring those available from the context menu

• Fixed a sync issue causing chapters to disappear
• Library refresh is now available when using VoiceOver
• Books can now be played from list views directly when using VoiceOver

• Refreshing a library should no longer hang at 100% for an extended period
• Fixed an issue causing author images to load unreliably

• Sorting books by author now correctly sorts by author, then book title
• Fixed a few instances where the app was using excessive memory

Note: playlists are temporarily limited to 2500 files while I track down a performance issue. Where possible, use Plex album collections instead of playlists - they don’t suffer from the same performance issues.

• Fixed a widget display issue when not displaying a cover image
• Fixed a crash on launch

New

• Book list, author bibliography and collection can now be displayed in grid layout
• Display collection summaries (requires full library refresh)
• Support for exporting a database copy (Settings > Storage)
• New Siri shortcuts:
  • Start sleep timer
  • Extend sleep timer
  • Cancel sleep timer

Improved

• Redesigned book list view
• Book titles and author names can now span an unlimited number of lines
• Improved support for large font sizes
• The Collections tab now sorts collections based on the collection’s “Sort Title”, if set in Plex
• The app is now smarter about restoring items from the trash
• Sleep timer now fades volume over a few seconds upon completion (doesn’t apply to “end of current chapter” timers)
• The “Add bookmark” Siri shortcut now supports adding an optional note
• Redesigned active sleep timer display
• Improved performance when loading large playlists/collections
• Searching on the Authors tab now displays results by author
• Lots of UI tweaks

Fixed

• Seeking before beginning playback now overrides any pending “rewind on resume”
• Alphabetical indexes no longer overlap books/collections in grid mode on iPad/macOS
• Fixed library items erroneously being added to the trash when database is suspended while a library refresh is in progress
• Increase play/pause button tap area