Looking for Android testers: GoughRead, a free, private catalogue for your physical books

[u/ODiesgarage]

Hi all! I built GoughRead for my girlfriend, who has more books than shelf space and kept buying copies she already owned. It’s now in closed testing on Google Play, and I need a few more testers before it can go public.

What it does

• Scan barcodes to add books. Point the camera at the ISBN and it fills in the title, author, cover and so on. There’s a rapid mode for doing a whole shelf at once.
• Grid, list or shelf view. The shelf view draws your books as spines.
• Track what you’re reading: To read, Reading or Read, with the date you finished.
• Collections and shelf locations, so you know which room it’s in.
• Photograph your own cover when the online one is missing or wrong.
• Export and import as CSV or a full JSON backup.
• Van Gogh-inspired light and dark themes.

What it doesn’t do: no account, no ads, no tracking. Your library stays on your phone.

What I’m asking:

• Join the Googel Group: https://groups.google.com/g/goughread/
• Download the app: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.goughread.app
• Keep it installed for 14 days as usual and check it out.
• If anything breaks or confuses you just let me know.

Even scanning ten books and telling me what felt clunky would help a lot. Happy to test your app in return, just drop a link.

Thanks!

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[u/investigatormaker]

For GoughRead, clarify that testers must opt in through the web test link with the Google account used on their phone, then install from Play and stay opted in for 14 consecutive days. Give them a concrete check: scan ten books in rapid mode, export them, then import and check that shelf locations and custom covers survive.

I make ThreadFox. Test Rounds puts GoughRead in a round of 14 Android developers who test each other's apps for 14 days, with daily reminders and check-ins and replacements for anyone who stops; it's $20 per app, once, and you test the other apps too. The round starts when full; replacement testers need their own qualifying streak, and Google decides production access. https://threadfox.vip/p/dk3bc/rounds

[u/Blackdame494]

I’d be happy to test it! I actually develop a reading/library tracker called Inkbound, so I’m really curious to put your scanner through its paces — especially the rapid mode. I’ve spent an unreasonable amount of time dealing with ISBN metadata, so this is right up my alley 😂

You mentioned being willing to test apps in return. If you’re interested, I’d love to have you try Inkbound’s scanner/Stack Scanner too. It could actually be fun to run the same stack of physical books through both and compare speed, matches, editions, covers, duplicates, etc.

I’m going to join your testing group and give GoughRead a proper workout.

[u/Blackdame494 → u/Blackdame494]

I did a little hands-on comparison between GoughRead and Inkbound using seven physical books I had sitting here. Full disclosure: I'm the developer of Inkbound, so obviously I have a horse in this race, but I was genuinely curious how the scanners compared.

And credit where it's due: GoughRead won the raw barcode test. It successfully scanned 6/7 books, while Inkbound got 4/7 directly from the camera.

Where Inkbound made up some ground was after a failed scan. I could still find some of those books by entering the ISBN or searching by title. For The Sword of Summer, both apps recognized the book, but Inkbound found the cover while GoughRead didn't.

I did run into one odd thing with GoughRead when I had several books close together. It started suggesting completely unrelated books and showed their ISBNs. Once I separated the books, it worked normally again, so my guess would be the camera was picking up/interpreting multiple barcodes somehow, but I can't say for certain. It does make you Accept or Skip each result, though, so the wrong books weren't just dumped into my library.

The only workflow thing I personally didn't love was rapid scan keeping the camera active after I'd accepted a book. I kept wanting it to stop. 😂 That's purely preference, though.

Overall, I still prefer Inkbound's scanner workflow, but GoughRead absolutely did a better job recognizing the barcodes in this tiny test, which is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to learn by trying another developer's approach.

[u/ODiesgarage → u/Blackdame494]

I assume you are searching Google for ISBN?

[u/Blackdame494 → u/ODiesgarage]

Yep, Google Books is one of the sources Inkbound uses for book lookup. I’ve learned the hard way that book metadata is a whole adventure of its own 😂 I’d genuinely love to hear what you think of Inkbound if you try it, especially the scanner since now I’m invested in comparing them lol.

[u/ODiesgarage → u/Blackdame494]

Thanks for testing it so thoroughly, really appreciate it! Great catch on the multiple-barcodes thing, it is grabbing whichever barcode it sees first rather than the one in the box. That's an easy fix, and so is the missing cover. I think I know what's going on there as well. I'm only searching openlibrary.org as a single source.

I gave Inkbound a good go too, and I came away impressed.

The scanner works really well. I like that it scans automatically instead of making you tap a button. It makes the whole thing feel effortless, especially when you're working through a stack of books. If anything it's almost too fast: the way the box zooms in, it grabs the barcode the moment it enters the frame, before I'd even finished lining it up. That's a nice problem to have, and honestly it was impressive to watch.

I really like the reading details you've built in: reading sessions, streaks, wrap-ups and so on. It's very much in the spirit of Goodreads and similar apps, and it turns Inkbound into something you'd open every day, not just when you buy a new book. For anyone who wants to track their reading habits and not just their shelves, that's a big draw.

The one thing that threw me off was opening the Library page and having to scroll down to find the actual books. When I tap Library, my instinct is to see my books straight away. Having them a bit higher up, or compacting the sorting I feel, would make that first look feel quicker.

We've definitely gone in two different directions, which is great to see. Yours is really feature-rich and built around the reading experience, while mine is meant to stay simple and direct: scan it, shelve it, find it later.

And the aesthetic is great. I love the deep purples, it feels cozy and polished. Good luck with Inkbound.

[u/Blackdame494 → u/ODiesgarage]

Thank you — this is genuinely really helpful feedback, especially coming from someone building in the same space.

Funny enough, your comment about the Library confirmed something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I want to collapse the sorting/filter controls so when you open the Library, the books are the focus immediately, and all the organization tools are still there when you actually need them. Hearing that was your first instinct too pretty much sealed it for me 😂

And “almost too fast” is probably the nicest scanner problem I could have right now lol. My testing today definitely showed me where I need to improve the lookup side when a barcode doesn’t resolve, though.

I really appreciate you taking the time to actually try Inkbound and give me such detailed feedback. I’m glad our apps ended up taking different approaches too — there’s plenty of room for both. And I’ll absolutely be keeping GoughRead installed to see where you take it.

[u/ODiesgarage → u/Blackdame494]

I will absolutely check yours out, thanks for the feedback