Must Read was App of the Day on the US App Store

What it says

On the Today tab of the US App Store, Must Read is a card headed App of the Day, with the line “Get book recommendations based on your reading DNA.” Tap it and you reach the editors’ story in their Apps We Love series, Find Your Next Great Read.

One line in the story made my week:

“We love the wild cards the app throws in…”App Store editors, Apps We Love

What the story picks out

The story singles out four things: the picks, the wild cards, the timer and the streak.

• Picks that say why. Ask Must Read looks at your shelf and your ratings and suggests what to read next, with a short reason under each book. The story describes it as recommendations drawn from your reading history, with an explanation for every pick.
• The wild cards. The editors say the wild cards the app throws in push them beyond their usual reads. I assume they mean cards like Surprise me and Something different, which are made to take you somewhere your shelf would not.
• The reading timer. Start a timed session and Must Read learns your pace, then gives you an estimated completion time for the book.
• The streak. A daily reminder helps you keep the streak going, and the story points to it as the way to keep a reading habit.

The story ends with a tip about the habit-tracking widgets and saving quotes.

One person, three times in six weeks

Must Read has been on the App Store since 2016. This autumn the App Store has put it in front of readers three times: in the iOS 27 launch stories on 14 September, in Great Apps on iPhone Duo on 23 October, and now on the Today tab.

There is no team behind this. The picks, the timer and the streak in that story were built by one person, with a lot of help from the readers who write to me with bugs, book lists and kind words. Thank you to them, to the App Store editors, and to everyone who has told someone else about Must Read. I will keep making it better for the readers who are here already and for the ones arriving this week.