Cindy's Books

Cindy's Books is named for my wife, Cindy — whose ever-growing shelves started all of this.

It began with a simple problem: standing in a thrift store holding a paperback, she had no quick way to know whether she already owned it.

I looked everywhere for an app to catalog her collection. Everything was either a heavy-handed "library management" system built for institutions, or so bare-bones it was barely more than a list. Nothing hit the sweet spot — a simple, fast, personal book catalog. So I built one, and made it a public project so any book lover could use it.

Then reality hit: a web app is useless in the back of a thrift store with one bar of signal. So this is a native app that keeps your entire collection on your device — instant lookups, no connection needed. Point your camera at a barcode and it tells you "already owned" or "not yet — add it?"

And for self-hosters running the open-source BookNexus web app, it syncs both ways with your own server: add books on your phone, edit them at a keyboard on the web, both stay in sync.

What it does
• Your whole library on your phone — fully offline
• Scan a barcode to add a book, or catch a duplicate before you buy it
• Auto-fills title, author, and cover from Open Library
• Browse by author or series; instant search
• Mark what you've read
• CSV import/export and iCloud backup
• Optional two-way sync with your self-hosted BookNexus server

No account. No ads. No tracking. Your collection is one file on your phone that you own.