Touch and hold an empty area on your iPhone or iPad home screen until the apps start to jiggle. Tap the + button in the top corner.
Search for justRead in the widget gallery. Pick from small, medium, or large sizes showing your reading calendar, current book, or streak counter.
Your widget updates automatically as you read. No buttons to press, no app to open. Your reading data stays visible on your home screen all day.
Choose the widgets that fit your reading style
Compact widget showing your current book cover, title, and progress percentage
Shows book cover, title, author, progress bar, and pages remaining
GitHub-style heatmap grid showing your daily reading activity for the current month
Larger calendar heatmap with day labels and colour intensity based on reading time
Circular progress ring showing how far you are through your current book
Your current reading streak count with a flame icon and longest streak record
Today's reading time and weekly total, updated in real time as you read
Bar chart of daily reading minutes for the current month at a glance
Tap to jump straight into your current book at the last page you read
Most reading apps have no widgets at all. justRead puts your reading calendar, current book progress, and streak counter right on your home screen. One glance tells you where you left off and how your week is going.
The reading calendar widget is a GitHub-style heatmap grid showing every day you read this month. Colour intensity reflects reading time. It is the only widget of its kind in any EPUB reader.
Widgets display live data from your reading sessions. Pages read, reading time, speed trends, and streaks are all tracked automatically while you read. No manual input needed.
Your widget data stays in sync across iPhone and iPad through iCloud. Read on one device and see updated stats on the other's home screen immediately.
justRead tracks your reading in the background while you turn pages. No start/stop buttons, no manual logging. Just read, and your widgets update with real data from every session.
Set daily reading goals and watch your widget progress bar fill up. Streaks build automatically when you read each day. Your home screen becomes a quiet motivator.
The only EPUB reader with real reading widgets
Other reading apps require opening the app to check your progress or streak.
justRead widgets show your reading data right on your home screen. One glance shows your streak, current book, and calendar without launching anything.
Some apps show a static widget that never changes or only updates once a day.
justRead widgets reflect your actual reading sessions in near real time. Finish a chapter and your progress updates on your home screen.
Opening a reading app, finding your book, and navigating to your page takes multiple taps.
Tap the Quick Resume widget and you are reading in one second. It opens directly to the last page you were on.
Why justRead has the best reading widgets on iOS
| Feature | justRead | Other Apps |
|---|---|---|
| Widget types available | 9 widget types | 0-2 basic widgets |
| Reading calendar widget | Yes, GitHub-style heatmap | Not available |
| Lock screen support | Yes, iOS 16+ | Rarely supported |
| Auto-updating data | Yes, after each session | Manual or daily refresh |
| Quick resume from widget | Yes, one-tap resume | Opens app home screen |
| EPUB reader included | Yes, full-featured reader | Separate app needed |
See what readers are saying on the App Store
Fantastic eReader
Best app I've found for syncing with Calibre. Customisation rivals the great Marvin app, with superior library management.
Great app, responsive dev
The reading experience is already top notch. Really exciting to see where this app develops over time.
Excellent and complete
Beautifully designed and a pleasure to use. The developer had a clear plan from the very first version.
Excellent
Really well designed, and so pleasant to use.
Reading as you want it
A great new iOS epub reader with responsive developers actively adding features. Configure your reading experience just the way you like it.
The best reader on the App Store
Absolute control of customisation. Custom font support. The ability to vote on next features and development.
My new mobile happy place
A beautifully made reader app. Love the statistics and how it works with my 5,000+ book library and cloud storage.
Comprehensive epub reader for iOS
Finally an app that manages a book collection and acts as a fully functional reader. Streams from Dropbox without using phone storage.
Everything you need to know about justRead widgets
justRead offers small, medium, and large widgets. Small widgets show a single metric like your reading streak or book progress. Medium widgets display your reading calendar or current book with more detail. Large widgets show a full monthly reading calendar heatmap.
Yes. When you add a widget, you choose which type of data it displays: currently reading, reading calendar, streak counter, reading time, book progress, or quick resume. You can place multiple widgets to see different data at once.
Yes. Widgets refresh automatically after each reading session. iOS manages the update schedule to balance freshness and battery life. Your data is always current when you check your home screen.
Yes. justRead supports iOS lock screen widgets on iPhone running iOS 16 or later. You can add a compact reading streak or book progress widget to your lock screen for at-a-glance access.
Yes. justRead widgets work on iPad home screen and Today View. They sync with your iPhone through iCloud, so your reading data stays consistent across devices.
No noticeable impact. justRead widgets use the standard iOS widget system, which updates efficiently in the background. Apple optimises widget refresh rates to minimise battery usage.
Depending on the widget type: current book title and progress, reading calendar heatmap, daily or weekly reading time, reading streak count, monthly activity chart, or a quick resume button to jump back into your book.
Yes. All widgets are available during the free 7-day trial with full functionality. After the trial, a subscription is required. Monthly ($2.99), yearly ($24.99), or lifetime ($59) plans are available.