Getting started

Your first books in Kiveo, and finding your way around.

A book’s Journey tab
Each book keeps its own record of the time you’ve spent with it: hours, pages and sessions, and the path of your recent sittings.
About “days in a row”
Days in a row counts the days you’ve read, one after another, up to today. It’s there to glance at, never to keep up.
Add a book that isn’t in search
Some books never turn up in search. You can add them to your library yourself, with a cover from your photos.
Add books to your library
Find a book by its title, its author or the barcode on the back, and add it to your library in a tap.
Back up and restore your data
Save your whole library to a single file, and bring it back whenever you need it.
Book statuses, including setting a book aside
Every book in your library has a status, from Want to Read to Finished. You can also pause a book, or let one go without finishing it.
Bring your library from Goodreads
Export your library from Goodreads as a CSV file and bring it into Kiveo, with each book’s status and shelf.
Change a book’s edition or cover
Switch a book to the edition you actually own, or give it a different cover, without losing anything you’ve kept.
Correct a book’s dates
Change when you added, started or finished a book, so your history and your yearly counts tell the truth.
Dark mode and reduced motion
Choose light or dark for Kiveo, or let it follow your device. Kiveo also calms its animations when Reduce Motion is on.
Edit a session
Correct a session’s day, time, length or pages. Kiveo shows you what will change before anything is saved.
Find your way around Kiveo
A short tour of Kiveo’s tabs, what lives on Home, and where to find Settings.
Give a book a shorter name
Some titles are long, or not quite what you call the book. Give it a nickname and Kiveo uses it everywhere.
Help us fix a sync problem
If iCloud sync isn’t behaving, Sync Diagnostics records what happens so you can send it to us.
Home Screen quick actions
Press and hold Kiveo’s icon to start a session, scan a barcode or save a quote without finding your way through the app.
How the Journal works
The Journal holds what you keep from your books: quotes, reflections and seeds. Here’s how it’s laid out and how to find things in it.
If you forgot to end a session
If a session kept running after you stopped, or was left open, Home offers a quiet way to put it right.
Log reading you did away from the timer
Add a session after the fact, for the reading you did without the timer running.
Make a share card
Turn a quote, a book, a shelf or your year of reading into an image you can post or send. You choose the look and the shape.
Organize books into shelves
Make shelves of your own, fill them a few books at a time, and arrange each one the way you like.
Read a book again
Start a fresh read of a book you’ve finished. Your first read stays exactly as it was.
Read your Home summary
Your Summary on Home gathers your reading into four numbers, for any year or for all time. Here’s what each one counts.
Reading reminders (opt-in)
Reminders are off until you turn them on. Choose a daily time, a gentle nudge after a quiet stretch, or both, and pause them whenever you like.
Reset all data
Clear everything from Kiveo and start with an empty library. Make a backup first if you might want any of it back.
Save a quote
Keep the lines that stop you mid-page, with the page they came from and, if you like, what they made you think.
Scan a quote with your camera
Point your camera at the page, or choose a photo, and drag across the words you want. Kiveo turns them into an editable quote.
Set a reading intention
An intention is a gentle goal you choose for yourself, like a few sessions a week. It grows from the reading you already record.
Share a link to a book
Send a friend a link to a book. It opens in Kiveo if they have it, and as a simple web page if they don’t.
Sync between iPhone and iPad
Kiveo keeps your library the same on your iPhone and iPad through your own private iCloud. There’s no account to make.
The “From your Journal” card
Each day, one quote or reflection you saved comes back to Home. There’s nothing to review and nothing piles up.
The Lock Screen Live Activity
While a session runs, its timer sits on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, so you can check the time without opening Kiveo.
Time a reading session
A live session keeps time while you read, and keeps what you save along the way with the book.
Track progress in pages or percent
Track each book in pages or as a percentage, whichever suits it. Kiveo remembers your choice for every book.
Unlock alternate app icons
Kiveo has six alternate app icons, a thank-you for readers who leave a tip. Here’s how to get them and switch between them.
Use Kiveo in Spanish or English
Kiveo is available in English and Spanish for now. It follows your device’s language, or you can give Kiveo a language of its own.
Use the Nightstand
The Nightstand holds up to seven books you plan to read next, in the order you choose, each with an optional note.
What the Leaf Pile is
The Leaf Pile is where your books wait while they aren’t on any shelf. Kiveo looks after it for you.
Write a reflection
A reflection is what a book made you think. Write one whenever it comes to you, link the quotes that sparked it, and find it again with the book.