Apps Reimagined with Apryse SDK: Book Review App

Summary: This blog explores how a book review app could evolve beyond tracking and sharing book opinions by integrating Apryse SDK. With built-in PDF viewing, annotation tools, and quote extraction, the platform becomes an all-in-one reading and engagement space. By enhancing interactivity and accessibility, Apryse helps developers create a richer, more immersive experience for modern readers.

Innovation is at the heart of what we do at Apryse. Our robust developer toolkit enables developers to quickly and easily build document processing capabilities into their apps, delivering a better document experience.

A key part of innovation is imagination—if we never wondered “what if…,” or “how could…” we would miss out on a lot of wonderful inventions.

This blog series was created with that sense of wonder in mind, to explore and share how Apryse tech could add exciting functionality to already popular apps, matching the Apryse capabilities that work best with each app. In this blog, we’ll look at a popular book review social platform and what it could look like if we integrated Apryse SDK.

Let’s look at a popular book review social network with more than 150 million members and billions of books catalogued. Users can leave reviews, track books they’ve read and they want to read, add annotations to their notes for future reference, and connect with other readers about the books they love or hate.

What it lacks is the ability to read books through this platform.

Now let’s imagine if this social network added Apryse SDK to add new functionality such as a full PDF viewer to read entire books, or annotation features to include notes directly in the book. These added features would transform an already amazing book review social network into a whole new experience where readers could interact with digital literature.

By integrating Apryse SDK to add a PDF viewer and other functionality, when a user opens a book, they’re greeted by a summary page with features such as:

These elements allow for a more immersive reading experience by giving the reader everything they need in one spot. No more switching between an e-reader and the social network to leave a heartfelt review, no more searching for that pencil and paper to keep track of the characters in that mystery novel, and no more “Oh, I’ll do it later…” after finishing their latest read and wanting to track and review it.

This reimagining includes many benefits for the user including:

Seamless Workflow: No more downloading a PDF, opening it in a separate reader, and then switching back to the social network to track progress or write a review. Everything happens in one place.

Enriched Engagement: Highlight passages, take notes, and share insights.

Deeper Understanding: Gain a better understanding of the material by combining reading with social discussion and personal reflection.

Enhanced Accessibility: With a built-in reader, features like text-to-speech, adjustable fonts, and reading modes could be universally applied, improving accessibility for all users.

Developers looking to incorporate a PDF viewer and other features we looked at above require a few components all found in the Apryse SDK, including:

As we’ve discussed in this reimagining, by merging a book review social network with Apryse SDK to add features like a PDF viewer and annotation, we transform how users engage with digital books, making reading a deeply connected and enriching experience.

If you’re interested in implementing any of these features in your application, check out the links below to try them for yourself:

We’re not done yet—more popular apps reimagined with Apryse tech are on the way. Have a suggestion? Tell us on social or get in touch to learn how our document SDKs can support your next project.