Library & Browsing
Browse, search, filter, and organize your audiobook library in FableFrog with five browse modes, playlists, series tracking, and more.
Home Screen
The Home tab is your personalized dashboard. It displays server-powered shelves like Continue Listening, Recently Added, and Discover, giving you quick access to what matters most. Below the shelves you'll find:
- Favorites: a quick-access row of books you've marked as favorites.
- Weekly stats: a snapshot of your listening time for the current week, with a progress indicator if you've set a listening goal.
- Upcoming books: notifications about new releases in series you follow.
- Release day banners: when a book in a followed series releases today, a celebratory banner appears with cover art, title, series name, and an "Open in Audible" link. If multiple books release on the same day, they rotate automatically. Dismiss a banner and the next one takes its place.
The Home toolbar also includes an inline library switcher — tap your current library name to switch to another library on the same server without leaving the Home tab. All browse tabs, history, the mini player, and stats re-scope to the newly selected library automatically.
The Home screen refreshes automatically when you open the app and maintains a real-time connection to your server via Socket.io, so changes on the server (new books added, progress synced from another device) appear without manual refreshing.
Browse Modes
FableFrog provides five distinct ways to explore your library, each accessible from the browse section:
Books
The default grid view showing every audiobook in your library. Each cover displays progress indicators and optional status icons (downloaded, finished, or a "Streaming" label when a book isn't downloaded so you always know whether a tap will play from the network or local storage). Tap any cover to open the book detail page. Toggle Collapse Series from the toolbar menu to group all books belonging to a series into a single compact row — great for libraries with lots of long series. Tap a collapsed series to jump into its detail view.
Authors
A list of all authors in your library, sorted by first name. Tap an author to see their detail page with a biography (if available on the server) and a list of all their books in your collection.
Series
Browse all series in your library. Each series entry shows the number of books you own and your overall progress. Tap a series to see all books in order, with clear indicators for which ones you've started, finished, or haven't begun yet. Filter to just the series you follow with the Following filter chip at the top of the tab. Long-press any series card for a context menu with quick actions: view the series, search on Audible, follow or unfollow, rate, add the series to a playlist, or add all books in the series to a playlist at once.
Narrators
A list of narrators extracted from your library metadata, sorted by first name. Tap a narrator to see every book they've narrated, making it easy to find more work from a voice you enjoy.
Genres
Browse your library organized by genre tags. Tap any genre to see all matching books, then filter and sort within that subset.
Filtering and Sorting
Every browse mode supports filtering and sorting to help you find exactly what you're looking for.
Progress Filters
Filter your library by listening status:
- Not Started: books you haven't begun
- In Progress: books you're currently listening to
- Finished: books you've completed
Combine progress filters with genre filters to narrow results further. Active filters appear as visual chips at the top of the browse view, and you can tap any chip to remove it.
Sort Options
Sort your library by title, author, date added, duration, year published, or last listened, in ascending or descending order. The available sort options vary slightly by browse mode. For example, the Series view offers sorting by series name and book count. Each sort view remembers your last direction independently, so switching between "Title A–Z" and "Added newest first" doesn't reset your preferences.
Alphabetical Index Bar
For large libraries, the index bar along the right edge of the screen lets you jump instantly to any letter. Tap or drag along the bar to scroll to that section. The index bar is available on the Books, Authors, Narrators, and Series tabs. Tapping a letter eagerly loads any remaining pages so jumping to "W" in a huge library doesn't stall.
Cache-First Loading
Library, Home, authors, and series tabs render instantly from cache on re-entry with a silent background refresh — no spinner, no wait. Filter and sort changes apply optimistically, and every tab supports pull-to-refresh when you want to force a fresh fetch.
Search
The search function works across your entire library in real time. As you type, results are filtered by title, author, narrator, and genre. Search is available from the main browse view and works within any active filter combination.
Book Detail Page
Tapping any book opens its full detail page, which includes:
- Cover art displayed prominently at the top
- Metadata: author, narrator, series, genres, year published, publisher
- Description: the full book description from your server
- Chapter list: all chapters with individual durations. Tap any chapter to jump directly to it in the player
- Progress bar: your current position in the book
- Listening sessions: a history of when and how long you've listened
- Ratings: your rating and any review you've written
- Quick actions: play, download, add to playlist, mark as finished, rate, and more
Long-press any book cover anywhere in the app to access a context menu with quick actions: navigate to the author, series, or narrator page, mark as finished, add to a playlist, rate the book, clear listen history, and more. Series cards also support long-press context menus with actions like follow/unfollow, rate, search on Audible, and batch-add all books to a playlist.
Book Metadata Editor
Edit a book's metadata directly from the app without opening your Audiobookshelf web interface. From the book detail page, tap Edit to modify:
- Title and subtitle
- Author and narrator
- Series name and book number
- Genres and tags
- Description
- Publisher and year published
Changes are saved to your Audiobookshelf server and immediately reflected across all connected clients. This is useful for correcting mismatched metadata, adding missing series information, or cleaning up your library on the go.
Playlists
Playlists let you create custom listening queues for any purpose: road trip lineups, themed collections, or a simple "up next" list. Playlists are stored on your device because the Audiobookshelf API does not support them. They persist across sign-out and are tied to your account, so they're restored when you sign back in.
Creating a Playlist
Tap the Playlists section in the library and create a new playlist with a name of your choice. You can also add a book to a playlist directly from the book detail page or context menu.
Managing Playlists
- Add books from any book's detail page or context menu. You can also add all books in a series at once from the series context menu.
- Remove books by swiping on them within the playlist view.
- Reorder books with drag and drop to set your preferred listening sequence.
- Delete a playlist entirely when you no longer need it. Deleting a playlist does not affect the books themselves.
Favorites
Mark any book as a favorite by tapping the heart icon on its detail page or through the context menu. Favorites appear in a dedicated row on the Home screen for quick access. Tap the heart again to unfavorite a book. Favorites are stored on your device because the Audiobookshelf API does not support them. They persist across sign-out and are tied to your account.
Series Tracking
FableFrog helps you stay on top of multi-book series with its series tracking feature.
Following Series
Tap the Follow button on any series detail page to start tracking it. Followed series are monitored for upcoming releases, and FableFrog checks external data sources for release information. You can follow up to 3 series for free; Premium unlocks unlimited series tracking. Series following is stored on your device because the Audiobookshelf API does not support it. It persists across sign-out and is tied to your account.
Bulk Follow / Unfollow
Open Upcoming Releases, tap the 3-dot menu, and choose Manage Followed Series to see every series in your current library on a single page. Each row shows the series cover with a single-tap follow toggle. The page supports:
- Cross-field search across title, author, narrator, and the titles of contained books
- Alphabet scroll along the right edge for instant jump to any letter
- Recent follows chips in the header showing your three most recently followed series as quick-jump shortcuts
- Cache-first loading so the list paints instantly on re-entry, with a background refresh that fills in covers as they download
This is the fastest way to seed the app with a stack of series at once, or to clean up your follow list after a binge.
Status Categories
Books in a followed series are categorized into clear statuses:
- Upcoming: announced but not yet released
- Available Now: released but not yet in your library
- Up to Date: you've finished or own all currently available books
Standalone Books
Many series include companion novels, side stories, novellas, and other entries that don't have a numbered position in the series. FableFrog detects these standalone entries and tracks them alongside numbered sequels so you never miss a release.
- Upcoming standalones always appear in your upcoming list, ensuring you don't miss pre-release entries.
- Available standalones can be shown or hidden using the Include Standalones toggle in the toolbar. Standalone books are labeled with a "Standalone" badge so they're easy to distinguish from numbered entries.
- The toggle preference is saved per server, so each Audiobookshelf connection remembers your choice.
- Toggling is instant — no network refetch required.
Inline Series Releases
Upcoming and available releases now appear inline on the series detail page, right alongside the books you already own. This gives you a complete picture of a series without navigating to the upcoming releases screen.
Hiding Upcoming Books
If you're not interested in a specific upcoming book, you can hide it from your feed. Hidden books are moved to a collapsible section at the bottom so you can unhide them later if you change your mind.
Release Day Notifications
Opt in to iOS push notifications in Settings > Notifications and FableFrog will alert you when a new book drops in any series you follow — even when the app isn't open. A master toggle requests iOS notification permission and shows a friendly reminder if permission is denied; granular per-type toggles then let you opt in to exactly what you want. Release-day detection runs in the background and paginates long series so entries don't slip past.
Upcoming Book Detail
Tap any upcoming or available-now book to open a detail page showing cover art, title, series and book number, author, narrator, duration, book description, series navigation, and release date. Upcoming books display a live per-second countdown timer to the release date. A "View on Audible" or "View on Goodreads" link (based on your external link provider setting) lets you jump directly to the book's listing. Books without cover art show a placeholder image.
Tap Add to Calendar on any upcoming book detail to drop the release date into your iOS calendar so you'll get a reminder when the book lands.
External Book Link Provider
FableFrog lets you choose between Audible and Goodreads as your default external link provider. Go to Settings > External Link Provider to set your preference. Every "View on..." link throughout the app — upcoming releases, context menus, release day banners — respects your choice.
Unfollowing
Tap the Follow button again on the series page to stop tracking a series. This removes it from your upcoming books notifications.
Abandoned Books & Series
If you've decided to stop listening to a book or following a series, you can mark it as abandoned. This helps keep your library focused on what you actually want to listen to.
Abandoning a Book
Mark any book as abandoned from its detail page or context menu. Abandoned books display a visual indicator (a slashed bookmark icon) on their covers throughout the library. Abandoning a book automatically removes it from your favorites, since the two states are mutually exclusive.
Abandoning a Series
Mark an entire series as abandoned from the series detail page or context menu. When you abandon a series, FableFrog asks whether you want to abandon just the series itself or all of its books too. Series cards display a slashed bookmark icon when abandoned.
Filtering and Viewing
- Abandoned filter chip: an "Abandoned" filter appears in the library browse view for both books and series, letting you see only abandoned items.
- Hide Abandoned setting: toggle "Hide Abandoned" in Settings to exclude abandoned items from your library by default.
- Abandoned list: a dedicated list view shows all abandoned series and books organized in sections.
Un-Abandoning
To un-abandon a book or series, open its detail page or context menu and remove the abandoned status. The visual indicators are removed and the item reappears in your normal library views.
Abandoned book status is stored on your server via a playlist. Abandoned series status is stored locally on your device because the Audiobookshelf API does not support series in playlists. Both persist across sign-out and are tied to your account.
Ratings and Reviews
Rate any audiobook on a 1 to 5 star scale (in half-star increments) directly from the book detail page. You can also write a text review of up to 5,000 characters to capture your thoughts. Ratings sync to your Audiobookshelf server, so they're visible from any client. You can update or remove your rating at any time. Your ratings also persist locally across sign-out, tied to your account.
You can also rate entire series from the series detail page. Series ratings are stored locally on your device, making them a personal reference for how you feel about a series overall.