Make an app
Make a reading tracker and book log app for iPhone
A reading tracker keeps your shelf, your progress and the lines worth remembering. Describe how you read and Borel builds a native iPhone book log in SwiftUI: books with covers, pages per day, a goal for the year, and quotes you scan straight from the page with the camera instead of typing them out.
Updated
“A reading tracker: books have a title, author, cover photo, page count and status (want to read, reading, finished). I log pages read each day. A goal screen shows books finished against my goal for the year. Each book has notes and quotes, and I can scan a quote from the page with the camera.”
Screens
What a reading tracker app needs
The screens Borel builds from the prompt above. Ask for more, fewer or different ones.
Shelf
Covers in three rows: reading now, want to read and finished.
Book
Progress bar, pages per day, your notes and saved quotes.
Log pages
A stepper for the page you reached, saved with today's date.
Year
Books finished against your goal, and pages read per month.
Data
What it keeps
Borel writes these as Swift models. On the phone they work with no connection; in Borel's cloud they follow a signed-in person.
| What | Holds | Kept |
|---|---|---|
| Book | Title, author, cover, pages, status, rating | On the phone, with SwiftData |
| Reading log | Book, date, page reached | On the phone, with SwiftData |
| Quote | Text, page, book | On the phone, with the book |
Native iPhone features
What it can use on your iPhone
Written in Swift with Apple's own frameworks, so they work the way iPhone owners expect.
Make it yours
What to ask for next
Once the first version runs, ask for changes in the chat, in words like these.
- “Suggest my next book from my five-star ratings, using AI.”
- “Add a reading timer that logs minutes as well as pages.”
- “Group finished books by year.”
How to make it
From a prompt to your iPhone and the App Store
- 1
Describe it
Paste the prompt on this page into Borel, or write your own in plain words. Borel plans the screens with you before it builds.
- 2
Try it in your browser
Borel writes the app in Swift and SwiftUI, builds it with Xcode on its own Mac and opens it in a live iPhone simulator in your browser, free.
- 3
Put it on your iPhone
With Pro, Borel Companion for Windows or Mac installs it on your own iPhone with your Apple ID: a cable the first time, then Wi-Fi.
- 4
Publish it when it's ready
Pro publishes to the App Store from the same project. Apple's Developer Program, $99 a year, is the one thing you pay Apple.
Scanning a quote is the feature people show friends, and it needs the camera on your iPhone. Try it on a real page in normal light, and check the text comes out right before you trust it with a favourite line.
Book clubs are a good reason to publish: with Borel's cloud a club can share a reading list and each member's progress. Kept for yourself, the shelf stays on your phone.
Building starts free, with 5 free credits a day, up to 30 a month, and the simulator in your browser costs nothing. Pro, from $20 a month, adds installs on your own iPhone through Borel Companion and publishing to the App Store.
Before you start
Good to know
- Book details aren't looked up from a catalogue or barcode database; you add the title and author, and a cover photo if you want one.
- It doesn't sync with Goodreads or a library account.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Describe your shelf, goal and how you log pages, and Borel writes the app in Swift and shows it running in your browser.
Yes. Borel uses Apple's VisionKit, so the camera reads the text on the page and you choose what to keep.
Yes. Ask for a goal, and Borel adds a screen with books finished against it and a chart by month.
With accounts in Borel's cloud, yes: a shared shelf for a club or a group of friends, once the app is on the App Store for them.
Make your reading tracker app
Start from the prompt on this page, change it to fit your idea, and Borel builds it while you watch.