In 2026.5.3:

Fixed:
- Long MP3 audiobooks could crash shortly after playback started
- Reader and live transcripts could fail to appear for some MP3 audiobooks

In 2026.5.2:

Improved:
- The screen stays awake while you read along during playback

Fixed:
- Reader and live transcripts could fall behind the narration in some audiobooks

In 2026.5.1:

- Fixed a crash that could occur when opening the app
- Fixed some EPUBs failing to open with a "multi-disk ZIP" error
- Fixed widgets showing a book's old cover after its artwork changed
- Fixed a leftover skip bubble appearing on Now Playing after skipping from another player page
- [Mac] Possible fix for a crash when starting a search
- [Audiobookshelf] Fixed OpenID sign-in failing with "an unknown error occurred"
- Reader: pull past the end of an EPUB section, or tap the arrow below it, to continue to the next one

In 2026.5:

Added:
- Reader: read along with an imported EPUB or PDF as you listen, with the current word highlighted as it's spoken. Open it from the Reader tab in the player
- Live transcripts: read an on-device transcript of a book as it plays, for books without an ebook
- Snap to Sentences: once a book is transcribed, skips and automatic rewinds land at the start of a nearby sentence. Can be disabled from Settings > Playback
- Play Collection shortcut action: plays a chosen collection, series or playlist
- Server refreshes now show each step's progress in the server list
- Support for iPhone Duo
- [Audiobookshelf] Ebooks attached to a book on the server are available in the Reader
- [Audiobookshelf] Filter book lists by language, with support for selecting multiple languages
- [Watch] Downloads list on Home, showing every book downloaded to the watch
- [Watch] Download Remaining for partly downloaded books
- [Watch] Home now shows when the watch last synced with iPhone

Improved:
- Library imports and refreshes are much faster, especially for large libraries
- [Audiobookshelf] Tracks, chapters and attachments are imported with the library, so books no longer need to load them when first opened or played
- [iPad] Layout when rotating or resizing the window
- [Watch] Tapping the book that's already loaded plays it without streaming it again
- [Watch] Progress and listening history are kept on the watch until iPhone has received them, including across relaunches
- [Watch] VoiceOver now describes downloading, paused, failed and partly downloaded books

Fixed:
- Bookmarks edited or deleted offline could be reverted by a library refresh
- Listening sessions waiting to upload could lose their progress during a library refresh
- Books removed from the server could stay in the library, and their downloads could be left behind when cleaned up
- Quick refreshes didn't update changed book details, and could miss new authors
- Playing a finished collection reset its books' progress without starting playback
- [Audiobookshelf] Could be signed out if the app went into the background while refreshing its login
- [Audiobookshelf] SSO sign-in could fail with "unsupported URL", or fail when signing in again
- [Audiobookshelf] Sign-in could stay loading after a failed SSO sign-in
- [iPad] Settings layout
- [CarPlay] Possible fix for progress resetting when skipping, resuming or after an interruption
- [Watch] Playback didn't start automatically after choosing AirPods or another audio route
- [Watch] Progress from the watch could be rejected by iPhone or overwritten by older progress
- [Watch] Downloaded books could be removed from the watch when they dropped out of recent or pinned books
- [Watch] Progress received from iPhone during playback could stop the watch from saving progress
- [Watch] Sync Now did nothing when the watch had no progress to send