Monocle
A collaborative e-reader that turns a book into a group conversation.
- TypeSocial reading app
- PlatformsiOS (App Store)
- StackFlutter · Firebase · Algolia · Google Books
- RoleBuild only
- Development2024 – 2025
- In productionStill live on the App Store
“Monocle isn't a simple app — full-length books, a social layer, and an AI reader inside it. Long Software has been with us from the first build through everything we've shipped since.”
The build
The insight
Everything else went social; reading stayed solitary. Monocle is the social layer for books — full-length titles you read together, with the conversation happening in the margins.
What we built
A full e-reader where any page becomes a conversation: highlight a passage and annotate it with text, images or GIFs; leave notes other readers reply to; and publish Snippets — shareable book stories that capture a quote with visuals. Beacon AI rides along inside the book, answering context-aware questions about themes and characters right where you are reading.
Discovery as a social feed
Readers follow each other, browse trending highlights, and discover thoughts in other books — turning a solitary library into a feed worth checking. Growth is baked in too: "book-fluencers" seed communities with access codes, and invited readers bring a friend or two.
Book detail
Library: three shelves
Chapter digest: most engaged-with notes
Have something
in mind?
Same-business-day reply · from a person, not an autoresponder