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
Result
Built in 2024–2025 and still live on the App Store.
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
“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.”
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