Introducing Dogear: Never Lose a Book Worth Reading

There is no shortage of books to read. Recommendations appear everywhere: from friends, podcasts, newsletters, social media, bookstores, and conversations. I would hear about an interesting book, save it somewhere, and then quickly lose track of it. Sometimes I remembered the title but not why I wanted to read it. Other times, the recommendation disappeared into a growing list of links, notes, and screenshots. I wanted a simpler way to discover books and keep the ones that genuinely interested me. That idea became Dogear. A focused home for books Dogear is an app designed around book discovery. It helps users find books, learn what they are about, and save the ones they want to explore later. From messy collection to a systematic approach The core idea is intentionally simple: Discover a book. Understand why it might be worth reading. Save it for later. Return to it when the time is right. Dogear is not designed to replace the experience of reading a book. It is meant to make the process before reading more intentional. A book summary can help someone understand a book’s central ideas or decide whether it belongs on their reading list. It can also help someone return to a book they discovered previously but were not ready to read at the time. The app focuses on that moment of discovery, the point where curiosity begins and a reader decides whether a book deserves a place in their life. Why the name Dogear? Doger definition Readers dog-ear pages to mark something they want to remember or return to: an important idea, a meaningful passage, or a detail they do not want to lose. That small fold captures what I want Dogear to represent digitally. Every saved book is a marker saying, “This is worth coming back to.” The name also reflects the relationship I want users to have with the app. Dogear should not feel like a database that demands constant maintenance. It should feel more like a personal shelf of ideas, recommendations, and future reading possibilities. Keeping the experience simple Many digital products try to solve a problem by adding more information, more controls, and more features. I wanted to take the opposite approach. Dogear screens Dogear is built around a focused reading experience, with a minimal interface, playful visual details, and animations that make browsing feel enjoyable without distracting from the books themselves. The design goals are straightforward: Keep the interface easy to understand. Make book discovery feel inviting. Avoid overwhelming users with unnecessary information. Use animation to create personality and feedback. Keep the focus on books rather than app management. The result is an app that aims to feel lightweight while still being useful. A user should be able to open Dogear, discover something interesting, and save it without having to configure a complicated system first. Discovery instead of consumption A lot of digital experiences are designed to maximize consumption. They encourage users to keep scrolling, watching, or checking for something new. Search and Scan flow Dogear is focused on a different type of engagement: discovery. The goal is not to keep users inside the app for as long as possible. The goal is to help them find a book that gives them a reason to leave the app and start reading. That distinction influences how I think about the product. A successful session might be short. A user could discover one book, save it, and close Dogear with a clear idea of what they want to read next. In that sense, the app is not competing with books. It is trying to make it easier for people to choose them. Building something I needed Dogear started with a problem I was experiencing personally. Initial concepts I wanted to read more, but my process for managing recommendations was scattered and inconsistent. I did not need another complicated productivity system. I needed a low-friction place to discover books and keep track of the ones that stood out. That personal frustration became the starting point for the product. There is no guarantee that every problem I experience is shared by everyone else. But when a problem is simple, recurring, and difficult to solve with the tools already available, it can be a useful place to begin building. Dogear is my attempt to package that solution into a focused, minimalist app. What comes next I am building Dogear for Shipaton 2026, RevenueCat’s app-building competition for developers shipping real products. The competition gives me a deadline to turn Dogear from an idea into a publicly available iOS app. During Shipaton, I plan to ship Dogear’s core book-discovery experience, including browsing books, learning about them, and saving titles for later. I will also use the competition to test the app with early users, refine the experience based on feedback, and document the decisions and challenges involved in preparing Dogear for launch. The product will continue to evolve through feedback. If you have an idea, feature request, or suggestion, you can contact me at support@amolkmr.com. Dogear began as a way to solve a problem I kept running into: finding books worth reading and then losing track of them. Now I am building it into a small, focused place for book discovery. One folded corner at a time.