Best Apps to Save Book Quotes from Paper Books (2026)

Readwise is best for most readers saving paper-book quotes: it scans a photographed page and resurfaces highlights daily, from $5.59 a month billed yearly on Readwise's website (as of October 2026). Bookmory is a free reading tracker with photo-to-text notes. Pick Pagefond on Android for a private quote library you can start without an account, plus designed quote images.

Which app is best for saving book quotes?

Readwise is best for resurfacing highlights, Bookmory for a free reading tracker, and Pagefond for a private paper-book quote library on Android. Goodreads and phone text recognition are free but manual.

Best for resurfacing and Kindle sync: Readwise — daily review, spaced repetition and automatic Kindle sync alongside paper-book scanning.
Best free reading tracker with quotes: Bookmory — photo-to-text notes, a reading timer and stats on Android and iPhone, with ads in the free version.
Best for a private paper-book quote library on Android: Pagefond — highlight words on a photo of the page and keep them on your phone without an account.
Best for browsing quotes other readers have saved: Goodreads — community quote pages you can browse by tag, like and add to.
Best if you don't want another app: Live Text on iPhone or Google Lens on Android — copy text from a photo into the notes app you already use.

How do Readwise, Bookmory, Pagefond, Goodreads and phone tools compare?

Readwise leads on resurfacing, Bookmory on free reading tracking, and Pagefond on capture without an account and quote images in four formats. Goodreads and built-in phone tools cost nothing but leave the work to you.

Apps for saving quotes from paper books, compared from official listings and help pages, as of October 2026
App	Price	Platforms	Capture from a printed page	Resurfacing	Quote images	Account needed	Main limit
Readwise	30-day free trial, then from $5.59/month billed yearly on Readwise's website	iPhone, Android, web	Photo, then drag to select or auto-detect marker highlights; needs internet	Daily Review email and app, spaced repetition, flashcards	Yes ("textshots")	Yes	Paid after the trial
Bookmory	Free with ads; Premium $3.49/month or $30.99/year (US App Store)	Android, iPhone	OCR text from photos (unlimited OCR is Premium on iPhone)	Random Notes	Notes with decorative backgrounds	Not listed	Reading tracker first, quote tool second
Pagefond	Free; AI features use credits	Android	Photo, then highlight the exact words on the image	Rediscover favourites, gentle reminders, recall cards	Story, portrait, square or wide; optional AI artwork	Not to capture; yes for sync	New; Android only; Kindle and Goodreads are file imports
Goodreads	Free	Web quote pages; apps on iPhone and Android	Not listed; you type the quote	Not listed	Not listed	Yes, to add a quote	Community-added quotes, not a private notebook
Live Text (iPhone) / Google Lens (Android)	Free, built in	iPhone XS/XR or later on iOS 15+; Android via Google Photos	Select and copy text from a photo	Not listed	Not listed	No extra account	All organising is manual

Is Readwise worth paying for if you read paper books?

Readwise is worth paying for if you also highlight on Kindle or the web and want everything resurfaced in one daily review. For paper books alone, Readwise is the only option here that needs a subscription once its 30-day free trial ends.

Readwise brings in highlights from Kindle, Apple Books, Instapaper, Medium and Goodreads, and from paper books through its iPhone and Android apps. You photograph a page and drag a finger over the lines you want, or let it pick up text you've already marked with a highlighter pen. Readwise says recognition happens online, so scanning needs an internet connection.

Its strength is bringing highlights back: a daily email and in-app Daily Review use spaced repetition, and highlights can become flashcards, be tagged, annotated and searched. Readwise's changelog also describes "textshots": styled images of a highlight, including a square format for Instagram.

As of October 2026, Readwise's website lists Readwise Lite at $5.59 a month billed yearly, and Readwise Full at $9.99 a month billed yearly or $12.99 month to month; Full adds export to Notion and Obsidian plus the Reader app. In-app prices on the App Store differ.

Choose Readwise if you highlight across Kindle, articles and paper books and want one paid service to bring the best lines back to you every day.

Is Bookmory good for saving quotes for free?

Bookmory is a good free choice if you want quotes to live inside a full reading tracker. Bookmory is on Google Play and the App Store, extracts text from photos, and shows ads in the free version.

Bookmory (also on the App Store) pairs a reading journal with a reading timer, goals, streaks, statistics and a calendar. For quotes, its listings mention highlighting favourite quotes, OCR text extraction from photos, sharing notes with "aesthetic backgrounds", and a Random Notes feature for revisiting old entries.

The iPhone listing adds note types (Book Content, Summary, Thought, Question) and export as text, Markdown or Excel. It names unlimited text extraction (OCR), ad removal and automatic sync as Premium features, priced at $3.49 a month or $30.99 a year on the US App Store as of October 2026.

Choose Bookmory if you want one free app for tracking books, reading time and quotes, on Android or iPhone, and you don't mind ads.

Who is Pagefond for?

Pagefond is for Android readers of printed books who want a private, organised quote library and designed quote images. Pagefond is new, free on Google Play, and as of October 2026 available only on Android.

In Pagefond, you photograph a printed page, highlight the exact words on the image, review the text and save it. Line breaks, source details and your own thoughts stay together. Capture works without an account and passages can be kept locally; an account adds cloud sync.

Passages go into collections and themes, are searchable, and can be gathered into a personal quote book. To bring them back, Pagefond offers rediscovery of favourite passages, gentle reminders and recall cards, with an adjustable daily study workload and no broken-streak penalties. A saved quote can become a designed image in story, portrait, square or wide format, with the excerpt and attribution shown for review before you share.

AI artwork needs an internet connection and credits: three trial AI tasks come before an account is required, and signing up doesn't mean unlimited generation. Goodreads and Kindle data arrive as file imports (a Goodreads library CSV, or Kindle's My Clippings.txt or a compatible CSV), not live sync. You can export your collection and delete your account from Settings. More about Pagefond.

Choose Pagefond if you mostly read printed books on an Android phone and want a private place to keep exact passages, without streak pressure, and turn them into shareable images.

Can you save quotes on Goodreads?

Yes, Goodreads lets you add quotes and keep a "My Quotes" list, but you type each quote yourself and need a Goodreads account. Goodreads suits finding well-known quotes more than capturing your own.

The Goodreads quotes pages let you browse quotes by tag, like them and add new ones. Goodreads states that quotes "are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads", so treat them as a shared collection rather than a private notebook. Goodreads describes itself as a free book tracker, with apps on iPhone and Android.

Choose Goodreads if you mainly want to find, like and look up quotes other readers have added, and you already use Goodreads for your shelves.

Can you just use Apple Notes or Google Keep?

Yes. On iPhone, Live Text lets you select and copy text from the camera or a photo, including inside Apple Notes; on Android, Google Lens in Google Photos does the same, and you can paste the text into Google Keep or any notes app.

Apple says Live Text needs an iPhone XS, iPhone XR or later with iOS 15 or later. Google's help page says to open a photo in Google Photos, tap Google Lens, then select the words to copy. Neither costs anything extra.

The trade-off: you do all the organising yourself.

Choose your phone's built-in tools if you save a quote now and then and don't want another app or subscription.

When should you choose another app instead of Pagefond?

Choose another app instead of Pagefond if you use an iPhone, rely on Kindle sync, want reading stats, or keep notes in Notion or Obsidian.

You use an iPhone. Pagefond is Android-only as of October 2026. Readwise and Bookmory both have App Store apps, and Live Text is built into iOS.
Most of your highlights are on Kindle. Readwise syncs Kindle highlights automatically. Pagefond only imports a My Clippings.txt or CSV file you provide (reviewing those records needs an account), and it does not download purchased ebooks or remove DRM.
You want reading timers, goals and stats. Bookmory is built around them. Pagefond keeps a bookmark and what you're reading, but its listing doesn't mention a timer or statistics.
You keep notes in Notion or Obsidian. Readwise Full exports to both. Pagefond lets you export your collection, but its listing doesn't mention Notion or Obsidian.

How did we compare these apps?

We compared official store listings, websites and help pages, checked on 19 October 2026. We did not test the competing apps hands-on. We judged each on four jobs: capturing text from a printed page, organising it, bringing it back later, and sharing it as an image. "Not listed" in the table means we didn't find the feature on official pages, not that it is definitely missing. We left out Basmo, whose store listings were last updated in May 2023 (App Store) and August 2024 (Google Play), and Bookly, because its official site (getbookly.com) would not load for us on the day we checked; its App Store listing does mention saving quotes and Pro "image quotes".

Frequently asked questions

What is the best app to save quotes from physical books?

As of October 2026, Readwise is the strongest all-round choice for saving quotes from physical books. Its iPhone and Android apps scan a photographed page and resurface highlights through a daily review, from $5.59 a month billed yearly on Readwise's website after a 30-day free trial. Bookmory is a free reading tracker with photo-to-text notes, and Pagefond suits Android readers who want a private quote library and designed quote images.

Can Readwise scan pages from a paper book?

Yes. The Readwise iPhone and Android apps use the phone camera and optical character recognition to pull text off a printed page. You drag a finger over the lines you want, or let Readwise detect text you have already marked with a highlighter pen. Readwise says recognition happens online, so scanning needs an internet connection, and that it works with books in any language.

Is there a free app to save book quotes on Android?

Yes. Pagefond is free on Google Play and lets you photograph a printed page, highlight the words and save them without an account, though its AI artwork features need credits. Bookmory is free on Google Play with ads and extracts text from photos. Google Lens in Google Photos can also copy text from a photo into Google Keep or any notes app at no cost.

How do I turn a book quote into an image to share?

Pagefond turns a saved passage into a designed image in story, portrait, square or wide format, and shows the excerpt and attribution for review before you share. Bookmory shares notes with decorative backgrounds. Readwise's changelog describes textshots, styled images of a highlight with a square option for Instagram. With Apple Notes or Google Keep, you would need a separate design app to make a quote image.

Can I import Kindle highlights into Pagefond?

Yes, as a file import. Pagefond reads Kindle highlights and notes from a My Clippings.txt file or a compatible CSV, with review and duplicate checks, and reviewing Kindle import records requires a Pagefond account. It is not automatic Kindle sync, and Pagefond does not download purchased ebooks or remove DRM. Readwise is the better choice if you want Kindle highlights to sync automatically.

Do I need an account to save book quotes?

Not always. Pagefond lets you capture and keep passages locally without signing up, and an account adds cloud sync. Live Text on iPhone and Google Lens on Android need no extra account. Goodreads asks you to sign in before adding a quote, and Readwise works through an account that starts with a 30-day free trial needing no card upfront.

Sources

Pagefond: Book Quotes & Notes (Google Play listing) · Globalinno Services · checked 19 October 2026
Readwise pricing · Readwise · checked 19 October 2026
Readwise home page · Readwise · checked 19 October 2026
Import from Physical Books with OCR · Readwise · checked 19 October 2026
Readwise (Google Play listing) · Readwise · checked 19 October 2026
Readwise (App Store listing) · Readwise, Inc · checked 19 October 2026
Textshots changelog · Readwise · checked 19 October 2026
Bookmory - reading tracker (Google Play listing) · Tony soft · checked 19 October 2026
Bookmory - reading tracker (App Store listing) · TonySoft · checked 19 October 2026
Popular Quotes · Goodreads · checked 19 October 2026
Goodreads: Book Tracker & More (Google Play listing) · Goodreads · checked 19 October 2026
Goodreads: Book Tracker & More (App Store listing) · Goodreads, Inc · checked 19 October 2026
Copy and translate text from photos on your iPhone or iPad · Apple · checked 19 October 2026
Get info about your photos & surroundings (Google Lens) · Google · checked 19 October 2026
Bookly: Book Tracker (App Store listing) · TWODOOR GAMES SRL · checked 19 October 2026
Basmo.Reading Tracker,Book Log (App Store listing) · Book Vitals Inc. · checked 19 October 2026
Basmo.Reading Tracker,Book Log (Google Play listing) · Book Vitals Inc. · checked 19 October 2026