A reading companion app for iOS that lets you capture thoughts, quotes, and insights as you read — using your voice, camera, or keyboard!!
Features
Voice Annotations
- Widgets (Home + Lock Screen) - Launch Quick Record from the widget
- In-app recording - Record audio annotations inside any book
- Automatic transcription - On-device speech recognition, completely private
Image & Video Annotations
- Take photos of passages, diagrams, or interesting pages
- Import from your photo library
- Add captions for context
Text Notes
- Quick typed notes with optional page numbers
- Full-text search across all annotations
Library Management
- Add books manually or scan ISBN barcodes
- Automatic title, author, and cover lookup via Open Library API
- Archive books you've finished
Feed & Search
- Browse all annotations across all books
- Random shuffle for serendipitous rediscovery
- Full-text search with highlighted matches
- Spotlight integration for system-wide search
Widgets
BookTalk includes Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets for quick audio capture. Tap the widget to open Quick Record, then choose the book while you record. Recordings are saved to the selected book and transcribed on-device.
Screenshots
Requirements
- iOS 16.0+
- Xcode 15.0+
- Swift 5.9+
Building
- Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/BookTalk.git
cd BookTalk- Open in Xcode
- Build and run on simulator or device
Tech Stack
- SwiftUI - UI framework
- GRDB.swift - SQLite database with FTS5 full-text search
- AVFoundation - Audio recording and playback
- Speech - On-device transcription
- Vision - ISBN barcode scanning
- Core Spotlight - System search integration
- WidgetKit - Home + Lock Screen widgets
Architecture
BookTalk/
├── BookTalkApp.swift # App entry point
├── ContentView.swift # Main tab view
├── Database/
│ ├── DatabaseManager.swift # SQLite + GRDB setup
│ ├── Book.swift # Book model
│ └── Annotation.swift # Annotation model + FTS
├── Services/
│ ├── AudioRecorder.swift # In-app recording
│ ├── AudioPlayer.swift # Playback
│ ├── TranscriptionService.swift
│ ├── SpotlightService.swift
│ ├── BarcodeScannerService.swift
│ └── BookLookupService.swift
└── Views/
├── Library/ # Book grid, add book
├── Book/ # Book detail, annotations
├── Feed/ # All annotations feed
├── Search/ # Search interface
├── Recording/ # Quick Record flow
└── Common/ # Shared components
Privacy
BookTalk is designed with privacy in mind:
- All data stored locally - No cloud sync, no accounts
- On-device transcription - Speech recognition runs entirely on your device
- No analytics or tracking - Zero data collection
- No network requests except ISBN lookup when adding books
See the full Privacy Policy.
Permissions
| Permission | Usage |
|---|---|
| Microphone | Recording voice annotations |
| Camera | Scanning ISBN barcodes, taking photos |
| Photo Library | Adding existing photos/videos |
| Speech Recognition | On-device transcription |
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
- Fork the repository
- Create your feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature) - Commit your changes (
git commit -m 'Add amazing feature') - Push to the branch (
git push origin feature/amazing-feature) - Open a Pull Request
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
Acknowledgments
- GRDB.swift - SQLite toolkit for Swift
- Open Library API - Book metadata
Author
Bram Adams
- Website: bramadams.dev
- Support: bram+support@bramadams.dev