3 min readNew DelhiJun 30, 2026 01:52 PM IST
Rakuten-owned Kobo has rolled out its integration with StoryGraph, allowing users to automatically sync their reading progress between Kobo devices and the book-tracking platform. The feature, which was announced in May, is now available globally for all Kobo account-based content.
The integration makes Kobo the first e-reader platform to support StoryGraph natively, offering an alternative to Amazon’s tightly integrated Kindle-Goodreads ecosystem. While Goodreads has long been the default social reading platform for Kindle users, competing services have struggled to gain traction partly because they lacked direct e-reader integration.
With the feature enabled, Kobo automatically syncs a user’s “Currently Reading” status and reading progress to StoryGraph, eliminating the need for manual updates. According to Kobo, the feature is free for all Kobo e-readers and supports both e-books and audiobooks. Reading progress is shared as a percentage, which StoryGraph automatically converts into pages or listening time, depending on the format. Users can also enable or disable the integration at any time through their Kobo account settings.
However, some features are not yet supported. Highlights, notes, and previously logged reading history are not synced, while disconnecting the integration does not remove data that has already been shared with StoryGraph. Kobo also notes that reading progress will sync only if the Kobo and StoryGraph accounts are linked and the title is marked as “Currently Reading” on the Kobo platform.
StoryGraph functions as both a reading tracker and a social platform. Besides maintaining users’ reading history, it allows readers to set personalised reading goals, participate in community challenges, discover books through recommendations tailored to their preferences instead of popularity, and access detailed analytics on their reading habits, including pace, mood and genre trends.
Founded in 2019 by Nadia Odunayo and CTO Rob Frelow, StoryGraph has grown without external funding and now says it serves more than five million readers. Through the Kobo partnership, the platform will also gain exposure to Kobo’s reported 12 million users across 190 countries.
The collaboration comes amid renewed interest in digital reading, fuelled by online communities such as BookTok. As many as 31 per cent of US adults said they had read an e-book in the past year, compared with 17 per cent in 2011, according to Pew Research Center.
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The move also follows broader activity in the digital reading market. Earlier this year, e-book and audiobook platform Everand acquired reading community app Fable to strengthen its own social reading ecosystem, although it does not operate e-reader hardware.
The Kobo-StoryGraph integration is available free of charge. StoryGraph also offers an optional Plus subscription priced at $5 (approx. Rs 430) per month, which includes advanced statistics, custom charts, additional filters and comparison tools.
(This article has been curated by Shivani P Menon, who is an intern with The Indian Express)