Ultimate guide to Blinkist audiobooks and reviews

In recent years, audiobooks have transformed the way people learn. The audio content creates a stress-free environment for those who struggle to read print or hold physical books. Audiobooks are an exciting and inclusive learning tool that allows people to focus on the content and understand its meaning.

Non-fiction books, in particular, have become popular among those who want to grow their knowledge of the world. However, listening to an entire audiobook still takes hours, and you may want to skip to the key insights without wasting time on boring descriptions.

For this reason, Blinkist has become one of the most widely used book services on the market. It breaks down complex books into bite-sized recaps called blinks. The concise summaries allow users to save time while learning vital information about different books.

What is Blinkist?

Blinkist is a book summary platform that helps users digest the most important insights of different books in under 15 minutes. Its most notable feature is the minimalistic Blinkist reader.

Blinkist offers audio versions of its book summaries, and users can highlight interesting blinks, share them with friends, and consume educational content in less time.

The Blinkist team reads entire books, identifies the main takeaways, organizes them into succinct book summaries, and uploads accompanying podcast-like recordings. Users can read the main points or listen to the audio summaries.

This approach is new in the audiobook world and sets this book summary service apart from competitors like Amazon’s Audible and Kindle.

What you need to know about Blinkist

If you’re just now learning about Blinkist and deciding whether the service is worth it, here are a few things you should know.

Primarily non-fiction books

The service caters to those who enjoy non-fiction books. The platform organizes the titles into over 20 categories. Some of its most popular categories include:

• Popular science
• Personal development
• Politics
• Society
• Business
• Self-improvement
• Entrepreneurship
• Self-help

The platform currently has over 5,000 Blinkist summaries, and approximately 90% are available as audio versions. Blinkist introduces over 70 new books each month and is continuously working on expanding its audiobook selection.

Insights instead of full audiobooks

Blinkist is an excellent option for people with a thirst for knowledge and those who struggle to find time to read. Additionally, it caters to aspiring readers who have trouble tackling traditional printed books.

You can access the key ideas from non-fiction bestsellers and understand them within minutes. Instead of spending hours reading full books, you’ll learn everything you need to know with the short summaries.

If you’re unsure which titles interest you, you’ll receive personalized recommendations to guide you in the right direction.

The library

The central tab in the Blinkist mobile app is the library. Think of it as your homepage. It’s a list of all the book summaries a user has saved.

A green bar will appear next to the blinks you completed and a blue beside the ones you’ve begun reading.

With a few filter tweaks, your library will only display audiobooks. It’s highly customizable, and you should have no difficulty sorting your titles and tracking your progress. Best of all, your mobile device will save the summaries of all the titles in your library, meaning you can access them offline.

Syncing to Evernote and Kindle

The You tab is your personal profile. Here, you can save your favorite titles and highlights and share them with friends on other services like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Moreover, users can use this tab to sync their Blinkist profiles with their Evernote accounts and connect the app to Kindle. They can store highlights in an Evernote notebook or transfer book summaries to Kindle and take them wherever they go. 

Pricing and subscription plans

If you hate reading non-fiction books padded with fluff, you may wonder, “Is Blinkist worth my time?” To answer that question, we have to look at the pricing plans of this subscription service.

A monthly plan costs around $13. However, you can lower the monthly price by purchasing the annual plan. With a yearly Blinkist subscription, the monthly total drops to approximately $5.40. 

Although you can create a free account on the Blinkist app, this limits you to reading one summary per day. You’ll need to buy the Blinkist Premium plan to access the platform’s full catalog and view new titles. 

Those unsure whether the Blinkist app is the right fit can try the 7-day free trial and test its features. If you’re satisfied with the service, you may decide to proceed with the yearly subscription and gain unlimited access to its content.

How to use Blinkist

How do you get started on this book summary app?

If you don’t have time to read a whole book, you can still be a reader. All you need to do is head to the Apple App Store and download and install Blinkist on your iOS device.

The mobile app is also compatible with Android devices.

After installing the app, you can choose the seven-day trial or the yearly subscription.

Blinkist – A quick review

Let’s review this mobile app and examine its pros and cons.

Some of its most notable advantages include:

• In-depth book summaries
• A simplified way to learn and consume non-fiction books
• Highlighting option bolsters memory retention
• The choice to read book summaries or listen to the accompanying audio versions

However, this Blinkist review would be incomplete if we didn’t mention the drawbacks. Users have found that the app’s most noticeable disadvantages include the following:

• The summaries lack humor and emotion
• The blinks may seem repetitive
• Blinkist doesn’t fact-check or review its titles

FAQ

Are audiobooks free on Blinkist?

If you have a free account, you’ll have to pay an audiobook’s total retail price to add it to your Blinkist Library. 

What are the best books on Blinkist?

Unsurprisingly, the best books on Blinkist are non-fiction titles. 

What is the most popular book on Blinkist?

James Clear’s Atomic Habits is currently the most popular book on Blinkist.