SimpleUI for KOReader

A clean, distraction-free UI plugin for KOReader. SimpleUI adds a dedicated Home Screen, a customisable Navigation Bar, a top status bar and a reworked library title bar, giving you instant access to your library, history, collections and reading stats without navigating through nested menus.

Table of Contents

• Requirements
• Installation
• Features
  • Home Screen
  • Tiny Critter
  • Reading Stats & Streaks
  • Library
  • Navigation Bar
  • Top Status Bar
  • Quick Settings Bar
  • Custom Title Bar
  • Quick Actions
  • Style
  • Settings
  • Backup & Restore
  • Factory Reset
• Translations
• Icon Packs
• Contributing
• License

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Requirements

• KOReader v2026.03 or newer.
• The CoverBrowser plugin enabled (it ships with KOReader). Covers, mosaic views and library browsing depend on its book-info cache.
• Simple UI checks for plugins that conflict with it at startup and disables them automatically (it shows a message when it does). Restart KOReader when asked.

Installation

Install from the latest release, not from Code → Download ZIP. The repository download extracts to a folder such as simpleui.koplugin-main, which KOReader does not recognise as this plugin. The release ZIP already contains a correctly named simpleui.koplugin folder.

1. Open the latest release page
2. Scroll down to Assets and click simpleui.koplugin.zip to download it (ignore Source code (zip) and Source code (tar.gz))
3. Extract the ZIP on your computer. You should get a folder named exactly simpleui.koplugin with main.lua and _meta.lua directly inside. Some extraction tools add a wrapper folder with the same name (simpleui.koplugin/simpleui.koplugin); if that happens, copy the inner folder, the one that holds main.lua
4. Connect your device to your computer and copy the simpleui.koplugin folder to the plugins/ directory of your KOReader installation:
   • Kobo: /.adds/koreader/plugins
   • Kindle: /koreader/plugins
   • Android: koreader/plugins at the root of onboard storage.
5. Restart KOReader — Simple UI enables itself automatically and, on this first launch only, walks you through a short Welcome Screen (pick a starter layout, a few quick tips) before landing on your new Home Screen
6. From there, tap the Settings button (gear icon) on the Navigation Bar any time to open the SUI Settings Window and configure the plugin further

Tip: If the plugin does not appear after restarting, check that the folder is named exactly simpleui.koplugin, sits directly inside plugins/, and is not nested (plugins/simpleui.koplugin/simpleui.koplugin).

Tip: If you skip or close the Welcome Screen, tap the Home Screen tab in the Navigation Bar to open your new home screen.

Tip: "Start with Home Screen" is already on after the Welcome Screen finishes, so KOReader opens directly to your Home Screen every time you turn on your device. You can toggle it any time from the Settings button under Home Screen → Behaviour → Start with Home Screen.

Updating: Simple UI checks for new releases at most once a day (and on demand from About → Check for Updates). When one is available a banner appears at the top of the About menu; you can read the release notes and install it from there. Your settings and your own files (wallpapers, icons, quotes, critters) are never touched by an update.

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Features

Home Screen

Build the screen you want from modules — Currently Reading, Recent and New Books, To Be Read, Cover Deck, Collections, Reading Goals, Reading Stats, Reading Heatmap, Tabbed Grid, Quick Actions, Quote of the Day, a Tiny Critter and more. Each module is a box you size and place freely on a grid of 6 columns, so modules sit side by side; you can split a screen into several pages, save presets, set a wallpaper and create extra Custom Screens.

See docs/HOME_SCREEN.md for every module and the layout tools.

Tiny Critter

A pixel-art companion that comments on your reading, remembers its mood, reacts to events (a finished book, a long session, low battery), offers daily challenges and suggests what to read next. Seven critters are bundled, and you can add your own critters, decorations and phrases. See docs/CRITTER.md.

Reading Stats & Streaks

A grid of stat cards you compose yourself (Cards, Detailed Cards with charts, or List), plus the Reading Insights, Streak Manager (with freezes), Reading Heatmap and Finished Books windows. See docs/STATS.md.

Library

Browse by author, series or tags, search the whole library by metadata, group series into one entry, and customise folder covers and cover badges. See docs/LIBRARY.md.

Navigation Bar

A persistent tab bar at the bottom of the screen for one-tap navigation:

• Up to 6 fully customisable tabs: Library, History, Collections, Favourites, Continue Reading, Home Screen, Wi-Fi Toggle, Brightness, Stats, Bookmark Browser, Browse by Author/Series/Tags, and custom folder, collection or Custom Screen shortcuts
• 3 display modes: icons only, text only, or icons + text
• 2 layouts: Full-width and Floating, each with white or gray tone, optional frame and adjustable opacity
• Adjustable bar size, icon size, and label size
• Navpager mode — replaces the pagination bar with Prev/Next arrows at the edges of the Navigation Bar; arrows dim when there is no previous or next page
• Hold anywhere on the bar to instantly open navigation settings

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗