Audiobookshelf is fantastic, however if you aren't ready to self host I would have a long think about if you want to start pulling that thread.

We are not IOS users so can't comment on client software but the experience on Android is pretty good.

Got my wife set up and a few titles from Librivox for her to stream while driving across my home state for work and she essentially jumped from Google Play Books to Audiobookshelf without missing a beat, saved us a lot of money on a voice she largely ignores to help her focus.

Audiobookshelf!

Here is where I saved how I did it: https://wiki.gardiol.org/doku.php?id=services%3Aaudiobookshelf

Audiobookshelf is great. For iOS I've got a friend with an iPhone who said that Still is feature complete and the in-app purchases are basically just an optional donation.

AudioBooth is a free and open source iOS app for Audiobookshelf.

Set up audiobookshelf via docker. I like using portainer to manage docker containers because it has a GUI. Command line stuff is more difficult if you don't have the background experience to go with it. I think doing it all in a GUI feels more comfortable for most people.

Docker can also be kind of intimidating if you are just wading into the self hosting world but it really is much simpler to use once you get the hang of it. Portainer helps a ton with that. Audiobookshelf would be great to start with both imo because it's a pretty basic set up. You have to define a storage location for your library and config files and that's about all it takes to get it up and running.

I recently got into all this and remember well what it was like to feel out of my element so feel free to ask questions if you have any. I'm no expert but I'm happy to share what I can.

AudioBookShelf + Prologue (iOS)

I ran ABS + Plex for a while, but the latest major release from Prologue broke Plex libraries and it was faster to switch to ABS than it was to wait for a patch.

Performance is comparable with ABS, but sessions are stored on the ABS side so client switching is easier than it was with Plex

@DonutsRMeh #Audiobookshelf is the way to go on #android. My family does not use #ios at all so i can't speak to that. It is one of the most used piece of software I #selfhost other than #nextcloud.

I know your requirement was for iOS but if anyone comes across this thread and is looking for a nice android client. I found that lissen is working perfectly for me, and great minimalist design too.

I didn't really have a need for Audiobookshelf until I discovered libro.fm where I found you can get drm-free audiobooks. After I discovered a need, I found the Plappa app on iOS is actually a pretty nice player to connect to audiobookshelf. I still need to use the web app to manage the library. But Plappa provides the listening part, and it also does CarPlay (which is my main requirement for media).

Audiobookshelf also has a podcast feature you can use as a podcast fetcher - and then play them through Plappa.

For audio media I use Jellyfin and the Manet iOS app (the only CarPlay media player I could find). It keeps things in separate apps, but that's what's working for me.

I have been testing the waters and on iOS AudioBooth is the client i would recommend.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/audiobooth-audiobooks-player/id6753017503

Official ABS client via testflight drains the battery more and can be connection issues when ABS server is behind a VPN (iOS vpn implementation is one to blame). Plappa as mentioned is a second best client in my opinion.

Good news, you don't need an app for audiobookshelf. If the iOS devs are trying to leach money from you, you can just use the web client to stream your books. The only downside is I don't think you'll be able to download files for offline use.

I just sync the titles I want to listen to, to my phone using syncthing.

It just works reliably in all cases with no dicking around.

Audiobookshelf is fine, but if Wife Approval Factor is important this is what I'd do.

That said my partner and I are both team android so if you're iOS then your SOL with syncthing I think.

@DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world I'd start with ABS anyway. It is the most mature selfhosted Audiobooks platform out there right now. My only paint points have been that their API docs are lackluster.

I tried a lot of apps and didn’t like any of them. So I used AI to slop code a rss feed of my audiobooks folder. Very very simple setup and doesn’t require an additional phone app. You get to use your favorite podcast app too.