Everything the app can do, and where to find it. A few of the best parts are behind a long-press, so this page exists to make sure you know they are there.
Open a library, tap ••• at the top right, and choose Import Files or Import Folder. Longbox reads CBZ, CBR, ZIP, RAR, PDF and EPUB.
Import Folder takes the files sitting directly in the folder you pick. It does not go into folders inside that folder, so pick the one with the comics in it.
In any app — Files, Mail, Dropbox, Drive — tap the share button and choose Longbox. This is the only way to bring in several comics at once from another app: the older "Copy to Longbox" route hands over just one file, whatever you selected last. Shared comics land in your default library, and Longbox asks before importing.
Longbox imports 50 files at a time. Pick more and it takes the first 50 and tells you how many were left — run it again for the rest.
Every import stops at Review Imports, which counts what it worked out (DETECTED) and what it could not (NEED REVIEW). Tap any comic to set its Title, Series, Issue Number, Year or Publisher by hand, or tap the ✕ to drop it from the batch.
All Comics always holds everything. Make your own with Add New Library at the bottom of the Libraries tab. Free includes eight; Premium removes the limit.
Long-press a library card (or tap its •••) for Lock Library and Delete Library. A locked library needs Face ID to open and hides its covers until it is unlocked. Deleting a library never deletes the comics inside it.
The ••• at the top right of the Libraries tab has Sort Libraries, Reorder Libraries, Rename Libraries and Display Options — card size, and whether to show when each library was last added to.
Open a library, tap •••, and pick under VIEW:
Publisher shelves group by the real publisher, not the exact spelling — Marvel, Marvel Comics and MARVEL COMICS all land together. They need a publisher on the comic to work, which is what the next section is for.
Sort by Series, Recently Read, Title A–Z or Progress, and Filter to All, Favorites, In Progress, Unread or Finished.
Collections that keep themselves up to date from rules you set — everything unread from 2012, every issue of a publisher, anything added this month. They live under the libraries on the Libraries tab. Long-press a Smart List to edit its rules or delete it. Smart Lists are part of Premium.
Open it, tap •••, then Edit Metadata. Anything you type is yours permanently — automatic matching will never write over it.
If the whole comic matched the wrong issue, use Wrong Comic? instead and search the database for the right one.
This is the one worth knowing. Open a library, tap ••• → Select Comics, tap the comics you want (or Select All), then Edit Info in the bar at the bottom. Set the Series, Publisher, Year or the numbering — Issue, Volume or Chapter — across all of them at once.
Anything you leave blank is left alone, so setting a publisher on sixty issues will not touch their years.
If the comics are already grouped as a series, it is quicker still: switch to Series view, long-press the series, and choose Edit Info.
Auto Metadata in Settings fills in series, publisher, year, creators and characters by matching your comics against the Grand Comics Database. It needs Premium and a free Longbox account — the database is looked up as a signed-in user, so it quietly does nothing if you are signed out.
To fill in a library you already imported, open it and choose ••• → Enrich Missing Metadata.
| Do this | Get this |
|---|---|
| Tap the middle | Show or hide the bar and the page thumbnails |
| Double tap | Zoom in on that spot; double tap again to come back out |
| Pinch | Zoom freely, then drag to move around |
| Swipe | Turn the page |
| Turn the phone sideways | Two pages side by side, the way a spread was drawn |
Tap once to bring up the bar and you get a strip of numbered page thumbnails along the bottom — drag it to jump anywhere in the issue.
Tap the page, then •••:
These settings remember the series, not just the comic. Set an issue to read right-to-left, or give it a custom fit, and every other issue of that series follows — including ones you import later. If a comic looks like manga, Longbox switches it for you and tells you it did, with one tap to undo.
EPUB files open in a proper novel reader with Contents, light and dark modes, the same colour filters, and text size from 80% to 180%. Select some text to highlight it, and long-press the Highlight button that appears to pick a colour. Novels are part of Premium.
Settings → Comic Server connects Longbox to Komga, Kavita or any OPDS server, so your whole collection is there without importing it. Part of Premium. Step-by-step setup guide →
Komga needs your server address and login. Kavita works differently — open Kavita's user settings, copy the whole OPDS URL, and paste it into the address box; Longbox splits out the key for you. Passwords are kept in the iOS keychain.
Server comics stream as you read and take up no space. To read one without a connection, open it and tap Download, or long-press a whole series and download the run. Keep Longbox open while downloads finish — they pause when you close the app and pick up where they left off. Settings → Downloads shows what is stored and frees it again.
If the server cannot be reached, your library still lists everything and a banner explains what is wrong. Anything already downloaded keeps working.
An account is free and separate from Premium. It gives you reading stats, a place on the leaderboard, and it is what the comics database is looked up with. Reading stats start from the day you sign in.
Sync across devices carries your place in every comic, your favourites and your stats to an iPad. Your files never leave your phone, and comics are matched by a scrambled fingerprint of the file rather than by name, so the server never learns what you read. Sync is part of Premium.
App Lock in Settings → Privacy asks for Face ID every time the app opens. To lock a single library instead, long-press it on the Libraries tab.
Reading the comics you own is free, always — importing files, the whole reader, brightness, filters, fit and direction, libraries, favourites, search, reading history, an account, the leaderboard, and App Lock. None of that is going behind a paywall.
Premium adds:
If Premium ever lapses, nothing is deleted. Comics you downloaded stay readable, your Smart Lists keep their rules, and everything comes back the moment you resubscribe.