A clean UI plugin that transforms your reading experience with a dedicated home screen, bottom navigation, top bar and instant access to everything you want.

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What is it?

SimpleUI is a free, open-source plugin for KOReader that replaces the default interface with a cleaner, more intuitive navigation experience. It adds a dedicated Home Screen, a customizable bottom tab bar, and a slim top status bar, giving you instant access to your library, reading history, collections, and stats without ever digging through nested menus.

Think of it as a home screen for your e-reader. The moment you pick up your device, you see your current book with its cover and progress, your recent reads, your collections, your reading goals, and even a daily literary quote, all in one place, all tappable. Everything is fully configurable, and if you want, KOReader can open directly to this screen every time you turn it on.

☕ Enjoying Simple UI?

Consider supporting the project: https://ko-fi.com/doctorhetfield

⬇️ Download

Stable:

simpleui.koplugin.zip

🔗 GitHub

Current version: v1.3.5 | Release date: 10/04/2026

License: MIT · Author: Doctor Hetfield View on GitHub

How to Install

• Download the repository — click Code → Download ZIP on GitHub
• Extract and confirm the folder is named simpleui.koplugin
• Copy the folder to the plugins/ directory on your KOReader device
• Restart KOReader
• Go to Menu → Tools → SimpleUI to enable and configure

Tip: After enabling, tap the Home Screen tab in the bottom bar to open the home screen. To make it your default start screen, go to Menu → Tools → SimpleUI → Home Screen → Start with Home Screen. KOReader will open directly to your home screen every time you turn on your device.

Features

Home Screen

The centrepiece of SimpleUI. A home screen that gives you everything at a glance:

• Clock & Date — a large, readable clock with full date display
• Currently Reading — your active book with cover art, title, author, progress bar, percentage read, and estimated time left
• Recent Books — a row of up to 5 recent books with cover thumbnails and progress indicators; tap any to resume reading
• Collections — your KOReader collections displayed as tappable cover cards, right on the home screen
• Reading Goals — visual progress tracker for your annual and daily reading goals, including physical books read
• Reading Stats — compact stat cards showing today's reading time, pages, streaks, and all-time totals
• Quick Actions — up to 3 customisable rows of shortcut buttons (Library, History, Wi-Fi toggle, Brightness, Stats, and more)
• New Books — a row of up to 5 recently added books sorted by file date; unread books are labelled "New" and started books show their read percentage; opt-in via Arrange Modules
• Quote of the Day — optional literary header, randomly picked from a curated list of 100+ quotes; can also show your own highlights
• Module ordering — rearrange Home Screen modules in any order to match your workflow
• Per-module scaling — resize each module independently, or lock all scales together for uniform adjustments
• Start with Home Screen — set the Home Screen as the first screen KOReader opens every time you pick up your device

Bottom Navigation Bar

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

• Up to 5 fully customisable tabs: Library, History, Collections, Favourites, Continue Reading, Home Screen, Wi-Fi Toggle, Brightness, Stats, Bookmark Browser, and custom folder or collection shortcuts
• 3 display modes: icons only, text only, or icons + text
• Navpager mode — replaces the pagination bar with Prev/Next arrows at the edges of the bottom bar; arrows dim when there is no previous or next page
• Hold anywhere on the bar to instantly open navigation settings

Top Status Bar

A slim status bar always visible at the top of the screen:

• Displays clock, battery level, Wi-Fi status, frontlight brightness, disk usage, and RAM all configurable
• Each item can be placed on the left or right side independently

Custom Title Bar

A reworked title bar for the Library, History, Collections, and other full-screen views:

• Back button — replaces KOReader's default navigation with a cleaner chevron; hides automatically at the root folder, and also hides when the Library's Lock Home Folder setting is active and you are already at the home folder
• Search button — quick access to file search, compacts into the freed slot when the back button is hidden
• Menu button — opens the KOReader main menu
• Page number in title — shows "Page X of Y" in the subtitle when browsing multi-page views (enabled automatically by Navpager)
• Button size — three sizes (Compact, Default, Large) for the title bar buttons
• Separate layouts — Library buttons and sub-page buttons (History, Collections, etc.) can be configured independently

Folder Covers

Custom cover art for folders in the Library mosaic view:

• Automatically uses the first book cover found inside a folder
• Supports a .cover.* image file placed manually in the folder for full control
• Long-press any folder and tap Set folder cover… to pick a specific book's cover as the folder's cover, only visible when Folder Covers is enabled
• Optional folder name label with configurable position (top, centre, bottom) and style (solid or transparent background)
• Optional item count badge with configurable position
• Hide selection underline for a cleaner look

Quick Actions

Shortcut buttons configurable both on the Home Screen and in the bottom bar:

• Assign any action to a custom folder, collection, or KOReader plugin
• Quick Wi-Fi toggle and frontlight control
• Power menu (Restart, Quit) accessible as a tab
• Bookmark Browser — browse your highlights and bookmarks across all books

Settings

All features are accessible via Menu → Tools → SimpleUI

📄 License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.

How to Install

Installing Simple UI

The installation of Simple UI is designed to be a straightforward and simple process: just download the ZIP file, extract it, and paste the folder into the plugins directory inside your KOReader folder. However, since many users customize their KOReader with various patches and other plugins, we recommend following the instructions below to avoid conflicts and ensure a smooth experience.

Step 1: Preparation

Before installing Simple UI, it is crucial to prepare your KOReader environment to prevent crashes and conflicts. Simple UI alters the main interface, so existing layout patches must be disabled.

• Connect your e-reader to your PC via USB.
• Create a full backup of your existing /koreader folder and save it safely on your computer.
• If you use the Project: title plugin, ensure you re-enable the Cover Browser first (Settings > Toolbox > More Tools > Plugin management).
• Disable any custom navigation or title bar patches. Locate files like 2-custom-navbar.lua or 2-custom-titlebar.lua and rename them by adding .disabled to the end (e.g., 2-custom-navbar.lua.disabled).
• Restart KOReader a few times to ensure your device is running smoothly without these patches before proceeding.

Step 2: Downloading the Plugin

You need to get the latest plugin files and prepare the folder structure.

• Download the latest version of the plugin from the official GitHub repository: doctorhetfield-cmd/simpleui.koplugin
• Extract the downloaded ZIP file to your computer.
• Crucial Step: Check the extracted folder's name. If it is named something like simpleui.koplugin-main, you must rename it to exactly simpleui.koplugin.

Step 3: Transferring to Your Device

Move the prepared folder into your e-reader's system.

• Copy the simpleui.koplugin folder you just extracted and renamed.
• Using your computer's file explorer, navigate to the /koreader/plugins/ directory on your e-reader.
• Paste the simpleui.koplugin folder directly into the /plugins/ directory.
• Safely eject and disconnect your e-reader from the USB cable.

Step 4: Enabling the Plugin

Once the device restarts, you need to turn the plugin on from within KOReader.

• Open the top menu in KOReader.
• Tap the Toolbox icon.

How to Customize

How to Translate

Contributing