Lesson 3 of 10 · SAVE YOUR PLACE · 2 min read

How to keep your place in an audiobook when you also read the book

By The Margin Desk · Smart Bookmark Compare · Published 2026-10-01 · Updated 2026-10-11

Why is audio different?

Your audiobook app keeps a timestamp, which is perfect as long as you only listen. The moment you pick up the paperback, that timestamp means nothing on the page. Chapters help, but chapters can be long, and "somewhere in chapter twelve" is not a place.

What can you do without an app?

• Note the chapter and the last sentence you heard before you stop listening. A sentence is easier to find on a page than a time.
• Use the player's own bookmark or clip feature where it has one, so you can replay the last minute before switching.
• When going the other way, from print to audio, scrub to the chapter and listen for the sentence you last read.

Which apps help with audiobooks?

• Bookly lists audiobooks among the formats it tracks, and its timer logs listening sessions the same way as reading sessions.
• Magic Bookmark lets you enter the last phrase you heard and syncs to your exact place, for supported titles.
• Literal includes public-domain audiobooks inside its app.
• The StoryGraph sets listening goals, Basmo lists audiobooks in your reading lists, and Fable picks up listening activity from a linked Everand account. None of them describes finding your place inside the audio.
• Audible, which we list but do not score, saves 30-second clips with notes in its app, and every clip also adds a bookmark you can return to. That keeps your place inside the Audible audiobook only.

What should you look for?

Ask one question: when you stop listening, what does the app record? A timer records minutes, a tracker records whatever you type, and a phrase lookup records the place in the text. If you switch formats often, the place in the text is what you need. Our rankings score this under exact place and formats.