Here’s Why Over 90 Thousand People Gave Blinkist 5 Stars

In 2012, Holger Seim, Sebastian Klein, Niklas Jansen, and Tobi Balling founded Blinkist to help everyone read more. Fast forward to today and the app has over 90K five-star ratings across iOS and Android. In fact, nearly 75% of all user ratings for Blinkist were five stars. But, what exactly is Blinkist and why is it so popular?

Blinkist takes the key insights from bestselling nonfiction books and gathers them into 15-minute explainer packs which you can read or listen to on the go. The app is an innovative answer to a problem many of us have: there are so many interesting books out there to read but we are all too busy to get to all of them.

‘‘When we started most apps were for social media or gaming. We wanted to do something different and build an app that would add genuine value to someone’s life’’. – Holger Seim, CEO of Blinkist

From left: The Blinkist founders: Holger Seim, Niklas Jansen and Tobi Balling. (Not pictured: Sebastian Klein)

Over the last eight years, 14 million users have downloaded Blinkist, which has grown from a team of 4 founders to over 150 employees. They’ve even secured $35 million in funding to build what’s been named one of the world’s best apps.

Now let’s take a look at what users love about Blinkist.

The Flexible Learning Experience

Millions use Blinkist to transform moments of inactivity into moments of learning. They get inspired on the way to work with the explainer pack for Keep Going by Austin Kleon or find inspiration at home with The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.

People discover more books with Blinkist. They can breeze through their reading list to find out which titles they want to invest their time in. For a deeper study, the Blinkist app offers users the chance to purchase the complete audiobook for selected titles, so they can expand on what they learn.

An Extensive Library That Keeps Getting Bigger

The app has something to satisfy every curious mind with books covering science, history, business, and politics. The library has over 27 categories across 3,500 titles paired with curated reading lists assembled by the Blinkist team.

The shelves of Blinkist’s digital library keep expanding. Every month, 40 new books are added, each one is chosen from a collection of leading bestseller lists by publications in the US and abroad. By choosing titles from such a wide range of sources, Blinkist gives its users a balanced view of what’s going on and keeps them up-to-date with the latest trends.

Get Smarter in 15 Minutes

Users love how Blinkist helps them learn so much new information from a nonfiction title in such a short space of time. In each explainer pack, complex ideas are broken down through as many real-life examples, case studies, and anecdotes as possible to make it relevant to a reader’s life and easy to comprehend.

Let’s take an example from the explainer pack for Who’s in Charge by Michael S. Gazzaniga. To show how human beings have a shared morality, the Blinkist team uses the scenario of a pilot in an emergency situation. They are faced with the choice of performing a dangerous emergency landing, which would kill a dozen passengers, versus the choice of taking no action and letting the plane crash.

Almost everyone would choose to intentionally sacrifice a number of lives, and make an emergency landing to save the most lives. This gives users a unique perspective on a complex idea, in just one 15-minute pack.

The Blinkist app also helps users find new books they’ll love by suggesting titles based on their habits. It uses algorithms paired with expert curation to deliver a tailored experience, and every user is suggested new titles to read based on their interests and learning history. This means they will always find something new to learn.

A World-Class App and it’s Got Awards to Prove It

Blinkist isn’t just beloved by users; it’s won awards too. Notably, the United Nations World Summit Award in the Learning & Education category, a Google Material Design Award, and Apple named it one of the world’s best apps.

“Blinkist encourages you to read more nonfiction books. The app contains cleverly written digests — called Blinks — where books are broken down into their main arguments.” – The New York Times

Tim Cook, (Apple’s CEO) even visited the Blinkist offices to meet the team which was recently recognized by Linkedin as one of the best startup employers in Germany

Impressed with the growing and talented team at @Blinkist. Helping everyone understand and experience some of the best non-fiction books is a great example of how a single idea from college can evolve into a solution for a problem we all share — too little time! pic.twitter.com/8rRrms7BMY

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) September 30, 2019

Book Lovers Unite!

Blinkist has united millions of book lovers from around the world with a shared passion for learning. They’re from Europe, the Americas, and Asia. They’re working parents, hustling students, top managers, and busy teachers.

All kinds of people use the Blinkist app to become their best selves, so when a new user signs up, they’re joining a network of people who thirst for knowledge and are committed to making the most of their time and talent by bettering their minds.

“With consumers living in the age of distraction, they are hungry to invest their time in meaningful habits. Blinkist offers an alternative to mindless scrolling, allowing our community to fill their downtime with something that adds to their life.” — Carlos Alvarado, Senior Brand Manager at Blinkist

The Blinkist team is also constantly encouraging its users to give as much feedback as possible to build a better app and help everyone learn.

So, you’ve seen why over 90 thousand people gave Blinkist five-stars. Why not download it today and see how you would rate it?