Apple Recommends The App All The Intellectuals Are Using To Beat Boredom

Let’s start with the question, how does one become an intellectual? Well, it often involves a lot of dedication to studying and research. If we don’t put the time in, we risk experiencing something psychologists call the Dunning-Kruger effect. A situation, where people with limited knowledge on a given topic significantly overestimate their understanding. Unfortunately, the average person doesn’t have time to properly dedicate hours to research, which is why modern intellectuals use a little app from a company called Blinkist.

At Blinkist, we gather the key insights from nonfiction books into 15-minute reads and listens. There are over 6,500 titles across 27 unique categories, cementing our app as the go-to destination for big thinkers.

Key Takeaways

• • Blinkist is an app that gives you the powerful insights of nonfiction books in 15 minutes.
  • These bite-sized explainers are neuroscientifically designed to be easy to remember and hard to forget.
  • Fit learning into your life: listen to or read any of the books anytime, anywhere.
  • The library fits your needs: with 27 categories and over 6,500 books, there are books to help you to sleep better, learn how to get a raise, explore different cultures and histories, or refresh old knowledge.
  • It’s built by Europe’s smartest minds: according to Apple and the UN, it’s one of the best apps for people who want to get powerful ideas.

Professor, intellectual, and founder Sarah Schupp is a big fan of Blinkist. Here’s why she’s a huge advocate of the app:

“I use Blinkist when I’m in between meetings and can’t get a giant task done, but at least I can be productive.” – Sarah Schupp, Professor & Founder of UniversityParent.com

Even Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, recently stopped by the Blinkist office to get a glimpse of the hype, and to check out how the award-winning startup works.

In the beginning, the Blinkist co-founders all wanted a way to read more books and figured out a way to make that possible. Today, more than 30 million people are expanding their horizons with Blinkist, and the app was named a Global Leader in Learning and Education by The United Nations.

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



“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

More than 30 million people are expanding their horizons with Blinkist, with thousands of knowledge hunters downloading the app every day. Although ‘intellectual’ is a term that used to just apply to an academic few, since the internet has made information readily available, it’s now come to mean anyone who’s curious about the world around them. Blinkist makes it easy to access powerful ideas from bestselling nonfiction books in minutes. Our content team ensures the key insights of the author’s work are included while remaining true to their work.

So, what exactly is it that top thinkers like about Blinkist?

1. It’s Backed By Science

At Blinkist, there’s a dedicated team of experts who sift through the millions of books published each year to find the best ones out there. We don’t just want bestsellers, we want the hidden gems, the timeless classics, books written for intellectuals, by intellectuals — because we have built an app with serious purpose and intention.

“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, Blinkist co-founder

Once the books are selected, our specialist editors identify the key ideas and themes from each book and turn them into useful summaries of insights. The best part, all of the content is created using neuroscientific principles making all the information easy to understand, but hard to forget.

Actionable examples, case studies, and anecdotes help deliver information that’s relevant, useful, and applicable to a person’s life. Plus, Blinkist is tailored: as soon as people start reading, the app will start to recommend new titles that they’ll love, based on their unique interests and individual preferences.

Blinkist breaks down big reads into accessible pieces of information. Take a look — here’s the explainer to the international bestseller Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Each title can be read or listened to, and the slick and simple design makes it easy to learn from the world’s best books in minutes. ⁠

2. It Transforms Their Mindless Scrolling Routine – And Replaces It With A Good Habit

You know those moments when you catch yourself endlessly swiping through social media? It’s something an alarmingly high amount of people suffer from and it’s called “doom-scrolling”, a phenomenon that leaves people feeling tired and angry.

One of the many reasons, intellectuals love Blinkist is because it turns those wasted minutes into valuable learning opportunities. Whether it’s on the subway, a quick break or before bed: Instead of getting lost in time-wasting apps, all the curious minds are now engaging in focused and insightful learning sessions. It’s a game-changer! Just pick any topic you’d like and start growing.

“This app should be in Essentials category: One of the best app purchased. I have been a member for 6+ years and I don’t think I will ever stop. This is a learning experience that truly enhances my life.” –5 star review on the Apple Store

So, say goodbye to mindless scrolling and hello to a new habit that’ll feed your curiosity, spark intellectual growth, and help you become a better you. No wonder Apple and many of its users recommend it:

“This has been the biggest boost to my productivity / lifelong learning ever. Honestly, I can’t think of a better habit to start than Blinkist.” –5 star review on the Apple Store

3. A Book Explained in 15 Minutes

It takes the average person 10 hours to read a book, which is a lot of time many of us don’t have. It’s difficult to find time to read widely recommended classics like The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, or the latest bestsellers like, Thinking Fast and Slow, or Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time.

With Blinkist, it’s now possible to gain an understanding of ‘must-read’ titles in just 15 minutes. The busiest people including top CEOs, full-time moms, and leading intellectuals turn to Blinkist to fit reading into their hectic days and keep up-to-date with the latest top titles.

Plus, every month the titles in The New York Times bestsellers list are added to Blinkist, as well as new recommended reading lists based on the latest trends and areas of interest. This way, Blinkist ensures there are always new, powerful things for intellectuals to learn from some of the world’s most important books.

4. Blinkist Is Ten Years Old – And Giving Out Gifts

The Blinkist knowledge app is celebrating its tenth birthday this year. To mark the occasion, there is a very special gift for all new and existing users to take advantage of. With the new Blinkist Connect function, anyone who owns the premium version of the app can give away a second premium access account with all the app benefits free of charge.

This way, users can make someone in their family or circle of friends happy and be inspired together – or even share the cost of the subscription. No special code is needed – simply register, get Premium and invite the second person via the Blinkist Connect function.

5. Elevate Your Learning with Blinkist’s Interactive Features

The Blinkist app is always improving in order to give intellectuals the best learning experience. With the help of new features such as their “Spaces”, learning is taking a further step forward. Spaces allows users to not only curate their own lists of book summaries and shortcasts but also share them with others. This enables users to interact in meaningful conversations about the new knowledge they’ve just acquired. This level of connectivity makes it easier than ever for users to get personalized recommendations and explore new topics they may not have considered before. ⁠

Features such as Spaces make it easier than ever for users to connect with the app’s endless knowledge and each other.

6. Intellectuals Love to Learn by Listening

The app became particularly popular with intellectuals when the audio feature was introduced. It made it possible for big thinkers to listen to every title in the app, which means learning never has to wait until you have time to sit down.

Being able to listen to Blinkist also makes the app accessible because it allowed more people to fit learning into their life — especially during busy times of the day.

Today, listening is the most popular way to consume the packs of actionable insights with around 70% of users opting to listen to Blinkist. This is no surprise as over 30% of people learn and retain information better when it’s heard as opposed to reading.

7. Over 90 Thousand 5-Star Ratings

Blinkist isn’t just beloved by intellectuals but by everyone who is eager to learn more. Today, there are over 90K five-star ratings across iTunes and Google Play stores. In fact, nearly 75% of all user ratings for Blinkist were five stars.

What some users enjoy most about Blinkist is how the learning experience can fit around their lives. Just take a look at what some users are saying:

“Perfect for populating your mind with smart thoughts and the latest research. I use the audio format while in transportation.” — 5-star review“Very informative and insightful. I can cook dinner and enjoy the knowledge over audio.” — 5-star review

It’s up to you when and where you learn with Blinkist, whether on the go or staying at home. With so many positive reviews you can be confident that Blinkist is a world-class app that users love.

8. Buy Only the Books You’ll Love

With 15-minute explanations, busy people can take books for a test drive. If they like what they hear in those 15 minutes, they can buy the full thing to learn more.

“I’ve found that if a book is still interesting after reading the highlights I end up buying the book anyway. I now buy half as many, the ones I do buy are higher quality and more impactful.” – @DaleyErvin

Not only does this save people money buying books they never read, but it saves them time, too, as every book they do buy is one they know they’ll get a lot out of.

“Blinkist has helped me read more — period. I love that I can get the key learnings from 10+ books a week, and immediately implement them in my own life. Blinkist has also helped me filter the books I purchase — if I couldn’t get enough of the Book-in-Blinks, I buy it. ” – Hitha Palepu, entrepreneur and author

@blinkist is the most efficient way I know of to decide which #books to buy and read. Probably highest ROI on any of my #SaaS subscriptions.

— Horacio Lupi (@horaciolupi) August 11, 2019

9. One Of The Best Apps In The World

“Blinkist is one of the world’s best apps.” – Apple

Blinkist has won numerous major awards from Apple, Google, and even the United Nations.

Plus, Blinkist is addressing a problem a lot of us and many leading intellectuals have—wanting to read more, but feeling like we have little time. By helping to resolve a reading problem, and benefiting millions of people, including top intellectuals around the world, Blinkist employees are very proud and passionate to be a part of the team.

The app is a favorite among book lovers who use Blinkist to keep their minds young and discover new titles:

“Can’t read everything everyday; what am I going to read today? Just signed up w/Blinkist after reading or listening to over 26 books in the last few months. Today I listened to Language Intelligence/Joseph Romm & reread Alexander Hamilton/Ron Chernow.” –Debby Tomlinson (@Tomlinsonsd)

10. The Right Knowledge at the Perfect Time

Curious people are drawn to Blinkist because they know they can quickly access the knowledge they want—exactly when they need it. This no-fuss, no-stress approach to learning removes the time and strain that might otherwise go into research.

This way, intellectual thinkers can speedily keep up-to-date on the latest ideas, fill gaps in their knowledge, and easily integrate learning into their everyday lives.

11. Blinkist Treats its Employees Well

Many people find out about Blinkist by hearing about the inner workings of the company itself. It’s proven itself a great place to work with a unique company culture. LinkedIn named Blinkist the best startup employer in Germany and 95% of its employees on Glassdoor would recommend the company to a friend.

Employees love the startup’s culture and feel like they’re treated well and taken care of. This has led to a low attrition rate where staff has stuck around for the long run to help make the app even better.

“I moved to Berlin after living in New York City for ten years to work at Blinkist. I knew I would be working alongside some amazing people, building a revolutionary product. This, mixed with an exciting new culture and the way of life Berlin offers, made the move an easy decision.” – Carlos Alvarado, Country Manager at Blinkist

12. Built By The Smartest People In Europe

Blinkist doesn’t rely on algorithms to choose or make their content.  They choose people. The staff at Blinkist reads every book themselves, they edit and record each pack of insights. They’re a team of experts, specialists with PhDs and diplomas, people who are hungry, eager, and passionate about understanding and sharing knowledge.

To ensure the app, and its content is the best it can be, they’ve built a team of over 200 qualified people who want to make powerful information available to millions.

13. Join The Club Of Global Intellectuals

Millions of tech-savvy intellectuals are using Blinkist to stay ahead of their peers, and on top of their fields. Blinkist encourages readers to explore a range of different areas and genres, discovering new knowledge around exciting subjects. We know intellectuals want to expand their knowledge, which is why we have 27 topic categories, filled with a wide spectrum of titles.

Blinkist allows intellectuals to learn from the best writers and thinkers, in order to become better themselves.

Intellectuals are drawn to the app because of the ever-growing selection of titles that can be found on Blinkist. We care about delivering content that matters to people, titles intellectuals are interested in and want to engage with. Because Blinkist has all these top titles all in one place, Blinkist is the obvious destination for millions of intellectuals who want to squeeze some more powerful knowledge into their life.

When we asked Robyn Kerkhof, the head of curation at Blinkist, why she thought intellectuals are attracted to Blinkist, here is what she had to say:

“People love Blinkist because we deliver the titles that matter to them. We know our customers, we speak to them and we build relationships. This is why we select every title by hand, not through computers, algorithms, or robots. It means every book on the app is full of diverse and rich information, so the people who use Blinkist can continue to learn about the topics that inspire and motivate them. Ultimately, we’re passionate about continuing to build a big library—because we care about making powerful knowledge accessible to everyone.” – Robyn Kerkhof, Head of Curation at Blinkist

14. Read The World’s Most Important Books

The Blinkist library contains over 6,500 titles across 27 different categories such as Self Improvement, Entrepreneurship, Parenting, Sex & Relationships, and Management & Leadership among many others. Whatever it is you’re eager to learn about, Blinkist has got you covered.

“As a productivity coach and one of the lifelong learners, I can’t tell you how happy I was to find Blinkist. If you enjoy nonfiction reading and are short on time, Blinkist will be your new favorite app.” – Karen Trepte, Huffington Post

Time-honored favorites sit next to the latest bestsellers and talked-about new titles so that you’re getting a complete look across the breadth of nonfiction. There are 10 new titles added to the app every week so even the most voracious reader will never run out of great content.

15. Global Success And The Stamp Of Approval

We’re proud of what we do — we believe in our product because it has meaning, purpose, and intention. Our aim is to help people learn, to allow them to grow, and to better themselves in whatever way they would like.

This was recently recognized and praised by the United Nations, who acknowledge Blinkist as a Global Leader in Learning and Education.

“With Blinkist you can boost your knowledge and gain new perspectives so that you can be a better professional, a better partner, or a better you—and finally get through your book list or make sense of the increasingly big and busy world of ideas.” – United Nations

With a community of 30 million people located across the world — from tech entrepreneurs in New York, to meditation teachers in the Himalayas — we have a band of people spanning the globe who are all thirsty for inspiring knowledge. Be part of it! Download the Blinkist app now and join the 30 million curious thinkers who also love to learn.