Wordhoard

Wordhoard E-reader Helper

Your e-reader has been saving every word you looked up, sometimes for years. This free Mac app finds them and sends them to Wordhoard on your iPhone — no hidden folders to go hunting in.

Download for Mac

Version 1.0 · 12 MB · macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple silicon and Intel Macs · free

No Mac? You don't need this — copy the file across yourself, which on Windows is the easier way round anyway.

How it works

  1. Plug your e-reader into your Mac, using a cable that carries data rather than one that only charges. If the reader asks whether to connect, say yes.
  2. Open the helper. It finds the saved words on its own and shows you how many there are, and which books they came from.
  3. Send to iPhone, and choose your phone in AirDrop. Wordhoard opens with the words in front of you; nothing is added to your library until you tap Import.

Kindle, Kobo and PocketBook. If AirDrop isn't available, Save file instead… puts the same file in iCloud Drive — open it from the Files app on your iPhone.

You'll need Wordhoard on your iPhone, and importing is part of Wordhoard Unlimited. Everything else in the app — looking words up, cards, reviews — is free.

What it doesn't do

It never signs in, and it has no way to reach us: nothing you connect is uploaded anywhere. Your e-reader is only ever read, never changed. The words go straight from your Mac to your phone, and the record of everything you have read and struggled with stays yours.

On Windows, or any other computer

You don't need the helper — the app can take the file straight from your reader. In Wordhoard, go to You → Import from e-reader, pick your device, and follow the steps there. In short:

  1. Plug the e-reader into the computer. It appears like a USB stick, or as a device in File Explorer.
  2. Find the file your words are saved in. On a Kindle, open the folder called system, then vocabulary: the file is vocab.db. On a Kobo it is KoboReader.sqlite, inside a folder called .kobo. On a PocketBook, open system, then config, for books.db. Those folders are hidden — in File Explorer, tick Hidden items in the View menu.
  3. Get that file to your phone however you normally would — email it to yourself, or put it in iCloud Drive, OneDrive or Google Drive.
  4. In Wordhoard, tap Choose file and pick it.

A Mac can't do it this way with a Kindle bought since about 2021: those don't appear in the Finder at all. That is the gap the helper fills. If the helper can't see yours either, Amazon's own free Send to Kindle for Mac has a USB File Manager that can reach the same file — open system, then vocabulary, copy vocab.db out, and import it here.

Open source in this app

The helper talks to newer Kindles using libmtp and libusb, licensed under the LGPL, version 2.1 or later. Neither is modified. Both are included as separate libraries inside the app, alongside their licences, and can be replaced with compatible builds.

Something went wrong

support@getwordhoard.com. Telling us which e-reader you have and what the helper said is enough — no need for anything technical.