# Canary Mail vs Readwise Reader

Canary Mail and Readwise Reader both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 72% of Readwise Reader's written reviews are positive against 51% of Canary Mail's. Readwise Reader also leads on update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). Canary Mail's advantage is ratings volume (8.8K vs 585) and device support (4 vs 2). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Canary Mail sells 15 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Readwise Reader sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Canary Mail against 4.6 for Readwise Reader. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Canary Mail has 8.8K ratings behind it against 585, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 51% of Canary Mail's written reviews are positive against 72% of Readwise Reader's.

Canary Mail ships an update fortnightly, Readwise Reader weekly. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.

## The numbers

| Metric | Canary Mail | Readwise Reader |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.5 (8.8K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/canary-mail-ai-email/id1155470386/reviews) | **[4.6 (585 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/readwise-reader/id1567599761/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **8.8K** | 585 |
| Positive reviews | 50.6% of reviews | **72.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | **Weekly** |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 177 MB | 193 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.0** | 16.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [Cartasec Pte. Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1137358501) | [Readwise, Inc](https://appshunter.io/developer/1476885527) |

## What reviewers say

### Canary Mail

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/canary-mail-ai-email/id1155470386)

This app unifies multiple email accounts into a single inbox, offering AI assistance for drafting, replying, and summarizing messages. It includes features like read receipts, email tracking, and advanced organizational tools to streamline your communication.

**Highlights:** Unified inbox for multiple accounts, AI Copilot for drafting and summarizing, Read receipts and email tracking, Smart email sorting and bulk cleaning, Email scheduling and 1-click unsubscribe, PGP encryption and threat protection

**Features:** Family Sharing, Apple Wallet, Apple Watch app, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (15)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Canary Pro | $2.99 | per month |
| Canary Pro (Apple Bundle) | $4.99 | per month |
| Canary Pro | $19.99 | per year |
| Canary Pro Growth(Year Single) | $19.99 | per year |
| Canary Pro | $29.99 | per year |
| Canary Pro (Apple Bundle) | $34.99 | per year |
| Canary Growth (Yearly Bundle Trial) | $35.99 | per year |
| Canary Pro Growth(Year Bundle) | $35.99 | per year |
| Canary Pro (Apple Bundle) | $49.00 | per year |
| Canary Mail | $9.99 | one-time |
| Canary Mail Pro (Upgrade) | $9.99 | one-time |
| Canary Mail Pro (New) | $19.99 | one-time |
| Canary Pro Lifetime | $59.99 | one-time |
| Canary Pro Lifetime Bundle | $99.99 | one-time |
| Canary Growth(Lifetime Bundle) | $99.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Clean and intuitive interface
- 🚀 Fast email processing
- 🔒 Robust security and encryption features
- 💡 Useful AI-powered features (e.g. email summarization)
- 👍 Seamless cross-device syncing

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Inconsistent performance and reliability issues
- 🐛 Bugs with email deletion, drafts, and notifications
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 👎 Confusing pricing model and paywall for core features
- 👎 Lack of basic customization options (e.g. signature, font size)

**Reported bugs**

- Emails not fully loading or displaying correctly
- Sync issues across devices
- Unreliable notification behavior
- Unexpected account sign-outs

**Requested features**

- Ability to select multiple emails for bulk actions
- Option to disable email categorization/sorting
- Improved integration with calendar and contacts
- Undo/restore deleted emails
- Customizable email signatures


### Readwise Reader

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/readwise-reader/id1567599761)

This app consolidates all your reading content, including web articles, newsletters, and PDFs, into a single, organized platform. It offers advanced highlighting, text-to-speech, and AI-powered assistance to enhance your reading workflow and knowledge retention.

**Highlights:** Consolidate web articles, newsletters, RSS, Twitter threads, PDFs, EPUBs, Import from Pocket, Instapaper, and Feedly, Advanced highlighting and annotation tools, Text-to-speech narration, AI-powered reading assistant (Ghostreader), Full-text search, Syncs across all devices, offline access

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (4)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reader Monthly Plan | $8.99 | per month |
| Reader Monthly | $12.99 | per month |
| Reader Annual Plan | $95.90 | per year |
| Reader Yearly | $119.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Fantastic reading experience
- 👍 Seamless integration with Readwise
- 🎨 Beautiful and intuitive UI
- 📚 All-in-one reading solution
- 🔍 Powerful search and organization

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional crashes and performance issues
- 🔍 Cluttered interface for some users
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
- 🖥️ Lack of iPad-specific features
- 📚 Missing basic reader features (e.g., bookmarks)

**Reported bugs**

- Inconsistent sync between devices
- Unreliable RSS feed updates
- Frequent crashes on iPad
- Issues with resuming reading position

**Requested features**

- Improved PDF and ebook support
- Customizable reading themes and layouts
- Better integration with note-taking apps
- Reading progress and statistics tracking
- Bulk management of saved items


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Canary Mail free?

Canary Mail is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Readwise Reader free?

Readwise Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Canary Mail or Readwise Reader?

Readwise Reader is rated higher. Canary Mail averages 4.5 out of 5 from 8.8K ratings, while Readwise Reader averages 4.6 from 585 ratings.

### Do Canary Mail or Readwise Reader have ads?

Neither Canary Mail nor Readwise Reader shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Canary Mail or Readwise Reader?

Canary Mail ships an update fortnightly, and Readwise Reader weekly. Most recently, Canary Mail was updated on October 22, 2026 and Readwise Reader on October 22, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*