Comparison

Essentials. vs PaperCode

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Essentials.

Extract key information from any text by highlighting important points. Save your summaries for personal use or share them globally via a generated web link. This app makes text comprehension and sharing effortless.

Highlights
  • Highlight important text
  • Save text summaries
  • Generate shareable web links
  • Cross-platform sharing
  • Text extraction
Features
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Copy a piece of text from somewhere, paste it into the app and highlight the most important things as you read. Save it for yourself or share it with the people you care about or the rest of the world. If you decide to share it with someone, you are not limited to a device or platform, because the app generates a web address where the article will be stored. You can then share the link with friends and family.

About

PaperCode

Organize your books and papers by assigning them to custom places and associating them with barcodes or QR codes. Quickly update an item's location by scanning its code. Automatically gather book information from databases by scanning ISBN barcodes.

Highlights
  • Manage items and places
  • Scan barcodes/QR codes
  • OCR for printed text
  • Automatic book information retrieval
  • Customizable place names
  • Quick item location updates
Features
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What you can do with this app: [The app remembers where your books/papers are.] *Manage ITEMS with PLACES where they belong to. -You can manage ITEMS and PLACES related to Barcodes/QR-codes by scanning codes or printed texts(OCR) using your phone's camera. -Only you need is minimum effort to add, update and search PLACES and ITEMS. -You can add and name any PLACES, such as "Bookshelf:A", "Box:B" and "Bed room closet". It is not necessary that PLACES are real physical places. They can be "Borrowed by John Doe", "Papers to copy", "Things to survey" and so on. -Though this app is designed for management of academic books and treatises(papers), you can also add and name any ITEMS. They can be "Golf shoes", "Water bottles for emergency", "Tax payment documents of 2019", "Buy salt", "Reserve restaurant" and so on. [Easier is better.] *Add, move, search, sometimes manage. With this app, you will: -Add(register) PLACES. Add(register) ITEMS and relate them to barcodes/QR-codes. -When you move an ITEM, scan a barcode/QR-code to update its PLACE to belong to. -Search an ITEM's name to find out its PLACE. -You can rename ITEMS and PLACES, update relationship between them and new codes, update their order in the lists at any time. [No automation, no life.] *ITEMS and PLACES cooperate with barcodes/QR-codes. -You can relate ITEMS and PLACES to any barcodes/QR-codes. -Once you created relationships between ITEMS/PLACES and codes, when you move an ITEM from current PLACE to another PLACE, all you have to do is: 1.Scan the code of the new PLACE using the camera, 2.Scan the code of the ITEM. That's it. It won't take more than 3 seconds. -The code will be scanned automatically when your camera focuses it. You don't even need to press the shutter button. -If the books or papers don't have barcodes/QR-codes, add codes to them. (for example, codes printed directly on the papers using handy printers or codes printed on sticker labels.) Any unique digits or characters will work. *Automatically collect information. -Information of books and papers (author, title, publisher, published date) will be collected automatically by searching with keyword(s). -This app accesses CiNii/CiNiiBooks database OpenSearch service on the web to get the information. -If you scan a barcode and the code is an ISBN, this app will collect and fill all necessary information automatically. All you need is to tap "OK" button. -You can search and find books or papers by using keyword(s). Use space for AND search and use slash for OR search. If multiple results hit, you can choose one to add as a new ITEM. -A particular chapter of a book can be added in the same way as a paper. *Relate ITEMS and PLACES to barcodes/QR-codes -Both ITEMS and PLACES can be related to barcode/QR-code. -You can delete or update(relate again) relationships between codes and ITEMS/PLACES. *Script(handwriting) recognition -If you can't use barcodes/QR-codes in some reason, you can try script(handwriting) recognition. It works, but it takes a lot of time and it won't recognize 100% correctly. So I strongly recommend you to use barcodes/QR-codes. [Nothing is more important than safety.] *Backup and export your data. -You can backup your data(ITEMS/PLACES) to a text file (as SQL expressions). -You can export backup file(s) to external storages/apps/services, such as iPhone's documents folder(which syncs with iCloud), Dropbox app, GoogleDrive app and so on. [Search and find at once.] *See all items in the place or search with keyword(s) -You can see all the ITEMS belonging to particular PLACE. -You can search an ITEM by keyword(s). AND/OR search is available. -You can search a PLACE as well. (but only AND search is available.)

Screenshots

Essentials.4 screens
PaperCode4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Essentials. at every 3 days against PaperCode's every 3 weeks. Essentials. also leads on iOS requirement (8.1 vs 16.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Essentials. against 5.0 for PaperCode. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Essentials. ships an update every 3 days, PaperCode every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Essentials. versus PaperCode: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEssentials.PaperCode
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS8.1 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB25 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGeorgi ZlatinovYuichiro Momosaki

Customer experience

Essentials.

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

PaperCode

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Essentials.

No in-app purchases

None

PaperCode

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Essentials. free?
Essentials. is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PaperCode free?
PaperCode is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Essentials. or PaperCode?
Essentials. and PaperCode are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Essentials. or PaperCode have ads?
Neither Essentials. nor PaperCode shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Essentials. or PaperCode?
Essentials. ships an update every 3 days, and PaperCode every 3 weeks. Most recently, Essentials. was updated on September 30, 2026 and PaperCode on September 21, 2026.

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