Macmillan Learning eBook vs RedShelf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Macmillan Learning eBook
Access and study digital textbooks on your iPad or iPhone with a comprehensive, digital-first experience. Download books for offline reading, customize your study tools with notes and flashcards, and personalize the reading environment for easier learning.
- Offline reading
- Note-taking and highlighting
- Flashcard creation
- Customizable reading settings
- Read Aloud feature
- Cross-device syncing
- Accessibility features
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Use Macmillan® Learning eBook to enjoy a digital-first, comprehensive study experience from the convenience of your iPad or iPhone. Download and access digital textbooks to study anytime, anywhere. Features: • Download books to your iOS device for 100% offline reading. • Customize highlighters and add notes for a rich study experience. • Create flashcards with text and images to learn concepts faster. • Personalize font, font size, and background colors to make reading easier. • Listen to your books and learn on the go with Read Aloud. • Sync your current reading position and all your work across devices so you can easily pick up where you left off. • Built with accessibility in mind.
RedShelf
Access and read your digital textbooks on any device. Highlight text, take notes, create flashcards, and have content read aloud. Your notes and highlights sync across all your devices.
- Access textbooks on any device
- Highlight text and take notes
- Create flashcards from content
- Define unfamiliar words
- Text-to-speech functionality
- Sync notes and highlights across devices
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The RedShelf eReader companion app provides access to read and engage with your textbooks located in your RedShelf account on the My Shelf page. Access your textbooks no matter where you go with a unified experience across mobile, tablet, and desktop devices. eReader Features: - Access textbooks on your device for seamless reading - Easily highlight text, take notes, and share with classmates - Create flashcards while reading to test your understanding of the content - Define unfamiliar words quickly and easily - Have text read aloud and select the voice and pace - Sync all of your notes and highlights to your account and across devices App Requirements: - Active RedShelf account - One or more books available in your RedShelf account
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: RedShelf at 4.5 against Macmillan Learning eBook's 4.3. RedShelf also leads on update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (7.1K vs 2.2K). Macmillan Learning eBook's advantage is review sentiment (11% vs 3%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
RedShelf holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.2K and 7.1K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 11% of Macmillan Learning eBook's written reviews are positive against 3% of RedShelf's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Macmillan Learning eBook ships an update every 3 months, RedShelf every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Macmillan Learning eBook | RedShelf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (2.2K ratings) | 4.5 (7.1K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 11.1% of reviews — better | 3.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2.2K | 7.1K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 183 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | HPHLP | RedShelf |
Customer experience
Macmillan Learning eBook
RedShelf
User reviews
Macmillan Learning eBook
From 2.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📚 Easy access to textbooks
- 🔊 Useful read-aloud feature
- 💻 Works well on desktop
Room to improve
- 🔑 Login issues across devices
- 🐛 Buggy and unstable app
- 💾 Disappearing or lost content
- 🔍 Poor search and navigation
- 📝 Limited annotation and note-taking
RedShelf
From 7.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Convenient to access textbooks in one place
- 🚀 Decent overall performance
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
- 💤 Slow loading and page turning
- 👎 Unreliable highlighting and note-taking features
- 🤖 Poor text-to-speech functionality
- 📵 Inability to access books offline
Bugs and requests
Macmillan Learning eBook
Reported bugs
3 issues- Login credentials not recognized
- Frequent app crashes
- Textbooks disappearing from library
Requested features
3 requests- Integrate with popular reading apps
- Improve annotation and note-taking tools
- Provide a universal e-reader option
RedShelf
Reported bugs
3 issues- Books not loading or showing blank screens
- Highlighting issues (selecting wrong text, unable to edit)
- Sync issues between devices and web version
Requested features
4 requests- Improve highlighting and annotation tools
- Add support for split-screen mode
- Enhance text-to-speech capabilities
- Allow offline access to downloaded books
In-app purchases
Macmillan Learning eBook
No in-app purchases
RedShelf
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Macmillan Learning eBook free?
Is RedShelf free?
Which has better reviews, Macmillan Learning eBook or RedShelf?
Do Macmillan Learning eBook or RedShelf have ads?
Which is updated more often, Macmillan Learning eBook or RedShelf?
Other comparisons
