Comparison

Glassboxx vs Tandem

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

Head to head
About

Glassboxx

Access your purchased eBooks and audiobooks from affiliated stores in one secure app. No passwords needed, just your email and a verification code. Enjoy offline reading and listening with advanced playback and reading features.

Highlights
  • Unified eBook and audiobook library
  • No password login
  • Offline reading and listening
  • Auto-save reading/listening position
  • Customizable reader (font, background)
  • Audio playback controls (sleep timer, skip)
  • Full text search
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Glassboxx: hassle-free eBook and audiobook access, all in one place. Glassboxx cuts through all digital content ‘authentication’ issues, consolidating your eBook AND audiobook purchases made through affiliated stores, within an eminently user-friendly, secure environment. No password required – simply log in with the email address used to buy the book and enter the verification code sent to your email – and your content awaits in the ‘My Books’ area of the app, with formats clearly labelled. With the content in the cloud, downloading requires an initial internet connection, but once downloaded, your books can be enjoyed to your heart’s content in the remotest, furthest-flung corners of the earth, where internet penetration is a mere pipe-dream… THE AUDIO-PLAYER WILL: • Auto-save your current position in the book – so that you can pick up right where you left off, even if listening on different devices • Allow for skip forward/backward to recap where relevant • Offer sleep timer option • Play on lock-screen, enabling easy access to playback controls • Play in background whilst browsing other apps • Play immediately, and download in the background (provided internet access is available) THE EREADER ALLOWS FOR: • Page book-marking, opening the title at the right place when you pick up, even across multiple devices • Font-size and font face changes, as well as dyslexic-friendly font • Background colour changes • Full text search Welcome to the Glassboxx community!

About

Tandem

Create personalized stories, fact books, and activity ideas for children. Enhance vocabulary, comprehension, and curiosity with playful prompts and expert parent tips. Designed for co-reading and shared discovery to foster bonding and learning.

Highlights
  • Personalized stories, fact books, and activity ideas
  • Comprehension prompts that feel like play
  • Gentle parent tips to enrich time together
  • Beautiful illustrations and engaging text
  • Private, secure, and easy to use
Features
Read full description

Create personalised stories, fact books and play ideas to enjoy with your child. Build vocabulary, comprehension, and curiosity with playful prompts and gentle parent tips. Create, play, learn. Together. Turn screen time into story time, facts, and play with Tandem – personalised content for families to explore together. Create in seconds Make your child the hero with beautifully illustrated stories, curiosity-sparking fact books, and playful activity ideas tailored to their interests and reading level. Build skills while you read and explore Light-touch prompts boost vocabulary, comprehension and confidence — without interrupting the flow. Enjoy reading together Designed for co-reading and shared discovery. Laugh, learn and bond through adventures, facts and hands-on ideas. Tips for parents, powered by behavioural science Get gentle, personalised suggestions to make reading and play more engaging and supportive of your child’s emotions and learning. Private by design Created by experts in medicine, psychology and technology. An optional on-device reading helper can give insights into language growth — and you can turn it off at any time. Key features • Personalised stories, fact books and activity ideas • Comprehension prompts that feel like play • Gentle parent tips to enrich time together • Beautiful illustrations and engaging text • Private, secure and easy to use • No ads Download Tandem and make every day a discovery. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Privacy Policy: https://www.playtandem.com/privacy-policy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Glassboxx4 screens
Tandem4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Tandem at 100% against Glassboxx's 28%. Glassboxx's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 9). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. Tandem sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per year. Glassboxx asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Glassboxx ships an update every 6 weeks, Tandem monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Glassboxx versus Tandem: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGlassboxxTandem
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.1 (76 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews27.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings76 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB104 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperGlassboxx LimitedEarly ideas Limited

Customer experience

Glassboxx

All ratings74 ratings
Positive51.4%
Neutral4.1%
Negative44.6%
Written reviews97 reviews
Positive27.8%
Neutral4.1%
Negative68.0%

Tandem

Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Glassboxx

Reported bugs

36 issues
  • App crashes on startup
  • App crashes when loading downloaded book
  • App crashes between chapters
  • App freezes
  • App won't open
Show 31 more
  • App shows blank pages
  • App does not rotate
  • App shuts itself off
  • App is slow
  • App has huge margins
  • App has no landscape mode
  • App has no annotation
  • App has no dictionary
  • App has unresponsive buttons
  • App freezes regularly
  • App cannot flick through chapters
  • App touch response is slow
  • App target areas are small
  • App opens to empty screen
  • App settings cannot be closed
  • App has only one font
  • App text is too faint
  • App has visibility/alignment/color jankiness
  • Playback speed resets to 1x when app is minimized
  • Verification codes not sent or expired
  • Books not downloading
  • Purchased books not displaying
  • Login issues
  • Table of contents unresponsive
  • Cannot zoom
  • Cannot navigate easily
  • Screen color resets
  • App not working on iPad
  • Download issues
  • App is unusable
  • Progress bar cannot disappear

Requested features

8 requests
  • Bookmark feature
  • See time remaining in entire audiobook
  • Pagination via cursor keys on iPad Magic Keyboard
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard
Show 3 more
  • More titles available
  • Ability to highlight and look up words
  • More standard format (e.g., PDF)

Tandem

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Glassboxx

No in-app purchases

7 purchases

Tandem

Subscriptions5
  • Unlimited plan (annual)$1.991 Year
  • Unlimited plan (monthly)$2.991 Month
  • Starter plan (monthly)$2.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Unlimited plan (annual)$29.991 Year
  • Starter plan (annual)$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Unlimited Lifetime Access3 variants$1.99
  • Unlimited Lifetime Access$3.99

Questions

Is Glassboxx free?
Glassboxx is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tandem free?
Tandem is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Glassboxx or Tandem have ads?
Neither Glassboxx nor Tandem shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Glassboxx or Tandem?
Glassboxx ships an update every 6 weeks, and Tandem monthly. Most recently, Glassboxx was updated on October 29, 2026 and Tandem on October 27, 2026.

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