Comparison

Listening Science vs PubMinder

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

Head to head
About

Listening Science

Features
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Dedicated Podcast Player for Science Magazine Podcast Ideal for learning English for Science and Technology. Supports repeat playback of any location while viewing the text. Copyright of the audio and text played belongs to Β©Science Magazine

About

PubMinder

Features
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PubMinder is an AI-powered research feed for scientists, students, and curious minds. It aggregates the latest preprints and journal articles from bioRxiv, medRxiv, arXiv, and PubMed β€” then summarizes each one in 2–3 plain-English sentences using Apple Intelligence (on-device) or Groq's free AI. WHAT IT DOES Fetches the newest papers from the subjects you care about Summarizes every abstract automatically β€” no reading walls of text Opens papers in a built-in reader, so you never lose your place Lets you save and share papers with one tap Search your saved papers and sort by date, title, or source Supports keyword filtering so only relevant papers reach your feed ORGANIZE YOUR LIBRARY (PRO) Add tags and notes to any saved paper Group papers into collections and browse by project Export your library to BibTeX, RIS, or CSV β€” import straight into Zotero, EndNote, or Mendeley, with authors, year, and journal included SOURCES INCLUDED bioRxiv β€” biology and life sciences preprints medRxiv β€” medical and clinical preprints arXiv β€” physics, mathematics, and computer science preprints PubMed β€” peer-reviewed journal articles via NCBI E-utilities AI SUMMARIZATION On Apple Intelligence-capable devices (A17 Pro, A18, or M-series chips, iOS 26+), summaries run entirely on-device β€” no internet, no API key needed. On other devices, PubMinder uses Groq's free cloud AI. A free Groq API key takes about 2 minutes to set up at console.groq.com. PRO AI summaries and your saved library are free. A single one-time purchase (no subscription) unlocks tags, notes, collections, unlimited subjects, and library export. PRIVACY PubMinder does not collect personal data, require an account, or track you. API keys are stored in the iOS Keychain, not in plain text.

Screenshots

Listening Science2 screens
PubMinder4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Listening Science at none against PubMinder's 1. Listening Science also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.0). PubMinder's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price and device support there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. PubMinder sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Listening Science asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences Β· 3 level
Listening Science versus PubMinder: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterListening SciencePubMinder
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyβ€”Every 5 weeks
AdsYesNo β€” better
In-app purchasesNo β€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod β€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 β€” better18.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size10 MB8 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperHiroshi SakaiBRANDI LYNN CANTAREL

In-app purchases

None

Listening Science

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

PubMinder

One-time1
  • Preprint Sources Unlock$4.99

Questions

Is Listening Science free?
Listening Science is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PubMinder free?
PubMinder is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Listening Science or PubMinder have ads?
Listening Science shows ads; PubMinder does not.

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