KDE Connect vs BookStax
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
KDE Connect
Seamlessly integrate your devices with features like a shared clipboard, file sharing, and remote control. Use your phone as a virtual touchpad or keyboard, and even control presentations remotely. All communication is secured with end-to-end encryption.
- Shared clipboard
- File and URL sharing
- Virtual touchpad and keyboard
- Remote presentation control
- Remote command execution
- End-to-end encryption
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KDE Connect provides a set of features to integrate your workflow across devices: - Shared clipboard: copy and paste between your devices. - Share files and URLs to your computer from any app. - Virtual touchpad and keyboard: Use your phone screen as your computer's touchpad or keyboard - Remote presentation remote: control a laser pointer on the screen of your computer by moving your phone around. - Remote commands: run commands on your computer from your phone. - End-to-end TLS encryption: your information is safe. Please note you will need to install KDE Connect on your other computers/phones/tablets and keep the version up-to-date for the latest features to work. This app is part of an open source project and it exists thanks to all the people who contributed to it. Please visit the KDE Connect website to grab the source code.
BookStax
Access and manage your self-hosted BookStack knowledge base natively on iPhone. Edit pages with a Markdown editor, search your content, and access it offline. Prioritizes privacy with secure API token storage.
- BookStack hierarchy navigation
- Full-text search with filters
- Markdown editor with live preview
- Offline read access
- Secure API token connection
- Light/Dark/System mode
- Multi-language support
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BookStax brings your self-hosted BookStack wiki to iPhone and iPad as a native app. Read, write and search – directly on your own server. Read • Shelves, books, chapters and pages – the same structure as in BookStack • Images, callouts, tables and collapsible blocks look like they do on the web • Favorites and recently opened pages on the home screen Write • Markdown editor with preview, or the visual editor • Upload images, add tags, insert callouts • Quick Note: capture an idea – without a connection it is uploaded later Search • Full-text search with filters for content type and tag • Find downloaded pages in Spotlight, too Notifications (Pro) • Push notifications from your wiki: new and updated pages, comments, new chapters and books • For admins: keep an eye on new users, registrations, API tokens and changed settings • Choose the events per server – BookStax sets up the webhook in BookStack Offline and widgets • Download books and shelves and browse them without a connection, images included • Widgets for your favorites and an overview of your wiki AI helpers for your pages • Summarize, translate or proofread your own pages • With Apple Intelligence right on your device, or with an AI service you connect yourself Privacy • Your API token is stored in the iOS Keychain. If you like, Face ID or Touch ID locks the app. • BookStax connects to your BookStack server. AI requests go only to the service you set up yourself. • For notifications, BookStack sends events to the BookStax push service. It only forwards the ones you choose to Apple and stores no content. • Anonymous usage statistics (e.g. first launch, server connected) help improve the app – no server addresses, content or personal data. You can turn them off in Settings under "Security". Free and Pro Reading, writing, search, offline reading, widgets and AI are free. BookStax Pro, a one-time purchase, adds: • Notifications from BookStack: pages, comments, books and administration • Shortcuts & Siri: search, open and create pages, fetch content for your own automations • Sharing & export: share page links, export as PDF, Markdown, HTML or text, save text, links and photos from other apps to BookStack • Offline editing with automatic sync • Multiple server profiles • Three premium reader themes, a custom accent colour, one colour per server Requirements • Your own BookStack instance and an API token from your BookStack profile • No server yet? You can try BookStax with the BookStack demo server right in the app. Good to know — BookStax is an independent client and not an official product of the BookStack project. It requires your own self-hosted BookStack server and does not include a server of its own. About the project: https://www.bookstackapp.com / BookStax Pro is a one-time purchase – no subscription, no automatic renewal. Purchases can be restored in the app. / Terms of use (Apple's standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: BookStax at 5.0 against KDE Connect's 4.2. BookStax also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 months). KDE Connect's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ratings volume (279 vs 1). On price, ads 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. BookStax sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. KDE Connect asks for nothing beyond the download.
BookStax holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: KDE Connect has 279 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 61% of KDE Connect's written reviews are positive against 50% of BookStax's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
KDE Connect ships an update every 3 months, BookStax every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | KDE Connect | BookStax |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (279 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.8% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 279 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | KDE e.V. | Sven Uwe Hanold |
Customer experience
KDE Connect
BookStax
Bugs and requests
KDE Connect
Reported bugs
4 issues- Clipboard push feature not working
- App crashes on launch for some users
- Incompatibility with certain device/OS combinations
- Inability to discover/connect to devices in some cases
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for background operation
- Improve multi-file transfer capabilities
- Integrate with system share sheet
- Implement two-finger scrolling and other gestures
- Add SMS/notification sync features
BookStax
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
KDE Connect
No in-app purchases
BookStax
- Page$2.99
- Themes & more Servers$5.99
- Book$5.99
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- Encyclopaedia$12.99









