bunkoOCR vs SmoothOCR
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
bunkoOCR
This app uses deep learning for on-device optical character recognition. It excels at recognizing horizontal and vertical text, particularly in Japanese and English, with a focus on pocket edition books.
- On-device deep learning OCR
- Recognizes horizontal and vertical text
- Optimized for Japanese and English
- Works with pocket edition books
- No data sent externally
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This is an Optical Character Recognition(OCR) software with deeplearing model. All computation run on the device, no data is sent outside. This app can recognize horizontal and vertical text with ruby in facing page on Bunko(pocket edition) book. This app has best performance with Japanese and English text.
SmoothOCR
This application converts camera-captured text into editable digital text. It supports continuous scanning, multi-page management, and multilingual recognition, including Japanese vertical writing. Output options include text files, PDFs, and iCloud synchronization.
- Continuous text scanning
- Multi-page management
- Text editing
- TXT and PDF file export
- iCloud data synchronization
- Multilingual support
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This is an app that can convert characters shown on the camera into text. Features ・Continuous scanning is possible for the time being ・Can manage multiple pages at once ・Simple UI ·Multilingual ・Supports Japanese vertical writing Supported functions ・Text edit ・txt file output ・PDF file output ・Data synchronization between devices using iCloud Terms of service： https://note.com/wakaba_dev/n/nf2c276e954bc Tutorial： https://note.com/wakaba_dev/n/nc1cf9dd8b1a9
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: bunkoOCR at Free against SmoothOCR's $3.99. bunkoOCR also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs fortnightly). SmoothOCR's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (100% vs 78%). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
bunkoOCR is free to download; SmoothOCR costs $3.99 up front. bunkoOCR sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. SmoothOCR asks for nothing beyond the download.
bunkoOCR ships an update every 6 days, SmoothOCR fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and August 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | bunkoOCR | SmoothOCR |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $3.99 |
| Positive reviews | 77.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 818 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ichiro NAKAHARA | Shinya Saito |
Customer experience
bunkoOCR
SmoothOCR
In-app purchases
bunkoOCR
- Orange juice$3.99
- Dinner$17.99
- A day of GPU rent$99.99
SmoothOCR
No in-app purchases
