Elsevier eBooks+ vs Sketchy Learning
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Elsevier eBooks+
Access your medical textbooks offline and enhance your learning with tools for note-taking, highlighting, and flashcard creation. Sync your progress and annotations across devices for a seamless study experience.
- Offline book access
- Note-taking and highlighting
- Flashcard creation
- Cross-device syncing
- In-book search
- Figure viewing and zooming
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The Elsevier eBooks+ Bookshelf companion app provides on and offline access to the books in your eBooks+ account on the Content Library page. Enhance your reading experience with tools designed to build and improve your medical knowledge; making and sharing notes, highlighting key text, and creating flashcards. Elsevier eBooks Features: • Download books to your iOS device for easy online or offline reading. • Simple, user-friendly navigation and a clean reading experience. • Search inside your current book or across your full library. • Select text to create notes or highlights from your mobile device. • Tap to open figures, view captions, and pinch to zoom. • Sync your bookmarks, last page read, and all of your notes and highlights between your iOS device and our desktop or web-based eBooks+ apps. Requirements: • Elsevier eBooks+ account • One or more books available in your eBooks+ Bookshelf account • iOS 17+
Sketchy Learning
This app transforms complex medical subjects into memorable visual lessons and interactive patient scenarios. It's designed to help students learn faster, master exams, and build clinical confidence. Engage with high-yield content and practice real-world reasoning.
- Visual lessons for memorization
- Interactive patient case simulations
- High-yield exam content
- Quizzes and custom tests
- Customizable playlists
- Mobile-friendly learning
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Sketchy turns tough medical content into unforgettable visual lessons and interactive patient cases, so you learn faster, ace exams, and feel ready in the clinic. Built for how medical, PA, NP, and premed students actually learn, Sketchy helps you make sense of high-yield topics fast and recall them when it counts. Watch engaging visual lessons that lock in tough topics like pharm, micro, path, and more. Apply what you’ve learned to a clinical scenario with interactive patient cases that build real clinical reasoning skills. Whether you are squeezing in a quick review between classes or deep in exam and board prep, Sketchy goes where you go and helps concepts stick for the long haul. What you’ll love about Sketchy: * Unforgettable visual lessons that make hard concepts easy to remember * Interactive symbol explorer for quick visual lesson review * Interactive patient case sims to practice thinking like a clinician * High-yield content for exams, boards, and clinical rotations * Quizzes and custom tests that reinforce memory and reveal weak spots * Customizable playlists to organize lessons and cases your way * Mobile-friendly learning for quick reviews or deep dives Loved by over half a million students and created by expert clinicians, Sketchy helps learners feel more confident in class, on rotations, and on exam day. Terms: https://www.sketchy.com/terms Privacy: https://www.sketchy.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Elsevier eBooks+ at none against Sketchy Learning's 4. Elsevier eBooks+ also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (1.9K vs 32). Sketchy Learning's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Sketchy Learning sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $289.99 per year. Elsevier eBooks+ asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sketchy Learning holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Elsevier eBooks+ has 1.9K ratings behind it against 32, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 43% of Elsevier eBooks+'s written reviews are positive against 53% of Sketchy Learning's.
Elsevier eBooks+ ships an update every 2 months, Sketchy Learning every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 18, 2026.
| Parameter | Elsevier eBooks+ | Sketchy Learning |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (1.9K ratings) | 5.0 (32 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 42.9% of reviews | 52.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.9K — better | 32 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 183 MB | 68 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Elsevier Inc. | Sketchy Group, LLC |
Customer experience
Elsevier eBooks+
Sketchy Learning
User reviews
Elsevier eBooks+
From 1.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Student / Study friendly
- 🚀 Enhances content
- 👍 Ebooks from Elsevier
- 👍 Great app
Room to improve
- 🐛 Unable to view images/tables
- 🐛 Useless for medical textbooks
- 🐛 Positioning issues
- 🐛 Scrolling and zooming problems
- 🐛 Slow loading times
Sketchy Learning
From 32 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great for visual learners
- 👍 Makes learning fun and memorable
- 👍 High-yield material relevant to exams
- 👍 Excellent for retaining information
- 👍 Valuable for medical students
Room to improve
- 🐛 Videos stop in landscape orientation
- 🐛 Can't give feedback on mobile app
- 🐛 Closed captioning settings don't save
- 🐛 Zoom/pan not available in landscape mode
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
Bugs and requests
Elsevier eBooks+
Reported bugs
5 issues- Figures placed at the end of chapters
- Search function only works for single words
- Inability to clear search history
- Freezing and crashing issues
- Incompatibility with older devices
Requested features
8 requests- More highlighting and note-taking options
- Ability to write, draw, or paste images on pages
- Separate flashcard option integration with Anki/Quizlet
- More font size options
- Streamlined text selection for voiceover
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- Page turning instead of scrolling
- Ability to write on pages
- Interactive features
Sketchy Learning
Reported bugs
14 issues- Video stops playing and closes in landscape orientation
- Keyboard covers submit button when giving feedback on mobile app
- Closed captioning settings do not save
- App crashes when videos are full-screened and phone is turned sideways
- App crashes frequently
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- App becomes laggy and unusable after an update
- Video controls (pause, rewind) do not work after update
- Videos randomly stop playing without explanation
- Videos always crash on iPhone X
- Videos close by themselves on iOS
- Can't watch videos horizontally
- New layout makes symbols tiny and difficult to view
- Can't scroll on the side panel to see other videos in a course subsection
- Full screen symbol mode forces device orientation switch
Requested features
6 requests- Ability to create customized tests in the app
- Save closed captioning settings
- Improve zoom and pan functionality in landscape mode
- Bring back bookmarking feature
- Allow scrolling on the side panel within video courses
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- Make video speed and caption settings persistent across videos
In-app purchases
Elsevier eBooks+
No in-app purchases
Sketchy Learning
- Sketchy NP 12 month7 Days trial$289.991 Year
- MCAT Science Review 12 month7 Days trial$399.991 Year
- Sketchy PA 12 month7 Days trial$399.991 Year
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- Medical 12 month7 Days trial$459.991 Year
Questions
Is Elsevier eBooks+ free?
Is Sketchy Learning free?
Which has better reviews, Elsevier eBooks+ or Sketchy Learning?
Do Elsevier eBooks+ or Sketchy Learning have ads?
Which is updated more often, Elsevier eBooks+ or Sketchy Learning?
Other comparisons
