Comparison

iComic vs Chess | Shogi Clock

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

Head to head
About

iComic

Read high-resolution comic pages from zip or cbz archives on your device. Enjoy seamless navigation and zooming with multi-touch gestures. Download comics from the internet or personal servers for offline reading.

Highlights
  • High-resolution comic page display
  • Supports JPG, TIF, PNG in ZIP/CBZ
  • Multi-touch page navigation
  • Pinch-to-zoom functionality
  • Built-in download manager
  • Offline comic access
Features
Read full description

Welcome to iComic, the premier application for reading comics on your iPhone or iPod Touch. iComic makes great use of the multi-touch function for simple and effective page navigation and zooming to provide the best portable comic book read you will find. iComic displays high resolution comic pages (jpg, tif, or png image files) contained inside compressed zip or cbz format archives. Using the built-in download function, comics can be downloaded from the internet or from a personal server and stored locally on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Your downloaded comics are stored on your device and so are always available for reading, even when you have no internet connection. As iTunes resizes images to a compressed format, iComic is also useful for displaying images for other uses e.g. maps, high detailed photos and ebooks (convert your pdf books to jpeg and you have a perfect reader for those large pdf files, normally unreadable due to the high memory requirement). iComic currently provides three methods for turning pages: swiping your finger on the screen; by taps in the screen corners using the Corner-Tap method; or by Multi-Touch (tap once to page forward, twice to page back). Zooming is by the familiar pinch method used in Safari and other applications or by double tapping the screen when in Corner-Tap mode. The application is very stable and can easily handle zip files up to 60MB with infrequent problems observed with files of much larger size. Individual image files inside the zip files are constrained to a maximum 3 million pixels (e.g. 3,000 pixels high x 1,000 pixels wide or equivalent) though for the sake of battery conservation much smaller sizes (~1000 pixels high) are generally used. A manual for setting up and using iComic can be downloaded from http://red.halfmoon.jp/AppStore_iComic_V1.3_FAQ.pdf The author of this application is Japanese so for excellent community support and discussion in English please visit the helpful and friendly ~*~ Ultimate icomic Thread ~*~ at www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23759

About

Chess | Shogi Clock

Features
Read full description

◆ Main Features ◆ - Shogi-specific game timer Supports time limits, Byo-Yomi, and Fischer timing for professional-level time control. - Sudden Death / Byo-Yomi / Fischer Support Choose your preferred timing rules for both casual and official-style matches. - Time Handicap Set different time limits for Sente and Gote. - Ad-free Experience Clean and distraction-free UI so you can fully focus on the match. - Simple yet Powerful Easy-to-use design that anyone can start using immediately. ◆ How to Use ◆ 1. Launch the app and choose your match rules 2. Set your time limit, Byo-Yomi, or Fischer settings 3. Press start to begin the countdown! ◆ Notes ◆ 1. While optimized for Shogi, this app can be used for other two-player games as well. 2. This app is not affiliated with the Japan Shogi Association. 3. Features and specifications may change without notice. Please use the latest version. Master your time, master your game. Download this clean and powerful Shogi clock today.

Screenshots

iComic1 screens
Chess | Shogi Clock3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chess | Shogi Clock at Free against iComic's $0.99. Chess | Shogi Clock also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs monthly). On ads, in-app purchases, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Chess | Shogi Clock is free to download; iComic costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iComic ships an update monthly, Chess | Shogi Clock every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
iComic versus Chess | Shogi Clock: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriComicChess | Shogi Clock
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating3.1 (7 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB6 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperY.YamamotoNEVER KNOWS BEST

Bugs and requests

iComic

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • App crashes when opening large comic files
  • Rotation mode becomes stuck after using 'fix right' option
  • Status bar doesn't disappear despite settings
  • Bookmark settings not saved in iOS 4.x
  • FTP upload fails with permission errors
Show 12 more
  • File numbering displays out of order (01 after 1)
  • Nested folder structures not readable
  • Landscape mode rendering issues with black space
  • Memory leaks causing frequent warnings
  • CBR files with newer RAR compression show blank pages
  • Swipe navigation not working properly
  • App crashes after finishing a comic
  • Cannot save rotation preferences
  • Crashes on iOS 5+ with certain devices
  • FTP connection issues on Windows 7
  • Blank 'read error' pages in some CBR files
  • App installs multiple times causing file confusion

Requested features

18 requests
  • CBR/RAR format support (added in later versions)
  • iTunes file transfer integration
  • Lock rotation option for reading
  • Auto-rotate to landscape for 2-page spreads
  • Improved file management and deletion from app
Show 13 more
  • Better bookmark functionality with persistent storage
  • Thumbnail previews of comics
  • Directory/folder organization system
  • Password protection for app
  • Batch file import capability
  • Page slider for quick navigation
  • Support for PDF files
  • Retina-friendly app icon
  • Improved file sorting (alphanumeric)
  • In-app FTP file pulling from servers
  • Gesture controls for chapter navigation
  • Reset read status for re-reading
  • Automatic chapter continuation

Chess | Shogi Clock

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

iComic

No in-app purchases

None

Chess | Shogi Clock

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iComic free?
iComic costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess | Shogi Clock free?
Chess | Shogi Clock is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do iComic or Chess | Shogi Clock have ads?
Neither iComic nor Chess | Shogi Clock shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iComic or Chess | Shogi Clock?
iComic ships an update monthly, and Chess | Shogi Clock every 9 days. Most recently, iComic was updated on September 25, 2026 and Chess | Shogi Clock on September 19, 2026.

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