Comparison

i2Reader vs ShortBook²

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

Head to head
About

i2Reader

This app is an award-winning eBook reader supporting a wide range of formats including EPUB, PDF, and MOBI. It offers customizable styles, dictionary integration, and convenient ways to upload books via FTP, web server, or Calibre.

Highlights
  • Supports EPUB, PDF, RTF, HTML, FB2, MOBI, DOC, text
  • Customizable styles and dictionary support
  • Built-in FTP and Web servers for book uploads
  • Calibre integration for book management
  • Custom PDF reformatting engine
  • Autoscroll and auto-hyphenation
  • Integrated web browser for book downloads
Read full description

i2Reader is an innovative and award-winning eBook reader! Among the features: - Support of EPUB (DRM-free), PDF, RTF, HTML, FB2, MOBI, DOC and plain text formats; - Customizable styles; - Dictionary support (starDict format) for quick word lookup; - Extremely user-friendly interface; - One-way built-in FTP server to upload books and dictionaries to i2Reader; - One-way built-in Web server to upload books and dictionaries from your computer; - Support for cross-platform Calibre tool to upload books to i2Reader; - Custom-made PDF rendering engine that reformats the text from PDFs for easier reading on the iPhone screen; - Autoscroll; - Auto-hyphenation; - Display and save of inline images in the books; - Integrated Web browser to quickly download books from the Internet; - Bookmarks; - Table of Contents; - Landscape and fullscreen modes; - Book groups.

About

ShortBook²

This reader app offers a unique approach to text display on smaller screens, optimizing comfort and reducing eye strain. It allows extensive customization of text layout and includes decorative elements to enhance the reading experience. Supports FB2 format and provides reading statistics.

Highlights
  • Optimized text layout for small screens
  • Customizable text placement options
  • Decorative elements for atmosphere
  • FB2 format support (contents, footnotes, figures)
  • Rich settings with dozens of parameters
  • Reading statistics and monitoring
  • Quick restart after breaks
Features
Read full description

Reading books on portable devices is always a compromise between comfort of reading and text availability. ShortBook² offers an original way of solving this problem with its careful approach to text makeup on the limited screen area of iPhone or iPad. A lot of experiments with various text compositions and interface layouts have jelled the unique match for convenient reading. If you need to read for a long time, with comfort and without any considerable damage to the sight take advantage of the ShortBook² program — a high-end reader. ShortBook² focuses on the layout process, allowing the user to control virtually all text placement options. Moreover, the program analyzes the text and places decorative elements in various places, which not only decorate the book and bring their atmosphere into it, but also simplify the reading process. Thus, in ShortBook², even "picture-free" books look attractive and do not tire with the external monotony while reading, which not only increases reader comfort, but also reduces eye fatigue from the reading process. The program fully supports FB2 electronic books format including contents, footnotes and figures. Any electronic book can be easily converted to this format with free utilities though using a variety of web libraries with books already in this format is much more simple. To meet personal preferences, the application has rich settings, including several dozens of customizable parameters. The book index has several sorting modes allowing to find a required writing easily. Reading can be quickly restarted after a break with one touch of the screen. The reader keeps reading statistics and offers developed means of monitoring the reading process. The application was developed using the latest technologies, therefore it is not available for users of iOS 12 and below. These users can use the classic ShortBook application. ShortBook² is available by subscription. The subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Subscribers gain access to all Short Review materials that will be published during the subscription period. Short Review materials contain reviews of the book market of electronic publications in Russia, book ratings and recommendations for organizing reading. Terms of use of the subscription: http://www.shortki.com/ShortBook/terms.html

Screenshots

i2Reader4 screens
ShortBook²4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ShortBook² at 4.6 against i2Reader's 4.1. i2Reader's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (6.1 vs 14.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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

Both are free to download. ShortBook² sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per year. i2Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ShortBook² holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 15 and 13 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 47% of i2Reader's written reviews are positive against 40% of ShortBook²'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
i2Reader versus ShortBook²: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameteri2ReaderShortBook²
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (15 ratings)4.6 (13 ratings) — better
Positive reviews47.1% of reviews — better39.7% of reviews
Number of ratings15 — better13
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS6.1 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB67 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperYuriy MelyushinJury Shortki

Customer experience

i2Reader

All ratings15 ratings
Positive73.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative26.7%
Written reviews102 reviews
Positive47.1%
Neutral12.7%
Negative40.2%

ShortBook²

All ratings13 ratings
Positive84.6%
Neutral15.4%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews73 reviews
Positive39.7%
Neutral6.8%
Negative53.4%

In-app purchases

None

i2Reader

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

ShortBook²

Subscriptions1
  • Annual1 Month trial$9.991 Year

Questions

Is i2Reader free?
i2Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ShortBook² free?
ShortBook² is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, i2Reader or ShortBook²?
ShortBook² is rated higher. i2Reader averages 4.1 out of 5 from 15 ratings, while ShortBook² averages 4.6 from 13 ratings.
Do i2Reader or ShortBook² have ads?
Neither i2Reader nor ShortBook² shows ads.
Which is updated more often, i2Reader or ShortBook²?
i2Reader ships an update every 2 months, and ShortBook² every 2 months. Most recently, i2Reader was updated on October 11, 2026 and ShortBook² on October 12, 2026.

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