CHMate vs KyBook
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CHMate
This app offers a robust reading experience for EPUB and CHM eBooks. Organize your library, add bookmarks and notes, and customize your reading environment. Share passages and easily search within your books.
- Organize eBooks into collections
- Add bookmarks and notes
- Customizable fonts and line height
- Fast scrolling and pagination
- Highlight favorite passages
- Built-in search functionality
- Share quotes with friends
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Default ebook formatting does not always suit the way you read. CHMate turns your personal files into a calm, comfortable reading corner. A customizable wooden bookshelf with an ambient lamp and personal decor. Download free. Unlock multiple books with a single one-time purchase. A BOOKSHELF OF YOUR OWN • Wooden shelves and ambient lamp: Display your personal collection with warm bookshelf lighting. • Shelf decor: Arrange animated ornaments, plants, paintings, and shelf-edge figures. • Personal memories: Decorate with photos, Live Photos, or silent looping videos (MP4/MOV). • Custom layout: Freely move, resize, and favorite your decor items. TAILORED TYPOGRAPHY • Page colors: Choose from six page colors independently of your typography theme, with light, dark, or automatic appearance. • Precise reading controls: Adjust font size, line height, page margins, and fonts for body, headings, and code. • Custom font import: Read with built-in fonts or import your own font files. • Horizontal and vertical reading: Switch text orientation where supported for Chinese and Japanese text. • iCloud theme sync: Save your custom typography themes and sync them across your devices. TOOLS & LOCAL IMPORT • Supported formats: Read your own EPUB and CHM files with structured table of contents navigation. • Local Wi-Fi transfer: Send files directly from your computer browser over your local network. • Reading tools: Search full text across chapters, add highlights, and review notes in one place. HONEST PRICING • Free download with complete reading features for your current book. • Unlock multiple books with a single one-time in-app purchase. • No subscriptions and no ads.
KyBook
This app is a versatile e-book reader supporting a wide range of formats including EPUB, PDF, and audiobooks. It offers extensive customization for reading modes, cloud storage integration, and easy book organization. Advanced features like DJVU support and speed reading are available via in-app purchase.
- Supports EPUB, FB2, PDF, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, MP3, M4A, M4B formats
- OPDS catalogs and cloud storage integration
- Customizable reading mode settings
- Book organization and cataloging
- Text-to-speech and dictionary support
- Speed Reading (RSVP)
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KyBook is a modern reader application for e-books. It has highly customizable and friendly interface and also: Key features: - EPUB, FB2, RTF, PDF, DJVU, CHM, CBR, CBZ, MP3, M4A, M4B formats - OPDS catalogs and network folders - Google Books, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Yandex Disc - Flexible reading mode settings Complete feature list: - Supports e-books in EPUB, FictionBook (fb2, fbz, fb2.zip), TXT, RTF, PDF, DJVU, CHM, Comic Book (cbr, cbz) and Audio Book (mp3, m4a, m4b) formats. - Has wide opportunities in searching and downloading e-books from different sources. - Provides access to enormous collection of free electronic books through OPDS-catalogs support. - Downloads e-books with the help of Web Browser (Mobile Safari), e-mail or iTunes. - Saves your books into cloud storages and network folders. - Integrated with Google Books, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and Yandex Disc. - Allows flexible setting of text displaying: font selection, colour theme, text size, text alignment mode, line height, margins, paragraph indention and hyphenations. - Allows choosing book covers from different sources, changing titles and subjects. - Provides easy navigation inside the book using table of content, bookmarks or notes. - Helps organizing your books on shelves, cataloging them under subjects and sorting in different modes. - Has full-screen reading mode in landscape and portrait orientation. - Allows turning and scrolling pages in vertical or horizontal mode. - Allows locking orientation and changing screen brightness. - Supports dictionaries, translation of selected text and text-to-speech. - Integrated with social networking services (Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte) - Supports of VK Docs as Cloud Storage - Built-in Web Browser - Supports Tor Network - DJVU and PDF filters - Support of archives in ZIP and RAR format - Password-protected Bookshelves - Speed Reading (RSVP) - Automatic text summarization - Integrated with LitRes.ru - Integrated with Samizdat (samlib.ru) - Supports WebDAV protocol Dear users, DJVU, CHM, Tor Network and 'Speed Reading' requires in-app purchase "Upgrade to Pro Version". You are free to use these features during the trial period. After the trial period You can unlock them via upgrading KyBook to Pro Version.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: KyBook at 4.4 against CHMate's 3.9. KyBook also leads on ratings volume (466 vs 20) and review sentiment (71% vs 55%). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. CHMate sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and KyBook sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
KyBook holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: KyBook has 466 ratings behind it against 20, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of CHMate's written reviews are positive against 71% of KyBook's.
CHMate ships an update every 2 weeks, KyBook every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CHMate | KyBook |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (20 ratings) | 4.4 (466 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 55.3% of reviews | 71.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 20 | 466 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 51 MB | 50 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | 贤安 陈 | Konstantin Bukreev |
Customer experience
CHMate
KyBook
User reviews
CHMate
From 20 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Excellent UI/UX design and interface
- 📖 Best CHM file reader available
- ⚡ Fast and smooth performance
- 🎨 Customizable text formatting and fonts
- 🔍 Powerful search functionality
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
- ⚠️ iCloud sync deletes files irreversibly
- 💰 Expensive pricing for functionality
- 🔄 Highlighting and annotations don't persist
- 📱 Compatibility issues with iOS updates
KyBook
From 466 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Fast and smooth performance
- 📚 Supports wide range of file formats
- 🔖 Good organization and categorization features
- 🔊 Excellent text-to-speech functionality
Room to improve
- 🐛 Syncing issues, especially with Dropbox and Google Drive
- 🔍 Navigation and file management could be improved
- 💰 Paid version required for some key features
- 📢 Intrusive ads in free version
- 🔧 Lack of updates and support from developers
Bugs and requests
CHMate
Reported bugs
13 issues- App crashes when searching CHM files
- Crashes when using tap-hold for bookmarking
- Highlighting functionality broken after iOS updates
- Notes and bookmarks not saving properly
- Highlights disappear or move between chapters
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- App crashes on startup or when opening files
- Table of contents index expansion broken
- Custom fonts blocked after iOS 14.5 update
- Files not accessible via iCloud or Dropbox
- Missing icons after updates
- Images display as half-dark or missing
- Text formatting changes not visible without page reload
- First line spacing issues
Requested features
12 requests- Dark mode and additional color themes (Sepia)
- Book cover display instead of text-only library view
- PDF support
- Text-to-speech functionality
- Better pagination options
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- iPad Pro resolution support
- iOS multi-window support
- Better bookmark functionality
- Separate highlighting and annotation tools
- Support for Cyrillic and Arabic text encoding
- Collection/folder organization for multiple files
- Zip file support for documentation sets
KyBook
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes after recent iOS updates
- Text-to-speech function not working properly on newer devices
- Inability to delete books from the app
- Inconsistent theme and color customization behavior
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for more languages
- Improve image handling and layout
- Implement better annotation and highlighting tools
- Provide easier access to main library from subfolders
- Add ability to password protect individual books or folders
In-app purchases
CHMate
- CHMate+$9.99
KyBook
- Upgrade to Pro Version$0.99
- Upgrade to Pro Version$1.99








