IDW Digital Comics Experience vs Comic Book Viewer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
IDW Digital Comics Experience
Access a vast library of comic books and graphic novels from a renowned publisher. Discover new releases weekly, enjoy curated bundles, and explore free recommendations. Read your collection with a modern, state-of-the-art reader.
- Weekly new releases
- Curated comic and book bundles
- Free comics and books recommendations
- State-of-the-art app reader
- Access to popular titles like Star Trek and TMNT
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IDW Publishing is the home of world-renowned comic book and graphic novel storytelling! We publish some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including Paramount's Star Trek; Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog; and many more. We also publish best-selling original series, including Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez's Locke & Key and Patrick Horvath's Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees. IDWP's critically acclaimed Top Shelf Productions imprint publishes works of visionary artistry, literary sophistication, and personal resonance, including George Takei's They Called Us Enemy and the New York Times best-selling March by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell. - New releases every week! - Save money with carefully curated comic and book bundles! - Discover new stories with a selection of free comics and books recommended by IDW! - Read your collection at your leisure by using the new state-of-the-art app reader! Get started with your IDW Publishing adventure today!
Comic Book Viewer
A fast and user-friendly application for viewing digital comic books and PDF files. It supports various comic archive formats and common image types, offering library management and metadata display.
- Supports CBT, CBZ, CBR, CB7, and PDF formats
- Recognizes PNG, JPG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, and WebP images
- Import/export comics via iTunes or third-party apps
- AirDrop support for sharing between devices
- Displays metadata (CoMet, ACBF, Comic Rack, ComicBookInfo)
- Library search functionality
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Comic Book Viewer is a lightweight, fast and easy to use reader for your favorite comic books in cbt, cbz, cbr, cb7 or pdf format. Recognized image formats include png, jpg, gif, tiff, bmp and webp. Import and export your comics via iTunes or simply by sharing them in any third-party app on your device. Send them to other devices via AirDrop. Comic Book Viewer supports and shows metadata in CoMet, Advanced Comic Book Format, Comic Rack or in ComicBookInfo format and allows you to search your library. Comics seen in screenshots © 2014-2025 by Ctrl+Alt+Del Productions. Courtesy of Tim Buckley, http://www.cad-comic.com. Comics not included.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Comic Book Viewer at 71% against IDW Digital Comics Experience's 19%. Comic Book Viewer also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 33) and ratings volume (135 vs 4). IDW Digital Comics Experience's advantage is rating (4.0 vs 3.8). On price, update cadence, ads 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. IDW Digital Comics Experience sells 33 one-off in-app purchases. Comic Book Viewer asks for nothing beyond the download.
IDW Digital Comics Experience holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Comic Book Viewer has 135 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 19% of IDW Digital Comics Experience's written reviews are positive against 71% of Comic Book Viewer's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
IDW Digital Comics Experience ships an update every 6 weeks, Comic Book Viewer every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | IDW Digital Comics Experience | Comic Book Viewer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (4 ratings) — better | 3.8 (135 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 19.0% of reviews | 71.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 135 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | IDW Publishing | Sebastian Boettcher |
Customer experience
IDW Digital Comics Experience
Comic Book Viewer
User reviews
IDW Digital Comics Experience
From 4 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fast and easy to use
- 👍 Great selection of comics
- 💡 Potential for future improvements
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Poor organization and navigation
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 📖 Blurry/low-quality reading experience
- 💰 Expensive pricing compared to other options
Comic Book Viewer
From 135 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🚀 Fast and responsive
- 🔒 No ads or data collection
- 🔒 Lightweight and efficient
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes
- 🔍 Lack of advanced organization and management features
- 🔍 Limited customization options
- 🔍 Issues with page scrolling and zooming
Bugs and requests
IDW Digital Comics Experience
Reported bugs
4 issues- Comics disappearing from library
- Inability to restore purchases
- Frequent crashes and freezes
- Login and account issues
Requested features
5 requests- Offline reading/download functionality
- Better sorting and filtering options
- Panel-by-panel reading mode
- Sync purchases across devices
- Discounts/bundle options
Comic Book Viewer
Reported bugs
3 issues- Slider not working after recent update
- Pages randomly skipping ahead when switching orientation
- Inability to import some comic file formats
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to rename/reorder comics
- Implement vertical scrolling mode
- Provide more customization settings
- Improve library management with folders/collections
In-app purchases
IDW Digital Comics Experience
- Dungeons & Dragons #0$0.99
- Infestation #1$0.99
- Danger Girl #1$1.99
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- Locke and Key: Crown of Shadows #1$1.99
- Dragon Age #1$1.99
- Dragon Age #2$1.99
- Dungeons & Dragons #1$1.99
- Star Trek #1$1.99
- Star Trek TNG/Doctor Who: Assimilation #1$1.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #68$3.99
- Sonic: Blade of Courage: Chapter 3$3.99
- Sonic: Blade of Courage: Chapter 1$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #78$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #77$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #76$3.99
- Sonic the Hedge.... 1: Fallout$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #74$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #73$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #72$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #71$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #70$3.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #89$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog x Godzilla #2$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #88$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #87$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic Racing$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #79$4.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Chaotix's 30th$5.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog #75$6.99
- Sonic: 35th Anniversary Special$7.99
- Sonic the Hedgehog Annual 2024$7.99
- SonicTheHedgehog: TheIDW Vol1$9.99
- Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft$11.99
Comic Book Viewer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is IDW Digital Comics Experience free?
Is Comic Book Viewer free?
Which has better reviews, IDW Digital Comics Experience or Comic Book Viewer?
Do IDW Digital Comics Experience or Comic Book Viewer have ads?
Which is updated more often, IDW Digital Comics Experience or Comic Book Viewer?
Other comparisons
