# Apple Books vs Audiobooks

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Apple Books at none against Audiobooks's 1. Apple Books also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (129K vs 2.2K). Audiobooks's advantage is review sentiment (77% vs 54%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Audiobooks sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Apple Books asks for nothing beyond the download.

Apple Books holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Apple Books has 129K ratings behind it against 2.2K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 54% of Apple Books's written reviews are positive against 77% of Audiobooks's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

Apple Books ships an update every 3 months, Audiobooks every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

## The numbers

| Metric | Apple Books | Audiobooks |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.6 (129K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/apple-books/id364709193/reviews)** | [4.3 (2.2K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/audiobooks-librivox-library/id737369671/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **129K** | 2.2K |
| Positive reviews | 54.1% of reviews | **77.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | **Every 3 weeks** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 17 MB | 19 MB |
| Requires iOS | **10.0** | 13.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch** | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Apple Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/284417353) | [Le Thanh Quang](https://appshunter.io/developer/628502566) |

## What reviewers say

### Apple Books

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/apple-books/id364709193)

Discover, read, and listen to millions of books and audiobooks. Browse curated collections, personalized recommendations, and bestsellers. Customize your reading experience with various themes and settings, and set reading goals to build a habit. Share your library with family.

**Highlights:** Discover millions of books and audiobooks, Personalized recommendations and curated collections, Customizable reading experience (fonts, themes, spacing), Reading goals and progress tracking, Family Sharing for books and audiobooks, Apple CarPlay and Apple Watch integration

**Features:** Apple Watch app, Vision Pro support, iPhone Duo support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Seamless integration across devices
- 📚 Vast library of books available
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- 🎧 Exceptional audiobook experience

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Books get deleted from local storage
- 🐛 Unreliable syncing between devices
- 🔒 Lack of audio closed captions
- 🤔 Pricing concerns for some books
- 🤔 Frustrating UI changes in recent updates

**Reported bugs**

- Books randomly deleted from device
- Syncing issues between iPhone and iPad
- Scrolling and navigation glitches
- Inconsistent font and formatting issues
- Inability to download books over cellular data

**Requested features**

- Audio closed captions for audiobooks
- Ability to organize books by series
- Custom font and highlighter color options
- Syncing for audiobooks across devices
- Integration with book review platforms


### Audiobooks

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/audiobooks-librivox-library/id737369671)

Access a vast library of over 150,000 classic audiobooks and podcasts. Listen anywhere, download for offline playback, and engage with a community through comments and votes. Turn downtime into listening time with this extensive collection.

**Highlights:** 150,000+ classic audiobooks, Podcast listening, Offline downloads, Search and category browsing, Community comments and votes, High-quality audio

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remove Ads | $1.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Surprisingly good reading
- 📚 Impressive collection of public domain literature
- 👍 Great, free audio books
- 👍 Huge selection of great books
- 👍 Offline audios work great

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Doesn't let you selectively download in bits and pieces
- 🐛 Cannot exit the app during reading
- 🐛 Search engine is outdated
- 🐛 Cannot login without Facebook or Google
- 🐛 Ads are not closable on iPhone 12

**Reported bugs**

- Cannot open or play any books
- Keeps forcing user to write a review before allowing further use

**Requested features**

- Add stop button and bookmark button
- Add ability to speed up narration
- Add more modern and popular book titles
- Add more children's books suitable for 9-year-olds
- Add sleep timer


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Apple Books free?

Apple Books is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Audiobooks free?

Audiobooks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Apple Books or Audiobooks?

Apple Books is rated higher. Apple Books averages 4.6 out of 5 from 129K ratings, while Audiobooks averages 4.3 from 2.2K ratings.

### Do Apple Books or Audiobooks have ads?

Audiobooks shows ads; Apple Books does not.

### Which is updated more often, Apple Books or Audiobooks?

Apple Books ships an update every 3 months, and Audiobooks every 3 weeks. Most recently, Apple Books was updated on November 1, 2026 and Audiobooks on November 1, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*