Waterstones vs BorrowBox
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Waterstones
Access the UK's largest bookseller on your mobile device. Browse, buy, and collect books, gifts, and games. Manage wish lists, earn rewards, and find local store information.
- Browse and buy books, gifts, and games
- Click & collect from local shops
- Earn and redeem Waterstones Plus rewards
- Create multiple wish lists
- Read and write customer reviews
- Scan Plus card from phone
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- The UK's biggest bookseller at your fingertips. - Sign up to Waterstones Plus in seconds to start earning and redeeming rewards online, in our shops and in our cafes. - Browse, buy or click & collect directly from the app or check stock in your local shop. Please note if no local shops have stock of your item the search results will be blank. - Build multiple wish lists as required: great for saving items for later or building a gifting list. - Find all your local shop information and set your favourite local shop for convenient click & collect options and stock information. - Read reviews from booksellers and customers and write your own. - You can share items with others by sending a link from the product screen. - Plus in your pocket at all times: scan your Plus card straight from your phone, even if you're offline. - Pay by Apple Pay, PayPal or Card.
BorrowBox
Access a vast collection of eAudiobooks, eBooks, eMagazines, and eNewspapers from your local library. Browse, borrow, and enjoy digital content seamlessly across all your devices with features like language browsing and automatic new issue downloads.
- Borrow eAudiobooks, eBooks, eMagazines, eNewspapers
- Read or listen directly in the app
- Curated collections and themes
- Multi-language browsing
- Automatic new issue downloads for subscriptions
- Cross-device sync for reading/listening progress
- Adjustable playback speed and sleep timer
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Discover the Ultimate Library Experience – Borrow eAudiobooks, eBooks, eMagazines, and eNewspapers – All in One Place. With BorrowBox, browsing, borrowing, reading, or listening has never been simpler. Take your library with you, wherever you go, whenever you want. If your local library offers BorrowBox, simply sign in with your membership details to unlock a world of digital reading and listening. ALL YOUR LIBRARY FAVOURITES, ONE APP Explore eAudiobooks, eBooks, eMagazines, and eNewspapers – all the formats your library offers, all in one place. EVERYTHING IN ONE PLACE Read or listen to your borrowed titles directly in the app. No extra downloads, no extra steps. MADE FOR YOU Enjoy curated collections and themes that make discovering your next read and listen a breeze. BROWSE IN ANY LANGUAGE Our Language Browsing feature makes it simple to find content in multiple languages, tailored for different audiences. NEVER MISS A RELEASE Subscribe to your favourite eMagazines or eNewspapers, and they’ll be borrowed and downloaded automatically as new issues arrive. STAY IN SYNC Your reading and listening progress seamlessly follows you across all your devices. TAILORED TO YOU Set a sleep timer for your eAudiobooks, add your favourites to your reading lists, and adjust playback speed to suit your listening style.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: BorrowBox at every 6 days against Waterstones's every 3 weeks. BorrowBox also leads on ratings volume (880 vs 62) and review sentiment (77% vs 63%). Waterstones's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Waterstones against 4.7 for BorrowBox. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BorrowBox has 880 ratings behind it against 62, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 63% of Waterstones's written reviews are positive against 77% of BorrowBox's.
Waterstones ships an update every 3 weeks, BorrowBox every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Waterstones | BorrowBox |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (62 ratings) — better | 4.7 (880 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 62.7% of reviews | 76.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 62 | 880 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | #81 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 172 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Waterstones Booksellers Ltd | Bolinda digital |
Customer experience
Waterstones
BorrowBox
Bugs and requests
Waterstones
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
BorrowBox
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes after recent update
- Loses reading progress when switching devices
- Night mode issues with invisible text
- Audiobook controls not working with Bluetooth
- Inconsistent behavior when using sleep timer
Requested features
5 requests- Add a wishlist or reading list feature
- Improve search and filtering capabilities
- Implement bookmark/progress tracking for audiobooks
- Integrate with Apple CarPlay for safer driving
- Add user reviews and ratings for books
In-app purchases
Waterstones
No in-app purchases
BorrowBox
No in-app purchases
