Waterstones vs Reader Rally
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.
Reader Rally
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Read-alongs and Buddy Reads have never been more exiting! Tired of nudging your friends to read this book you know they'll love? Start a Reader Rally, a twist on read-alongs. Track each others journey through the book and add your comments and reactions along the way. Chapter by chapter you have the option to express your feelings wherever you feel and see what your friends and family think too. Flesh out your reading list and get book suggestions from Oza AI! This isn't just for fictional reading either. You can do group studies on educational books and update each other on insights or even ask questions in a teacher or lecturer run study group page by page or even slide by slide for lecture material. You also have the option of starting Group Studies for Holy Books with the option of having all the chapters or even chapters + verses for both the Bible and Quran in a ready made template. What's more you have the option to read and write reviews, start and join Book Clubs and Study Groups as well as flesh out your reading history. We are your one stop shop for everything read and everything book.
Screenshots
Verdict
Waterstones and Reader Rally are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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.
Waterstones ships an update every 3 weeks, Reader Rally every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Waterstones | Reader Rally |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (61 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 62.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 61 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Waterstones Booksellers Ltd | Paul Atkins |
In-app purchases
Waterstones
No in-app purchases
Reader Rally
No in-app purchases








