Comparison

Bluefire Reader vs Books Reader

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Bluefire Reader

This application allows users to read EPUB and PDF ebooks on their iPhone or iPad. It supports Adobe® Content Server protected content from various retailers, publishers, and libraries, offering features like bookmarking, notes, and search for a customized reading experience.

Highlights
  • Read EPUB and PDF ebooks
  • Supports Adobe Content Server protected content
  • Bookmarking and notes
  • Search functionality
  • Customizable reading experience
  • Collections management
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Bluefire Reader is the best way to read Adobe® Content Server protected ebooks on your iPhone or iPad. With Bluefire Reader you can read EPUB and PDF ebooks from many retailers, publishers and libraries. This full featured ereader app includes bookmarking, notes, search, collections, batch import and export, and settings for fully customizing your reading experience Bookstores, libraries and schools around the world tap Bluefire to design and develop their mission critical apps. Try Bluefire Reader today and see why.

About

Books Reader

This app provides a seamless e-reading experience, managing your ebook collection and offering customizable reading settings. It supports various formats and includes features like bookmarking, note-taking, and a read/unread tracker.

Highlights
  • Supports multiple ebook formats (epub, fb2, mobi, PDF)
  • Manages and organizes ebook collections
  • Customizable text size, color, theme, and brightness
  • Progress tracking and bookmarking
  • Note-taking and excerpt selection
  • Read/unread book tracker
  • Filtering and search functionality
Features
Read full description

Books Reader - its a perfect e-reading experience. Overdrive your reading skills everyday. For everyone reader we gift free books and e-reading collections. Books Reader is a laconic pocket library and intuitive tool for a perfect reading experience. Without extra fluff or complexity, it takes care of all the basic needs: managing your ebook collections, getting the text on the screen and letting you interact with it as you go at your prime reading. For a start, the app builds a library for you by rounding up all the book files stored on the device. Books Reader works with most popular ebooks formats (epub, fb2, mobi etc.), including zip archives. If necessary, you can tweak the list manually, by adding or removing specific titles for ibooks. However big your collection gets, browsing will remain easy thanks to a provided set of filters. Besides, the system is keeping track of your history to display the books in order of relevance. Viewing the book, you can adjust the settings for the best effect: change size and color of the text, pick the right theme and brightness level, use various controls options for turning pages. The combination of a progress bar, bookmarking and a search tool help to navigate the text effortlessly. Make sure to select the excerpts that stayed with you and import them to Notes with just a couple of taps. Books Reader offers: - A variety of ebook formats (epub, fb2,PDF, mobi and others); - Auto unpacking of zip archives; - A smart manager of the books stored on your device; - Read/unread books tracker; - Filtering system (by author, by date added or read, etc.); - Adjustable page/text settings (brightness, size, color, theme and more); - Several controls methods (scrolling, tapping or using buttons); - Marking pages and taking notes. Privacy Policy: https://villow.studio/privacy Term Of Use: https://villow.studio/terms

Screenshots

Bluefire Reader4 screens
Books Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Books Reader at Free against Bluefire Reader's $4.99. Bluefire Reader's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 9) and ratings volume (4.1K vs 22). On rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Books Reader is free to download; Bluefire Reader costs $4.99 up front. Books Reader sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Bluefire Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Bluefire Reader against 4.7 for Books Reader. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bluefire Reader has 4.1K ratings behind it against 22, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 55% of Bluefire Reader's written reviews are positive against 38% of Books Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bluefire Reader ships an update every 2 months, Books Reader every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Bluefire Reader versus Books Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBluefire ReaderBooks Reader
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (4.1K ratings)4.7 (22 ratings) — better
Positive reviews55.3% of reviews — better37.5% of reviews
Number of ratings4.1K — better22
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#63 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB59 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBluefire ProductionsVillow

Customer experience

Bluefire Reader

All ratings4,078 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral3.9%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews485 reviews
Positive55.3%
Neutral12.6%
Negative32.2%

Books Reader

All ratings22 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral4.5%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive37.5%
Neutral25.0%
Negative37.5%

Bugs and requests

Bluefire Reader

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Incompatible with latest iOS versions
  • Blank pages when opening some books
  • Incorrect page numbering and navigation
  • Unreliable bookmarking and note-taking

Requested features

5 requests
  • Sync reading progress across devices
  • Improved highlighting and annotation tools
  • Vertical scrolling option
  • Customizable highlight colors
  • Integrated dictionary/reference lookup

Books Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Bluefire Reader

No in-app purchases

9 purchases

Books Reader

Subscriptions4
  • Regular donation$1.991 Month
  • Regular donation$3.991 Month
  • Regular donation$5.991 Month
Show 1 more
  • Regular donation$9.991 Month
One-time5
  • Donation$1.99
  • Donation$3.99
  • Donation$5.99
Show 2 more
  • Donation$9.99
  • Custom Fonts & Themes$9.99

Questions

Is Bluefire Reader free?
Bluefire Reader costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Books Reader free?
Books Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bluefire Reader or Books Reader?
Books Reader is rated higher. Bluefire Reader averages 4.6 out of 5 from 4.1K ratings, while Books Reader averages 4.7 from 22 ratings.
Do Bluefire Reader or Books Reader have ads?
Neither Bluefire Reader nor Books Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bluefire Reader or Books Reader?
Bluefire Reader ships an update every 2 months, and Books Reader every 3 months. Most recently, Bluefire Reader was updated on October 16, 2026 and Books Reader on October 10, 2026.

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