Yojimbo for iPad vs SMSReader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Yojimbo for iPad
Access and manage your Yojimbo data on your iPad. This companion app syncs wirelessly with Yojimbo for macOS, allowing you to view articles, lists, documents, and sensitive information offline.
- Syncs with Yojimbo for macOS
- Offline data access
- Handles encrypted entries
- View articles and documents
- Access passwords and receipts
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Take your Yojimbo data with you, anywhere, right on your iPad. Yojimbo for iPad is a companion app that syncs effortlessly over WiFi from Yojimbo for macOS (version 4.0 or later required; sold separately), letting you take all of your Yojimbo data anywhere. Yojimbo for iPad even handles your encrypted entries. Imagine catching up on articles, reviewing shopping lists, traveling with digital confirmation documents, and having all your passwords and receipts safely at hand, no matter where you are, whether or not you have network access. If you use Yojimbo, you'll want Yojimbo for iPad.
SMSReader
This app offers a fast and comfortable reading experience for digital books and documents. It supports various file formats, including PDFs and EPUBs, with advanced features for page turning, text display, and annotation. It also includes text-to-speech and translation capabilities.
- Fast page turning with multiple speeds
- Customizable reading experience
- Read Aloud text-to-speech
- Voice-controlled page turning
- Search and annotate documents
- Paragraph translation and summarization
- Organized bookshelf with cloud sync
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SMSReader is a reader for digital books and documents, built to be fast and comfortable. Even in a book of thousands of pages, the next page appears the moment you tap the edge, and holding the edge flips through pages at speed. BUILT FOR THE LATEST DEVICES • The most comfortable PDF viewer on iPhone Duo • Extensive accessibility support (VoiceOver and more) FAST PAGE TURNING • Tap the left or right edge to turn the page instantly, or choose a slide animation • Hold an edge to flip continuously (7 speeds, from 6 to 60 pages a second) • Flick, drag the slider, or type a page number to move • Pinch in to go straight to an overview of the pages EASY TO READ • Home View: remembers, for each book, the area you want to zoom into, and keeps that zoom as you read on one view at a time. Scanned books with wide margins and two-column pages become easy to read • Right to left (vertical Japanese), left to right, or top to bottom. Two-page spreads and a cover shown alone are set automatically from the PDF • Tall pages fit the width of the screen, handy for PDF screenshots of websites EPUB • Read reflowable and fixed-layout EPUBs, turning pages as fast as with PDFs • Vertical Japanese, ruby, tate-chu-yoko and emphasis marks, in the book's own fonts if you like • Choose the text size, font, margins, line spacing and paper for each book • Press and hold an illustration to see it over the whole screen, and pinch to zoom. Pictures larger than the page are fitted to it LISTEN AND SPEAK • Read Aloud: reads the text, leaving out running heads and page numbers, and follows the ruby in Japanese. The word being read is highlighted; start from any word, or move a paragraph back or forward • Turn Pages by Voice: say "next", "previous" or "page 12". Speech is recognized on the device • Siri and Shortcuts: "Continue reading in SMSReader", "Read aloud in SMSReader" and more SEARCH AND ANNOTATE • Search the text of a book or of your whole library, without missing words split across lines, with your search history at hand • Select text to copy, look up or share, including vertical text and text with ruby • Pages without text, such as scanned books, are read on the device and can be searched, selected, translated and read aloud • Annotate and highlight pages with Apple Pencil or your finger (iPadOS 26 or later). The PDF itself is never changed TRANSLATION AND SUMMARIES • Open the translation panel beside the page to see a translation of each paragraph. Tap a paragraph to match the original and the translation • For translation and summaries, use Apple Translate, Apple Intelligence (on device), or an online translation or AI service with your own API key BOOKSHELF • Organize your library in folders, and folders within folders • Keep the library on this device, in iCloud Drive, or in a folder the Files app can open, such as Dropbox. Books in the cloud are downloaded when you open them • Drop a whole folder to import its PDFs and EPUBs • Sync where you are, bookmarks, annotations, shelves and more across your devices with iCloud • Join several books to read them on as one • Password-protected PDFs open with their password • Shelves, one for each shelf tag, work across folders, and a folder can be filtered by shelf tag • Use any page or image as a cover. Books can also be hidden • Lock the whole app or single books with a passcode and Face ID PRIVACY • No ads, no account, no analytics • Books, bookmarks, annotations and settings stay on your device; with sync on, they are kept in your own iCloud • Text is sent to an outside service only when you have set your own API key, confirmed where it goes and agreed, and then run a translation or summary • Text selection and AI features such as translation and summaries are off for PDFs that forbid copying For iPad and iPhone (Duo), iPadOS / iOS 18 or later (some features need 26 or later). The app can be shown in Japanese or English.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: SMSReader at 100% against Yojimbo for iPad's 21%. SMSReader also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 10 months). Yojimbo for iPad's advantage is price (Free vs $9.99) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
Yojimbo for iPad is free to download; SMSReader costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Yojimbo for iPad ships an update every 10 months, SMSReader every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Yojimbo for iPad | SMSReader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $9.99 |
| Rating | 3.3 (20 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 20.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 20 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bare Bones Software, Inc. | Kotatsu RIN |
Customer experience
Yojimbo for iPad
SMSReader
Bugs and requests
Yojimbo for iPad
Reported bugs
26 issues- Sync fails to complete
- App crashes on sync
- App crashes frequently
- Email sharing window stays open
- Sync breaks after iOS updates
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- App crashes on Library icon tap
- Menu animation choppy
- Password display formatting issues
- Items take forever to load
- Sync issues after updates
- Sync errors (unreadable)
- App quits on launch
- Sync doesn't work after first time
- Email page dead (cannot cancel/send)
- Sync issues with Mac pairing
- App not finding Mac on network
- Syncing only new notes, not modified
- Unencrypted notes on iPad when encrypted on Mac
- Syncing issues with Bonjour/corporate networks
- PDFs not rendering on iPad
- Interface bugs on rotation
- Search field layout in Landscape
- Syncing only when Mac is running and on same network
- App is sluggish
- Files copied over are empty
- App quits within seconds of launch
Requested features
20 requests- iPad/iPhone app functionality
- Ability to add/edit content on iPad
- Cloud sync (iCloud, Dropbox)
- iPhone version
- Retina screen update
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Password protection for the app
- Add computers by IP# for pairing
- Ability to change sorting
- Universal app
- Content search
- Open in other apps
- Email sharing fix
- iCloud sync support
- Search field layout fix in Landscape
- Visible tags and basic info in a bar
- Create new text notes
- Cloud Sync (Dropbox preferred)
- Add/change database from within the app
- Add new items on iPad
- UI kinks worked out
SMSReader
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Yojimbo for iPad
No in-app purchases
SMSReader
No in-app purchases









