Comparison

The Mediums' Book vs Bookshelf

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

Head to head
About

The Mediums' Book

Explore the foundational text of Spiritism, a spiritualist philosophy. This app allows you to record audio notes, send chapters via email, bookmark favorites, and search for keywords. It offers a user-friendly interface for an offline study experience.

Highlights
  • Record audio notes
  • Email chapters
  • Favorite chapters
  • Add text notes
  • Keyword search
  • Adjust font size
  • Offline access
Features
Read full description

Spreading the Spirit ... The Book on Mediums or Mediums and Evokers' Handbook (a.k.a. The Mediums' Book —Le Livre des Médiums, in French), is a book by Allan Kardec published in 1861, second of the five Fundamental Works of Spiritism — the spiritualist philosophy Kardec had been publishing — being the tome in which the experimental and investigative features of the doctrine were presented, explained and taught. This application is considered not only a book but an environmental study of Spiritualism. Application roles: - Use the microphone to record notes about the studies; - Send email with the chapters; - Add chapters to your favorites; - Adds text notes; - Add audio notes; - Search by keywords; - Controls the font size; - Nice interface; - Easy to use and locate chapters; - No internet;

About

Bookshelf

Organize your book collection with virtual shelves and tags. Track reading progress, set goals, and manage your wishlist. Discover new books, share recommendations, and connect with friends through your reading journey.

Highlights
  • Virtual bookshelves and tags
  • ISBN barcode scanner
  • Reading progress tracking
  • Wishlist management
  • Social reading profiles
  • Book statistics
  • OCR text scanning for notes
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Organize book collection by creating virtual shelves and tags. Track your reading progress and set reading goals to stay motivated. Manage a wishlist of books that you want to read (TBR). Discover great new reads: rate, review and share book recommendations. Create your own social profile and allow friends to follow your reading journey. ORGANIZE YOUR BOOKS - Catalog books using fast and easy to use ISBN barcode scanner - Batch scanner option allows to rapidly scan multiple books at once - Books can be added using search functionality (title/author/ISBN) - Old and rare books can be added manually - Import books from a CSV file generated by other popular book apps - Import books from Goodreads CREATE SHELVES AND TAGS - Organize books by creating virtual bookshelves and tags - Use search functionality to quickly find books on your shelves - Sort your books by title, author, number of pages, publication date, etc. - Use filters to display books matching your criteria - Track your lent and borrowed books - Add information about your book purchases - Organize books by series and volumes - Create personal notes or add other useful information - Add quotes by simply scanning the text with our OCR reader - Multiple book selection; apply batch operations - Grid view available - Dark theme available SET CUSTOM READING GOALS - Create annual reading goals to stay motivated - Define custom date range goals and share them with your friends TRACK YOUR READING - Log how many pages you have read so far and when did you start and finished reading a book - You can record multiple readings for each book SEE WHAT YOUR FRIENDS ARE READING - Create your own reading social profile - Allow your followers to see your last read books, wishlist and reading goals DISCOVER NEW BOOKS - Discover bestselling books in different categories - Share your favorite books with your friends on social media VIEW YOUR STATISTICS - Rich statistics about your books, purchase, reading progress, ratings, top authors, top categories etc. MANAGE YOUR WISHLIST - Maintain a wishlist of books that you want to read - Book price tracking and price alerts available in some countries RATE AND REVIEW - Help others to discover great books and find books for yourself - Rate books with 5 star rating (half-star ratings available) - Read book reviews from others and leave your own opinion NEVER LOSE YOUR DATA - Your data is securely stored on our servers and it's linked to your account - If you change your device/platform, you just need to log back in with your username - You can export data to a CSV file to create your own backup - You can export your data as HTML web page for easy printing with cover images BOOKSHELF PRO PLANS - Bookshelf is free to download and use for up to 100 books - Bookshelf Pro removes the 100-book limit and unlocks other advanced features - Bookshelf Pro includes a 7-day free trial period after which you can choose between monthly, annual or lifetime plans OTHER NOTES - This is an app to organize your books and to track your reading - Reading is not available within this app FOLLOW US Stay in touch for new features and improvements - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookshelfconcept/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookshelfapp/ FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS bookshelf.concept@gmail.com https://www.bookshelfapp.info * Privacy policy: https://www.bookshelfapp.info/privacy-policy.html * Terms of service: https://www.bookshelfapp.info/terms-of-use.html

Screenshots

The Mediums' Book1 screens
Bookshelf4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Bookshelf at Free against The Mediums' Book's $2.99. Bookshelf also leads on rating (4.8 vs 2.0) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 months). The Mediums' Book's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ads (none vs shown). On review sentiment, device support and iOS requirement 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

Bookshelf is free to download; The Mediums' Book costs $2.99 up front. Bookshelf sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. The Mediums' Book asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bookshelf holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookshelf has 3.1K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of The Mediums' Book's written reviews are positive against 94% of Bookshelf's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Mediums' Book ships an update every 4 months, Bookshelf every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
The Mediums' Book versus Bookshelf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Mediums' BookBookshelf
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating2.0 (1 ratings)4.8 (3.1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better93.8% of reviews
Number of ratings13.1K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank—#170 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB80 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperF&E System AppsSquidBit d.o.o.

Customer experience

The Mediums' Book

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bookshelf

All ratings3,067 ratings
Positive97.3%
Neutral1.5%
Negative1.2%
Written reviews1,267 reviews
Positive93.8%
Neutral3.2%
Negative2.9%

Bugs and requests

The Mediums' Book

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Bookshelf

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Occasional issues with scanning barcodes
  • Trouble accessing app after account creation

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to organize books by author and series
  • Option to filter statistics by bookshelf
  • Manual page count entry
  • Borrowing/lending tracking system

In-app purchases

None

The Mediums' Book

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Bookshelf

Subscriptions2
  • Bookshelf (1 Month)7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Bookshelf (1 Year)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time2
  • Bookshelf (Lifetime)$59.99
  • Bookshelf (Lifetime)$79.99

Questions

Is The Mediums' Book free?
The Mediums' Book costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bookshelf free?
Bookshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, The Mediums' Book or Bookshelf?
Bookshelf is rated higher. The Mediums' Book averages 2.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Bookshelf averages 4.8 from 3.1K ratings.
Do The Mediums' Book or Bookshelf have ads?
Bookshelf shows ads; The Mediums' Book does not.
Which is updated more often, The Mediums' Book or Bookshelf?
The Mediums' Book ships an update every 4 months, and Bookshelf every 2 weeks. Most recently, The Mediums' Book was updated on November 6, 2026 and Bookshelf on November 9, 2026.

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