SideBooks vs iBouquiniste
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SideBooks
This app offers a high-performance PDF and comic viewer with realistic paper-turning animations. It supports various viewing directions, enhanced bookshelf management, and secure password protection for your documents. Easily import files from multiple sources and enjoy a customizable reading experience.
- Realistic paper curl animation
- Multiple viewing directions
- Enhanced bookshelf management
- Password protection
- Dropbox and iTunes file import
- Supports PDF, ZIP, CBZ, RAR, CBR
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SideBooks is a high performance, high speed PDF viewer that allows you to enjoy reading with the feel of actual paper. =Features= Curl animation that simulates the actual turning of paper pages has been added to the standard page slide function. Supports viewing from 3 directions, documents that open left to right, right to left and vertically. It provides the optimal environment for viewing any book. All zoom rates have been optimized providing high speed, dynamic screen display. An infinite hierarchy of folders can be created, moved, deleted, renamed, etc. using the enhanced bookshelf management function. Real visual bookshelf function that corresponds to back cover style display. Files can be imported by 3 methods, Network transfer through Dropbox, USB transfer through iTunes and direct transfer from other applications. Books can be protected so others cannot view them by using the password protected locking function. This is a universal application that operates on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. =Functions= Overall: *Brightness Adjustment *Screen rotates to match the orientation of the device *Screen Rotation Lock *Password Protected Start-up Lock Viewer: *Support PDF,ZIP,CBZ,RAR and CBR format *Page Turning: Choose from slide or curl *Viewing Directions: Choose from opening left to right / right to left / vertically *Page Spacing: Choose form wide / narrow / none *Facing Pages: Choose the pair of facing pages by setting the cover to on or off *Trim function within the range of page display *Cache pre-read function for the previous and next pages *Set the display for each book and remember the page number of the last page read *Text search function (list display type) *Contents function (also supports hierarchy type) *Bookmark function (with editable memos) *Edit handwritten notes *Send to other applications (Open-In) *Send by email *Printing function (Air Print) *In-page link function *Link to outside URL function (built-in browser / Safari / Printing) *Display / Don't Display link buttons *Page turning function using tap or swipe *Expansion / Contraction function using pinch and double tap (1-1024x zoom) *Viewing of encrypted PDF files with password protection *Display / non-display of statusbar when reading Bookshelf: *Display form: Choose form list bookshelf / visual bookshelf *Function to set theme of visual bookshelf with each folder *Bookshelf thema extension pack (Add-On) *Cover editing function (corresponds to the trim) *File editing function: create, move, delete, setting for all books in folder *Bookmark list *Reading history list *Unread list *Edit of mark choose form already read / unread *Book name search function *Network transfer through Dropbox *USB transfer through iTunes *Direct transfer from other applications Special thanks to, "Give My Regards to Black Jack" SHUHO SATO Manga on Web http://mangaonweb.com
iBouquiniste
This app offers a highly customizable ebook reading experience, supporting a wide range of formats. It allows users to adjust fonts, paper types, and indents for a personalized feel, akin to reading a physical book. Features include note-taking, cloud synchronization, and organized libraries.
- Supports FB2, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, TXT
- Adjustable fonts, spacing, margins, paper type
- Author and Favorites Libraries
- Cloud synchronization for books and reading progress
- Note-taking and bookmarking
- Real page numbers
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iBouquiniste is an ebook reader like none you've seen before. This app supports FB2, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, DJVU, CBR, CBZ and TXT formats and offers adjustable fonts, paragraph indents, paper type and more. iBouquiniste gives you a reading experience that's as close as you can get to reading a real book, and it even lets you share your favorite books via email. Click "...More" to learn why you should download this App today! *** Featured In New and Newsworthy! *** Do you love to read? With iBouquiniste you'll take your favorite books wherever you go! iPad and iPhone book readers are a great innovation for busy book lovers, but they're still evolving. Some readers are so cluttered with settings and controls that you can barely read the text, while others are bare bones "What you see is what you get" style apps. iBouquiniste is a completely different reading experience. iBouquiniste Features Include: * Supports notes * Send books by email * Unique Author Library (each author on their own bookshelf) * View most recently opened books in the order you opened them * Real page numbers * Adjustable fonts, spacing, margins, book paper and more * Download books via iTunes or any app supporting file transfer (i.e. Mail or Safari) * OPDS catalogs support * iBouquiniste Cloud Storage for synchronisation (books, reading positions, citations and bookmarks) The interface is clean and easy to use. The only controls on the screen are the ones you absolutely need, but you have the control that you want to display your books exactly the way you want them. iBouquiniste supports FB2 formatted books, which is how most books are formatted. Other reader apps still don't do that. If you want an even more personal reading experience, that's not a problem. You control paragraph indentation, font face and size, margins and even the type of paper for the pages in your book. Where some apps offer sepia tones, iBouquiniste can display your book on realistic paper, with actual page numbers for each page! Tired of digging through your library to find a specific book? This app gives you several ways to find any book in your collection with just a few taps. Like other, similar apps, iBouquiniste includes a complete table of contents that lists every book you own. This is a great feature if you're not sure what you want to read; but if you have a lot of books, you might spend more time looking for something to read than actually reading! That's why this app also features a unique Author's Library and a Favorites Library. If you're in the mood to read a certain book from a particular novelist, you'll quickly find what you're looking for in the Author's Library. Each writer has their own shelf with all of their works that are in your collection. Have you ever put down a book with the idea that you would come back and finish it after you've read something else? Who hasn't done that? The problem is that when you're ready to go back and finish it, you sometimes can't remember the title of the book, or even the name of the author. Now that you have iBouquiniste, all you need to do is to sort your books with "Recent". This feature narrows your search by displaying the books in the order you opened them. Now you can get back to that unfinished book within just a few seconds of starting your search. Once you've finished it, why not share that novel with a friend? It's as easy as sending an email right from the app! Don't let your book reader decide how your books should look. Spend less time searching and more time reading. Download iBouquiniste now and have all of your books at your fingertips.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: SideBooks at Free against iBouquiniste's $3.99. SideBooks also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 4 weeks). iBouquiniste's advantage is iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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
SideBooks is free to download; iBouquiniste costs $3.99 up front. SideBooks sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and iBouquiniste sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for SideBooks against 4.7 for iBouquiniste. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 97 and 161 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 74% of SideBooks's written reviews are positive against 77% of iBouquiniste's.
SideBooks ships an update every 9 days, iBouquiniste every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.
| Parameter | SideBooks | iBouquiniste |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (97 ratings) | 4.7 (161 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 73.7% of reviews | 76.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 97 | 161 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 83 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tatsumi-system Co., Ltd. | Sandr |
Customer experience
SideBooks
iBouquiniste
User reviews
SideBooks
From 97 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Smooth page turning
- 📚 Great for reading comics and manga
- 🗂️ Excellent folder organization
- 🔍 Useful search and table of contents features
- 💻 Seamless Dropbox integration
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes when loading large files
- 🚫 Limited file format support (no CBZ/CBR)
- 🔍 Difficult to find and delete books
- 🔒 Requires Dropbox access, no local file support
- 🔍 Small thumbnail size makes it hard to browse
iBouquiniste
From 161 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📚 Realistic book-like reading experience
- 🔍 Supports wide range of file formats
- 🖍 Customizable reading settings
- 🌙 Night mode and eye-friendly features
- 📦 Cloud storage integration
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
- 🔖 Lack of advanced bookmarking/annotation features
- 📚 Limited customization options for book shelves
- 🔍 Inconsistent file format support
- 🔄 Slow library loading on some devices
Bugs and requests
SideBooks
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when opening certain PDF files
- Corrupted files cause repeated crashes
- Dropbox integration issues on some devices
Requested features
6 requests- Add support for ePub and other popular formats
- Implement iCloud/Google Drive integration
- Allow manual rearrangement of bookshelf
- Add dark mode and customizable background options
- Improve bookmark and annotation features
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- Implement a more intuitive file management system
iBouquiniste
Reported bugs
3 issues- Page number issues with some books
- Corrupted book formatting
- Inconsistent performance on older devices
Requested features
5 requests- Highlight and annotate text
- Custom bookshelves and collections
- Dictionary/translation integration
- Improved iCloud/cloud sync
- Faster library loading
In-app purchases
SideBooks
- Thema extension Add-On$0.99
iBouquiniste
- Medium Storage of 1500 books for 1 month$0.99
- Large Storage of 3000 books for 1 month$1.99
- Extra Large Storage of 5000 books for 1 month$2.99
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- 100GB iBouquiniste Cloud Storage for 1 month$3.99
- Medium Storage of 1500 books for 1 year$5.99
- Large Storage of 3000 books for 1 year$7.99
- Extra Large Storage of 5000 books for 1 year$9.99
- 100GB iBouquiniste Cloud Storage for 1 year$12.99









