Comparison

Onleihe vs Own Shelf

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

Head to head
About

Onleihe

Access and borrow eBooks, eMagazines, eAudio, and eMusic from your local library. Browse collections, search for titles, and enjoy offline reading and listening. Titles are automatically returned after the lending period.

Highlights
  • Library selection
  • Category browsing
  • E-magazine browsing
  • Text search with auto-completion
  • Lending and download options
  • Reservations
  • Integrated eBook reader
  • Offline reading and playback
Features
Read full description

FEATURELIST - Library selection screen - Category oriented browsing in your library - Easy browsing of all eMagazines in your library - Text search with auto-completion - Clear structured result lists - Wide array of filter options for all search results and lists - Detailed overview for all titles with additional preview option - Lending and download options for available eBooks and eMagazines - Lending and streaming options for available eAudio and eMusic titles - Download option for eAudio and eMusic titles - Reservations for non-available titles - Overview for all lent, reserved and downloaded titles - Wishlist feature - Integrated eBook reader - Optimized for all smartphone- and tablet sizes - Offline reading feature - Offline player feature - Expired titles are automatically returned - Downloaded eBooks and eMagazines can be returned early - Supports over 2.900 libraries The Onleihe – the free of charge service of your library now as an app, supports over 2.900 libraries. With this app you’ll always have your library with you. Browse the collection of your library and lent eBooks and eMagazine on the fly or from your home directly with your smartphone or tablet. You can also lent eAudio and eMusic titles, listen to them via streaming or download them directly onto your device. Following the same principle as the web-based Onleihe, the lent titles can be consumed free of charge for a certain set amount of time. Afterwards the titles will automatically be returned to the library. You can search directly throughout the app or browse the collection of your library through different categories and eMagazines. On first sight, you’ll see if a title is available and you can alter your search results with an wide array of different filter or sort options. The detailed view of a certain title will give you all the information you seek, from the name of the book, the author, to the series name, length and much more. If a title is temporary not available you can also reserve it. As soon as the title is then available for you, you will get an e-mail notification to the address you specified. Your reservations are easily accessible with an overview and you can directly lent the titles if they are available. Should you no longer need an ongoing reservation or if you do need to change the address, you are able to edit or delete your reservations. At any given time you can access your overview of your lent titles. At the moment you are able to lent, read or listen to eBooks, eMagazines, eAudios and eMusic titles. ACCESS To access the service of the Onleihe, you need to be an active member of a library who is part of the Onleihe system. Username and login credentials are provided by your library. Should you already use the Onleihe via the web-browser you can use the exact same login credentials to access the app. CONSUME MEDIA You are able to directly load and read all eBooks and eMagazines which you have lent beforehand. You are also free use a different external DRM able eBook reader. eAudio and eMusic titles can be streamed directly via the in app player, or you can chose to download the titles and listen to them later on, even offline. This also needs to be done directly via the in app player.

About

Own Shelf

Read full description

Welcome to your Own Shelf. Import any EPUB you own and press play. The text rolls like a teleprompter or the credits at the end of a film, so you can sit back and read hands free. SET YOUR OWN PACE Set the roll anywhere from 60 to 450 words per minute. Tap to pause, tap to resume. A floating HUD shows your progress, time remaining, and words per minute, then tucks away so you can focus. YOUR LIBRARY, ORGANISED Import EPUBs you own, including public-domain books from libraries such as Project Gutenberg, and they appear in a clean grid with real cover art extracted from each file. Press and hold to remove a title. Pull down to refresh. Every book remembers exactly where you left off. CHAPTER NAVIGATION Open the chapter sheet to see the full table of contents, grouped into Front Matter and Story. Tap any chapter to jump straight there. A "Skip to start of book" button appears automatically when you're in a preface or copyright page. BOOKMARKS Tap the bookmark icon to save your spot. View all bookmarks with percentage and age, jump back instantly, or delete ones you no longer need. Bookmarks are stored by character offset so they survive changes to font size. READING STREAKS Build a daily reading habit. Own Shelf tracks your streak with milestone badges at 3, 7, 14, 30, 100, and 365 days. A weekly chart shows your reading activity at a glance, and a warning style nudges you when your streak is about to break. MAKE IT YOURS Choose from Light, Sepia, or Dark themes. Pick Sans, Serif, or Mono fonts. Step text size from 14 to 56 px. All preferences persist across your entire library. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything stays on your device. EPUBs are opened and parsed entirely on your iPhone. Own Shelf has no server and makes no network requests, so your files and reading never leave your device. Your library, bookmarks, reading position, and preferences are all stored locally. No accounts, no cloud sync, no tracking. Your reading is your own.

Screenshots

Onleihe4 screens
Own Shelf4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Own Shelf at every 2 days against Onleihe's every 2 months. Onleihe's advantage is iOS requirement (12.1 vs 15.1). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Onleihe ships an update every 2 months, Own Shelf every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Onleihe versus Own Shelf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOnleiheOwn Shelf
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.6 (74 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews13.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings74 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS12.1 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size78 MB33 MB
Age rating17+4+
Developerekz.bibliotheksservice GmbHDANIELLA TOPPLE

In-app purchases

None

Onleihe

No in-app purchases

None

Own Shelf

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Onleihe free?
Onleihe is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Own Shelf free?
Own Shelf is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Onleihe or Own Shelf have ads?
Neither Onleihe nor Own Shelf shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Onleihe or Own Shelf?
Onleihe ships an update every 2 months, and Own Shelf every 2 days. Most recently, Onleihe was updated on October 29, 2026 and Own Shelf on October 13, 2026.

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