Comparison

My Book List vs Shelfie

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

Head to head
About

My Book List

Effortlessly catalog your personal book collection with this library organizer. Easily add books by scanning barcodes or searching online, and view your library with customizable sorting and filters. Keep track of reading status, ratings, and notes for each title.

Highlights
  • ISBN barcode scanning
  • Online book search
  • Customizable library views
  • Read status and ratings
  • Multi-device syncing
  • Import/export library data
Features
Read full description

Catalog your entire home library in an afternoon. Snap a photo of any shelf and the AI adds every title. No typing, no spreadsheets, no scattered notes. Trusted by 600+ readers and rated 4.1 stars on the App Store since 2011. • Catalog a 200-book shelf in five minutes. Point your camera. AI reads the spines and adds the books. • Add a single book in seconds by scanning the barcode on the back cover. • Bring your Kindle library across in one tap. No CSV juggling. • Find anything in plain English. "That biography about the architect" works. • AI sorts your shelves by genre, mood, and theme so you stop tagging by hand. • Read on iPhone, edit on iPad, look something up offline at the bookstore. Sync handles the rest. How it works: 1. Point your camera at a shelf and let AI populate your library. 2. Sort, tag, and mark books as Read, Reading, or To Read. 3. Pick up on any device. Share with friends, join a club, ask for a recommendation when you want one. Coming from another app or a spreadsheet? Import CSV, TSV, JSON, XLSX, BibTeX, or RIS files. Field mapping is built in. Real review: "I had a bunch of books I needed to inventory and the barcode scanner made it incredibly easy. Great app." BuckeyeCityCates, App Store review, 2024 Free to start with twenty books and three barcode scans. Open the app and add your first shelf. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions in your Account Settings on the App Store after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when purchasing a subscription. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://BigBalli.com/privacy

About

Shelfie

Effortlessly manage your reading notes by scanning book barcodes or using your camera with advanced OCR. Organize your collection, track progress, and share insights with elegant templates. Syncs across all your devices.

Highlights
  • Scan books by barcode or search
  • Capture notes with OCR technology
  • Organize books by shelves
  • Track reading progress
  • Share notes with templates
  • Full-text search of notes
  • Export notes as PDF/HTML
Features
Read full description

Collect your books reading notes in one place by simply pointing your camera at the paperbacks. Managing your reading notes has never been so effortless! KEY FEATURES * Find books and add to your collection by scanning bar code, searching keyword, or entering book info manually. * Take a photo of the printed text and save your reading notes in a flash, empowered by revolutionary Optimal Character Recognition (OCR) technology. * Recognize texts in 45+ languages: English, Chinese, France, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, German, Italian, and many more. * Record your reading data. * Save images directly as your notes. * Organize your books by shelves. * Create a table of contents for your books and navigate your notes by chapters. * Set short title for your notes. * Share your notes and thoughts with multiple elegantly designed templates. * Search full-text and find your notes. * Track your reading progress. * Export your notes as PDFs or HTMLs. * Support various iOS features such as Handoff, Multitasking, and Search. * Website: https://shelfie.app HIGHLIGHTS * Access your notes anywhere: Everything is synced automatically and instantly across any computer, phone, or tablet. Once you create your account, your date stays in sync so that you always have the up-to-date version of your favorite quotes and inspirations (yeah we do not rely on iCloud). * Advanced OCR technology based on Google: Fast and precise. * Auto recognition of tables of contents: Take a photo of a book’s table of contents and we automatically turn it into chapters matched with pages. * Simple, but powerful. SUBSCRIPTION We offer monthly and yearly Premium subscriptions. App Store will renews the subscription during 24 hours before it expires. You can stop the auto renewal in the system settings of iPhone. When start auto renewal in trial period, the trial will stop automatically. If you encounter any problems, please try to restart Shelfie, or tap the restore button below. Privacy: https://yanwai.net/privacy/en Terms: https://yanwai.net/terms/en SUPPORT We love hearing back from you and we are constantly improving our app based on your suggestions! E-mail: hi@yanwai.app

Screenshots

My Book List4 screens
Shelfie4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: My Book List at free with in-app purchases against Shelfie's subscription. My Book List also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly) and ratings volume (641 vs 201). Shelfie's advantage is rating (4.5 vs 4.1) and review sentiment (76% vs 49%). 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. My Book List sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Shelfie sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Shelfie holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 641 and 201 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of My Book List's written reviews are positive against 76% of Shelfie's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

My Book List ships an update every 4 days, Shelfie fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
My Book List versus Shelfie: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMy Book ListShelfie
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (641 ratings)4.5 (201 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.5% of reviews76.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings641 — better201
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB85 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBigBalli Consulting llc志鹏 刘

Customer experience

My Book List

All ratings639 ratings
Positive78.1%
Neutral6.9%
Negative15.0%
Written reviews344 reviews
Positive48.5%
Neutral11.0%
Negative40.4%

Shelfie

All ratings201 ratings
Positive89.1%
Neutral1.5%
Negative9.5%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive76.0%
Neutral2.0%
Negative22.0%

Bugs and requests

My Book List

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Books disappearing from user libraries
  • Scanning and importing issues
  • Crashes and freezes when using certain features
  • Inconsistent behavior across iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to sort books by series or genre
  • Option to manually add book details
  • Offline access to book lists
  • Improved search and filtering capabilities
  • Sync across multiple devices

Shelfie

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

8 purchases

My Book List

Subscriptions3
  • Full unlock$4.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly Offer$14.991 Year
  • Full unlock$24.991 Year
One-time5
  • 500 Tokens$4.99
  • 1000 Tokens$9.99
  • 10000 Tokens$49.99
Show 2 more
  • Lifetime Full Unlock$49.99
  • 20000 Tokens$79.99
5 purchases

Shelfie

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly Subscription$2.991 Month
  • Premium Annually Subscription$12.991 Year
One-time3
  • Shelfie Lifetime (for yearly)$6.99
  • Shelfie Lifetime (for monthly)$14.99
  • Sheifle Premium Lifetime$19.99

Questions

Is My Book List free?
My Book List is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shelfie free?
Shelfie is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, My Book List or Shelfie?
Shelfie is rated higher. My Book List averages 4.1 out of 5 from 641 ratings, while Shelfie averages 4.5 from 201 ratings.
Do My Book List or Shelfie have ads?
Neither My Book List nor Shelfie shows ads.
Which is updated more often, My Book List or Shelfie?
My Book List ships an update every 4 days, and Shelfie fortnightly. Most recently, My Book List was updated on October 30, 2026 and Shelfie on October 29, 2026.

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