Comparison

My Book List vs Minimalistic Reading List

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

Minimalistic Reading List

Organize your reading with this minimalist app. Scan barcodes, search by author or genre, and categorize books into 'Reading,' 'To Read,' and 'Finished.' Discover popular titles and get reading tips.

Highlights
  • Scan book barcodes
  • Search by title, author, genre
  • Categorize into Reading, To Read, Finished
  • Create personalized genre groups
  • Explore popular books and reading tips
  • Purchase books via integrated links
Features
Read full description

Explore, save and organize all of your favorite books with Minimalistic Reading List. With the world's most comprehensive book repository you’ll always find the book you are looking for. The app is designed from a minimalistic perspective which makes the app extremely simple to use and gives you incredible user experience. To add books to your reading list you simply: - Scan the barcode of the physical book to get directly to the book page and then you simply add it. - You can search for a specific book, author, genre and even author and then browse until you find the book you are looking for. - By adding books manually your Minimalistic Reading List can contain every book in the world. Your reading list will be divided into three categories - Reading, To Read & Finished If you are like me and love different genres, you can create personalized groups based on genres or in any other way you want. It’s extremely simple to create groups you simply: - Set the name you wish the group has. - Add all the books you want and then save the group, that’s it. In the explore section of the app you’ll get an understanding of what the other users are reading, reading tips through the book of the week, you can browse by category. The Popular section shows the top books that the community is reading right at this moment. I created Minimalistic Reading List because I still believe that it’s important to read and I wanted to make it easier and more fun by bringing like-minded people together. For us who read a lot, it will eventually become a bit expensive to purchase every book so I have included some links to the magnificent invention - The Kindle. Through the partnership with The Book Depository you can purchase books from your reading list at a very competitive price. They also offer all of us free and fast worldwide shipping! To purchase a book you simply press the “Purchase Book” button and you’ll be redirected to the correct book page on bookdepository.com. I’ll keep updating the app to make it even better and here are some features that will be available soon: - Filtering book searches by language - Progressbar on for the books you’re reading Terms & Conditions - https://bit.ly/2N5Aat6 Privicy Policy - https://bit.ly/2oVXLo7

Screenshots

My Book List4 screens
Minimalistic Reading List4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: My Book List at 49% against Minimalistic Reading List's 0%. My Book List also leads on rating (4.1 vs 1.5) and ratings volume (641 vs 2). Minimalistic Reading List's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 14 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Minimalistic Reading List sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

My Book List holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 1.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: My Book List has 641 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of My Book List's written reviews are positive against 0% of Minimalistic Reading List's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

My Book List ships an update every 4 days, Minimalistic Reading List every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
My Book List versus Minimalistic Reading List: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMy Book ListMinimalistic Reading List
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (641 ratings) — better1.5 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews48.7% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings641 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB27 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBigBalli Consulting llcCarl Henningsson

Customer experience

My Book List

All ratings639 ratings
Positive78.1%
Neutral6.9%
Negative15.0%
Written reviews339 reviews
Positive48.7%
Neutral10.9%
Negative40.4%

Minimalistic Reading List

All ratings2 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

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

Minimalistic Reading List

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

14 purchases

My Book List

Subscriptions3
  • Full unlock$4.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly Offer$14.991 Year
  • Full unlock$24.991 Year
One-time11
  • extra details for all books$0.99
  • Barcode scanner$0.99
  • remote database & device sync$1.99
Show 8 more
  • CSV Import$3.99
  • Amazon Kindle eBook import$3.99
  • BibTeX and Zotero export$4.99
  • 500 Tokens$4.99
  • 1000 Tokens$9.99
  • 10000 Tokens$49.99
  • Lifetime Full Unlock$49.99
  • 20000 Tokens$79.99
2 purchases

Minimalistic Reading List

Subscriptions1
  • Full Access Subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
One-time1
  • Lifetime Access$12.99

Questions

Is My Book List free?
My Book List is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Minimalistic Reading List free?
Minimalistic Reading List is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, My Book List or Minimalistic Reading List?
My Book List is rated higher. My Book List averages 4.1 out of 5 from 641 ratings, while Minimalistic Reading List averages 1.5 from 2 ratings.
Do My Book List or Minimalistic Reading List have ads?
Neither My Book List nor Minimalistic Reading List shows ads.
Which is updated more often, My Book List or Minimalistic Reading List?
My Book List ships an update every 4 days, and Minimalistic Reading List every 10 days. Most recently, My Book List was updated on October 21, 2026 and Minimalistic Reading List on October 12, 2026.

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