Comparison

My Book List vs iCollect Books

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

iCollect Books

Organize and manage any book collection, from personal libraries to classroom inventories. Features include barcode scanning, cloud backup, and cross-device syncing. Customize layouts and export your data.

Highlights
  • Manage and inventory any book
  • Barcode scanning and database search
  • Cloud backup and sync across devices
  • Customizable layouts and fields
  • Exporting and importing capabilities
  • Store multiple images per book
  • Track personal details like loan status and purchase price
Features
Read full description

iCollect Books is the #1 library app on the app store! Used by over 2000 teachers in the state of Tennessee for managing their classroom libraries.  This app is perfect for managing your book collection, library, or inventory, whether at home, work, or school and classrooms (it's a favorite for teachers). This app works on all device sizes and syncs directly with our iPhone, iPad, Mac apps, as well as our apps on other platforms. Scan in or search for any book you own or want and add them to your lists. Full of incredible features! • Manage and inventory any book. • Loaded with millions of books from around the world in our database. • Full barcode scanning and database search. • Cloud Backup • Sync across multiple devices, including iPad, iPhone, Mac, and more. • Supports input in any language and allows selections of any country and currency. • Filters, sorting, and importing. • Three different custom layouts. • Exporting • Multi-level sorting • Shake to Select • Default Field Data • Customize which fields are displayed • Section Counts • Share your book collection with friends or on social media like Facebook and Twitter. • Format your Titles with A, An, or The removed. • Extra features like colored Themes, Dark Mode support, and more. • Every field is editable. • Store up to four pictures per book, including front, back, and inside images of books. • Personal details per book including Loaned, Purchase Price, Purchase Date, Date Added, Personal Rating, Last Read, Storage Location, Notes, Estimated Value, and more. • Index bars and search for quick access in large book collections. This app is a completely new collecting experience, written from the ground up for iOS 18, the latest devices like iPhone 16, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max, SE 2, iPad Pro, and full Universal iPhone/iPad support built-in and syncs directly to our Mac app. Our app was created with a cloud database backend designed specifically to allow each item to be stored with its own individual attributes. We can import your book collection from nearly anywhere: CLZ Books, Delicious Library, BookBuddy, and much more. Just send us your import file and we'll get you rolling. Note: Large collections require an in-app purchase to unlock unlimited storage. You will be prompted when you reach the limits of your selected collectible type. Data provided by Amazon, Google, eBay, and users like you. ------- PRIVACY INFO ------- All of these are OPTIONAL when using our app. Email Address: We only collect this if you enable Cloud Sync as a login user ID. Contacts: We only use your contacts if you want us to for "Loaned To" fields. Photos or Videos: We only use photos that you choose for your item details. Camera: We only use this for barcode scanning. None of your data is sold. See our Privacy Policy URL for details. We do use Google Firebase and Facebook SDK's for analytics and crash data. See their policies for additional details on what they may track about your device. ------- TERMS OF USE: https://www.icollecteverything.com/privacy-policy/

Screenshots

My Book List4 screens
iCollect Books4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: iCollect Books at 4.6 against My Book List's 4.1. iCollect Books also leads on ratings volume (4.1K vs 639) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). My Book List's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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 iCollect Books sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

iCollect Books holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iCollect Books has 4.1K ratings behind it against 639, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 49% of My Book List's written reviews are positive against 43% of iCollect Books's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

My Book List ships an update every 4 days, iCollect Books every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on September 23, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
My Book List versus iCollect Books: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMy Book ListiCollect Books
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (639 ratings)4.6 (4.1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.5% of reviews — better43.3% of reviews
Number of ratings6394.1K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBigBalli Consulting llciCollect Everything, LLC

Customer experience

My Book List

All ratings639 ratings
Positive78.1%
Neutral6.9%
Negative15.0%
Written reviews338 reviews
Positive48.5%
Neutral10.9%
Negative40.5%

iCollect Books

All ratings4,106 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral3.5%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews270 reviews
Positive43.3%
Neutral13.7%
Negative43.0%

User reviews

My Book List

From 639 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 📚 Helpful for tracking books
  • 💻 Convenient virtual bookshelf
  • 🔍 Useful barcode scanning feature

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent glitches and bugs
  • 💰 Excessive in-app purchases required
  • 🔍 Barcode scanner not always reliable
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns with mandatory Facebook login
  • 🤔 Confusing pricing and feature structure

iCollect Books

From 4.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📚 Useful for cataloging book collections
  • 📸 Ability to add book cover photos
  • 🔍 Helpful for avoiding duplicate book purchases
  • 🔍 Provides a way to keep track of loaned books

Room to improve

  • 💰 Paid version required to add more than 30 books
  • 🐛 Bugs causing data loss or app crashes
  • 🔍 Limited book database, requiring manual entry
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding/sorting books by author's last name
  • 🔍 Inconsistent book data (incorrect covers, authors, etc.)

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

iCollect Books

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashing or freezing when adding/editing books
  • Randomly deleting or losing previously added books
  • Login/account issues preventing access to data

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to sort/filter by book genre
  • Improve search functionality and book data accuracy
  • Allow customization of data fields and organization
  • Provide an option to keep collection data private

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
6 purchases

iCollect Books

Subscriptions2
  • Unlimited Books$29.991 Year
  • Pro User - Yearly$79.991 Year
One-time4
  • 50 AI Identification Scans$9.99
  • 250 AI Identification Scans$44.99
  • Add Unlimited Books$49.99
Show 1 more
  • 500 AI Identification Scans$79.99

Questions

Is My Book List free?
My Book List is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is iCollect Books free?
iCollect Books is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, My Book List or iCollect Books?
iCollect Books is rated higher. My Book List averages 4.1 out of 5 from 639 ratings, while iCollect Books averages 4.6 from 4.1K ratings.
Do My Book List or iCollect Books have ads?
Neither My Book List nor iCollect Books shows ads.
Which is updated more often, My Book List or iCollect Books?
My Book List ships an update every 4 days, and iCollect Books every 2 weeks. Most recently, My Book List was updated on September 23, 2026 and iCollect Books on September 23, 2026.

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