Meanwhile vs Smart Comic Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Meanwhile
Explore a mad scientist's wonderland and make choices that shape your adventure. This interactive comic offers thousands of branching paths, leading to various outcomes, from doom to success. Experience a unique story with full audio accessibility.
- Branching narrative paths
- User-driven story choices
- Thousands of adventure outcomes
- Infinite scrollable canvas
- Full audio accessibility (VoiceOver)
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MEANWHILE: an interactive comic by Jason Shiga On the way home from the ice cream store, little Jimmy discovers a mad scientist’s wonderland: an experimental mind-reading helmet, a time machine, and a doomsday device that can annihilate the human race. Which one would you like to test out first? MEANWHILE is not an ordinary comic. YOU make the choices that determine how the story unfolds. MEANWHILE splits off into thousands of different adventures. Most will end in DOOM and DISASTER. Only one path will lead you to happiness and success. - A thrilling adventure of quantum physics, self-discovery, and kids getting into trouble. (We mentioned the doomsday device, right?) - Completely redesigned by the author for an infinite scrollable canvas. - Full audio accessibility with VoiceOver; every panel and choice can be spoken.
Smart Comic Reader
This app offers a unique comic reading experience by automatically detecting and zooming into individual panels. It allows for seamless navigation between panels with simple taps, optimizing the view for smaller screens. Import comics from various sources and organize them within your iCloud or local storage.
- Automatic panel detection and zoom
- Seamless panel-to-panel navigation
- Optimized viewing for small screens
- Comic import from any source
- iCloud sync and local storage options
- Supports CBZ, CBR, and PDF formats
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A different kind of comic reader that offers a better way to read comics on a smaller screen. How it works: 1. Import any comic into the app. 2. Double tap on a panel and watch the app automatically detect its boundaries and zoom in on it. 3. Tap on the side of the screen to easily move to the next panel. If needed, the app will rotate the comic to make maximum use of your screen space. Key Features ============ Smart Reader: - Automatically zoom in and move between panels for a smooth reading experience. - Works with any comic, western or manga, no matter the art style. Panels do not need well-defined edges to be detected. - Always stay in control, let the app guide you over the page while you can always manually zoom and pan. Comic Collection: - Import comics from anywhere and organize your comic collection. - Comics are stored in iCloud to save storage space and keep your collection in sync across devices. - Your Smart Comic Reader collection is a regular folder on your iCloud Drive that you can access and manage from any iCloud connected device, like a Mac, or a Windows device using iCloud for Windows. - Also works locally if iCloud is disabled. - Supports comics in CBZ/ZIP, CBR/RAR and PDF formats. And many more features to come! If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to send them to: support@vandijk.dev. Comics in video and screenshots: “Pepper&Carrot”, David Revoy, CC-By “Plastic Man”, Quality Comics, Public Domain “Say Hello to Black Jack”, Shuho Sato
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Smart Comic Reader at 4.9 against Meanwhile's 4.1. Smart Comic Reader also leads on update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 12 months) and ratings volume (539 vs 10). Meanwhile's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.3). On ads, in-app purchases and chart position 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
Meanwhile costs $4.99 and Smart Comic Reader $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Smart Comic Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Smart Comic Reader has 539 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Meanwhile's written reviews are positive against 91% of Smart Comic Reader's.
Meanwhile ships an update every 12 months, Smart Comic Reader every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Meanwhile | Smart Comic Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | $2.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.1 (10 ratings) | 4.9 (539 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 79.2% of reviews | 91.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 10 | 539 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 12 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #16 — better | #17 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 18.3 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 55 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Zarfhome Software Consulting | Onne van Dijk |
Customer experience
Meanwhile
Smart Comic Reader
Bugs and requests
Meanwhile
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Smart Comic Reader
Reported bugs
3 issues- Deleted user's entire comic collection
- iCloud sync not working for some users
- Freezing/crashing issues on iPad
Requested features
6 requests- Page marking/bookmarking function
- Built-in dictionary/translation tool
- Vertical scrolling mode for webtoons
- Ability to manually arrange reading order
- Live Text integration for dictionary lookup
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- Widgets for quick access
In-app purchases
Meanwhile
No in-app purchases
Smart Comic Reader
No in-app purchases
