Meanwhile vs Readwise Books
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.
Readwise Books
This reading app allows you to buy, read, and track all your books in one place. It automatically logs your reading sessions and provides detailed metrics to help you improve. Share your reading progress with friends in a low-pressure feed.
- Centralized book library
- Automatic reading session logging
- Detailed reading metrics
- Print book tracking
- Highlighting and note-taking
- Optional social feed
- EPUB audio playback
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Readwise Books is invite-only for now. You'll need an invite code from a friend to create an account. (If you're an existing Readwise subscriber, you already have early access.) A reading app unlike any other. Buy, read, and track all your books in one beautiful place. ONE PLACE FOR EVERY BOOK Read the ebooks you buy or upload. Track the rest, whether print, audio, or ebooks from elsewhere. Import your shelves from Goodreads and your Kindle library to start. THE STRAVA OF READING Every page flip is logged automatically, the way a pedometer counts steps. Pages roll up into reading sessions. Sessions roll up into weeks, months, and years. METRICS THAT MATTER Visualize rich reading data like words read, time read, pace, depth, immersion, and more. That which is measured is improved. EVERY BOOK COUNTS Reading on paper? Capture your starting and ending page, then save your session. Highlight print books with your camera. READING, ELEVATED Beautiful typography, light and dark modes, pagination or scroll, and best-in-class highlighting, notes, and tags. READING ALONE IS BETTER, TOGETHER Your sessions post to a light feed where friends can see that you're reading. No likes to chase, nothing to perform. More coffee shop than social network. And only if you want to. LISTEN, TOO Upload any DRM-free EPUB and listen with lifelike voices while the text follows along. READWISE ECOSYSTEM One account across Readwise Books, Reader, and Highlights. Every highlight syncs instantly.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Readwise Books at Free against Meanwhile's $4.99. Readwise Books also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.2) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 12 months). On ads, in-app purchases, chart position 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
Readwise Books is free to download; Meanwhile costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Readwise Books holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Readwise Books has 144 ratings behind it against 11, 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 98% of Readwise Books's.
Meanwhile ships an update every 12 months, Readwise Books every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Meanwhile | Readwise Books |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.2 (11 ratings) | 5.0 (144 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 79.2% of reviews | 97.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 11 | 144 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 12 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #85 — better | #152 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 57 MB | 133 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Zarfhome Software Consulting | Readwise, Inc |
Customer experience
Meanwhile
Readwise Books
In-app purchases
Meanwhile
No in-app purchases
Readwise Books
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Meanwhile free?
Is Readwise Books free?
Which has better reviews, Meanwhile or Readwise Books?
Do Meanwhile or Readwise Books have ads?
Which is updated more often, Meanwhile or Readwise Books?
Which is more popular, Meanwhile or Readwise Books?
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