Comparison

iCollect Books vs Restricted Section

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

Head to head
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/

About

Restricted Section

Features
Read full description

Never buy a book you already own. Restricted Section is your personal book catalog for iPhone. Scan the barcode on any book to add it instantly — cover art, author, series, and metadata included. When you're browsing a store or a friend's shelf, scan to check ownership in seconds. SCAN TO ADD Point at any book's barcode. Restricted Section looks it up via Google Books and adds it to your library automatically. No typing required. ENTER ISBN MANUALLY Can't scan the barcode? Type the ISBN directly and get the same instant lookup. CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY A single tap launches the Check scanner. Scan any book for an immediate answer — green checkmark if you own it, red X if you don't. No more duplicates. TRACK YOUR READING Mark books as Unread, Reading, Finished, or Wishlist. Add a 1–5 star rating and personal notes to any book in your collection. BROWSE BY SERIES Group your books by series and see which volumes you have — and which are still missing. BUILT FOR PRIVACY Everything stays on your device. No account. No cloud sync. No analytics. The only network requests the app makes are ISBN lookups to fetch book metadata — nothing personal ever leaves your phone. Restricted Section is free, open source, and built for people who take their bookshelves seriously.

Screenshots

iCollect Books4 screens
Restricted Section1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Restricted Section at none against iCollect Books's 6. iCollect Books's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence and ads 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. iCollect Books sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per year. Restricted Section asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
iCollect Books versus Restricted Section: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriCollect BooksRestricted Section
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (4.1K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews42.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings4.1K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperiCollect Everything, LLCElijah Winter

Bugs and requests

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

Restricted Section

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

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
None

Restricted Section

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iCollect Books free?
iCollect Books is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Restricted Section free?
Restricted Section is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do iCollect Books or Restricted Section have ads?
Neither iCollect Books nor Restricted Section shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iCollect Books or Restricted Section?
iCollect Books ships an update every 2 weeks, and Restricted Section every 2 weeks. Most recently, iCollect Books was updated on October 26, 2026 and Restricted Section on October 18, 2026.

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