Comparison

Kono Digital Magazines vs Advance! AF

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

Head to head
About

Kono Digital Magazines

Access a vast library of digital magazines across various categories, including business, fashion, and lifestyle. Enjoy an enhanced reading experience with customizable text modes, offline downloads, and personalized recommendations. This subscription service offers a convenient way to stay informed and entertained.

Highlights
  • 300+ latest magazines
  • Exclusive Smarticle Technology
  • Customizable text mode
  • Offline downloads
  • Personalized recommendations
  • Audio read feature
Features
Read full description

Kono Magazine is a premium subscription-based reading app offering a wide range of magazines, including business & finance, fashion & beauty, and interior design. While our library covers diverse interests, we provide an extensive collection of top-tier Chinese business and finance magazines, delivering premium content and market insights from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. To maximize your reading efficiency, our exclusive "Smarticle" technology seamlessly transforms traditional magazine layouts into a highly optimized, easy-to-read text mode perfect for smartphones and tablets. Features like Offline Downloads and Personalized Recommendations help you build a customized knowledge library to stay ahead of industry trends anytime, anywhere. 【 Current Hot Magazines】 Finance|商業周刊、今周刊、經濟一週、經理人月刊、天下雜誌、哈佛商業評論、彭博商業周刊/中文版 Technology|PC home 電腦家庭、數位時代、iPhone, iPad玩樂誌 Fashion|ELLE 她、VOGUE、美麗佳人、Bella儂儂、Harper's Bazaar、 Language|ABC互動英語、互動日本語、CNN互動英語、English Digest實用空中美語、Fighting! KOREA韓語學習誌 Japan and South Korea|&Premium、Casa Brutus、anan、アニメディア、POPEYE、25ans、Oggi、CanCam、週刊SPA!、GoodsPress、GO OUT、Woman Sense Other popular|VERSE、康健雜誌、小日子享生活誌、一手車訊、早安健康 Welcome Gift|Free Selected Magazines, Just for You! 1. Ultimate Magazine Collections Kono Magazine partners with renowned publishers to offer a curated selection of over 300 popular titles. For business professionals, we feature leading finance and management magazines from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, such as 商業周刊, 天下雜誌, 財訊雙週刊, 今周刊, 彭博商業周刊/中文版, and more. Beyond business contents, our library also boasts premium fashion and lifestyle publications like VOGUE, ELLE, and GQ. You can discover exclusive interviews, magazine covers and spreads featuring top celebrities and artists from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China. Furthermore, Kono is your ultimate destination for Japan publications. With a massive collection of exclusive Japanese magazines, such as &Premium, Casa Brutus, anan, アニメディア, POPEYE, Oggi and more. Whether you are passionate about Japanese culture, trends, fashion, idols, or anime, you will find exactly the magazines you want to read right here. 2. Original "Easy-to-read Text Mode" - Exclusive Smarticle Technology: Kono goes beyond traditional PDFs by reformatting magazines into multiple articles, creating a smoother, blog-like reading experience. - Customizable Reading: Adjust the font size to your preference and switch freely to dark mode to reduce eye strain and fatigue. - Accessible TTS (Text-to-Speech): Listen to articles while commuting, exercising, or anytime you can’t keep your eyes on the screen. 3. “User-Friendly” Functions Kono Magazine is dedicated to creating the best e-magazine reading app for readers.Here are 6 features that allow you to read magazines anytime, anywhere. - Offline reading - Audio Read - Personal Recommender - Favorites and Recent Reads - Ad-free - Multi-platform reading 【Subscription】 Monthly and Yearly VIP subscription plans are available. Actual pricing will be displayed on the purchase page based on your App Store region. First subscription includes a 14-day free trial. Users can cancel at any time during the free trial period, and will be charged only after the subscription begins. This product uses adopts auto-subscription mode. If you do not wish to renew, please disable auto-renewal at least 24 hours before your current subscription period ends. Your account will be charged according to the selected subscription plan within 24 hours prior to the end of the subscription period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your App Store account settings after purchase. • Privacy Policy:https://www.thekono.com/privacy • Service Agreement:https://www.thekono.com/policy

About

Advance! AF

This app provides a digital edition of Advance! magazine, featuring exclusive content for Scientologists with an IAS membership. Access spiritual freedom, success stories, and news from AOSH Africa on your phone or tablet. Stay updated with new issues and videos, and bookmark your favorite articles.

Highlights
  • Digital magazine access
  • Exclusive content for IAS members
  • Success stories and news
  • Bookmark favorite articles
  • New issue notifications
  • Exclusive videos
Features
Read full description

A magazine for Scientologists from the Advanced Organisation and Saint Hill Africa. The Advance! magazine app is accessible to anyone with an IAS membership number. It’s time to enter the gateway to spiritual freedom, where abilities are heightened and a world of wins awaits. From a Castle on a hill in Africa, the exclusive services and the soaring success stories are at your fingertips with the Advance! magazine app. Access your OT Kingdom with the Advance! magazine app It’s your gateway to higher states of existence, a regal setting for a journey to spiritual freedom. Now you can tap into all the news and the stories from AOSH Africa with a digital edition of Advance! magazine. Download and read anytime, anywhere It’s Advance! magazine enhanced and optimised for viewing on your phone or tablet. Save your favourites Bookmark any article or video for easy viewing anytime you open the app. You are there Get a panoramic view of our glorious hilltop setting and a look inside the Castle Kyalami. Exclusive videos let you share the adventure of those moving to the upper spans of the Bridge. Stay up-to-date As soon as a new issue or new video drops, you’ll be notified, so you’re always plugged into AOSH Africa. Africa is calling your name Get swept up with the winds of change blowing from AOSH Africa. With the Advance! magazine app, you are virtually there in our OT Kingdom. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 1. Download the app 2. Log on with your IAS membership number to gain access to content 3. Enter the OT Kingdom at AOSH Africa Swipe to Advance! Get the Advance! magazine app today

Screenshots

Kono Digital Magazines4 screens
Advance! AF4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Advance! AF at none against Kono Digital Magazines's 3. Advance! AF also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 84%). Kono Digital Magazines's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (101 vs 11). On price, rating, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Kono Digital Magazines sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Advance! AF asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Kono Digital Magazines against 4.8 for Advance! AF. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Kono Digital Magazines has 101 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of Kono Digital Magazines's written reviews are positive against 100% of Advance! AF's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Kono Digital Magazines ships an update fortnightly, Advance! AF every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Kono Digital Magazines versus Advance! AF: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKono Digital MagazinesAdvance! AF
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (101 ratings)4.8 (11 ratings) — better
Positive reviews84.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings101 — better11
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationSubscriptionFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size135 MB140 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperKono Digital Inc.Church of Scientology International

Customer experience

Kono Digital Magazines

All ratings101 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral3.0%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive84.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative8.0%

Advance! AF

All ratings11 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral9.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Kono Digital Magazines

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Cannot open magazines after update
  • App crashes after update
  • Download speed is slow
  • Download stuck at 0%
  • Restore purchase issues
Show 5 more
  • App crashes on startup
  • Small images are blurry
  • Difficult page turning (accidental swipes)
  • iPad landscape mode missing
  • Cannot renew annual subscription (app delisted in mainland China)

Requested features

10 requests
  • More English publications (TIME, NEWYORKER)
  • Change page turning gesture
  • Customizable search result ranking
  • iPad landscape mode
  • More Japanese fashion magazines
Show 5 more
  • Support for importing books from Dropbox
  • Save purchased books in Dropbox
  • Screenshot or note-taking into Evernote
  • Support for retina screen
  • Add more magazines

Advance! AF

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Kono Digital Magazines

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • 6-Months Subscription$37.996 Months
  • Yearly Subscription14 Days trial$64.991 Year
None

Advance! AF

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Kono Digital Magazines free?
Kono Digital Magazines is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Advance! AF free?
Advance! AF is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Kono Digital Magazines or Advance! AF?
Advance! AF is rated higher. Kono Digital Magazines averages 4.7 out of 5 from 101 ratings, while Advance! AF averages 4.8 from 11 ratings.
Do Kono Digital Magazines or Advance! AF have ads?
Neither Kono Digital Magazines nor Advance! AF shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Kono Digital Magazines or Advance! AF?
Kono Digital Magazines ships an update fortnightly, and Advance! AF every 3 months. Most recently, Kono Digital Magazines was updated on November 1, 2026 and Advance! AF on November 3, 2026.

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