Comparison

iPublishCentral Reader vs Panels

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

Head to head
About

iPublishCentral Reader

Read and manage your digital library with this app. It supports PDF and EPUB formats, allowing you to organize books, customize your reading experience with notes and highlights, and sync progress across devices. Download content from various sources, including cloud storage and email.

Highlights
  • Read PDF and EPUB ebooks
  • Organize books into shelves
  • Add notes and highlights
  • Bookmark pages
  • Sync reading progress across devices
  • Download content from Dropbox and email
  • Customize font, margins, and background
Features
Read full description

With the iPublishCentral Reader App you can read ebooks and content in PDF and EPUB format on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. You can organize books in to shelves, customize your reading experience, add notes or highlights to specific passages, bookmark a page, and download content from your Dropbox account and e-mails. Your last read page, notes, highlights, and bookmarks are synchronized across devices when network connectivity is available. This synchronizations enables you to pick a book from where you left off on another device. Download ebooks: · From various ebookstores hosted on the iPublishCentral platform · Non-DRM PDF and EPUB content from your e-mails, and Dropbox Customize your reading experience: · Add notes or highlights to specific passages, bookmark pages/locations · Select among four typefaces and adjust font size, set margins · Set background color of the Reader · Switch between horizontal swipe and vertical scroll · Set brightness level Organize: · Organize your ebooks/content by creating shelves Navigation: · Search for specific keywords and navigate to a specific passage by picking a search result · Swipe or scroll to go to previous or next page · Use the page slider to quickly navigate across · Go to specific passages from the table listing the personalizations · Table of contents Formats supported: · Ebooks in PDF format hosted on the iPublishCentral platform · Ebooks in EPUB2 and EPUB3 format hosted on the iPublishCentral platform · Interactive ebooks and audio (read aloud) ebooks hosted on the iPublishCentral platform · Non-DRM PDFs · Non-DRM EPUBs Hope you enjoy reading your ebooks on the iPublishCentral Reader App iPublishCentral Team

About

Panels

Enhance your comic and manga reading with a clean, customizable interface. Enjoy universal file compatibility, cross-device syncing, and advanced reading presets. Organize your library, secure your content, and import from various cloud services and local networks.

Highlights
  • Universal file compatibility (CBR, CBZ, PDF, ePUB)
  • Cross-device reading progress sync
  • iCloud Drive integration
  • Customizable reading presets
  • Right-to-left reading for manga
  • OPDS server support
  • Content security with password/Face ID
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Improve your comic reading experience with Panels. Enjoy reading your favorite titles in a clean and delightful interface, with plenty of customization and advanced features — fully DRM-free, with first-class support for OPDS, your own library, and your own files. Key features: - Universal Compatibility: Support for most common comic types: CBR, CBZ, CB7, PDF and comic ePUB (not text eBook). Support for multiple image formats, including WebP. - Cross-Device Sync: Synchronize your reading progress across iPhone, iPad and Mac and resume reading exactly where you left off. - Full iCloud Drive support: store your entire library on iCloud and access it from different devices. - Library Organization: Effortlessly manage your comic library with intuitive tools for easy navigation, custom folder colors, logos and cover images. * Themes: support for Light and Dark modes, and many others. * Reading Presets: Choose from a multitude of reading presets or create your own, including horizontal, vertical, or panel-by-panel guided view. - Right to Left reading (manga): read any comic with Panels. * OPDS support: Stream, search and download comics from your OPDS compatible server (Komga, Kavita, Codex, Ubooquity and others). * Secure your content: Keep files locked using a password or Face ID for your collections and files. Use Incognito mode to keep your reading sessions hidden. * Live Text and Subject detection. * Experimental Features: Access experimental features like panel-by-panel navigation. Panels Store — DRM-free comics from independent creators: - Browse and buy comics directly inside Panels, no extra apps or accounts. - 100% DRM-free: every purchase is yours to keep, read offline and back up. - Creators keep 80% of revenue, so your purchases directly support the people making the comics. - Purchased issues are added to your library and sync across your devices automatically. Native support for importing files from: * iCloud Drive * Dropbox * Microsoft OneDrive - Substack * OPDS: Komga, Kavita, Codex and others * Local network shared files and folders via SMB and Embedded web server - iTunes - External drives - Airdrop - Drag&Drop from other apps Page Filters: * Reduce Noise * Increase Sharpness * Reduce Moiré * Crop Borders * Require an active subscription or a one-time purchase. • You may purchase an Auto-Renewing Subscription to unlock all the premium features while it\'s active; or a one-off purchase to unlock the current major version features forever. • Your subscription will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and will automatically renew (at the duration selected) unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Current subscription may not be cancelled during the active subscription period; however, you can manage your subscription and/or turn off auto-renewal by visiting your iTunes Account Settings after purchase • Read our privacy policy and terms of use: https://panels.app/privacy / https://panels.app/terms

Screenshots

iPublishCentral Reader4 screens
Panels4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Panels at 70% against iPublishCentral Reader's 19%. Panels also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.7) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 2 months). iPublishCentral Reader's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.0). On price, 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. Panels sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. iPublishCentral Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Panels holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Panels has 12K ratings behind it against 156, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 19% of iPublishCentral Reader's written reviews are positive against 70% of Panels's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iPublishCentral Reader ships an update every 2 months, Panels every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on August 20, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
iPublishCentral Reader versus Panels: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriPublishCentral ReaderPanels
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (156 ratings)4.8 (12K ratings) — better
Positive reviews19.0% of reviews70.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings15612K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 8 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#175 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size178 MB165 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperiPublishCentralProdukt Studio

Customer experience

iPublishCentral Reader

All ratings156 ratings
Positive65.4%
Neutral6.4%
Negative28.2%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive19.0%
Neutral11.9%
Negative69.0%

Panels

All ratings12,369 ratings
Positive95.4%
Neutral1.8%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews1,119 reviews
Positive70.2%
Neutral9.6%
Negative20.3%

Bugs and requests

iPublishCentral Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Panels

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes when opening large files
  • Issues with page order and navigation
  • Problems with zooming and scrolling
  • Syncing and importing bugs
  • Compatibility issues with older devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to create sub-folders and nested collections
  • Automatic sorting and organization of comics
  • Option to lock reading direction
  • Double-tap to zoom functionality
  • Progress tracking and bookmarking features
Show 1 more
  • Support for more file formats like ePub

In-app purchases

None

iPublishCentral Reader

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Panels

Subscriptions2
  • Panels+ Monthly7 Days trial$1.491 Month
  • Panels+ Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time3
  • Panels 3 Upgrade$9.99
  • Panels 2$19.99
  • Panels 3$19.99

Questions

Is iPublishCentral Reader free?
iPublishCentral Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Panels free?
Panels is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, iPublishCentral Reader or Panels?
Panels is rated higher. iPublishCentral Reader averages 3.7 out of 5 from 156 ratings, while Panels averages 4.8 from 12K ratings.
Do iPublishCentral Reader or Panels have ads?
Neither iPublishCentral Reader nor Panels shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iPublishCentral Reader or Panels?
iPublishCentral Reader ships an update every 2 months, and Panels every 8 days. Most recently, iPublishCentral Reader was updated on August 20, 2026 and Panels on September 23, 2026.

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