iPublishCentral Reader vs Panels
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
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.
- 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
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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
Verdict
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
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.
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.
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.
| Parameter | iPublishCentral Reader | Panels |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (156 ratings) | 4.8 (12K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 19.0% of reviews | 70.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 156 | 12K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #175 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 178 MB | 165 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | iPublishCentral | Produkt Studio |
Customer experience
iPublishCentral Reader
Panels
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
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- Support for more file formats like ePub
In-app purchases
iPublishCentral Reader
No in-app purchases
Panels
- Panels+ Monthly7 Days trial$1.491 Month
- Panels+ Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year
- Panels 3 Upgrade$9.99
- Panels 2$19.99
- Panels 3$19.99
Questions
Is iPublishCentral Reader free?
Is Panels free?
Which has better reviews, iPublishCentral Reader or Panels?
Do iPublishCentral Reader or Panels have ads?
Which is updated more often, iPublishCentral Reader or Panels?
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