# Learn with Forward Chess vs BookFusion

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Learn with Forward Chess at 12.0 against BookFusion's 15.1. On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Learn with Forward Chess sells 70 one-off in-app purchases and BookFusion sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Learn with Forward Chess against 4.7 for BookFusion. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 334 and 519 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 75% of Learn with Forward Chess's written reviews are positive against 77% of BookFusion's.

Learn with Forward Chess ships an update fortnightly, BookFusion every 10 days. Both last shipped on October 17, 2026.

## The numbers

| Metric | Learn with Forward Chess | BookFusion |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (334 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/learn-with-forward-chess/id543005909/reviews)** | [4.7 (519 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookfusion/id1141834096/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | 334 | **519** |
| Positive reviews | 74.8% of reviews | **76.7% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | **Every 10 days** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 188 MB | 158 MB |
| Requires iOS | **12.0** | 15.1 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | [Forward Chess, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/543005912) | [BookFusion](https://appshunter.io/developer/1141834095) |

## What reviewers say

### Learn with Forward Chess

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/learn-with-forward-chess/id543005909)

This app is an interactive reader for chess books, allowing users to play through chess lines directly within the book. It offers a vast in-app store with over 100 chess eBooks and a growing collection of opening theory periodicals via subscription.

**Highlights:** Interactive chess book reader, Play through chess lines, In-app chess eBook store, Subscription for opening theory, Tactics training

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (70)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| True Lies in Chess | Free | one-time |
| CHESS INSIGHT 01/2026 | $2.99 | one-time |
| Simple Attacking Plans | $9.99 | one-time |
| Simple Chess | $10.99 | one-time |
| The Power of Pawns | $12.99 | one-time |
| My System: FastTrack Edition | $12.99 | one-time |
| Play the Mackenzie! | $12.99 | one-time |
| 1001 Ways to Checkmate | $12.99 | one-time |
| My System | $13.99 | one-time |
| The World's Most Instructive Amateur Game Book | $14.99 | one-time |
| Openings for Amateurs | $14.99 | one-time |
| Modern Chess Strategy | $14.99 | one-time |
| Techniques of Positional Play: 45 Practical Methods | $15.99 | one-time |
| American Dream | $16.99 | one-time |
| Zurich Chess Tournament, 1953 | $16.99 | one-time |
| Chess Endgame Calculation 1 | $16.99 | one-time |
| Chess Strategy for Club Players | $16.99 | one-time |
| 100 Endgames You Must Know | $17.99 | one-time |
| Capablanca the Great Minimalist 1 | $17.99 | one-time |
| Attacking Chess for Club Players | $17.99 | one-time |
| Openings for Amateurs - Vol. 3 | $17.99 | one-time |
| Capablancas Best Chess Endings | $17.99 | one-time |
| The Most Instructive Games | $17.99 | one-time |
| Improve Your Chess Pattern Recognition | $17.99 | one-time |
| Steps to Giant Improvement | $19.99 | one-time |
| Perpetual Chess Improvement | $19.99 | one-time |
| Playing 1.e4 e5 - A Classical Repertoire | $19.99 | one-time |
| Amateur to IM | $19.99 | one-time |
| The Complete Manual of Positional Chess | $19.99 | one-time |
| Chess Tactics from Scratch | $19.99 | one-time |
| COR: The London System | $19.99 | one-time |
| Attacking the English/Reti | $19.99 | one-time |
| COR: Accelerated Dragon | $19.99 | one-time |
| Mastering Chess Exchanges | $19.99 | one-time |
| Study on Your Own Workbook 3 | $19.99 | one-time |
| OR: Strategic Play with 1 e4 | $19.99 | one-time |
| Playing 1.d4 d5 | $19.99 | one-time |
| Reimagining 1.e4 | $19.99 | one-time |
| Beating the QG – Indian Style! | $19.99 | one-time |
| Endgame Studies You Must Know | $19.99 | one-time |
| Pawn Endgames | $19.99 | one-time |
| 100 Tactical Patterns | $19.99 | one-time |
| 100 Tactical Patterns Workbook | $19.99 | one-time |
| Drill Your Chess Strategy! | $19.99 | one-time |
| Thinking Inside the Box - Grandmaster Preparation | $19.99 | one-time |
| Chess Imbalances - a GM Guide | $21.99 | one-time |
| The Modernized Colle-Zukertort | $21.99 | one-time |
| Ding Liren's Best Games | $22.99 | one-time |
| Winning Chess Middlegames 2 | $22.99 | one-time |
| Dream Moves | $22.99 | one-time |
| Rock Solid Chess: Volume 3 | $22.99 | one-time |
| Positional Decision Making in Chess | $23.99 | one-time |
| Pump Up Your Rating | $23.99 | one-time |
| Chess Structures - A Grandmaster Guide | $23.99 | one-time |
| The Woodpecker Method | $23.99 | one-time |
| Mastering Chess Defence | $23.99 | one-time |
| Associative Thinking | $23.99 | one-time |
| The Philosopher&the Housewife | $23.99 | one-time |
| The Real Paul Morphy | $23.99 | one-time |
| 50 Mistakes You Should Know | $23.99 | one-time |
| The Woodpecker Method 2 | $23.99 | one-time |
| Chess Informant 158 | $24.99 | one-time |
| A Killer Guide to Attacking Chess | $25.99 | one-time |
| School of Future Champions 1 | $25.99 | one-time |
| Chess Informant 161 | $26.99 | one-time |
| Vasily Smyslov: Volume II | $27.99 | one-time |
| Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual | $27.99 | one-time |
| Akiba Rubinstein (UCC Series) | $29.99 | one-time |
| Pushing Horizons | $29.99 | one-time |
| OR for Black after 1...e6 | $29.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Great app for chess-book lovers
- 🚀 Easy to follow or analyze moves with the implemented chessboard
- 👍 Simple and effective interface
- 👍 Great to use on mobile device
- 👍 Larger board and text than Chessable

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💰 Books are a little expensive for digital purchases
- 🐛 App crashes or freezes occasionally
- 🐛 Loses user's place when reopening the app
- 🐛 Buggy when navigating between libraries and books
- 🐛 Analysis engine sometimes doesn't recognize castling possibilities

**Reported bugs**

- Login issues when changing devices
- Books not properly filing into libraries
- App crashing when trying to add books to libraries
- Losing current position when switching between full screen and normal view
- Inconsistent behavior when navigating through a book

**Requested features**

- Allow users to upload their own book PDFs
- Implement spaced repetition learning program within books
- Improve search and filtering options in the book store
- Add more language support beyond English books
- Provide better syncing of purchases across devices


### BookFusion

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookfusion/id1141834096)

Manage, read, and organize your entire eBook collection across all devices with cloud synchronization. Customize your reading experience with extensive settings, highlights, and annotations. Supports various formats and offers text-to-speech functionality.

**Highlights:** Cross-platform eBook reader, Cloud synchronization, Organize with virtual bookshelves, Highlights and annotations, Text-to-Speech (TTS), Send to Kindle, Calibre integration

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (6)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Casual Monthly | $1.99 | per month |
| Advanced Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Power Monthly | $9.99 | per month |
| Casual Yearly | $18.99 | per year |
| Advanced Yearly | $47.99 | per year |
| Power Yearly | $95.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Excellent cross-platform sync
- 👍 Highly customizable reading experience
- 🚀 Seamless Calibre integration
- 👍 Responsive and helpful developers
- 🚀 Smooth reading experience

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes
- 💰 Subscription model may be costly for some
- 🔒 Requires account creation to use
- 🐛 Inconsistent page turn behavior
- 🐛 Issues with PDF and fixed-layout EPUB support

**Reported bugs**

- Highlights and notes not always saving properly
- Reading position sometimes resets unexpectedly
- Widget not functioning as expected
- Occasional crashes and freezes
- Issues with importing certain ebook formats

**Requested features**

- Add page numbers instead of just percentages
- Implement a true dark mode
- Improve PDF viewing and annotation capabilities
- Add support for DJVU format
- Provide an option to purchase a lifetime license


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Learn with Forward Chess free?

Learn with Forward Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is BookFusion free?

BookFusion is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Learn with Forward Chess or BookFusion?

Learn with Forward Chess is rated higher. Learn with Forward Chess averages 4.8 out of 5 from 334 ratings, while BookFusion averages 4.7 from 519 ratings.

### Do Learn with Forward Chess or BookFusion have ads?

Neither Learn with Forward Chess nor BookFusion shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Learn with Forward Chess or BookFusion?

Learn with Forward Chess ships an update fortnightly, and BookFusion every 10 days. Most recently, Learn with Forward Chess was updated on October 17, 2026 and BookFusion on October 17, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*