MackinVIA vs IADS 5
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MackinVIA
Access your school's digital library, including eBooks and audiobooks. This reader app provides instant access to your checked-out materials, notes, and favorites, with powerful tools for annotation and offline reading.
- Offline access to downloaded resources
- Bookmarking and note-taking
- Highlighting and search within books
- Customizable text and audio controls
- Integrated dictionary and citation tools
- Table of Contents and page view options
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Explore your school’s eBooks, audiobooks, and other digital resources with the MackinVIA Reader, an easy-to-use app that’s fully integrated with your MackinVIA Backpack. The MackinVIA Reader gives you instant access to your favorites, checkouts, and notes, and you’re always one tap away from searching your school’s MackinVIA for more titles. Features include: -Bookmarks -Note-taking -Highlighting -Search within the book -Citations -Merriam-Webster™ dictionary -Customizable text size and font -Text-to-speech -Audio controls -Table of Contents -Single or dual page view -Download resources for offline access To get started, simply enter your school’s name along with your MackinVIA Backpack username and password.
IADS 5
This application provides secure and efficient access to U.S. Army Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs) on mobile devices. It streamlines the viewing of technical documentation for users needing quick access to critical information.
- Access Army IETMs
- Modern technical manual viewing
- Secure access
- Efficient document display
- Mobile companion app
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Access Army IETMs with ease — IADS 5 brings modern, secure, and efficient technical manual viewing to your fingertips. IADS 5 is a mobile companion for the U.S. Army’s Interactive Authoring and Display Software (IADS), designed to streamline access to Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: MackinVIA at 56% against IADS 5's 0%. MackinVIA also leads on ratings volume (160 vs 12). IADS 5's advantage is rating (3.8 vs 3.4). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
IADS 5 holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MackinVIA has 160 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 56% of MackinVIA's written reviews are positive against 0% of IADS 5's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
MackinVIA ships an update every 3 months, IADS 5 every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MackinVIA | IADS 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (160 ratings) | 3.8 (12 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 55.6% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 160 — better | 12 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 727 MB | 192 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Mackin Book Company | U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command - Publication Services |
Customer experience
MackinVIA
IADS 5
Bugs and requests
MackinVIA
Reported bugs
20 issues- Not logging in
- Sent back to App Store during sign-in
- App not loading
- School not appearing in sign-in options
- App immediately says user doesn't have it after getting off
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- Cannot download update from iTunes
- App gets stuck opening to a white screen
- Cannot access downloaded books on other devices
- Keeps signing out
- App crashes before sign-in window on older iPads
- Audio freezes, glitches, or bugs out
- Audio skips around and freezes
- App crashes when trying to read a book
- Cannot get into a book due to 'on another device' error
- Resource downloaded to another device error
- App crashes after latest update
- Downloaded books cannot be opened (corrupted file)
- Active session error prevents usage
- Newest update has made the app glitchy
- Login doesn't work after logging in from school
Requested features
10 requests- Add more book series
- Add graphic novels/manga
- Make books unlimited
- Add voiceover support
- Improve turning pages motion
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- Improve font adjustment
- Add a section to see checked-out books
- Improve advanced search functionality
- Allow bookmarks to stay in place
- Fix issues with downloaded books on multiple devices
IADS 5
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
MackinVIA
No in-app purchases
IADS 5
No in-app purchases
