Columbia University Press vs Analects Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Columbia University Press
Access your purchased ebooks and audiobooks from Columbia University Press. Log in with your purchase email to enjoy content offline with customizable reading and listening features.
- Offline ebook and audiobook access
- Customizable font and background
- Bookmark and auto-save progress
- Full text search
- Sleep timer for audiobooks
- Background playback
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An ebook app designed exclusively for purchases made at https://cup.columbia.edu. Welcome to the Columbia University Press app, powered by Glassboxx. We are delighted to offer you an easy and secure way to enjoy your ebook purchases. No password required – you can either use our social sign on with Apple or Google, or simply log in with the email address used to buy the book and enter the verification code sent to your email – and your content awaits in the ‘My books’ area of the app, with formats clearly labelled. With the content in the cloud, downloading requires an initial internet connection. Once downloaded, you can access your books and enjoy them offline. THE EREADER ALLOWS FOR: • Page book-marking, opening the title at the right place when you pick up, even across multiple devices • Font-size and font face changes, as well as dyslexic-friendly font • Page colour themes (white, dark, and sepia) • Full text search • Highlighting • Annotations
Analects Reader
Explore Confucius's Analects with interactive features. Read in original Chinese and English, with tappable characters for detailed meanings, readings, and usage. Offers multiple reading modes and integrated podcast commentary.
- Original Chinese and English text
- Tappable characters with detailed meanings
- Multiple reading modes (Study, Translation, Chinese, Classical)
- Integrated podcast commentary with episode guides
- Notes saved as Markdown in iCloud Drive
- Offline access to Chinese text
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The complete Analects of Confucius: all twenty books and 512 passages, in the original Chinese and in English, built for actually reading it. Every character is tappable. The card that opens shows what the character means here, in this passage — not a dictionary's one-size answer — along with its reading, the terms it belongs to, and how it is used across the whole book. Pinyin sits over the characters when you want it and disappears when you don't. READ IT YOUR WAY • Study — the full apparatus: text, translation, pinyin, tappable words, per-passage tone coloring. • Translation — the English as a book. The original waits one tap away under each passage. • Chinese — the received text alone, unglossed, with the English one tap away. • Classical — the text as old editions set it, in columns right to left. Four pages to choose from: one typeset, and three photographed from real copies held in Tokyo, Taipei, and Kyoto — a Qing manuscript, a Ming block print, and a 1550 scholar's copy — with every character mapped, so the glosses work even on a photograph. Scroll the book as one column, or turn it one passage per page, like a printed book. THE COMMENTARY GROWS WITH THE PODCAST The app carries the episode guides from the Exploring the Analects podcast — passage by passage: the philosophical discussion, the historical context, the language notes, with the audio a tap away. New episodes arrive as they are published. YOURS, IN THE FULLEST SENSE Notes you take live in your own iCloud Drive as Markdown — readable anywhere, and they outlive the app. The Chinese text is built in and always works offline. There are no accounts, no ads, no analytics, and no tracking: nothing about your reading is collected. Everything is free — the text, both translations, the glosses, the classical pages, the commentary. A tip jar exists for those who want to keep the project going; nothing is unlocked, because nothing is locked.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Analects Reader at 5.0 against Columbia University Press's 1.7. Analects Reader also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 17 months). Columbia University Press's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (6 vs 1). On price, ads, monetization model 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. Analects Reader sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Columbia University Press asks for nothing beyond the download.
Analects Reader holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Columbia University Press has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Columbia University Press ships an update every 17 months, Analects Reader every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Columbia University Press | Analects Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.7 (6 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 17 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 276 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Glassboxx Limited | Elliott Bernstein |
Customer experience
Columbia University Press
Analects Reader
In-app purchases
Columbia University Press
No in-app purchases
Analects Reader
- Through the Gate$3.00
- Up to the Hall$10.00
- Into the Chamber$30.00
Questions
Is Columbia University Press free?
Is Analects Reader free?
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Which is updated more often, Columbia University Press or Analects Reader?
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