Comparison

Leaf e vs Living Shelf

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

Head to head
About

Leaf e

Access your purchased ebooks and audiobooks securely without a password. Enjoy offline reading and listening with features like bookmarking, customizable fonts, and a sleep timer. Seamlessly pick up where you left off across devices.

Highlights
  • Offline ebook and audiobook access
  • Cross-device bookmarking
  • Customizable font size and face
  • Dyslexic-friendly font option
  • Audiobook sleep timer
  • Background audiobook playback
Read full description

Welcome to the Leaf e-Reader app, powered by Glassboxx. We are delighted to offer you an easy and secure way to enjoy your ebooks and audiobooks. No password required — simply log in with the email address you used to buy the book on the website and enter the verification code sent to your email. Your purchased content can be found in the “My Books” area of the app. An internet connection is required to download the content. Once content has been downloaded, you can access and enjoy it offline. AUDIOBOOK PLAYER • Auto-saves your current position in the book so you can pick up right where you left off, even if listening on multiple devices • Skips forward and backward • Sleep timer • Plays on lock-screen, enabling easy access to playback controls • Plays in the background while you browse other apps • Plays immediately and downloads in the background (if internet access is available) EBOOK READER • Bookmarking opens the book across multiple devices • Font-size and font face changes, as well as dyslexic-friendly font • Background color changes

About

Living Shelf

Effortlessly organize and locate your physical book collection. Turn photos of your bookshelves into a searchable library, mapping each book's exact location. Works offline and syncs via iCloud for private, ad-free management.

Highlights
  • Photograph bookshelves to create a searchable library
  • Map room layouts and individual shelf locations
  • Search by title, author, bookcase, or shelf
  • Compare shelf scans to see changes
  • Offline spine reading
  • iCloud syncing for sharing libraries
  • Private and ad-free design
Features
Read full description

Find the book you want, right where you left it. WHAT IT COSTS Living Shelf includes five shelf scans every month at no charge. Your library, search, shelf maps, importing a book list, and adding books by hand are never limited. For unlimited scanning there is a monthly option, a yearly option, and a one-time lifetime purchase. Prices are shown in the app. Monthly and yearly options renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends, and can be managed in Settings, Apple Account, Subscriptions. The lifetime option is a single payment that never renews. Living Shelf turns a photograph of your bookshelves into a library you can actually search, so a title never disappears into a wall of spines again. PHOTOGRAPH YOUR SHELVES Point your camera at a shelf. Living Shelf reads the spines and builds your library from what it sees. Clear matches are saved for you. Anything uncertain waits under Needs checking, so nothing is guessed into your collection. MAP YOUR ROOM Map a whole bookcase, divide it into sections, and mark each shelf. If the photograph is taken at an angle, drag the grid corners to match it, then adjust rows and columns one line at a time. Shelves can be removed or restored individually, so bookcases with uneven columns still map correctly. FIND ANYTHING Search by title, author, bookcase, or shelf. Locate opens your library map, shows the shelf a book belongs to, and takes you to the photograph of that shelf. SEE WHAT CHANGED Rescan a shelf and compare it against what you had before. Highlighted areas show you what to look at. They are a prompt to check, not proof that a book has gone missing. WORKS OFFLINE Reading spines happens entirely on your device. Online lookup adds catalog details and cover art, and you can switch it off completely in Settings. SHARE A LIBRARY Sync through your own iCloud account, and share a library with family or housemates. You can stop sharing at any time. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No analytics. No advertising. Your library and your photographs stay on your device and in your own iCloud. Requires iOS 17 or later. Designed for iPhone and iPad. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Leaf e4 screens
Living Shelf4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Living Shelf at 5.0 against Leaf e's 1.0. Leaf e's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On price, ratings volume, 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. Living Shelf sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Leaf e asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Living Shelf holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Leaf e versus Living Shelf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLeaf eLiving Shelf
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 23 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS1717.0
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB4 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperGlassboxx LimitedAdam Keath

In-app purchases

None

Leaf e

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Living Shelf

Subscriptions2
  • Unlimited Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Unlimited Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Unlimited Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Leaf e free?
Leaf e is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Living Shelf free?
Living Shelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Leaf e or Living Shelf?
Living Shelf is rated higher. Leaf e averages 1.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Living Shelf averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Leaf e or Living Shelf have ads?
Neither Leaf e nor Living Shelf shows ads.

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