Comparison

SWAN Libraries + vs Juniper Bedtime Stories

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

Head to head
About

SWAN Libraries +

Access your library account, search a vast catalog, and manage holds and renewals. Download ebooks and audiobooks directly to your device. This app connects you to a consortium of public, academic, school, and special libraries in the Chicagoland area.

Highlights
  • Manage library account
  • Search library catalog
  • Renew items
  • Place holds
  • Download ebooks
  • Download audiobooks
Read full description

SWAN is a library consortium of public, academic, school, and special libraries in the Chicagoland area. Manage your account, search the catalog, renew and place holds on books, download ebooks and audiobooks, and more. Visit your library including: • Acorn (Oak Forest) • Addison • Alsip-Merrionette Park • Batavia • Bedford Park • Beecher • Bellwood • Bensenville • Berkeley • Berwyn • Bloomingdale • Blue Island • Bridgeview • Broadview • Brookfield • Calumet City • Calumet Park • Carol Stream • Chicago Heights • Chicago Ridge • Cicero • Clarendon Hills • Crestwood • Crete • Dolton • Downers Grove • Eisenhower (Harwood Heights and Norridge) • Elmwood Park • Evergreen Park • Flossmoor • Forest Park • Frankfort • Franklin Park • Geneva • Glen Ellyn • Glenside • Glenwood-Lynwood • Grande Prairie (Country Club Hills and Hazel Crest) • Green Hills (Palos Hills) • Harvey • Hillside • Hinsdale • Hodgkins • Homewood • Indian Prairie (Darien, Willowbrook, and Burr Ridge) • Itasca • Justice • Kaneville • La Grange • La Grange Park • Lansing • Lyons • Markham • McCook • Matteson • Maywood • Melrose Park • Messenger (North Aurora) • Midlothian • Nancy McConathy (Sauk Village) • North Riverside • Oak Brook • Oak Lawn • Oak Park • Palos Heights • Palos Park • Park Forest • Prairie Trails (Burbank and Nottingham Park) • Richton Park • River Forest • River Grove • Riverdale • Roselle • Schiller Park • South Holland • St. Charles • Steger • Stickney-Forest View • Sugar Grove • Summit • Thomas Ford • Thornton • Tinley Park • Town and Country (Elburn) • University Park • Westchester • Villa Park (Villa Park and Oakbrook Terrace) • Warrenville • West Chicago • Westmont • William Leonard (Robbins) • Wood Dale • Woodridge • Worth • National University of Health Sciences • Theosophical Society • Morton Arboretum

About

Juniper Bedtime Stories

Features
Read full description

Juniper Bedtime Stories brings families together at bedtime, even when they're apart. Begin with free, beautifully narrated tales, then make storytime personal. Record a story in your own voice and share it with anyone. Loved ones can listen for free—no account, app, or purchase required. Or open a book and read together live, no matter the distance. Whether you're traveling, working late, deployed overseas, or living miles away, your voice can still be part of bedtime. Build a library of familiar voices your child can return to night after night. Record Stories in Your Own Voice • Narrate the stories you own, page by page • Re-record any page at any time • Create keepsake recordings your family can treasure forever Share with Anyone, Free to Listen • Send a story you recorded with a simple share code • Loved ones can listen instantly, free • No account, app, or purchase required to listen • Receive recordings from family and keep their voices forever • Build a collection of familiar voices your child loves Read Together Live, Even Miles Apart • Start a SharePlay session during a FaceTime call • Pages turn in sync so everyone stays on the same page • A parent on the road or grandparent across the country can join bedtime tonight A Growing Library of Stories • Classic fairy tales, adventures, and growing Bible story collections • Beautiful illustrations and engaging storytelling • Story packs available as one-time purchases, with more on the way Designed for Bedtime • Read stories yourself or listen with narration • Settle in with longer chapter books like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a chapter a night • Progress saves automatically and syncs across your devices • Create personalized playlists for bedtime routines Built with Privacy in Mind • No ads • No third-party tracking • Voice recordings stay private unless you choose to share them No Subscription Required • Buy story packs once and keep them forever • No recurring fees Because the best bedtime stories aren't just the ones children hear. They're the ones shared by the people they love.

Screenshots

SWAN Libraries +4 screens
Juniper Bedtime Stories4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Juniper Bedtime Stories at 5.0 against SWAN Libraries +'s 1.8. SWAN Libraries +'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (75 vs 2). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Juniper Bedtime Stories sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. SWAN Libraries + asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Juniper Bedtime Stories holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SWAN Libraries + has 75 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
SWAN Libraries + versus Juniper Bedtime Stories: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSWAN Libraries +Juniper Bedtime Stories
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.8 (75 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews13.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings75 — better2
Update frequencyMonthly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple TV
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size37 MB46 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSystem Wide Automated NetworkJuniper Sprouts LLC

Bugs and requests

SWAN Libraries +

Reported bugs

63 issues
  • Category toggles are tricky and don't reflect changes immediately
  • Pick up location changes don't seem to stick
  • App logs users out constantly
  • Discover section is blank, new content doesn't appear
  • Filters to search for items no longer work
Show 58 more
  • App works less than 50% of the time
  • App is logged out every session, requires re-entry of library card number
  • Cannot sign back in after being signed out
  • Keyboard and Number pad do not work on login screen
  • App takes forever to load
  • App is impossible to customize
  • App is clunky and has very little options
  • App kicks users out for no reason
  • App is generally unreliable
  • App is not smart or intuitive
  • App is buggy and unreliable
  • App is consistently closing out and logs users out at random
  • Filters for searches frequently don't work
  • Buggy mediocre app
  • Search requires retyping the entire field
  • Filters by media format show results of filtered-out formats
  • Filtering by library only shows home library and eVideo
  • App crashes constantly
  • App is slow
  • App is signed out for no reason on a weekly basis
  • App locks up iPhone before login
  • App asks for Library Card # and return from keypad does NOT work
  • App crashes on startup
  • App is bricked after latest update
  • Categories on discover page aren't linked or showing selected ones
  • Tapping account icon and menus has a delay, leading to double taps
  • Search filtering doesn't work
  • Offline ecard access doesn't work
  • Cannot select library location to get past initial screen
  • Error when requesting certain holds
  • App won't open
  • App immediately crashes
  • App crashes when it starts
  • App won't open anymore, just crashes immediately
  • Tapping holds crashes app
  • App startup is cumbersome, requires selecting library each time and reading trivia screens
  • Tapping my holds list keeps crashing the app
  • Notifications are enabled but app says they are not
  • App doesn’t support automatic iOS light/dark mode
  • Correct login info returned as incorrect on first input
  • Forgot PIN link returns a blank window
  • Progress bar is choppy and not indicative of loading time
  • Brightness doesn't return to original setting after using ecard
  • Double/back to back loading icons at the start of future app launches
  • App keeps crashing and/or losing account info during a session
  • Old app was working fine, new app is a mess
  • Filters are ignored
  • App is extremely limited in functionality
  • Categories like New DVDS do not open/populate
  • App asks to allow notifications EVERY TIME
  • For every book ordered, user has to input their library
  • App is slow to start up
  • App provides no convenient access to the library
  • Facial recognition to open app should be available
  • In notifications, enable all switch is confusing with individual alerts
  • App is slow to load
  • Have to force quit and go back in to see account info
  • App is buggy

Requested features

38 requests
  • Fix the issue of being logged out every session
  • Improve category toggles and make changes stick
  • Fix discover section to show new content
  • Make filters work correctly
  • Add app support to website
Show 33 more
  • Improve loading times
  • Allow customization
  • Add more options
  • Fix the issue of being kicked out of the app
  • Improve reliability
  • Make the app smarter and more intuitive
  • Fix glitching and bugs
  • Improve loading screen experience
  • Ensure changes to pick up locations stick
  • Allow retyping search fields instead of full retype
  • Fix filter results to match selected media formats
  • Allow filtering by any library, not just home library
  • Add self checkout option
  • Add facial recognition to open app
  • Improve notification enabling process
  • Add variety to loading screen facts
  • Add a report feedback option
  • Improve backward compatibility for older iOS versions
  • Add a spinner or hourglass for loading
  • Make categories on discover page linked
  • Allow users to select library every time or remember it
  • Add a submit or go button after entering library card number
  • Add a percentage to the progress bar
  • Add more fun facts with variety
  • Ensure brightness returns to original setting after using ecard
  • Remove double loading icons
  • Fix 'Forgot PIN' link to work
  • Add option to create a new account
  • Include all libraries in the pick-up location list
  • Add a search guidance for users
  • Make the app less annoying with notification prompts
  • Add a dark mode option
  • Improve the discover page functionality

Juniper Bedtime Stories

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

SWAN Libraries +

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Juniper Bedtime Stories

One-time2
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Story$2.99
  • Classic Fairy Tales$4.99

Questions

Is SWAN Libraries + free?
SWAN Libraries + is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Juniper Bedtime Stories free?
Juniper Bedtime Stories is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SWAN Libraries + or Juniper Bedtime Stories?
Juniper Bedtime Stories is rated higher. SWAN Libraries + averages 1.8 out of 5 from 75 ratings, while Juniper Bedtime Stories averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do SWAN Libraries + or Juniper Bedtime Stories have ads?
Neither SWAN Libraries + nor Juniper Bedtime Stories shows ads.

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