Flyleaf vs Pickaxe Player
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Flyleaf
Save articles from the web and read them later in a distraction-free, magazine-like format. Customize your reading experience with themes and typography, and organize your content with tags. Syncs seamlessly across devices via iCloud.
- Save articles from the web
- Distraction-free reading view
- Book-like pagination
- Customizable themes and typography
- iCloud sync
- Article tagging
- Archive.today integration
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Flyleaf is a “read-later” app that displays saved articles from the web in a meticulously designed reading view, without popups, ads or other distractions. SAVE ARTICLES FROM THE WEB Use the share sheet from anywhere to save interesting links to Flyleaf. There is also an easy-to-use bookmarklet if you need it. READ LATER WITHOUT DISTRACTIONS Flyleaf takes web pages and removes everything inessential, like popups, ads and trackers, to preserve your privacy and sanity. TURN WEBSITES INTO MAGAZINE ARTICLES With Flyleaf's best-in-class book-like pagination, you can read articles page by page instead of scrolling vertically. READ IT YOUR WAY Flyleaf offers many ways to customize your reading experience, such as color themes and in-depth typography settings. DISCOVER WHAT TO READ NEXT Once your list of saved articles grows, it's easy to lose track. Flyleaf helps you to always discover fresh articles from your list. SYNC WITH ICLOUD Flyleaf uses iCloud to securely sync articles and reading progress between your devices – no additional signups needed. STAY ORGANIZED WITH TAGS You can add your own tags to articles to organize your library. READ ANYWHERE YOU GO Enjoy fully native apps for iPhone, iPad, and macOS, lovingly crafted by indie developer Max Melzer. READ IN FULL SCREEN Remove all distractions and focus on the text by entering fullscreen mode. You can still access all the controls you need through an intuitive gesture interface. LOAD ARTICLES FROM ARCHIVE.TODAY IN ONE TAP Sometimes, an article may not be available in your region or without logging in. Flyleaf lets you effortlessly access many of them from a web archive instead. AUTOMATE ACTIONS WITH SHORTCUTS AND SIRI Flyleaf offers a comprehensive list of Shortcuts actions, so you can add URLs via Siri or build Shortcuts to automatically tag articles. Flyleaf is free to use and offers an optional subscription for advanced features such as themes, tags and the archive.today integration. Privacy Policy: https://flyleafapp.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://flyleafapp.com/terms/
Pickaxe Player
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You decide what plays next. Pickaxe Player builds your Up Next from Listening Blocks — ordering rules you set once — so every session starts exactly where you want it, not where an algorithm guesses. Stack blocks in the order you want your day to sound: morning news up top, current events next, long serials to finish. Each block arranges its own episodes — grouped by show or interleaved, oldest or newest first — and refreshing brings in new episodes without losing your place. LISTENING BLOCKS Standing rules that keep Up Next arranged your way. Pick the shows, choose the order, drag blocks to rearrange your day. New episodes slot in where your rules say they belong. A QUEUE THAT ALWAYS COMES FIRST Want something specific right now? Add it to the Queue and it plays before everything else. Reorder by hand anytime — the plan works around what you place. PRIVATE FEEDS, FIRST-CLASS Members-only RSS plays like any other show. Feed URLs and tokens stay on your device and are sent only to the feed's own server. LOCAL-FIRST. NO ACCOUNT. There's no sign-up and no cloud. Subscriptions, progress, and rules live on your device, and feed refreshes are built to preserve your progress, queue, and played states. THE ESSENTIALS Background audio, lock-screen and headphone controls, playback speed, and adjustable skip intervals. PRIVACY No accounts, no analytics, no tracking. The app doesn't collect data, so there's nothing for anyone else to see. Full policy: https://player.pickaxe.media/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pickaxe Player at none against Flyleaf's 2. Flyleaf's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads and iOS requirement 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. Flyleaf sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.00 per month. Pickaxe Player asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Flyleaf | Pickaxe Player |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (91 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 98.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 91 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Maximilian Melzer | Tampa Bay Coders |
Bugs and requests
Flyleaf
Reported bugs
3 issues- Tagging feature bug on iPhone (iOS 18.3.2)
- Paywalled articles sometimes not saved (e.g., FT)
- "Read now" option in Share Sheet not working (fixed in 2.1.0)
Requested features
11 requests- Highlighting function
- Note-taking functionality
- One-time payment option
- Device AI summarization
- Bulk actions for managing articles
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- Improved support for non-Apple platforms (e.g., Android)
- More theme colors (yellow, orange)
- AnyBox importer
- Ability to archive different versions of a webpage
- German localization
- Export entry as PDF
Pickaxe Player
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Flyleaf
- Monthly renewal7 Days trial$2.001 Month
- Yearly renewal7 Days trial$17.001 Year
Pickaxe Player
No in-app purchases









