Book Progress vs The Shelf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Book Progress
Track your reading across all formats, log sessions, and capture thoughts. Organize your library, build reading streaks, and gain insights into your habits. Discover new books and manage your entire reading life in one place.
- Personal library management
- Reading session logging
- Audiobook tracking by hours
- Notes and journal entries
- Custom collections and tags
- Reading stats and insights
- Home screen widgets
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Book Progress is your complete reading companion — track every book, log every session, capture every thought, and watch your reading life come to life. Whether you read paperbacks, eBooks, or listen to audiobooks, Book Progress keeps everything in one beautiful library. —————————————————— YOUR PERSONAL LIBRARY —————————————————— Search for any book and import it instantly with cover art, author, and page count. Add books manually or scan your shelf. Track what you're Reading, what you've Completed, and what's waiting on your list. —————————————————— READING SESSIONS —————————————————— Log reading sessions with start and end pages. See exactly how many pages you read each day, build streaks, and watch your daily pace improve over time. —————————————————— AUDIOBOOK SUPPORT —————————————————— Track audiobooks by hours and minutes, not pages. Log listening sessions the same way you log reading — Book Progress handles both seamlessly. —————————————————— NOTES & JOURNAL —————————————————— Capture what moves you as you read. Save Quotes, Thoughts, Questions, and general notes — each linked to a specific page or timestamp. Your reading journal, always close at hand. —————————————————— RATINGS & REVIEWS —————————————————— Rate every book you finish with a 5-star rating and write your own personal review. Your thoughts, privately yours. —————————————————— COLLECTIONS —————————————————— Organize your library into custom collections. Group by series, genre, mood, or reading challenge — however your mind works. —————————————————— DISCOVER —————————————————— Browse this week's NYT Fiction and Non-Fiction bestsellers right inside the app, complete with cover art and descriptions. Add any book to your library with a single tap. —————————————————— STATS & INSIGHTS —————————————————— Your reading at a glance — total books read, pages turned, longest streak, average reading pace, and a full visual calendar of your reading history. —————————————————— HOME SCREEN WIDGETS —————————————————— 5 widgets to keep your reading life front and center: • Currently Reading — your book and progress at a glance • Reading Streak — keep the momentum going • Recent Notes — your latest captures • Quick Stats — pages read and books completed • Last Session — pick up right where you left off —————————————————— TAGS & FORMATS —————————————————— Tag books with custom labels and track every format — Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, EPUB, Audiobook, and 20+ more. —————————————————— EXPORT & IMPORT —————————————————— Export your full library as JSON or CSV. Import collections shared by friends. Your data is always yours. Book Progress respects your privacy. No account required. Just you and your books.
The Shelf
Organize your entire book collection, track reading progress, and capture notes and quotes. This app offers a private, customizable space to manage your reading life, from adding new books to reviewing past sessions.
- Build and organize your book library
- Track reading progress and focus sessions
- Save notes, quotes, and journal entries
- View detailed reading statistics
- Customize app appearance
- Sync and export library data
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The Shelf is a private reading tracker for books you study, stories you love, and everything in between. Build a library that feels like yours, then track only what feels useful. BUILD YOUR LIBRARY • Search by title, author, or ISBN and choose the edition that matches yours. • Scan book barcodes on supported iPhone and iPad devices, or add books manually on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. • Keep each edition or physical copy separate, with its own progress, sessions, and reading history. • Save books as Owned, Wishlist, or Track. Organize them with your own Lists, Subjects, and shelf locations. • Keep track of borrowing and lending without changing your reading history. • Import Goodreads or StoryGraph CSV files, or import and export a complete JSON backup. MAKE TIME FOR READING • Start a Reading, Listening, or Studying Focus session with no time limit or a planned duration. • Browse your covers, choose a book, and settle into a book-centered Focus view. • Pause and resume the count-in or the session itself. Keep notes without ending your session. • Update pages, percentage, audiobook position, chapters, or study problems. • Record starting and ending pages, revisit past sessions, and keep rereads separate. • Follow an active session through Live Activities on supported iPhone and iPad devices. Choose a System or Clear Lock Screen background. REMEMBER WHAT YOU READ • Keep a book note, dated notes, quotes, page references, and photographs together in Notebook. • Capture text with the camera on supported iPhone and iPad devices, or add writing and images yourself. • Search your library and return to the books and annotations that matter. SEE YOUR READING LIFE • Explore activity, finished books, session totals, streaks, and reading history. • Set optional yearly goals without turning reading into a deadline. • Revisit your reading calendar and compare progress across Subjects. AT HOME ON YOUR APPLE DEVICES • Browse, edit, annotate, review your Dashboard, and use Focus on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. • Enjoy Mac menus, keyboard commands, pointer support, and file import and export. • On a paired Apple Watch, see current and recent books and progress, start and control Focus, or log a short past session. The companion works with your iPhone app. • On iPhone Duo, keep your place as you open, close, rotate, or partially fold the display. The closed outer display stays in portrait; the open inner display supports landscape. • Turn on optional private iCloud sync to keep your library across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. MAKE IT FEEL LIKE YOURS • Choose an included Look or your own background and two accent colors. • Customize the app's cards and appearance, including the new Deep Sea & Gold Look. • Invite Dewey into supported book and Focus views, with your choice of outfit and colors. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts, ads, tracking, analytics, subscriptions, or third-party SDKs. Optional book lookup sends a title, author, or ISBN only when you ask the app to search or fetch. Camera images, notes, and reading history stay on your device or in your own optional private iCloud library. Turn Online Lookup off for a fully offline library. Pay once, own it forever.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Book Progress at Free against The Shelf's $4.99. The Shelf's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 6 weeks). On rating, ads, device support 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
Book Progress is free to download; The Shelf costs $4.99 up front. Book Progress sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. The Shelf asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Book Progress against 5.0 for The Shelf. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 3 respectively.
Book Progress ships an update every 6 weeks, The Shelf every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Book Progress | The Shelf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.4 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 59 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chelsea Hannah | Antonio Gordillo Toledo |
In-app purchases
Book Progress
- Goodreads Export$2.99
The Shelf
No in-app purchases









