Now Reading vs Reading Journal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Now Reading
Log books you are currently reading, have finished, or want to read. Display original or custom book covers and share your reading progress with friends through widgets or by swiping through your logged books.
- Track current reads
- Archive finished books
- Manage wishlist
- Display book covers
- Share reading progress
- Widget support
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Introducing Now Reading - a simple yet crafted book journal app. You can add what you're reading, archive what you already have read, and books you'd like to read in the future. This app displays the original book cover (direct attachment needed) or with the custom designed beautiful original book covers. Share what you read with your friends by swiping through books you logged or through the widget.
Reading Journal
This app helps you remember what you read by tracking your library, reading status, and favorite quotes. Set reading goals, join challenges, and keep your progress organized with personal notes and summaries.
- Track books (want to read, reading, finished)
- Save quotes, reviews, and summaries
- Set reading goals and track progress
- Join reading challenges
- Sync library with iCloud
- Export/import data (JSON/CSV)
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Reading Journal is a warm, quiet home for the books you read and everything they leave behind. Just say what page you're on. Reading Journal keeps the rest: pages read today, your week at a glance, how many sessions are left in the book, and a streak worth keeping. YOUR LIBRARY • Shelves for Reading, To Read, Finished and Did Not Finish • Add books by title, author or ISBN, or scan the barcode on the back • Real covers, and handsome cloth covers for books without one • Series kept in reading order A DIARY FOR EVERY BOOK • Every session with its pages and minutes • The lines you loved, with chapter and page • Stars, a one-line review, a summary and your favorite moment • Notebook pages on lined, dotted, grid or blank paper GOALS AND CHALLENGES • A yearly goal that fills a shelf with your covers • Monthly goals, a page target and a mood board • A–Z, Reading Bingo, 52 Books in 52 Weeks, genres, romance tropes and more • Finish a book and it lands in the right challenge slot Your library syncs through iCloud across iPhone and iPad, looks lovely in light and dark, and backs up to a JSON file or exports your books as CSV whenever you like.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Now Reading at none against Reading Journal's 3. Reading Journal's advantage is ratings volume (35 vs 2) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Reading Journal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Now Reading asks for nothing beyond the download.
Now Reading holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Reading Journal has 35 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Now Reading ships an update fortnightly, Reading Journal every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Now Reading | Reading Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.8 (35 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 35 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Minsang choi | Sergii Nesterenko |
Customer experience
Now Reading
Reading Journal
In-app purchases
Now Reading
No in-app purchases
Reading Journal
- Monthly Access$3.991 Month
- Yearly Access$19.991 Year
- Lifetime Access$12.99
Questions
Is Now Reading free?
Is Reading Journal free?
Which has better reviews, Now Reading or Reading Journal?
Do Now Reading or Reading Journal have ads?
Which is updated more often, Now Reading or Reading Journal?
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