Now Reading vs Actually Read
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.
Actually Read
Enhance your reading experience by tracking books, blocking distractions with Deep Focus, and utilizing an AI companion for deeper comprehension. Import your own files or discover public domain books to build a consistent reading habit.
- Track reading progress
- Deep Focus distraction blocking
- Import EPUBs and PDFs
- AI-powered book companion
- Summaries and recaps
- On-device AI processing
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Actually Read helps you track your books, protect your reading time, and actually read—whether you’re reading an EPUB, a PDF, or a physical book. • Focus on the book you chose. Start a reading session, set a timer, and use Deep Focus to block the apps, categories, and websites you choose with Screen Time. • See your reading add up. Track books and focus sessions, create custom reading lists, review your reading history, and return to a calm, customizable reading space built around your current book. • Read your way. Import EPUBs and PDFs, discover free public-domain books, search within books, save bookmarks, highlight passages, and pick up where you left off. • Ask better questions with grounded AI. Actually Read uses retrieval-based AI to help you engage with a book, not replace it with an AI digest. Ask about a theme, scene, or passage, get a Story So Far recap, or request a chapter summary when you’re ready. • Stay grounded in the text. Actually Read retrieves relevant passages from your book and uses them as context for each answer. Responses prioritize cited supporting passages you can open directly in the reader and can respect your reading progress to help avoid spoilers. • Keep your content close. Book indexing, embeddings, and retrieval happen on-device. On devices with Apple Intelligence enabled, on-device AI can answer questions without sending your questions or book content to the cloud. • Choose Advanced AI when you want it. Only your question and the relevant excerpts retrieved to answer it are sent to the cloud—never the full book. Actually Read is for reading with more attention, more context, and fewer distractions. Some features require compatible hardware, Apple Intelligence, Screen Time permission, or an internet connection. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Now Reading at none against Actually Read's 1. Now Reading also leads on iOS requirement (17.5 vs 26.2). Actually Read's advantage is ratings volume (9 vs 2). 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. Actually Read sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per month. Now Reading asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Now Reading against 5.0 for Actually Read. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 9 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Now Reading ships an update weekly, Actually Read every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Now Reading | Actually Read |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (9 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 9 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.5 — better | 26.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Minsang choi | Prism32 LLC |
Customer experience
Now Reading
Actually Read
In-app purchases
Now Reading
No in-app purchases
Actually Read
- Actually Read Plus3 Days trial$9.991 Month









