Comparison

Bookshelf vs Fable+

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

Head to head
About

Bookshelf

Organize your entire reading life, tracking physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks. Set reading goals, log sessions, save quotes, and visualize your progress with detailed statistics and a reading habits heat map. Discover new books and connect with friends.

Highlights
  • Smart book organization with custom shelves
  • Reading timer and session tracking
  • Save quotes and notes with OCR
  • Flexible reading goals and progress tracking
  • Detailed statistics and insights
  • Reading habits heat map
  • Monthly and yearly recaps
  • Purchase and borrowing logs
Features
Read full description

The best reading tracker for physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks. Whether you're managing your TBR pile, tracking a BookTok recommendation, or building a reading habit - Bookshelf is the book journal, reading log, and library organizer you've been looking for. Switching from Goodreads or StoryGraph? Import your entire library in minutes. SMART BOOK ORGANIZATION Organize your books into Reading, To Read, Wishlist, Finished, and Abandoned shelves - or create unlimited custom shelves with your own icons and colors. Drag and drop books between shelves. Tag books with custom color-coded labels for easy filtering. Sort by title, author, rating, date added, start date, finish date, last read, pages, publication date, and more. Track series, editions, and co-authors. Add books by searching or by scanning ISBN barcodes - even in bulk scan mode. MULTIPLE VIEWS, YOUR WAY See your library the way you love it: a cozy 3D bookcase view, a flexible grid with adjustable cover size and spacing, or a detailed list. Customize progress indicators, goal badges, and shelf appearance down to the smallest detail. READING TIMER & SESSION TRACKING Start the built-in reading timer whenever you pick up a book. Use the stopwatch for open-ended sessions or set a countdown alarm for timed reading. Log pages read, reading percentage, and session duration. Track audiobooks with chapter-level, minute-precise listening sessions. Re-reading a favorite? Track multiple readings per book. Quick-start a session right from your home screen widget. QUOTES, NOTES & REVIEWS Save your favorite quotes by typing or scanning straight from the page with OCR text recognition. Attach photos to your notes for a richer book journal. Write reviews and rate every book you finish. FLEXIBLE READING GOALS Set goals for pages, reading time, or number of books across any date range - daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or anything in between. Pin your most important goals, show visual badges on book covers, and celebrate completions with animated confetti. DEEP STATS & INSIGHTS Explore your reading like never before: reading pace and velocity, rating trends, abandoned-book rate, genre and author distribution charts, a reading-pattern clock showing when you read best, milestones, history, and year-over-year comparisons. Unlock tiered achievements as your library grows. MONTHLY & YEARLY RECAPS Beautiful monthly summaries and full yearly recaps - your longest and shortest books, five-star reads, first and last finishes, top quotes, genre breakdowns, streaks, and month-by-month highlights. Like Spotify Wrapped, but for your reading life. Export and share as an image or PDF. PURCHASE LOGS Track purchases, borrowed books, and lending history. Set return-date reminders so you never forget to return - or get back - a book. Log price, location, and personal notes. READING FEED Follow friends and explore their shelves, reviews, and stats. Stay inspired with a feed of reading activity from people you follow and the global community. Control exactly what's visible on your public profile. HOME SCREEN WIDGETS Keep your reading front and center with customizable home screen widgets for your current reads and reading timer. 18 STUNNING THEMES Choose from themes like Nordic, Forest, Cyberpunk, Lavender, Pink, and more - each in light and dark. Decorate your shelves with 50+ adorable book nooks across 11 categories. Personalize shelf size, spacing, progress indicators, and your profile widget layout. EASY IMPORT Import from Goodreads or StoryGraph with a CSV file, or scan your physical books with the built-in barcode scanner. Sync your reading across devices, with Kobo e-reader sync supported. Build your shelves. Set your goals. Track your reading streak. Fall in love with reading again. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Fable+

Daily bedtime stories from around the world to inspire kindness, courage, and wisdom in young minds. Features adaptive reading levels, voice narration, and cultural explorations. Offers a safe, ad-free experience for quality screen time.

Highlights
  • Daily new fable
  • Adaptive reading levels
  • Voice narration with animal voices
  • Word definitions and pronunciation
  • Clear morals and real-life applications
  • Exploration of world cultures
  • AI-powered translation
  • Cultural illustrations and soundscapes
Features
Read full description

A new story every day to spark wonder and wisdom in young minds. Fable+ brings together timeless fables from cultures around the world—Greek, African, Japanese, Indian, Chinese, and beyond. Each story shares meaningful lessons about kindness, courage, honesty, and wisdom, helping children grow into thoughtful, empathetic people. DAILY DISCOVERY A new fable unlocks every day, creating a calming reading ritual your family can look forward to. STORIES FOR EVERY AGE Stories adapt to your child's reading level, from gentle tales for early readers to richer narratives for growing minds. LISTEN & LEARN Enjoy voice narration with auto-play, including 16 animal voices to choose from. Tap any word to see definitions, hear it read aloud, and explore deeper meaning. MEANING BEYOND THE STORY Every fable includes a clear moral and real-life application, helping children reflect and apply lessons beyond the page. EXPLORE WORLD CULTURES Travel through Greek mythology, African folklore, Japanese tales, Native American legends, and more. READ IN ANY LANGUAGE Translate stories into dozens of languages using AI. Perfect for bilingual families and curious learners. BEAUTIFULLY IMMERSIVE Cultural illustrations and gentle soundscapes bring each story to life. PERFECT FOR BEDTIME Curated collections include Bedtime Stories, Calm Reads, Animal Tales, and quick stories for busy days. No ads. Kid-safe. Quality screen time parents feel good about. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Bookshelf4 screens
Fable+4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Fable+ at every 4 days against Bookshelf's every 2 weeks. Fable+ also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and review sentiment (100% vs 88%). Bookshelf's advantage is ratings volume (27 vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Bookshelf sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month and Fable+ sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Fable+ holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookshelf has 27 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Bookshelf's written reviews are positive against 100% of Fable+'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, Fable+ every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Bookshelf versus Fable+: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookshelfFable+
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (27 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings27 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.5 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size171 MB140 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTiago AlmeidaDrafta

Customer experience

Bookshelf

All ratings27 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral3.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%

Fable+

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Bookshelf

Subscriptions4
  • Premium Features$2.491 Month
  • Premium Features$2.991 Month
  • Premium Features$22.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium Features$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Lifetime (promo)$99.99
  • Lifetime$199.99
2 purchases

Fable+

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Annual$44.991 Year

Questions

Is Bookshelf free?
Bookshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Fable+ free?
Fable+ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bookshelf or Fable+?
Fable+ is rated higher. Bookshelf averages 4.8 out of 5 from 27 ratings, while Fable+ averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Bookshelf or Fable+ have ads?
Neither Bookshelf nor Fable+ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bookshelf or Fable+?
Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, and Fable+ every 4 days. Most recently, Bookshelf was updated on October 5, 2026 and Fable+ on October 2, 2026.

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