Read Coach vs The Shelf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Read Coach
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Read Coach is your reading journal: track your books, hit your reading goals – and switch from Goodreads or StoryGraph in one minute. SWITCHING MADE EASY • Import your entire library from Goodreads or StoryGraph – covers, ratings and reading status included • Backup & restore: save everything and bring it back without losing a thing, e.g. when switching devices YOUR LIBRARY • Add books in seconds via search or barcode scan • Organize your collection into custom shelves • Notes, quotes and star ratings for every book GOALS & MOTIVATION • Set yearly, book and chapter goals and watch your progress in real time • Reading sessions with a timer – including a Live Activity on your lock screen • Celebrate every finished book with its own completion view • Gentle reminders that keep you on track STATISTICS • Genre breakdown, reading history and daily goal overview – see yourself grow page by page Whether you want to organize your library, build a reading habit or simply rediscover the joy of reading – download Read Coach today. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
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 stories you love, books you study, and everything in between. Search or scan a book, choose the edition that matches yours, then track only what feels useful. BUILD YOUR LIBRARY • Search by title, author, or ISBN, explore author pages, or scan one book or a whole stack. • Keep each edition or physical copy as its own book with its own details, progress, sessions, and history. • Mark books as Owned, add to Wishlist, or Track borrowed books. • Organize books with reading status, your own Lists, shelf locations, and Subjects. • Import Goodreads or StoryGraph CSV files and export a complete backup whenever you want. TRACK READING WITHOUT FRICTION • Update pages, percentage, audiobook position, chapters, or study problems. • Start a focused Reading, Listening, or Study session from any book. • Record starting and ending pages, then see pace, pages read, records, session patterns, and estimated time to finish after your first session. • Keep every re-read separate, with its own dates, rating, mood, and notes. REMEMBER WHAT YOU READ • Save Book notes, dated notes, favorite quotes, page references, scanned text, and photographs. • Search across your Library and jump directly to a Book note or annotation, with the matching text brought into view. • Make chapters, study problems, and annotations easier to discover through gentle, dismissible suggestions on each Book. BORROW AND LEND WITH CLARITY • Keep editable borrowing and lending histories for each book. • Record people, dates, due dates, shelf locations, and optional notes. • Reuse recent people and locations while keeping every field free-form. SEE YOUR READING LIFE • Explore daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and recent activity. • See goals, streaks, totals, records, and finished books on a reading calendar. • Compare progress by Subject and view your library as a prerequisite map. • Revisit books, notes, and quotes from this day in earlier years. MAKE IT FEEL LIKE YOURS • Choose your own background and accent colors, or start with an included Look. • Pair a Solid or Gradient background with System, Glass, Soft Depth, Lined Paper, Dot Grid, or Dog-eared Page cards. • Invite Dewey into Book and Focus views, then choose his hat, accessory, prop, and colors. • Celebrate the moments you choose with Confetti, Sparkles, or Stars. MADE FOR IPHONE AND IPAD • Use widgets, Spotlight, Siri, Live Activities, Split View, and Stage Manager. • Sync with iCloud when you choose and keep a complete JSON backup. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No accounts, ads, tracking, analytics, or subscriptions. • Optional book lookup sends only a title, author, or ISBN after you ask the app to search or fetch. • Camera images and recognized text stay on your device or in your own optional private iCloud library. • Use the optional system privacy lock and outside-app redaction when you want them. • Turn Online Lookup off for a fully offline library. Pay once, own it forever.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Read Coach at Free against The Shelf's $4.99. The Shelf's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks). On 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
Read Coach is free to download; The Shelf costs $4.99 up front. Read Coach sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. The Shelf asks for nothing beyond the download.
Read Coach ships an update every 3 weeks, The Shelf every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Read Coach | The Shelf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | — | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Johannes Markus Steimel | Antonio Gordillo Toledo |
In-app purchases
Read Coach
- Read Coach Pro - Monthly$2.991 Month
- Read Coach Pro - Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
The Shelf
No in-app purchases









