Sandbook vs Open Invite
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sandbook
This app converts text into natural-sounding speech using an on-device model. Read ePub, PDF, and TXT files, type or paste text, or even read webpages aloud. Export audio files for offline listening with complete privacy.
- On-device text-to-speech
- Reads ePub, PDF, TXT files
- Type or paste text
- Read webpages aloud
- Export audio files
- Privacy protection
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Sandbook reads books, documents and articles aloud in natural voices, entirely on your iPhone or iPad. Nothing you read is uploaded, and there is no account, no subscription and no ads. Press play, lock your screen, and Sandbook keeps reading. Found an article in Safari, Chrome or another app? Tap Save to Sandbook and it waits in your Listen Later queue. NATURAL VOICES, OFFLINE - 41 voices in American and British English, Spanish, French, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and Hindi - A book in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese or Hindi opens with a voice in its language - Powered by the open-source Kokoro model, running locally; no internet connection needed - Follow along as each spoken word is highlighted - Speed from 0.5x to 2.5x; each book remembers its voice and speed READ ALMOST ANYTHING - Import EPUB, PDF, Word (.docx), TXT, RTF, Markdown and HTML files - Add a web page by pasting a link, or save it from Safari, Chrome and other apps with Save to Sandbook in the share sheet - Scan printed pages with the camera, or pick a photo, and listen - Send files or selected text from any app with the share sheet, or type and paste your own - Open a document straight from the Files app with Open With, or set Sandbook as its default app - Browse a shelf of public-domain classics and play a short sample before you download one LISTEN THE WAY YOU READ - Opens at the paragraph where you stopped - Keep listening when you leave the book, with a mini player at the bottom of the screen - Bookmarks, and search inside a book - Sleep timer: stop after a set time or at the end of the chapter - Passages you've already heard play back instantly - In a PDF, the sentence being read is highlighted on the page; tap any sentence to read from there - Reading options: light, sepia and dark themes, fonts, text size and line spacing - Appearance: light, dark or matching your system - See each book's length, listening time and the time left in the chapter - Keep listening with the screen locked or while you use other apps; the lock screen shows the chapter's progress, with 15-second skips - Listen Later: web pages and text you save wait at the top of your library and play one after another - Continue Reading with Siri or the Shortcuts app - Export any text as an M4A audio file ACCESSIBILITY - VoiceOver, Voice Control, Switch Control, larger text and contrast improvements - The app is available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil) and Hindi PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your books, text and voices stay on your device. Sandbook never sends what you read to a server. GOOD TO KNOW - Voices require iPhone 12 or later, or an iPad with an A14 or M1 chip or later. Sandbook also needs iOS 18.2 or later. Questions or ideas: support@sandbook.app
Open Invite
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Welcome to Open Invite — the beautiful way to open .ics calendar files on iOS. • Tap to open calendar invitations from Mail, Safari, or Files • Preview events before adding with gorgeous invitation cards • Catch scheduling conflicts with visual timeline view • Choose which calendar to use for each event • Swipe through multi-event files as a card stack • Complete privacy — everything happens on-device Open Invite handles .ics files the way they should work — tap, preview, add. One second, not one minute. Stop forwarding calendar invites to yourself: Receive a meeting invitation in Mail, download an event from Safari, or find an .ics file in Files? Just tap it. Open Invite shows you a beautiful preview card with every detail — title, time, location, organizer, attendees, notes — so you can decide before it touches your calendar. SEE BEFORE YOU COMMIT Preview the full event as a beautiful invitation card. No more blind adds. No more calendar clutter from events you didn't mean to accept. CATCH CONFLICTS BEFORE THEY HAPPEN See a visual timeline of your day alongside the new event. Spot double-bookings before you commit. KEEP WORK AND LIFE SEPARATE Pick exactly which calendar to use. Client meetings go in Work, soccer games in Family. Just want speed? Basic access adds to your default calendar instantly. ONE TAP FROM ANYWHERE Works with Mail, Safari, Files, or any app that handles calendar files. Open Invite registers as a native file handler — no forwarding to yourself, no copy-pasting dates. MULTIPLE EVENTS? NO PROBLEM Some invites contain a full season schedule or conference agenda. Swipe through them like a card deck and add events one at a time. YOUR CALENDAR STAYS YOURS Everything happens on your iPhone. Zero cloud servers. Zero tracking. Zero accounts. Progressive calendar access means you choose what the app can see — write-only to add events, or full access for conflict detection and calendar selection.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sandbook at none against Open Invite's 3. Sandbook also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 7 months) and iOS requirement (18.2 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support 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. Open Invite sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Sandbook asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sandbook ships an update weekly, Open Invite every 7 months. Both last shipped on October 28, 2026.
| Parameter | Sandbook | Open Invite |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (135 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 80.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 135 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.2 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 140 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SmashMelon LLC | Christian Tietze |
In-app purchases
Sandbook
No in-app purchases
Open Invite
- Thank You$0.99
- Appreciation Tip$2.99
- Showing Support$4.99









