Bardley vs Voca Player

Bardley keeps your listening habits completely private while giving you the power to organize, enrich, and enjoy your audiobook library — no account required. NO SUBSCRIPTION. Start with up to 5 audiobooks. Upgrade to Bardley Pro once to unlock an unlimited library, iCloud sync, JellyFin, LibriVox access, and every future premium feature — forever. No monthly fees, no tricks. COMPLETE PRIVACY PROTECTION Zero data collection. No tracking. No accounts. Your audiobooks and listening history stay with you where they belong. While other apps harvest your data for profit, Bardley respects your privacy by default — every network feature is opt-in, never forced. INSTANT METADATA SEARCH Search Open Library, PodcastIndex, and Audnexus simultaneously to find the right cover art, author, narrator, series info, and chapter names. One tap to apply everything. Your sideloaded books deserve proper metadata. BUILT-IN PDF COMPANION VIEWER Attach study guides, liner notes, or companion PDFs directly to any audiobook. Full PDF viewer with page navigation, table of contents, and thumbnails — all without leaving the app. It remembers your last page, too. SERIES ORGANIZATION THAT ACTUALLY WORKS Tired of scrolling through random book lists trying to find Book 3? Bardley groups series books together and lets you set custom reading order. Filter by series, track progress across entire collections, and never lose your place in multi-book stories again. ENHANCED LISTENING EXPERIENCE Variable playback speed from 0.5x to 2.0x. Smart sleep timer that pauses at chapter endings — not mid-sentence. Configurable skip controls. Detailed bookmarks with notes. Chapter navigation with progress tracking. Seamless resume every time you reopen the app. PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY MANAGEMENT Import through Files, AirDrop, or sharing. Supports MP3, M4A, M4B, AIFF, and WAV. Automatic chapter detection. Add custom artwork while keeping originals safe. Switch between grid and list views. Filter by progress, group by author or series, sort seven different ways. BUILT FOR ACCESSIBILITY Bardley adapts to your settings. Five levels of adaptive layout sizing, full VoiceOver support with rich playback announcements, and haptic feedback for every control — so the app works the way you do. CLEAN, DISTRACTION-FREE DESIGN Choose from multiple UI styles to match your taste. Powerful search and filtering. Progress indicators on every book. No ads, no clutter, no distractions — just your audiobooks. Your audiobooks. Your privacy. Your way.

Voca is a beautifully simple audiobook player for your own media server. Connect to Audiobookshelf, Plex or files on your device and start listening in seconds, at home or on the go. Stream from your own server Voca connects directly to your Audiobookshelf or Plex server, or plays audiobooks stored on your device. No third-party cloud. No subscriptions. Your library, your way. Pick up where you left off Home shows what you're listening to, the next book in each series you're reading, your downloads, your Reading List, recent additions, a few discoveries, and the books you've finished. Your Reading List syncs across your iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV. Live captions Turn on captions to see the narration as it's read, scrolling like lyrics with the sentence being spoken highlighted, in place of the cover on iPhone and beside the player on iPad and Mac. The text is made on your device as the book plays, so your audio never leaves it. Extras built in Companion files stored alongside the audio, such as maps, liner notes, author commentary, or the full text of the book as a PDF or EPUB, appear with your audiobook. Open them beside the player and read along while you listen. Take it offline Unlock unlimited downloads with a single one-time purchase. Download your audiobooks, with their chapters and extras, and listen anywhere with no internet connection. You can even send books to your Apple Watch and leave your phone at home. Built for listening • Gapless playback across multi-file audiobooks • Lock Screen, Control Centre and CarPlay controls • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, and a Play or Pause control for Control Centre and the Action button • Bluetooth headphone support: single press to skip 30 seconds, double press to jump chapters • Playback speed from 0.5× to 3.0× • A scrubber that follows the current chapter, with a tap to switch to the whole book • Sleep timer by time, at the end of a chapter, or after any number of chapters • Double-tap the cover art to move between chapters Every screen Voca adapts to iPhone, iPhone Duo, iPad and Macs with Apple silicon, putting the player beside your chapters or documents when there's room. On Mac and on iPad with a keyboard, Playback and Go menus come with shortcuts. On Apple Watch, play books sent from your iPhone and follow along from your watch face. On Apple TV, browse your library while you listen, with your current book in the Top Shelf. Your whole library, beautifully organised Browse thousands of books in a fast, searchable grid, arranged A to Z, by author, series, genre and collection. With Audiobookshelf, a Series tab shows the series you're in the middle of, the next book in each, and every series in reading order. Privacy first Voca collects nothing. Everything stays between your device and your own server. Requirements Voca needs your own Audiobookshelf or Plex server, or audiobooks stored on your device. It includes no audiobook content. Offline downloads, and sending books to Apple Watch, require a one-time in-app purchase. Live captions need iOS 27 or later on a device that supports on-device transcription.