Comparison

DeerReader vs My Shelf Player

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

Head to head
About

DeerReader

Organize and listen to your digital audiobooks with a beautiful, intelligent player. Features adaptive UI, fast search, and automatic sorting into collections using AI. Enjoy a seamless listening experience with home screen widget access.

Highlights
  • Adaptive player UI matching audiobook cover
  • Fast, unified search for books and authors
  • Home screen widget for instant access
  • AI-powered automatic organization into collections
  • Intuitive playback controls
  • Support for large digital libraries
Read full description

Your audiobooks, beautifully organized. DeerReader is a sleek, intelligent audiobook player designed for serious listeners and collectors. Whether you have a few favorites or a sprawling digital library, DeerReader gives you the tools to make listening effortless and beautiful. -- Seamless Listening Experience -- DeerReader adapts to you. The player UI matches your audiobook cover, so every session feels immersive and cohesive. Play, pause, and skip with intuitive controls designed for long sessions. -- Instant Search, Instant Listening -- Find the right book, author, or collection in seconds. Our fast, unified search makes browsing huge libraries feel light and responsive. -- Home Screen Widget -- Stay in the story, right from your home screen. Instantly jump back into your audiobook with our widget and see your recent listens at a glance. -- Let Apple Intelligence Do the Sorting -- DeerReader can use Apple Intelligence to automatically organize your audiobooks into themed collections and series, complete with matching artwork and clean labels (perfect for large libraries). ----- Why DeerReader? - Designed with audiobook lovers in mind - Gorgeous, adaptive design - Home screen widget access - Full collection support - Lightning-fast search - Intelligent auto-sorting Whether you’re replaying a classic or diving into something new, DeerReader makes every listen smoother, smarter, and more beautiful. 100% Private DeerReader never collects or transmits your data. Everything stays on your device, always. A subscription removes the hourly support message. Payment will be charged to your Apple account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. Your account will be charged according to your plan for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. You can manage or turn off auto-renew in your Apple ID account settings at any time after purchase. Privacy Policy: https://www.deerreader.app/privacy.html Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Please reach out for support at: cloverfield.tech.llc@gmail.com

About

My Shelf Player

This app connects to your self-hosted Audiobookshelf server to provide a clean, native audiobook listening experience. Enjoy features like playback speed adjustment, sleep timers, bookmarks, and offline listening, all without ads or tracking.

Highlights
  • Connect to Audiobookshelf server
  • Browse library by various categories
  • Stream and download audiobooks
  • Resume playback progress
  • Create and manage bookmarks
  • Adjust playback speed and skip controls
  • Set sleep timers
  • Apple Watch control
Features
Read full description

My Shelf Player is a native audiobook player for your self-hosted Audiobookshelf library. Connect to your own Audiobookshelf server, browse your books, and listen with a clean player built for long-form audio. Pick up where you left off, adjust playback speed, set a sleep timer, create bookmarks, and keep your library organized across books, series, authors, narrators, playlists, history, and downloads. Features: • Connect to your Audiobookshelf server • Browse books, series, authors, narrators, collections, playlists, history, and bookmarks • Stream audiobooks from your server • Download books for offline listening • Resume from saved playback progress • Create and manage bookmarks • Use configurable skip controls and playback speeds • Set sleep timers for bedtime listening • Control playback from Apple Watch • Keep listening without ads or third-party tracking My Shelf Player is designed for people who own and manage their own audiobook library. Your server, your books, your listening experience. Requires access to an Audiobookshelf server.

Screenshots

DeerReader4 screens
My Shelf Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: My Shelf Player at none against DeerReader's 1. My Shelf Player also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. DeerReader sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per year. My Shelf Player asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for DeerReader against 5.0 for My Shelf Player. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 2 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

DeerReader ships an update every 5 weeks, My Shelf Player every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
DeerReader versus My Shelf Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeerReaderMy Shelf Player
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings22
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS26.117.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCloverfield Technologies LLCAndrew Kozhokaru

Customer experience

DeerReader

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

My Shelf Player

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

DeerReader

Subscriptions1
  • Yearly Support Subscription$9.991 Year
None

My Shelf Player

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is DeerReader free?
DeerReader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is My Shelf Player free?
My Shelf Player is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, DeerReader or My Shelf Player?
DeerReader and My Shelf Player are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 2 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do DeerReader or My Shelf Player have ads?
Neither DeerReader nor My Shelf Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DeerReader or My Shelf Player?
DeerReader ships an update every 5 weeks, and My Shelf Player every 4 weeks. Most recently, DeerReader was updated on October 30, 2026 and My Shelf Player on October 31, 2026.

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