Compress vs SimplyRead
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Compress
Easily reduce video file sizes on your iPhone or iPad. This app also generates SRT caption files using on-device transcription and offers translation into 23 languages, all while keeping your data private.
- Video compression
- Batch compression (up to 10 videos)
- Customizable compression settings
- On-device SRT caption generation
- Offline transcription
- SRT translation (23 languages)
- Privacy-focused
Read full descriptionHide full description
Compress-san is the easiest way to compress videos on your iPhone or iPad. Just select a video from your photo library, and queue up your video for compression. Select up to 10 videos for compression at once and add them to the queue. In the application settings, you can choose your desired compression settings, compressing video to sizes as low as low quality 480p. Compress-san also will use local on-device transcription models to create caption SRT files for your videos. Create subtitle text files locally and privately, with no audio or video leaving your device for creation of the SRTs. After an SRT is generated, you can also translate it into 23 different languages using local translation services. Compress-san is the simple and private way to cut your video sizes and create SRT subtitle transcription text files.
SimplyRead
This app allows you to read and listen to your own e-books in various formats. Customize typography, scroll through pages, and bookmark your progress. It also offers natural voice narration and library management features.
- Customizable typography and themes
- Page-by-page or continuous scroll
- Automatic chapter detection
- Natural voice narration with highlighting
- Import from Files app, clipboard, or URL
- Built-in editor with Find & Replace
- iCloud Drive backup and restore
Read full descriptionHide full description
A book you can read — and listen to. SimplyRead opens TXT, EPUB and Markdown files as real books, with clothbound covers, expressive typography and paper textures. Read at your own pace, or listen with natural iOS voices. READ - Comfortable typography with five paper themes and Light or Dark appearance - Page by page, or one continuous scroll — whichever you prefer - Chapters found automatically, including Chinese numeral titles, with a panel to jump anywhere in the book - Bookmarks, find-in-book with highlighted matches, and a Continue Reading card that puts you back where you stopped - Adjust fonts, text size and line spacing, with layouts for iPhone, iPhone Duo and iPad LISTEN - High-quality iOS system voices, at a speed you set - The sentence being spoken is highlighted, and the page follows along - Sleep timer, plus Lock Screen and Control Center controls — keep listening with the screen off BUILD YOUR LIBRARY - Import from the Files app, create a file straight from your clipboard, or download from a URL and watch it arrive - Discover books from public catalogs and open-license sources, with clear labels for downloadable files, online reading and catalog pages - Book covers, clear author labels, folder sorting and destination folders to keep a long shelf tidy EDIT AND KEEP - A built-in editor with Find & Replace, undo for whole-book replacements, recovery after failed saves, and a Fix New Lines tool - iCloud Drive backup and restore for the whole library, reading positions included FREE AND PRO Your own files, the entire reader, themes, chapters, bookmarks and backup are unlimited and free. Pro lifts the daily listening allowance and the download limit. Download availability depends on the source and its access terms. Only import or download content you are entitled to use.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: SimplyRead at 5.0 against Compress's 4.4. SimplyRead also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). Compress's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (7 vs 1). 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. SimplyRead sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Compress asks for nothing beyond the download.
SimplyRead holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Compress has 7 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Compress ships an update every 2 weeks, SimplyRead weekly. Both last shipped on November 5, 2026.
| Parameter | Compress | SimplyRead |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (7 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 145 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Cameron Banga | 阳 张 |
Customer experience
Compress
SimplyRead
In-app purchases
Compress
No in-app purchases
SimplyRead
- Pro User$1.99








