Crown Book vs ThusRead
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Crown Book
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A full-screen reader for large text files on your watch. One book at a time: a .txt file sent from Crown Book for iOS. Sending another book to your watch replaces the previous one. Font size matches system settings โ you can change it while reading in the watchOS control center. Large files (>10 KB) are divided into pages and remember the last page you were reading. You can scroll through text with your finger, the crown, or the "double tap" gesture. Tapping the system clock takes you to the top of the page. At the beginning of each page there is a button with the page number, which, when pressed, takes you to any page (selection with a preview of the first line of text). At the end of each page (except the last) there is a button that takes you to the next page. At the end of the book, there's a "CLOSE" button to close the book. A closed book can be deleted ("Delete" button) or started over ("BOOK" button). You can set a widget on the watch face displaying the page number of the currently read page and several lines of text (modular). ! The program comes with instruction (in the form of a mini-book: "Help" button) for two of my apps (Crown Book and Equatch) in two languages โโ(English and Polish). Sending a file from iPhone to Apple Watch: UTF-8 encoded .txt format (you can use TextEdit in macOS to change the encoding). .txt compatibility with Apple Pages: File - Export to - Plain Text... - Save. Compatibility with free gutenberg.org ebooks (PlainText UTF-8). The loaded .txt file can be viewed in the iOS app (button with the file name). The .txt file remains in the iOS app until it is replaced by another file. ! When sending a file from iPhone, the Apple Watch must be unlocked with the app running. ! If the text doesn't appear on your watch after uploading, try again until it succeeds. Minimum system requirements: watchOS 10 and iOS 17 ("double tap" scrolling requires Apple Watch 9 or later).
ThusRead
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ThusRead is a lightweight EPUB reader designed for Apple Watch. Import EPUB books on your iPhone and send them to Apple Watch, so you can read whenever you have a moment. Your reading progress is saved automatically, letting you continue near where you left off. Key features: โข Import EPUB books from iPhone โข Send books to Apple Watch for offline reading โข Turn pages with the Digital Crown, a swipe, or a tap โข Adjust text size, margins, line spacing, and dark theme โข Show your current book and reading progress on the watch face โข Save your reading position automatically โข No account required The free version lets you import up to 3 different books. A one-time purchase of ThusRead Pro removes the EPUB import limit. No subscription and no automatic renewal.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Crown Book at none against ThusRead's 1. On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. ThusRead sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Crown Book asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Crown Book | ThusRead |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No โ better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 โ better | 18.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Artur Janowicz | ็ฟ็ ๆ |
In-app purchases
Crown Book
No in-app purchases
ThusRead
- ThusRead Pro Lifetime$3.99









