Chaptify vs Absorb
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chaptify
Organize your reading, discover new books, and connect with friends. Save notes, highlights, and get AI-powered insights to enhance your reading experience and find your next favorite title faster.
- Personalized book recommendations
- Reading progress tracking
- Want to Read list
- Ratings and reviews
- Friends feed and activity
- Notes, highlights, and annotations
- AI summaries
- In-app discussions
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Build your habits, track your reading, discover new titles, and see what everyone else is picking up. Chaptify keeps your reading life organized and simple. Get recommendations that match your taste, keep a clear list of what you want to read next, and stay on top of what you’re currently working through. Follow friends, check out trending books, and share your own reviews without the clutter. Use our Pomodoro reading timer to build your daily streak, see what your friends are reading, and find books tailored to your preferences. FEATURES: • Pomodoro timer • Personalized recommendations based on what you like • Reading progress tracking • A "Want to Read list" • Ratings and reviews • Friends feed and activity • Notes, highlights, and annotations • Curated booklists and trending picks • Custom bookshelves for organizing your library Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Absorb
This app provides a streamlined mobile experience for listening to audiobooks and podcasts from your self-hosted media server. Enjoy features like offline playback, chapter navigation, and listening statistics. It's a free, open-source solution with no ads or data collection.
- Offline listening
- Chapter navigation
- Sleep timer
- Playback speed control
- Home screen widgets
- Listening statistics
- CarPlay support
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Absorb is a free, open source audiobook and podcast player built for Audiobookshelf, a self-hosted media server for your personal book library. Connect to your own Audiobookshelf server and enjoy your audiobook collection with a clean, polished mobile experience built specifically for iOS. Features: Stream or download books for offline listening Full playback controls with chapter navigation, sleep timer, and playback speed Home screen widgets for quick playback controls Listening stats and streaks to track your progress Bookmarks with notes Series tracking and discovery Light and dark mode CarPlay support And much more!!! Absorb is built by a solo developer and is completely free with no ads, no subscriptions, and no data collection. Your library stays between you and your server. Requires a self-hosted Audiobookshelf server. Visit audiobookshelf.org to learn more.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Absorb at 111 against Chaptify's 10. On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Chaptify against 4.9 for Absorb. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Absorb has 111 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Chaptify's written reviews are positive against 97% of Absorb's.
Chaptify ships an update every 2 months, Absorb monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chaptify | Absorb |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (10 ratings) — better | 4.9 (111 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 97.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 10 | 111 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 82 MB | 72 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chaptify LLC | Nathan Poulson |
Customer experience
Chaptify
Absorb
In-app purchases
Chaptify
No in-app purchases
Absorb
No in-app purchases
