Comparison

PageEcho vs Readr

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

Head to head
About

PageEcho

This app offers a private, on-device eBook reading experience with AI-powered insights, summaries, and interactive Q&A. It features natural text-to-speech and supports various eBook formats, all without requiring servers or user accounts.

Highlights
  • On-device AI for insights and summaries
  • Offline natural text-to-speech
  • EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, PDF support
  • Distraction-free reading interface
  • Chapter-based navigation and TOC
  • Customizable themes, fonts, and spacing
  • 100% private, no servers or tracking
Features
Read full description

PageEcho — Read Together with AI A fully on-device eBook reader with offline AI and natural text-to-speech. No server. No accounts. No tracking. Your books and reading stay 100% private on your device. 1. Read Smarter — Fully On-Device PageEcho uses Apple Intelligence and local AI models to help you understand and explore books — without sending any content to external servers. Everything runs locally for speed, privacy, and peace of mind. • AI-powered chapter insights • Instant on-device summaries • Interactive book Q&A • Fast, private, and fully offline All processing is performed locally for maximum privacy and speed. 2. A Minimalist EBook Reader Designed for Focus A clean, distraction-free reading experience built for long sessions. Smooth chapter navigation, calm typography, and flexible layouts help you stay immersed. • EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, and PDF support • Chapter-based reading and TOC navigation • Custom themes, fonts, and spacing 3. Natural On-Device Text-to-Speech Listen to your books with high-quality, real-time speech synthesis — fully offline. • Powered by Supertonic, Kokoro and Apple system voices • Zero latency, no network required • Accurately reads numbers, dates, and complex text • Ideal for studying, commuting, or hands-free reading 4. AI Summaries and Smart Book Chat + AI Mind-Map Generate chapter summaries, clarify concepts, and explore deeper insights with fully offline AI. • Chapter summarization • Book discussion and Q&A • Topic and theme extraction • All processed locally on your device Your reading data is never uploaded or shared. 5. 100% Private by Design PageEcho is built around absolute privacy. • No servers • No accounts • No tracking or analytics • All AI features run locally on your device Your books, reading history, and activity never leave your device. Whether you’re studying literature, exploring classics, or simply reading for enjoyment, PageEcho provides a focused and intelligent reading environment without compromising privacy. 6. PageEcho Premium Unlock the full experience with unlimited access to advanced features. • Unlimited on-device text-to-speech • Unlimited AI summaries, chat, and mind maps • Monthly, yearly, or lifetime access options Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://page-echo.com/privacy

About

Readr

This app allows you to read, listen to, and ask questions about your digital books. It provides AI-powered answers based on your reading progress and can generate drafts from your highlights. Enjoy a private reading experience with on-device text-to-speech.

Highlights
  • AI-powered Q&A about book content
  • On-device text-to-speech narration
  • Draft generation from highlights
  • Recap feature for reading progress
  • Supports EPUB, PDF, TXT, and Markdown
  • Privacy-focused with no tracking or account
Features
Read full description

Read, listen, and ask questions as you go. Readr answers from what you've read so far and never spoils what's ahead — and clearly labels anything it adds from elsewhere. ASK THE BOOK Open an EPUB, PDF, plain-text or Markdown file you already own, select a sentence, and ask about it. Readr answers from the pages you've read, not the pages you haven't, so nothing ahead of your place can slip out. Choose "Whole book" to ask about all of it. And it isn't limited to the book: ask how the science has moved on, who directed the adaptation, or how an idea aged, and you get a useful answer that shows which part came from the book and which from outside it. Readr won't attribute an outside claim to the book you're reading. Back after a week away? Tap Recap on your Continue Reading card and Readr tells you the story so far, from only the pages you've read — it can't spoil what comes next. Ask needs an AI account of your own: connect an Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter key, or sign in with OpenRouter. You pay that company directly for what you use, and you can change or disconnect at any time. On an Apple silicon Mac you can use a local Ollama model instead and stay offline. Without one, Readr is still a complete reader — Ask simply stays off. LISTEN Press Listen and Readr reads the book aloud, starting from the page you're on — not the top of the chapter. The page turns itself to follow the voice, and the place it saves is where the voice left off, so switching between reading and listening never costs you your spot. The narrator is Readr Voice, a neural voice that runs entirely on your device: no account, no subscription, and nothing about your book ever leaves the device to be read aloud. Its voice model downloads once, the first time you listen, and the Listen bar shows the wait. Readr Voice keeps reading with the screen locked: it reads ahead while the app is open and plays from that with the phone in your pocket. Prefer Apple's built-in voices? They're a tap away under "Other voices" in the voice menu, with nothing to download at all. Skip by sentence or by chapter, change the speed or the voice mid-sentence and it carries on from that word, and set a sleep timer that counts listening rather than clock time — pause for lunch and the countdown waits for you. It keeps playing with the screen locked, with lock-screen and headphone controls, and reads PDFs as well as EPUBs. HIGHLIGHTS BECOME A DRAFT Highlight as you read, then turn those highlights into a first draft. Readr orders them by reading position, keeps your quotes intact, and turns them into an editable draft you can export as Markdown. PRIVACY No usage tracking. No account. No subscription. Your books, highlights, notes and questions live on your device, and reading them aloud happens there too. When you use Ask, your question and the book text needed to answer it go straight to the company you connected — never through a Readr server, because there isn't one. Your keys are stored in the device Keychain. READING THAT FEELS LIKE READING • EPUB, PDF, plain-text and Markdown — DRM-free files you own • A book to start on: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is in your library on first launch, so you can try everything before importing your own • Three layouts: continuous scroll, single page, or two facing pages • Paper, Sepia and Dark themes, with your choice of typeface and spacing • Table of contents, bookmarks, in-book search, footnote popups • Five highlight colors, notes, and a Notes panel that exports to Markdown • Continue Reading picks up exactly where you left off, reading or listening • On iPad: sidebar and reader side by side, two-page spreads, and hardware keyboard page turns FREE AND OPEN SOURCE Readr is free and MIT-licensed, developed in the open. Read the code, file an issue, or send a bug report from inside the app — there's a Report a bug button in Settings that attaches your app version and recent errors, and nothing about what you've been reading.

Screenshots

PageEcho4 screens
Readr4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: PageEcho at 93% against Readr's 0%. PageEcho also leads on rating (4.0 vs 3.0) and ratings volume (6 vs 1). Readr's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. PageEcho sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Readr asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PageEcho holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PageEcho has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 93% of PageEcho's written reviews are positive against 0% of Readr's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PageEcho ships an update every 3 days, Readr every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
PageEcho versus Readr: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPageEchoReadr
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (6 ratings) — better3.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews93.3% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings6 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size163 MB43 MB
Age rating4+17+
Developerharim kangAnusree Jayakrishnan

Customer experience

PageEcho

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive93.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative0.0%

Readr

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

PageEcho

Subscriptions2
  • PageEcho Premium - Monthly$4.991 Month
  • PageEcho Premium - Yearly$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • PageEcho Life-Time Access$29.99
None

Readr

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PageEcho free?
PageEcho is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Readr free?
Readr is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PageEcho or Readr?
PageEcho is rated higher. PageEcho averages 4.0 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Readr averages 3.0 from 1 ratings.
Do PageEcho or Readr have ads?
Neither PageEcho nor Readr shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PageEcho or Readr?
PageEcho ships an update every 3 days, and Readr every 5 days. Most recently, PageEcho was updated on September 26, 2026 and Readr on September 19, 2026.

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