BookShelves eBook Reader vs libFT
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BookShelves eBook Reader
This app allows you to read EPUB, PDF, and comic books with access to over 1.5 million free public domain books. Organize your library, customize your reading experience with multiple themes and fonts, and sync your progress across devices.
- 1.5 million+ free books
- EPUB, PDF, and comic reader
- Customizable themes and fonts
- iCloud sync across devices
- Smart library management
- Highlighting and note-taking
- Export highlights
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BookShelves is an EPUB, PDF, and comic book reader with a built-in catalog of 1.5 million free books. Discover public domain classics, organize your digital library, and sync seamlessly across iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud (Pro). WHAT READERS SAY "Phenomenal book reading and management app, 'just works'." "My everlasting search for the perfect ePub reader might be coming to an end." "Among the best and actively developed." DISCOVER 1.5 MILLION+ FREE BOOKS • 1.5 million+ classic works — Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick, more • 1,100+ premium editions from Standard Ebooks • Internet Archive — millions of historical texts and rare books • 1,200+ Spanish classics from the Biblioteca Nacional de España • 16,000+ Japanese classics from Aozora Bunko • Browse OPDS catalogs from external libraries and servers One tap to download. No account required. POWERFUL READING EXPERIENCE • Paginated or continuous scroll — read your way • 10 themes including Sepia, Dark Academia, Night Sky, and more • 10 bundled fonts including OpenDyslexic for accessible reading • Adjustable line spacing, margins, text justification, and font weight • Highlight in 5 colors and add notes to any passage • Export highlights to Markdown, JSON, or CSV • Dictionary look-up with language detection • Full-text search across chapters • Nested table of contents navigation • Bookmarks (iCloud sync with Pro) • Vertical text (tategaki) for Japanese and CJK books • Right-to-left reading for Arabic, Hebrew, and CJK texts • Full keyboard and trackpad support • Multi-window reading on Mac COMIC BOOKS AND MANGA • CBZ, CBR, and CB7 format support • Two-page spreads for landscape reading • Right-to-left mode for manga with reversed tap zones and swipes • Auto-detected from metadata or toggled manually SEAMLESS ICLOUD SYNC (Pro) • Books and cover images • Reading progress and current page • Shelves, tags, and ratings • Highlights, notes, and bookmarks • Reader preferences (font, theme, layout) Start reading on your iPhone, continue on your iPad, finish on your Mac. SMART LIBRARY MANAGEMENT • Edit metadata -- title, author, series, publisher, ISBN, and cover image • Automatic metadata and cover art fetching • System shelves: All Books, Recently Added, Reading, Finished, Favorites • Custom shelves for any collection • Color-coded tags for categorization • Search and filter by title, author, or tag • Grid and list views • 5-star ratings • Drag-and-drop import, Files app sharing, or OPDS catalogs • EPUB repair — auto-fixes broken navigation and missing metadata • Import from Calibre libraries with best-format selection FORMAT SUPPORT • EPUB — professional rendering with beautiful typography • PDF — native viewer with smooth scrolling and search • CBZ / CBR / CB7 — comic book archives • FB2 — FictionBook 2 format (auto-converts to EPUB) • MOBI / AZW3 / KF8 / KEPUB — auto-converts to EPUB for reading • TXT / Markdown — plain text and Markdown files (auto-converts to EPUB) MAC EXTRAS • Calibre wireless sync — connect KOReader or other devices over Wi-Fi • OPDS server — share your library on your local network PRIVACY FIRST • Your data stays on your devices • No personal data collected • No ads — clean, distraction-free reading • iCloud keeps your library private and secure FREE AND PRO Free: 10 books with all reading features. Pro unlocks unlimited books, iCloud sync, email to Kindle/reMarkable, highlight export, and OPDS server. Pro is available as a one-time purchase or subscription (monthly/annual, select regions). Subscriptions auto-renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage subscriptions in Apple ID account settings. Privacy Policy: https://getbookshelves.app/privacy/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Service: https://getbookshelves.app/terms/ All books from discovery sources are public domain or openly licensed.
libFT
Listen to thousands of free public-domain classics from LibriVox or your own audiobook files. This app offers a calm, focused listening experience with features like variable playback speed and cross-library continuity. Enjoy your favorite stories without ads or subscriptions.
- Access to thousands of free public-domain classics
- Play your own audiobook files (.m4b, .mp3)
- Continue listening across libraries
- Variable playback speed
- Lock screen and control center playback
- Background playback
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A calm, focused audiobook player for two libraries: thousands of free public-domain classics from LibriVox, and the audiobook files you already own. No subscription. No ads. No noise. Read every classic ever written. For free. LibriVox volunteers have recorded thousands of public-domain books — Pride and Prejudice, Sherlock Holmes, Crime and Punishment, Dracula, The Great Gatsby, the complete works of Dickens, Austen, Tolstoy, Twain, Verne, Doyle, and many more. Browse by popularity, search by title or author, and start listening in a tap. Chapters stream on demand — no need to download an entire book before you press play. Bring your own audiobooks. Got an .m4b you bought years ago, or a folder of .mp3 chapters from a backup? Drop them into libFT through the iOS Files app and they appear in your Library, organized by folder, with embedded cover art and natural chapter ordering preserved. Your files stay on your device — they aren't uploaded anywhere. One player. Two libraries. One place you left off. Continue Listening picks up where you stopped — whether the last chapter was a streamed LibriVox novel or a local audiobook from your own collection. Favorites, playback speed, lock-screen controls, background playback through headphones, AirPlay, and car audio all work the same across both sources. Built for long listens. - Continue Listening across both libraries - Favorites for the books you'll come back to - Variable playback speed - Lock Screen and Control Center transport controls - Background playback through headphones, AirPlay, and car audio - Auto-pause when you unplug headphones - Clean resume after phone calls - Available in English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Ukrainian No subscription. Ever. LibriVox audiobooks are recorded by volunteers and released into the public domain — they cost nothing to listen to. libFT itself is free to use. The audiobook files you already own stay yours, on your device. No tracking, no ads, no monthly fee. About LibriVox. LibriVox is a volunteer-driven project that records audio versions of public-domain books in many languages. libFT streams those recordings through the Internet Archive (archive.org). Special thanks to the thousands of LibriVox volunteers whose voices make this catalog possible.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: libFT at 5.0 against BookShelves eBook Reader's 3.8. libFT also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 64%) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). BookShelves eBook Reader's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (19 vs 2). 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. BookShelves eBook Reader sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. libFT asks for nothing beyond the download.
libFT holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BookShelves eBook Reader has 19 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of BookShelves eBook Reader's written reviews are positive against 100% of libFT's.
BookShelves eBook Reader ships an update weekly, libFT every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BookShelves eBook Reader | libFT |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (19 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 63.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 19 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.4 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 56 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | CPE Verm. GmbH | Logic FT Inc |
Customer experience
BookShelves eBook Reader
libFT
In-app purchases
BookShelves eBook Reader
- Small Tip$2.99
- Medium Tip$3.99
- Large Tip$8.99
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- Unlock Pro$9.99
libFT
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is BookShelves eBook Reader free?
Is libFT free?
Which has better reviews, BookShelves eBook Reader or libFT?
Do BookShelves eBook Reader or libFT have ads?
Which is updated more often, BookShelves eBook Reader or libFT?
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