Comparison

True Epub vs GemReader

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

Head to head
About

True Epub

This app allows you to easily open and read EPUB documents. Customize your reading experience by adjusting font size, adding highlights, and taking notes. Import files directly from your device or through the share menu.

Highlights
  • Open EPUB documents
  • Adjustable font size
  • Create highlights
  • Add notes
  • Import via Files app
  • Import via Share menu
Features
Read full description

True Epub is an EPUB reader built to help you open and read EPUB documents faster and more comfortably.
Import EPUBs directly from the Files app using the in-app Open button, or add them via the Share menu.
Adjust the font size for supplementary/reference content, create highlights and notes to capture what matters, and quickly revisit key parts later.

About

GemReader

This app is designed for learning through reading, allowing users to save form answers, highlights, notes, and flashcards within EPUB and PDF files. It offers study tools like flashcard creation and spaced repetition, with an encrypted, offline-first library and text-to-speech functionality.

Highlights
  • Save form answers in interactive ebooks
  • Highlighting with 6 colors and notes
  • Create flashcards from highlights
  • Spaced repetition review deck
  • Offline EPUB and PDF reading
  • Encrypted library with optional backups
  • Text-to-speech for books
Features
Read full description

GemReader is an offline EPUB and PDF reader that saves everything you do inside a book — your form answers, highlights, notes, and flashcards. Built for people who read to learn, not just to finish. No account. No tracking. Your library is encrypted on your device, and backups are optional. YOUR FORM ANSWERS ARE SAVED Most ebook readers throw away what you type. GemReader doesn't. Fill in a workbook exercise, close the book, come back a week later — your answers are exactly where you left them. Every text field, checkbox, dropdown, and radio button in an interactive EPUB is saved automatically. HIGHLIGHT AND ANNOTATE Highlight passages in six colors and attach a note to any highlight. Add standalone text notes, bookmarks, and notes pinned to images. Notes support Markdown. Tag anything you keep, name the highlight colors yourself, and see every highlight and note from your whole library in one searchable list. Keep PIN-locked notebooks, and store videos, diagrams and photos encrypted beside your books. STUDY TOOLS BUILT IN Look up any word in the in-book dictionary without leaving the page. Turn your highlights into flashcards and drill them with the built-in spaced repetition review deck. Export annotations to Anki, or import your existing .apkg and .txt decks straight into the app. FREE BOOKS TO START WITH Browse Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks and other open catalogs from inside the app and download straight into your library. Add any OPDS catalog you trust. Downloads are encrypted on arrival, like every other book. LISTEN TO YOUR BOOKS A neural text-to-speech voice reads any book aloud, generated entirely on your device — no cloud, no account, and no connection needed once the voice is installed. Books that ship with their own chapter audio play that instead, with lock-screen playback controls. PDF READER INCLUDED Open PDFs alongside your EPUBs. Fixed-layout rendering, working links and form fields, pinch-to-zoom, full-text search, and dark mode. ENCRYPTED LIBRARY Your books are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM. No plaintext file ever touches disk. Lock individual collections behind their own key, and lock the whole app with Face ID or a PIN when you put it down. Your books stay yours. BUILT FOR OFFLINE READING Everything works with the network off. No account is required, and nothing is uploaded unless you turn on encrypted backup to your own Google Drive. ORGANIZE A REAL LIBRARY Grid and list views, nested collections with custom colors, cover art, full-text search across your library, table of contents, footnotes, image zoom, and reading history so you can jump back to where you were three chapters ago. MADE COMFORTABLE TO READ Light, dark, sepia, and high-contrast Ultra themes. Adjustable fonts, margins, and layout. Immersive full-screen reading. Tablet support on iPad. Interface available in 18 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Indonesian, French, German, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Burmese, Khmer, Amharic, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Thai. SHARE WITHOUT THE CLOUD Gem Beam hands a book, or a whole collection, to the phone next to you directly, device to device — no internet, no account, nothing leaving the room. Highlights, notes, reading position and study progress travel with them. You can also export a book as an encrypted .gem pack, optionally as a scannable QR code, or turn a favorite passage into a shareable quote card image. WHO IT'S FOR • Students working through interactive textbooks, workbooks, and study guides • Language learners who need a dictionary, flashcards, and audio in one place • Researchers and professionals who annotate heavily and need it to stay put • Anyone who wants a private, offline ebook reader with no account attached GemReader reads DRM-free EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, CBZ and TXT files. Import from your device, share into the app, or download from the catalogs above. Note: iOS doesn't let apps block screenshots or screen recording.

Screenshots

True Epub4 screens
GemReader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: GemReader at daily against True Epub's fortnightly. True Epub's advantage is ratings volume (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for True Epub against 5.0 for GemReader. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

True Epub ships an update fortnightly, GemReader daily. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
True Epub versus GemReader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTrue EpubGemReader
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings3 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB86 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperByung-woo HwangJohan Christopher Nohall

Customer experience

True Epub

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

GemReader

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

True Epub

No in-app purchases

None

GemReader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is True Epub free?
True Epub is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is GemReader free?
GemReader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, True Epub or GemReader?
True Epub and GemReader are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do True Epub or GemReader have ads?
Neither True Epub nor GemReader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, True Epub or GemReader?
True Epub ships an update fortnightly, and GemReader daily. Most recently, True Epub was updated on October 31, 2026 and GemReader on November 10, 2026.

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