Comparison

NixiTubeClock vs Grim Reader

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

Head to head
About

NixiTubeClock

Features
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Nixie Tube Clock is a minimalist digital clock inspired by classic vintage Nixie tubes. This app focuses on atmosphere rather than features, recreating the warm glow, glass texture, and subtle reflections that define the character of Nixie tubes. Choose a glow color to match your space — from classic orange to cool cyan, deep purple, and more — and see the same look on your Home Screen widgets. The bright core of each digit stays true to a real tube, for a calm, immersive clock that blends naturally into your space. Features: • Home Screen widgets that follow your glow color and reflection settings • Multiple glow colors with realistic glass-inspired visuals • Subtle floor reflection for added depth • Landscape mode with seconds and animated high-speed counter • Clean, distraction-free interface • Fully offline — no ads, no data collection Tap the screen to reveal settings, which automatically fade away after a short time. Designed with battery efficiency in mind, making it suitable for extended display. Ideal for desks, nightstands, and ambient displays where design matters as much as time.

About

Grim Reader

Organize and enrich your personal library of e-books, comics, and audiobooks. This app allows you to manage your collection locally or via your own servers, adding details like covers and author information. Enjoy a seamless reading and listening experience across all your content.

Highlights
  • Library management for e-books, comics, and audiobooks
  • Enrich library with online book and author data
  • Supports local files and personal servers (WebDAV, OPDS)
  • Cross-device reading and listening progress tracking
  • Organize by author, series, and genre
  • Mark favorites
Features
Read full description

Your books. Your library. Your way. Privacy By Design. Made in the EU. Grim Reader is a modern reader and library manager for e-books, comics and audiobooks. Keep your collection on your device, connect to your own servers, and turn even a simple collection of files into a rich, beautifully organised library. A library that feels alive Browse your collection by books, authors, series and more. See covers, reading progress and detailed information at a glance, continue where you left off, mark favourites and quickly find what you want to read next. Grim Reader is designed for both iPhone and iPad, with an interface that adapts to the device you are using. Enrich your books Missing a cover, description or other information? Grim Reader can help enrich your library using online book and author sources. Depending on the available information, Grim Reader can help you find and add details such as: • Covers and book descriptions • Authors and author information • Series information • Publisher and publication details • ISBN and other identifiers • Genres, categories and tags • Additional book metadata You remain in control and can review and edit your library information. More than e-books Grim Reader brings different types of reading together in one library: • Read e-books • Browse and read comics • Listen to audiobooks • Keep track of reading progress • Continue reading or listening across your library • Organise books by author and series • Mark books and authors as favourites Your files, your servers You don’t need to hand your library over to a commercial book platform. Grim Reader can work with books stored locally and supports personal libraries through WebDAV and OPDS, as well as the optional Grimmory server. This makes Grim Reader equally useful for a small collection on your iPhone or iPad and for a large self-hosted library. Made for readers Grim Reader focuses on your books rather than a store. There are no books to sell you and no ecosystem you need to buy into. Build the library you want, enrich it, organise it and enjoy reading it. Grim Reader — your library belongs to you.

Screenshots

NixiTubeClock4 screens
Grim Reader3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Grim Reader at Free against NixiTubeClock's $1.99. Grim Reader also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.2). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases 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

Grim Reader is free to download; NixiTubeClock costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
NixiTubeClock versus Grim Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNixiTubeClockGrim Reader
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Number of ratings3 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.217.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerkohei yamaneMaarten de Kreij

In-app purchases

None

NixiTubeClock

No in-app purchases

None

Grim Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is NixiTubeClock free?
NixiTubeClock costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Grim Reader free?
Grim Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do NixiTubeClock or Grim Reader have ads?
Neither NixiTubeClock nor Grim Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, NixiTubeClock or Grim Reader?
NixiTubeClock ships an update every 3 weeks, and Grim Reader every 3 weeks. Most recently, NixiTubeClock was updated on September 21, 2026 and Grim Reader on September 24, 2026.

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