indexx vs Etched
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
indexx
Capture, organize, and share impactful sentences from books. This app uses OCR to extract text from photos or allows manual entry, linking each quote to its source and your reflections. Create shareable quote cards and track your reading journey with a personal library.
- Capture sentences via OCR or manual entry
- Link quotes to book, page, and reflections
- Generate shareable quote cards
- Track reading progress and history
- Barcode scanner for book registration
- Personal sentence library
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Some sentences deserve more than a fleeting moment. indexx is a reading companion built for people who underline, dog-ear pages, and return to the words that changed how they think. CAPTURE SENTENCES THAT MATTER Photograph a book page and let OCR extract the text instantly. Or type it in yourself. Either way, every sentence you save is linked to its book, page number, and your personal reflection on why it mattered. TURN QUOTES INTO SHAREABLE CARDS Transform any saved sentence into a beautifully designed quote card. Choose colors, adjust layout, and share directly to Instagram, Messages, or anywhere you want. Make your reading visible. TRACK YOUR READING JOURNEY Add books by scanning their barcode or searching by title. Mark what you want to read, what you're reading now, and what you've finished. Rate, review, and see your reading history at a glance. YOUR PERSONAL SENTENCE LIBRARY Browse all your captured sentences in one place. Each one carries the book it came from, the page you found it on, and the thought you had when you read it. A timeline of your reading life, built one underline at a time. KEY FEATURES - Barcode scanner for instant book registration - Camera OCR to extract text from physical book pages - Beautiful quote card generator with multiple styles - Star ratings and personal reviews - Reading progress tracking with start and end dates - Stacked card and grid view for your bookshelf - Filter by time period: all time, this year, this month, this week - Private and offline β all data stays on your device indexx is for readers who believe the best part of a book isn't the cover β it's the sentence you can't stop thinking about.
Etched
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Etched is a reading journal for paper books: photograph a line that moves you, write it out by hand later, and reflect on it briefly at night. No account, no subscription β every record stays on your device. Don't stop reading. On the bus, or in bed before sleep, you meet a line that stays with you. Stop to underline it or copy it out, and you lose the thread of what you were reading. Etched lets you keep the line as a single photo and push transcribing and reflecting to a quiet moment. Keep β Write it out β Reflect: a ritual for reading slowly, one line a day. β A day with Etched Β· Keep β Snap the line and it files itself under the book you're reading. Focus stays centered, and you can pick the book before or after you shoot. Press the shutter and go back to the page. Quiet enough for the library or the bus. Β· Write it out β A little later, a single reminder. Read the line in the photo and type it yourself, character by character. No autocomplete, no auto-fill. The time it takes is the point. Β· Reflect β At the end of the day, a short note on how the line landed today. One reminder, only if you've transcribed a line in the last two days. Every step can wait, or be skipped. Lines you never get to are set aside quietly β no nagging. β A book, recorded Note what you hope for when you add a book, and leave an afterword when you finish. Then export the finished book as up to 20 images: cover and expectations, chosen lines with reflections, and your afterword (Premium). β Straight from your iPhone Lock Screen (iOS 18 and later) Add "Etch a Line" to the Lock Screen, Control Center, or the Action Button, and the camera opens without unlocking. It's silent and saves exactly what you saw. Lines you capture there are waiting the next time you open Etched. On iOS 16 and 17, a circular Lock Screen widget opens the camera directly. β Where your lines live Β· Your library β Lines gather under each book. Unlimited books; see the ones you're reading and the ones you've finished separately. Β· Three views β Gallery, list, and calendar. The days you etched a line show as dots on the calendar. Β· Highlight β Mark the line on the photo with a highlighter. When you transcribe, only that part is shown, enlarged. β When you'd like to share Turn a line into a single image card β square, portrait, or story. Include your reflection, and a long one simply spans several cards. Not to show off; just a quiet way to pass something on. β What Etched doesn't have Β· No streaks, badges, points, or rankings. Β· No statistics dashboard, no social feed, no endless timeline. Β· No notifications designed to pull you back in. It's not about how many lines you've gathered, but how deeply one line is etched. The goal isn't time spent in the app β it's getting you back to the book. β Your records stay with you No account, no login. Everything is stored only on this device and never sent anywhere. No ads, no tracking. Export and restore a backup file, or let Etched back up automatically on a schedule you choose. β Premium Free to keep unlimited books and up to 12 lines at a time. One purchase unlocks unlimited lines and book export β not a subscription. β Questions people ask Q. Do I need an account? β No. Install and start; records stay on your device. Q. Is it a subscription? β No. Premium is a single non-consumable purchase, with Restore Purchases. Q. Does it turn the photo into text for me? β No. You type the line yourself. That slowness is the point of Etched. Q. Does it work with e-books? β It's made for paper books, but you can pick a screenshot from your photos. Q. What if I change phones? β Export a backup file from Settings > Data, then restore it on the new device. Q. Who is it for? β People who read paper books and want to keep the lines they love, without statistics or social features. Read slowly, keep deeply β Etched.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: indexx at none against Etched's 1. Etched's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Etched sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. indexx asks for nothing beyond the download.
indexx ships an update every 3 months, Etched every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | indexx | Etched |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | β |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 weeks β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No β better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | β |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 16.4 β better |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 68 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | OKMIN LEE | JiHyeong Lee |
In-app purchases
indexx
No in-app purchases
Etched
- Etched Premium$6.99








