Keeps vs The Shelf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Keeps
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Read more. Remember more. Share more. Keeps is the reading companion that helps you capture every meaningful quote and track your reading journey in one place. [Scan Quotes with Your Camera] Point your camera at any book page and OCR instantly recognizes the text. You can also extract text from gallery images. No more typing out long passages. [Beautiful Quote Cards] Turn your favorite quotes into stunning shareable cards. Choose from 8 unique styles and highlight key phrases to make them stand out on social media. [Track Your Reading Progress] Log your progress page by page. Use the built-in reading session timer to track how long you read each day. [Reading Goals & Stats] Set yearly and monthly reading goals and watch your progress. View stats like books completed per month and total pages read. [Your Personal Library] Search and add books by title or ISBN, or manually enter any title. Organize with categories and collections to keep your library tidy. [Secure Cloud Backup] Back up your reading data to the cloud. Switch devices without losing a single note or highlight. Start building your reading habit with Keeps today. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Service: https://sites.google.com/view/keeps-terms-conditions Privacy Policy: https://sites.google.com/view/keepsprivacypolicy
The Shelf
Organize your entire book collection, track reading progress, and capture notes and quotes. This app offers a private, customizable space to manage your reading life, from adding new books to reviewing past sessions.
- Build and organize your book library
- Track reading progress and focus sessions
- Save notes, quotes, and journal entries
- View detailed reading statistics
- Customize app appearance
- Sync and export library data
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The Shelf is a private reading tracker for stories you love, books you study, and everything in between. Search or scan a book, choose the edition that matches yours, then track only what feels useful. BUILD YOUR LIBRARY • Search by title, author, or ISBN, explore author pages, or scan one book or a whole stack. • Keep each edition or physical copy as its own book with its own details, progress, sessions, and history. • Mark books as Owned, add to Wishlist, or Track borrowed books. • Organize books with reading status, your own Lists, shelf locations, and Subjects. • Import Goodreads or StoryGraph CSV files and export a complete backup whenever you want. TRACK READING WITHOUT FRICTION • Update pages, percentage, audiobook position, chapters, or study problems. • Start a focused Reading, Listening, or Study session from any book. • Record starting and ending pages, then see pace, pages read, records, session patterns, and estimated time to finish after your first session. • Keep every re-read separate, with its own dates, rating, mood, and notes. REMEMBER WHAT YOU READ • Save Book notes, dated notes, favorite quotes, page references, scanned text, and photographs. • Search across your Library and jump directly to a Book note or annotation, with the matching text brought into view. • Make chapters, study problems, and annotations easier to discover through gentle, dismissible suggestions on each Book. BORROW AND LEND WITH CLARITY • Keep editable borrowing and lending histories for each book. • Record people, dates, due dates, shelf locations, and optional notes. • Reuse recent people and locations while keeping every field free-form. SEE YOUR READING LIFE • Explore daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and recent activity. • See goals, streaks, totals, records, and finished books on a reading calendar. • Compare progress by Subject and view your library as a prerequisite map. • Revisit books, notes, and quotes from this day in earlier years. MAKE IT FEEL LIKE YOURS • Choose your own background and accent colors, or start with an included Look. • Pair a Solid or Gradient background with System, Glass, Soft Depth, Lined Paper, Dot Grid, or Dog-eared Page cards. • Invite Dewey into Book and Focus views, then choose his hat, accessory, prop, and colors. • Celebrate the moments you choose with Confetti, Sparkles, or Stars. MADE FOR IPHONE AND IPAD • Use widgets, Spotlight, Siri, Live Activities, Split View, and Stage Manager. • Sync with iCloud when you choose and keep a complete JSON backup. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No accounts, ads, tracking, analytics, or subscriptions. • Optional book lookup sends only a title, author, or ISBN after you ask the app to search or fetch. • Camera images and recognized text stay on your device or in your own optional private iCloud library. • Use the optional system privacy lock and outside-app redaction when you want them. • Turn Online Lookup off for a fully offline library. Pay once, own it forever.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Keeps at Free against The Shelf's $4.99. Keeps also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). The Shelf's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ads (none vs shown). On 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
Keeps is free to download; The Shelf costs $4.99 up front. Keeps sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per month. The Shelf asks for nothing beyond the download.
Keeps ships an update every 2 months, The Shelf every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Keeps | The Shelf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | — | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Seungpyo Han | Antonio Gordillo Toledo |
In-app purchases
Keeps
- Pro plan$3.491 Month
- Pro Plan$34.991 Year
The Shelf
No in-app purchases









