Comparison

Steady Read vs iLib

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

Head to head
About

Steady Read

Features
Read full description

You can read faster than you think. Steady Read shows you one word at a time, centered on the exact letter your brain naturally locks onto. No scanning. No re-reading. No losing your place. Just focus. Start at 200 WPM. Work your way to 900. Most people surprise themselves on the first try. Paste any text, or upload PDFs, EPUBs, DOC files, and more with Steady Read Pro. The words come to you, all you have to do is watch. Built-in instrumental tracks that match your reading pace. Custom jazz and folk designed to keep you locked in without distraction. Skip tracks, repeat favorites, or turn it off entirely. Set your pace from 60 to 1200 WPM. Scrub through your text. Pause anytime. Pick up exactly where you left off. Traditional reading wastes time on eye movement (jumping between words, drifting to margins, re-reading lines you just read). Steady Read eliminates all of that. Your eyes stay still. Your brain does the rest. Great for books, articles, meeting notes, research papers, study material, or anything you've been meaning to read but haven't found the time. Free to use with pasted text. Upgrade to Pro to upload files β€” PDFs, EPUBs, DOC, DOCX, TXT, and ZIP. Terms of Use: https://www.steadyread.com/terms.html

About

iLib

Features
Read full description

iLib is your pocket library β€” one beautiful app for everything you read, hear, and study. Read on the web, on your iPhone and iPad, and on macOS β€” with more platforms on the way; sign in and your library, reading progress, notes and vocabulary sync across every device. ONE LIBRARY FOR EVERYTHING Books, comics, web novels, audiobooks, podcasts, radio and news β€” all in one place. Stream a massive global catalog of podcasts and live radio stations from countries and languages around the world, follow world news as it happens, and discover millions of free titles from public catalogs β€” or bring your own files. OPENS ALMOST ANYTHING β€’ E-books: EPUB, MOBI, AZW, AZW3, FB2, FBZ β€’ Documents: PDF β€’ Text: TXT, Markdown β€’ Comics: CBZ, CBR, CB7 β€’ Audiobooks: MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, OGG, OPUS, FLAC, WAV β€” with chapters and cover art And with Send to iLib, paste any web article and it becomes a clean, readable book in your library. A SERIOUS READER A fast, beautiful reader with full typography control, highlights, notes, bookmarks and a calm dark mode. Open two books side by side β€” each keeps its own position, settings and translation β€” and read right-to-left and vertical scripts with ease. LISTENING IS READING TOO Sentence-level text-to-speech with synced highlighting, plus audiobooks, podcasts and read-along. Keep going with your ears when your eyes need a break. LUMI, YOUR AI READING PARTNER Ask questions about the book you're reading, get hard passages explained, and summarize chapters β€” grounded in the text in front of you. Use on-device models or bring your own key. TRANSLATE ANYTHING Translate a word, a passage, or an entire book across multiple engines β€” with optional, higher-quality AI translation when you want it. The interface itself is localized in 33 languages. EXPORT AND TAKE YOUR BOOKS WITH YOU Export any book as the original file, a fully translated edition, or a bilingual side-by-side EPUB β€” generated right on your device. LEARN AS YOU READ Tap any word to look it up, build your vocabulary, and review with spaced repetition and leveled reading. Import your existing word lists. YOURS, AND PRIVATE Local-first and offline-ready β€” your library lives on your device. Sign in to sync across every device. Your third-party credentials are end-to-end encrypted. No ads, no tracking. Start reading at web.ilib.ai or right here on your iPhone and iPad.

Screenshots

Steady Read3 screens
iLib4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: iLib at none against Steady Read's 1. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Steady Read sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per month. iLib asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
Steady Read versus iLib: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSteady ReadiLib
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyβ€”Fortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo β€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac β€” better
Requires iOS15.014.0 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size66 MB60 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperMartin UhlmannQianye (hubei Province) Education Technology Co., Ltd

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Steady Read

Subscriptions1
  • Steady Read Pro$4.991 Month
None

iLib

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Steady Read free?
Steady Read is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is iLib free?
iLib is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Steady Read or iLib have ads?
Neither Steady Read nor iLib shows ads.

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