Comparison

leaf vs Afterglow

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

Head to head
About

leaf

This app offers a natural reading experience with customizable scrolling and page-turning options. Access thousands of free ebooks or import your own EPUB and PDF files. Organize your library, take notes, and create a personal reading journal.

Highlights
  • Vertical and horizontal scrolling
  • Import EPUB and PDF files
  • Access Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks
  • Bookmarks, highlights, and notes
  • Exportable Reading Journal
  • Library organization with shelves
  • iCloud syncing
Features
Read full description

Scroll naturally. Read deeply. leaf is a reading app built for your phone. Read on your own, or let leaf read to you. Read with a natural vertical scroll, or turn pages with a page curl when you want a more traditional feel. leaf flows through your book the way your thumb already moves. When your attention keeps sliding off the page, tap play. leaf sets a gentle pace and lights up each line as you go. Turn on the voice and it reads the page aloud while you follow along, or lock your phone and keep listening. Narration uses the voices built into your iPhone, so it's free and unlimited, works offline, and your books never leave your phone. Browse and download over 70,000 free books from Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks: classic literature, philosophy, fiction, and more. Import your own EPUB, PDF, and Markdown files too. No reading streaks. No goals. No ads. No noise. Just you and the book. READ ALONG AND NARRATION - Tap play and leaf sets the pace, lighting each line as you read - Turn on the voice and leaf reads the page aloud as the highlight follows - Free and unlimited: no hours to count, no account to make - Runs on your iPhone, works offline, and never uploads your books - Keeps reading with the screen locked. Pause, play, or skip back 15 seconds from the lock screen or your headphones - Picks a voice in your book's language. Apple's Enhanced and Premium voices are a free download and sound the most natural - Change the speed any time, pause with a tap, or step back a sentence - Works with every reading flow (not yet with PDFs) READER - Three reading flows: Page Curl, Slide, or Continuous scroll - Vertical or horizontal page turns - Light, Dark, System, and E-Ink themes - Bookmarks, highlights, and notes - Multi-paragraph highlighting and sharing - Search within any book - Typefaces including Classic, Modern, Lexend, and Atkinson Hyperlegible - Adjust font size, spacing, and text density - Set a reading intention for each book - An exportable Reading Journal is created automatically when you highlight text or write a note PDFs - Read PDFs with the same reading flows as books - Pages follow your theme automatically, in light or dark - Columns are detected and shown one at a time, so the text is bigger and you never scroll sideways to read a line LIBRARY - Organise books into shelves, grouped into sections you can collapse - Filter by shelf, intention, or reading status - Sort by title, author, last opened, or shelf - View books as Grid or List - Search your entire library - Drop supported book files into the leaf folder and they'll appear in your library automatically - Use iCloud to share books between devices - Continue reading from your current book with the Home Screen widget FREE BOOKS - Browse and download from Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks - Over 70,000 free classic and public domain titles - The Call of the Wild is included, so you can start reading straight away - Import your own EPUB, PDF, and Markdown files - Supports multiple file and folder import LEAF PRO - Six more themes: Sepia, Ivory, Mist, Forest, Midnight, and Amber Night - Design up to six custom themes of your own - Three more typefaces (Literata, Spectral, and Merriweather) or import your own - Line, paragraph, and letter spacing - Sync your library across devices - Sync reading progress, highlights, notes, bookmarks, shelves, and Reading Journal entries Privacy Policy: https://readleaf.co/legal Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Afterglow

Experience ebooks with a personalized ambiance. This reader intelligently creates unique themes from book cover art, offering a clean interface with customizable typography and layout for comfortable reading.

Highlights
  • Ebook reading interface
  • Cover Tone themes
  • Custom ambiance per book
  • Typography controls
  • Layout controls
  • Light and dark modes
Features
Read full description

A beautiful way to read ebooks. With Afterglow, give each book it's own ambience with Cover Tone themes, intelligently created from the book's cover art. Key features • Ebook reading with a clean, focused interface • Custom ambience for each book • Typography and layout controls for comfort and style • Light and dark reading options

Screenshots

leaf4 screens
Afterglow4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Afterglow at 5.0 against leaf's 3.8. Afterglow also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2). leaf's advantage is ratings volume (6 vs 1) and iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.4). On price, update cadence, ads 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

Both are free to download. leaf sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Afterglow asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Afterglow holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: leaf has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

leaf ships an update weekly, Afterglow every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
leaf versus Afterglow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterleafAfterglow
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (6 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better1
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.6 — better26.4
Further details — not scored
Size76 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAbraham JesriMohammad Qureshi

Customer experience

leaf

All ratings6 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

Afterglow

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

In-app purchases

2 purchases

leaf

Subscriptions2
  • Leaf Pro7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Leaf Pro7 Days trial$12.991 Year
None

Afterglow

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is leaf free?
leaf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Afterglow free?
Afterglow is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, leaf or Afterglow?
Afterglow is rated higher. leaf averages 3.8 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Afterglow averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do leaf or Afterglow have ads?
Neither leaf nor Afterglow shows ads.
Which is updated more often, leaf or Afterglow?
leaf ships an update weekly, and Afterglow every 6 days. Most recently, leaf was updated on October 7, 2026 and Afterglow on October 17, 2026.

Other comparisons