EpubReader vs Afterglow
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
EpubReader
Read EPUB books offline with a customizable reader. Listen to your books with built-in text-to-speech and sync your library across devices. Organize your collection with custom collections and smart sorting.
- Offline EPUB reading
- Built-in text-to-speech (TTS)
- iCloud library sync
- Customizable reading experience
- Organize books into collections
- Multiple import methods
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EpubReader is a clean, powerful ebook reader built exclusively for iPhone and iPad. Read EPUB books offline, listen with built-in text-to-speech, and sync your entire library across devices with iCloud. Import DRM-free EPUB books in seconds, organize them into custom collections, customize every detail of your reading experience — fonts, themes, dark mode — and pick up right where you left off on any device. Effortless Book Import • Import EPUB files from Files or iCloud Drive • WiFi Transfer – drag and drop books from Mac or PC • Open in from Safari • AirDrop support Fully Customizable Reading • Light, Sepia, Dark Mode & True Black (OLED) night mode themes • Adjust font size, line height, margins, and spacing • Choose from premium, highly readable fonts • Page curl animation or smooth vertical scrolling • Bookmarks with notes and color highlights Built-in Text-to-Speech (TTS) — Read Aloud • Listen to your ebooks hands-free like an audiobook • Real-time sentence highlighting • Automatic page turning • Great for multitasking or resting your eyes Automatic iCloud Sync • Sync books across iPhone and iPad • Reading progress, bookmarks & highlights stay updated • Secure and private — powered by your personal iCloud Smart Library & Collections • Organize your books into custom collections • Create multiple bookshelves for different genres, authors, or projects • Quickly add or move books between collections • Smart sorting by recent reads so your current book is always easy to find • Full Table of Contents navigation Privacy First • EpubReader never tracks your reading habits. • No analytics tracking. • No data selling. • No mandatory sign-ups. • All books stay on your device or securely in your personal iCloud. Download EpubReader today and enjoy a distraction-free reading experience. Note: EpubReader supports DRM-free EPUB files only. DRM-protected books are not supported.
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.
- Ebook reading interface
- Cover Tone themes
- Custom ambiance per book
- Typography controls
- Layout controls
- Light and dark modes
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Afterglow at every 6 days against EpubReader's every 3 months. Afterglow also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). EpubReader's advantage is ratings volume (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.4). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Afterglow holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively.
EpubReader ships an update every 3 months, Afterglow every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | EpubReader | Afterglow |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (4 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 26.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Penghui Zhao | Mohammad Qureshi |
Customer experience
EpubReader
Afterglow
In-app purchases
EpubReader
No in-app purchases
Afterglow
No in-app purchases
