Comparison

StorieShort vs MagicReader

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

Head to head
About

StorieShort

Features
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"StorieShort" is an app dedicated to short story reading, offering users a wealth of literary resources and an exceptional reading experience. Whether you're a literature enthusiast or a devoted fan of short stories, NiceNovel is designed to meet your needs.  **Key Features:** - **Extensive Collection of Short Stories:** The app features a vast array of short stories across various genres and styles, including classic works, modern masterpieces, and emerging authors. Users can easily find stories that match their tastes, whether they prefer mystery, romance, science fiction, or fantasy. - **Quality Reading Experience:** The app boasts a clean and intuitive user interface, making browsing and reading a pleasant experience. It supports customizable fonts, backgrounds, and brightness settings to provide the best personalized reading experience. - **Smart Recommendations:** Based on users' reading history and interests, the app offers intelligent recommendations to help you discover more works that you might enjoy. - **Favorites and Bookmarks:** Users can easily save their favorite stories and add bookmarks to continue reading at any time. - **Offline Reading:** The download feature allows users to save their favorite stories locally, enabling reading even without an internet connection. - **Literary Community:** While story creation and sharing are not yet supported, the app's comment and rating system allows readers to share their thoughts and feedback on stories, interacting with other readers. NiceNovel is committed to providing a focused and rich platform for short stories, ensuring that every user can easily find and immerse themselves in their favorite literary worlds. Whether during leisure time or while traveling, StorieShort is your ideal companion. standard Apple Terms of Use (EULA) https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ privacy policy https://www.storieshort.com/legal/privacy-policy

About

MagicReader

Features
Read full description

Read without touching the screen. MagicReader is a hands-free reader for EPUB, PDF and comics: turn your head, wave a hand, wink, or just say "next page" — and the page turns. Or sit back and let a natural voice read to you. Whether your hands are busy, wet, full, or simply resting — or touching the screen is difficult for you — MagicReader keeps the story going. NEW: OPENS LIKE A REAL BOOK • Ready for iPhone Duo — unfold it and your book becomes a two-page spread, with the spine right on the fold • Landscape reading — two pages side by side on iPad and most iPhones, for EPUB, PDF and comics, including vertical Japanese books • Flip page turns — pages turn over like paper and follow your finger • Split View on iPad and iPhone Duo TOUCH-FREE READING • Head control — turn your head left or right to flip pages; look up to open or close a book • Wink control — wink your right eye to go forward, your left to go back (Face ID devices) • Hand control — a cursor follows your hand; close your hand to grab a book, swipe from the screen edge to flip • Voice control — say "next", "back", "open", "read aloud" and more, in English, Japanese, Spanish, French or German • A guided tour teaches every gesture with live practice NATURAL READ-ALOUD • Natural, expressive voices read your EPUB books aloud — in English and Japanese • The sentence being spoken is highlighted, and pages turn in step with the narration • English narration powered by Kokoro; Japanese voices powered by VOICEVOX (VOICEVOX:No.7, VOICEVOX:å››å›½ć‚ćŸć‚“, VOICEVOX:é’å±±é¾ę˜Ÿ, VOICEVOX Nemo) • Books in Spanish, French and German are read by your device's system voice for that language, with nothing to download • Natural voices are downloaded once, then work fully offline — all speech is generated on your device YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR WAY • EPUB and PDF books, plus CBZ/CBR comics and manga • Beautiful animated bookshelf themes — drifting watercolour clouds, a starry cosmos, and story worlds that come alive behind special books • Japanese vertical text (ēø¦ę›øć) done right, with optional automatic furigana (ćµć‚ŠćŒćŖ) above kanji • Comfortable reading themes, adjustable fonts (including OpenDyslexic for dyslexia-friendly reading), and remembered positions THOUSANDS OF FREE CLASSICS • Browse and download public-domain classics from Project Gutenberg and Aozora Bunko (é’ē©ŗę–‡åŗ«) — from Alice in Wonderland to éŠ€ę²³é‰„é“ć®å¤œ — right inside the app PRIVATE BY DESIGN • The camera and microphone are used only to recognize your gestures and commands, entirely on your device • Nothing is recorded, nothing is uploaded, and there are no accounts, no ads, and no tracking — ever MagicReader began in 2012 as one of the first face-controlled book readers on the App Store. It has been rebuilt from the ground up for today's devices — same magic, new tricks. Reading is best when nothing comes between you and the story. Not even your hands.

Screenshots

StorieShort4 screens
MagicReader2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MagicReader at none against StorieShort's 5. MagicReader also leads on ads (none vs shown). StorieShort's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs monthly) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

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

Both are free to download. StorieShort sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per 7 days. MagicReader asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StorieShort ships an update weekly, MagicReader monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences Ā· 2 level
StorieShort versus MagicReader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStorieShortMagicReader
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size72 MB62 MB
Age rating17+4+
Developerå¼ŗå¼ŗ ęØLeo Rivas-Micoud

In-app purchases

5 purchases

StorieShort

Subscriptions4
  • 7day_member$9.997 Days
  • 30day_member$29.991 Month
  • 90day_member$69.993 Months
Show 1 more
  • 365day_member$169.991 Year
One-time1
  • member_storieshort$9.99
None

MagicReader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is StorieShort free?
StorieShort is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MagicReader free?
MagicReader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do StorieShort or MagicReader have ads?
StorieShort shows ads; MagicReader does not.
Which is updated more often, StorieShort or MagicReader?
StorieShort ships an update weekly, and MagicReader monthly. Most recently, StorieShort was updated on November 5, 2026 and MagicReader on October 31, 2026.

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