Comparison

ReadTrace Pro vs Palmrest

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

Head to head
About

ReadTrace Pro

Save articles from the web for offline reading with a clean, serif-first interface. Organize saved content with custom collections and find anything with intelligent on-device search. Enjoy a private, ad-free reading experience designed for focused consumption.

Highlights
  • Save articles from web
  • Offline reading
  • Custom collections
  • Semantic search
  • Auto-tagging
  • iCloud backup
  • Ad-free experience
Features
Read full description

A quiet, serif-first read-later app for people who treat long-form articles like books. — Save anything from the web — Tap "share" in Safari, or paste a URL inside the app. ReadTrace pulls out the body and images, strips the chrome, and saves a clean copy to your private library. Once it's saved, the network can vanish. Articles, images, and fonts are cached for fully offline reading. — Read on cream paper — Every article renders in Fraunces — a warm contemporary serif — over a soft cream background that's easier on the eyes than stark white. No ads, no related stories, no tap-to-load-more. The reader remembers your scroll position so you can return weeks later and pick up exactly where you left off. — Organize favorites with collections — Drop favorites into custom buckets — "Work", "Travel", "Things to write about someday". Each collection is its own shelf inside the Favorites tab. Tap a chip to narrow the library; tap it again to clear. — Search what you remember, not what you typed — Built-in semantic search uses Apple's on-device language embeddings to understand intent. Search "AI startups" and find articles about Vibe Coding training camps — no exact keyword required. Combined with literal substring matching across titles, authors, hostnames and tags, you'll find anything you've read. — Auto-tagging via on-device NLP — Every saved article is read once by Apple's NaturalLanguage framework and labeled with 3–5 keyword tags. As your library grows from ten articles to a thousand, tags keep it browsable. — Reading time, done right — Counts Chinese characters and Latin words separately at native reading speeds, so a long bilingual article gets an honest minute estimate instead of an English formula glued onto Chinese prose. — A safety net for what you save — Deleted articles don't vanish. They sit in the Recycle Bin for 30 days, then quietly clear themselves out. Restore anything with one tap — no second-guessing your gestures. — iCloud backup — A single backup file holds every article and every cached image. Restore on a new phone in seconds — fully offline-restorable, no servers to depend on. — Built for privacy — No accounts. No analytics. No tracking pixels. Your reading is between you and your phone. iCloud Drive is the only network endpoint we touch, and only if you choose to back up. — Built for iOS — Safari Share Extension. App Intents. Dynamic Type-aware reader. SwiftData persistence. Light-only by design — the cream palette is the point. — Quietly made — ReadTrace Pro is small. One developer, one design system, one belief: the web is full of writing worth reading carefully, and that writing deserves a calm, paper-feeling home you can return to. For people who want a smaller, quieter library — not an algorithmic feed.

About

Palmrest

Features
Read full description

Palmrest lets you turn your iPhone or iPad into a virtual trackpad and shortcut controller for your Mac. Connect over the local network, then use familiar gestures and customizable shortcuts to control your Mac from your desk, sofa, or any setup where a physical trackpad is not convenient. Key Features Virtual Trackpad: Use your iPhone or iPad as a wireless trackpad for your Mac. Familiar Gestures: Move the cursor, tap, double tap, secondary tap, scroll, and drag. Shortcut Panel: Quickly trigger common Mac actions such as Quit App, Close Window, switch Spaces, adjust volume, control media, and change brightness. Custom Shortcuts: Add, edit, and reorder shortcuts to match your workflow. Keyboard Input: Send text input from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac. Local Connection: Connect to the Mac client over your local network. Dark Interface: A clean, focused dark UI designed for everyday use.

Screenshots

ReadTrace Pro4 screens
Palmrest3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ReadTrace Pro at none against Palmrest's 5. ReadTrace Pro also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 8 days) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, 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. Palmrest sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. ReadTrace Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ReadTrace Pro ships an update every 3 days, Palmrest every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
ReadTrace Pro versus Palmrest: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterReadTrace ProPalmrest
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 8 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer熵析云枢网络科技杨洋 冯

In-app purchases

None

ReadTrace Pro

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Palmrest

One-time5
  • 1元捐赠$0.99
  • 6元捐赠$0.99
  • 3元捐赠$0.99
Show 2 more
  • 12元捐赠$1.99
  • 38元捐赠$4.99

Questions

Is ReadTrace Pro free?
ReadTrace Pro is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Palmrest free?
Palmrest is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ReadTrace Pro or Palmrest have ads?
Neither ReadTrace Pro nor Palmrest shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ReadTrace Pro or Palmrest?
ReadTrace Pro ships an update every 3 days, and Palmrest every 8 days. Most recently, ReadTrace Pro was updated on October 9, 2026 and Palmrest on October 17, 2026.

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