Comparison

StoryBoat vs libFT

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

Head to head
About

StoryBoat

Features
Read full description

StoryBoat is a focused reading app for EPUB, TXT, PDF, Kindle formats, Markdown, and long-form text. Import your books and documents, keep your reading shelf organized, and pick up where you left off. Read quietly with tuned themes and typography, or listen with system speech and connected online voices. Word-level highlighting, speech filters, voice cache management, share cards, and a calm plain-text editor help long sessions feel lighter. StoryBoat Pro is available as a one-time purchase. Pro unlocks advanced reading tools, premium text-to-speech features, custom fonts, voice filters, chapter preloading, and voice cache management. Importing books and documents is available without Pro. Privacy Policy: https://selfstudio.fun/storyboat/privacy/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

libFT

Listen to thousands of free public-domain classics from LibriVox or your own audiobook files. This app offers a calm, focused listening experience with features like variable playback speed and cross-library continuity. Enjoy your favorite stories without ads or subscriptions.

Highlights
  • Access to thousands of free public-domain classics
  • Play your own audiobook files (.m4b, .mp3)
  • Continue listening across libraries
  • Variable playback speed
  • Lock screen and control center playback
  • Background playback
Features
Read full description

A calm, focused audiobook player for two libraries: thousands of free public-domain classics from LibriVox, and the audiobook files you already own. No subscription. No ads. No noise. Read every classic ever written. For free. LibriVox volunteers have recorded thousands of public-domain books — Pride and Prejudice, Sherlock Holmes, Crime and Punishment, Dracula, The Great Gatsby, the complete works of Dickens, Austen, Tolstoy, Twain, Verne, Doyle, and many more. Browse by popularity, search by title or author, and start listening in a tap. Chapters stream on demand — no need to download an entire book before you press play. Bring your own audiobooks. Got an .m4b you bought years ago, or a folder of .mp3 chapters from a backup? Drop them into libFT through the iOS Files app and they appear in your Library, organized by folder, with embedded cover art and natural chapter ordering preserved. Your files stay on your device — they aren't uploaded anywhere. One player. Two libraries. One place you left off. Continue Listening picks up where you stopped — whether the last chapter was a streamed LibriVox novel or a local audiobook from your own collection. Favorites, playback speed, lock-screen controls, background playback through headphones, AirPlay, and car audio all work the same across both sources. Built for long listens. - Continue Listening across both libraries - Favorites for the books you'll come back to - Variable playback speed - Lock Screen and Control Center transport controls - Background playback through headphones, AirPlay, and car audio - Auto-pause when you unplug headphones - Clean resume after phone calls - Available in English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Ukrainian No subscription. Ever. LibriVox audiobooks are recorded by volunteers and released into the public domain — they cost nothing to listen to. libFT itself is free to use. The audiobook files you already own stay yours, on your device. No tracking, no ads, no monthly fee. About LibriVox. LibriVox is a volunteer-driven project that records audio versions of public-domain books in many languages. libFT streams those recordings through the Internet Archive (archive.org). Special thanks to the thousands of LibriVox volunteers whose voices make this catalog possible.

Screenshots

StoryBoat4 screens
libFT4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: libFT at none against StoryBoat's 5. libFT also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). StoryBoat's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 2 months). 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. StoryBoat sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. libFT asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StoryBoat ships an update daily, libFT every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
StoryBoat versus libFT: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStoryBoatlibFT
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB22 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperHUANG LUE LUOLogic FT Inc

In-app purchases

5 purchases

StoryBoat

One-time5
  • Buy a Coffee$0.99
  • Add a Lantern$1.99
  • Send StoryBoat Forward$3.99
Show 2 more
  • StoryBoat Pro$3.99
  • Deep Support$9.99
None

libFT

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is StoryBoat free?
StoryBoat is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is libFT free?
libFT is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do StoryBoat or libFT have ads?
Neither StoryBoat nor libFT shows ads.
Which is updated more often, StoryBoat or libFT?
StoryBoat ships an update daily, and libFT every 2 months. Most recently, StoryBoat was updated on October 9, 2026 and libFT on October 8, 2026.

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