QuiverBooks vs Unison Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
QuiverBooks
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Every book you own, in one library. QuiverBooks reads the formats your library is actually made of — EPUB, MOBI, AZW, PDF, and CBZ comics — with no account, no store, and no lock-in. Bring your own files and start reading. READ IT YOUR WAY Paginated or scrolling. Eight fonts, adjustable size, margins, line height, paragraph and letter spacing, justification, hyphenation, and a content width you set yourself. A brightness overlay and warm filter for late nights. THIRTEEN THEMES From clean daylight to true dark, plus high-contrast and a spread of premium palettes. Pick one, or let the app follow your system appearance automatically. COMICS AND PDFS, PROPERLY CBZ gets panel-by-panel zoom, double-page spreads, and right-to-left manga mode. PDFs get real annotation, including Apple Pencil, plus display modes that suit the page. ON-DEVICE READING TOOLS Ask about any passage and get an answer in context. Come back to a book after a month and get a recap of the story so far. An X-Ray index tracks characters, places, and terms as they appear. All of it runs on your device. All of it works on any book you import — not a curated catalogue. And all of it is spoiler-aware: nothing tells you about a chapter you haven't reached yet. MARK IT UP Bookmarks and highlights in five colors, with notes. Export your annotations as Markdown, or send them straight to Readwise. FIND ANYTHING Search across an entire book, tap any word for a definition, and jump by chapter from a table of contents that actually works. READ ALOUD Built-in text-to-speech with background playback and Lock Screen controls, so a book carries on while you do something else. BRING YOUR OWN LIBRARY Import from Files or iCloud Drive, drag and drop on Mac, or connect an OPDS catalogue — including a Calibre server. Fanfiction imports directly from a URL. MAKE IT A HABIT Daily quests, reading streaks, achievements, and a character sheet that levels up as you read. Every bit of it is free, and you can switch it off entirely if it isn't for you. SYNCS ACROSS YOUR DEVICES Your library, reading positions, bookmarks, and highlights follow you between iPhone, iPad, and Mac over iCloud. Books live in your own iCloud Drive, where you can reach them. ASK FOR IT Open any book with Siri, from Shortcuts, or straight from Spotlight search. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No tracking. No analytics. No data collection. Book metadata lookups go to Open Library, and highlight export goes to Readwise only if you connect it yourself. Nothing else leaves your device. FREE, PRO, AND PATRON Reading every format is free, forever, along with bookmarks, highlights, search, read-aloud, sync, and the whole gamification system. A one-time Pro unlock adds unlimited annotations, highlight notes, export, the premium themes, and the full font set. Patron adds exclusive themes and alternate app icons. No subscription, ever. Available in nine languages, on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Your library. Your files. Your quiver.
Unison Reader
This app allows you to seamlessly switch between reading an ebook and listening to its audiobook. It synchronizes narration with text, offers generated voices for ebooks without audiobooks, and supports various file formats. Customize your reading experience with adjustable layouts, speeds, and appearance settings.
- Read and listen in sync
- Generated voices for ebooks
- Text generation from audiobooks
- Import various file formats (EPUB, PDF, DOCX)
- Customizable reading layouts and appearance
- Highlighting, bookmarking, and word lookup
- iCloud library synchronization
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Your ebook. Your audiobook. One place in the story. Bring both versions of a book to Unison Reader and move seamlessly between reading and listening. Follow your audiobook's narrator in the text, word by word, then pick up reading where you left off. READ AND LISTEN TOGETHER Add your audiobook to its matching ebook. Unison Reader aligns the narration with the text on your device, so you can listen, read along, or switch between the two without hunting for your place. START WITH WHAT YOU HAVE Only have the ebook? Choose a voice generated on your device to read it aloud. Only have the audiobook? Unison Reader can generate text from its narration. These options help you read and listen even when you do not have both versions. YOUR BOOKS, YOUR LIBRARY Import EPUBs, PDFs, Word documents, plain text, Markdown, HTML, and other supported book files. Browse Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks, or download books and audiobooks from your own supported library server. MAKE READING COMFORTABLE Choose a paged, scrolling, or caption layout. Adjust appearance, listening speed, word emphasis, and how the text follows the voice. Save highlights and bookmarks, look up words, and adjust pronunciations. AT HOME ON YOUR DEVICES Sync your library through your own iCloud account when iCloud Drive is available. Speech generation and audiobook alignment happen on your device. Generated audio is prepared while Unison Reader is open; prepared audio continues playing with the screen locked. TRY LISTENING Reading is free. One hour of listening in step with the text is included. A one-time in-app purchase unlocks continued listening with your own audiobook or a generated voice. No subscription. Bring your own book and audiobook files; commercial titles are not included.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Unison Reader at every 2 days against QuiverBooks's every 5 weeks. QuiverBooks's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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. QuiverBooks sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Unison Reader sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
QuiverBooks ships an update every 5 weeks, Unison Reader every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | QuiverBooks | Unison Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 223 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | ShadowForge Limited Liability Company | Magrathea Software, LLC |
In-app purchases
QuiverBooks
- QuiverBooks Pro$8.99
- QuiverBooks Patron$14.99
Unison Reader
- Listening unlock$4.99








