Trace vs Folio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Trace
This app helps you track your fanfiction reading progress and organize your favorite stories. It allows you to save works, add notes, and categorize them for easy retrieval. Keep a private record of what you've read, loved, or dropped across supported archives.
- Track reading progress
- Organize fanfiction by status
- Add private notes and tags
- Search and filter by fandom
- Integrates with AO3 and FanFiction.net
- Create reading collections
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Have I read this one? Which chapter did I get to? Did I drop it, or just catch up? Did I like it? Trace remembers, so you don't have to. Read on AO3 and FanFiction.net as you always do, in Safari on your iPhone. Trace keeps every fic you open, and exactly where you stopped. STATUS AT A GLANCE Browse AO3 and FanFiction.net as usual. Trace marks the fics you've already read, finished, paused or dropped, right on the list, with your chapter. One tap on Add to Trace saves the ones you haven't started. AUTOMATIC TRACKING Open a fic and Trace follows along as you read: Chapter 31 of 40, there on the page and in your Library. Pick up again from Trace, or straight from the page. A PERSONALISED LIBRARY Every fic you've opened in one place: reading, saved, caught up, paused, finished or dropped. Filter it, search it, and see what you read each day. Rate a fic, leave yourself a note, add private tags. CLOSE THOSE TABS Import all your open AO3 and FanFiction.net tabs in one go. Trace keeps the stories, with the chapter you're on, so the tabs can finally close. STORY UPDATES Get new chapters from your AO3 subscriptions as notifications on your iPhone, and see what's new in one place. You set it up once: verify your email in Trace, then forward AO3's update emails to Trace with a Gmail filter, made in Gmail on a computer. Titles stay off your Lock Screen unless you turn them on. Story updates works with AO3 subscription emails; FanFiction.net isn't supported yet. COLLECTIONS Gather the fics you love, rank them, add notes, and send a link. STATS AND RECAP See your words, chapters, finishes and longest reading run, with a Recap each month. ON YOUR HOME SCREEN Add the widget to see what you're reading and jump back in. FREE AND UNLIMITED Trace is free for up to 100 stories, then a small monthly or yearly subscription (2.99/m or 25/year in most regions) unlocks unlimited space. All features are included in free except for advanced stats since fewer than 100 stories can't make use of them. STORIES STAY WHERE THEY BELONG You always read on AO3 or FanFiction.net, so authors keep their hits and kudos. The Safari extension only asks for access to AO3 and FanFiction.net, and it stays off their sign-in pages. I'll never ask for your AO3 or FanFiction.net password. I don't sell your reading or show you ads. READ AO3 EPUBS? Check out Trace Reader, another app I've made. It's an accessible offline reader built around AO3 EPUBS that can connect to your trace account to sync both your online and offline reading. Trace is made by one person. If something isn't right, or you have an idea, I'd love to hear from you! Many of Trace's features are the result of feedback from its users. Trace is an unofficial companion. It isn't affiliated with AO3 or FanFiction.net. Trace Unlimited is an auto-renewing subscription billed through your Apple Account. Manage or cancel it in Settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.tracefiction.com/privacy
Folio
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Folio gets you to actually finish an English classic — in the original, cover to cover. Most reading apps drop you into a hard text and hope you cope. Folio is different: it's a prep course, not just a reader. Before you read, you pre-study the ~600 words that cover 95% of that specific book — plus its key grammar, idioms, and character names — using spaced repetition with self-rated confidence. Once your "reading power" is high enough, you read the unabridged original with a tap-to-translate dictionary and LibriVox audiobook narration. HOW IT WORKS 1. Pre-study the book. Spaced-repetition flashcards for the vocabulary, grammar, idioms, and names that unlock the text — chapter by chapter. Folio catches the words you only think you know. 2. Watch your reading power rise. A per-chapter gauge fills as you study, rewarding real recall. 3. Read the original. The full, unabridged text with tap-to-translate and audio. Finish it and earn a completion card. IN YOUR LANGUAGE The texts stay in English. Definitions, notes, and example translations appear in your language: Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, or French. THE LIBRARY A growing library of public-domain classics — start free with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, then unlock the full collection. HONEST BY DESIGN - No account, no sign-in. Everything is stored on your device. - No ads, no tracking. - Book texts from Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks; narration from LibriVox — all public domain. Start free, and read your first classic to the very last page. Terms of Use (EULA): https://readfolio.co/terms Privacy Policy: https://readfolio.co/privacy
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Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Trace at every 4 days against Folio's every 9 days. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Trace sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Folio sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Trace ships an update every 4 days, Folio every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Trace | Folio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (3 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 9 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ZACHARY SAMUEL LAMBERT | Tetsuhiro Nomura |
In-app purchases
Trace
- Trace Unlimited Monthly$2.991 Month
- Trace Unlimited Yearly$24.991 Year
Folio
- Folio — Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Folio — Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Lifetime — Full Library$49.99









