Comparison

Codex Reader Early Access vs Close Reader

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

Head to head
About

Codex Reader Early Access

Organize and enjoy your existing digital books and audiobooks in one unified library. Seamlessly switch between reading and listening with synchronized text and narration, all accessible offline. Customize your reading experience with extensive options and device integrations.

Highlights
  • Unified book and audiobook library
  • Readaloud synchronized text and narration
  • Offline access to downloaded content
  • CarPlay and Siri integration
  • Customizable typography and playback
  • Home Screen widgets and Live Activity
Features
Read full description

Codex Reader turns the books you already own into one library you can read and listen to. Connect your own sources — Plex, Audiobookshelf, OPDS catalogs, and Storyteller — or bring files straight in from the Files app. Your EPUBs, M4Bs, and MP3 audiobooks all land in a single shelf. READ AND LISTEN, TOGETHER Readalouds keep the text and the narration in sync, highlighting each line as it's spoken. Switch between reading and listening whenever you like and pick up exactly where you left off. BUILT FOR iOS CarPlay for the drive. Siri and Spotlight to jump straight into a book. Home Screen widgets and a Live Activity for what you're in the middle of. Everything works offline once downloaded. MADE YOURS Choose your app icon, tune typography and playback to taste, organize shelves and reading lists, and follow authors or servers to hear about new arrivals. Codex Premium adds iCloud sync so your place in a book follows you between devices.

About

Close Reader

Features
Read full description

Close Reader is an e-book reader for iPhone and iPad that helps you read any book, in a foreign language or in your own. Press and hold a word for a translation that fits the sentence, and save it to flashcards. Forgot where you left off? Get a recap of what you’ve read so far. Ask the AI who a character is, what a passage means or what lies behind an event, even where the book has no footnote. It knows the book only up to your page, so there are no spoilers. At a glance • Your own books: EPUB, FB2, MOBI, AZW3, PDF and TXT (DRM-free), from Files, Mail or a messenger, or from your OPDS library (Calibre, Kavita, Komga). No store, no sign-up. • Books in any language; translations into more than 40 languages; the app itself speaks 20. • Free to download and read. AI help is free for your first 7 days (1,500 energy, no account), then runs on a plan or energy you buy; Medium starts with a 7-day free trial. • iPhone and iPad, in sync if you sign in. • No ads. Your text isn’t stored or used to train AI models. Help right where you stumble • Hold a word: the translation fits this very sentence. Reading in your own language? You get a plain definition. • Drag the handles to take in a phrase, or translate the whole sentence or paragraph. • Select a name: “Who’s this?” reminds you who that character or place is, from the pages you’ve read, and where they first appeared. • “Explain” gives the background of a passage: history, allusions, idioms and old-fashioned phrasing. • Questions about real history or the author get answers from the web, with sources. No spoilers Every answer comes from what you’ve read, up to the last line on your screen. In “No spoilers” mode we don’t even tell the AI which book it is, so it can’t fill in the plot from memory. Rereading? Switch to “Whole book”. Talk the book over • Ask for a recap, who’s who, or why a character did what they did. “Detailed answer” goes deeper. • Ask where something happened: the answer lists the places, and a tap opens the book there. • Answers link to the passages they rely on. Keep several chats per book; your notes can come along. • Chapters you’ve read have recaps, and rings in the contents show how much of each you’ve read. Learn the words you meet • “Save word” keeps a word with its translation and the sentence where you met it. • Flashcards adapt to your memory, with a daily reminder. Vocabulary exports to CSV. Find your way, keep what matters • The slider is a map of the book: chapters, bookmarks, notes and the time left in the chapter. • Jump anywhere to look around: your reading place stays put, and one tap takes you back. • Search the book. Footnotes open over the page, pictures full screen. • Highlights, notes, quotes shared as pictures, saved AI answers, bookmarks and “I’m here”. Notes export to Markdown. Easy on the eyes Four themes, fonts, text size and line spacing; pages or scrolling; portrait or landscape, with a two-page spread on a wide screen. Energy and plans AI help runs on energy: translating a word costs 1, and bigger requests show their price first. Reading, notes and flashcards are always free. Every feature is on every plan: Light, Medium and Max give 15,000, 40,000 and 80,000 energy a month, enough for everyday help plus about 25, 70 or 150 detailed answers. Extra energy you buy never expires. Subscriptions Light, Medium and Max are auto-renewing subscriptions, billed monthly or yearly. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless you cancel it at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in Settings > your name > Subscriptions. Terms of Use: https://closereader.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://closereader.app/privacy

Screenshots

Codex Reader Early Access4 screens
Close Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Codex Reader Early Access at none against Close Reader's shown. On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Codex Reader Early Access sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Close Reader sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Codex Reader Early Access ships an update every 2 weeks, Close Reader every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Codex Reader Early Access versus Close Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCodex Reader Early AccessClose Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.416.4
Further details — not scored
Size110 MB61 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperCameron GreenIlia Ilinskii

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Codex Reader Early Access

One-time1
  • Codex Premium$6.99
8 purchases

Close Reader

Subscriptions6
  • Light – monthly$4.991 Month
  • Medium – monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Max – monthly$19.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Light – yearly$39.991 Year
  • Medium – yearly7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Max – yearly$149.991 Year
One-time2
  • 10,000 energy$2.99
  • 30,000 energy$6.99

Questions

Is Codex Reader Early Access free?
Codex Reader Early Access is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Close Reader free?
Close Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Codex Reader Early Access or Close Reader have ads?
Close Reader shows ads; Codex Reader Early Access does not.
Which is updated more often, Codex Reader Early Access or Close Reader?
Codex Reader Early Access ships an update every 2 weeks, and Close Reader every 3 weeks. Most recently, Codex Reader Early Access was updated on October 31, 2026 and Close Reader on November 10, 2026.

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