Comparison

Artiful Reader vs RottenPDF

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

Head to head
About

Artiful Reader

This app allows you to save articles and read documents like PDFs and EPUBs. It offers unlimited text-to-speech with natural voices, works offline, and removes distractions for a focused reading experience.

Highlights
  • Unlimited text-to-speech
  • Save articles for offline reading
  • PDF reflow for mobile-friendly view
  • Supports EPUB, Markdown, and text files
  • Distraction-free reading environment
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

Save articles. Read PDFs and EPUBs. Unlimited text-to-speech (TTS) with natural-sounding voices. No account or subscription required. Unlimited text-to-speech Listen to articles, PDFs, EPUBs, Markdown, and text files with natural-sounding voices. No listening caps. Follow along with synced highlighting, jump between paragraphs, choose a voice, and adjust playback speed. Works online or offline. Save articles for later Save articles you can open in your browser, then read them in a clean, distraction-free format. Artiful removes clutter like ads, popups, cookie banners, and messy page layouts so you can focus on the text. PDF Reflow Turn dense PDFs into a clean, phone-friendly reading view. Reflow adapts PDF text into a smooth scrolling layout, making long documents easier to read on small screens. EPUB books and files Bring your own reading library. Upload EPUBs, PDFs, Markdown, and plain text files for reading and listening in one simple app. Works offline Save once, then read or listen later without an internet connection. Great for commutes, travel, and focused reading. Private by design Articles and files are processed and stored locally on your device whenever possible. Offline voices work locally, so you can listen without sending your reading to the cloud.

About

RottenPDF

Features
Read full description

RottenPDF reads your documents out loud and shows the words while it speaks them: the current sentence large and centred, each word lighting up exactly as it is pronounced, the lines around it dimmed. You follow with your ears and your eyes at once. Reading and listening are free, paid for by ads. If you would rather not see them, RottenPDF Plus is an optional monthly subscription that removes them. No account to create. YOUR DOCUMENTS STAY ON YOUR IPHONE Your documents are never uploaded anywhere. They are opened, turned into speech and read aloud on the device, with the voices already installed on it. We run no server and no cloud, so there is nowhere for them to go. Reading works in airplane mode. The app goes online for two things only: to download a web page when you paste its link, and to show ads. ADS NEVER INTERRUPT THE READING Ads are what pays for the app, and they stay out of the way: a banner at the bottom of the library and under the player controls, and now and then a full-screen ad before a document opens or after you have closed it. Never while something is being read to you. Ads are served by Google AdMob, and you decide whether they may be personalised. WHAT IT DOES • Opens PDF, DOCX, RTF and TXT files, from Files, Mail, or any app that can share a document • Reads web pages too: paste a link and it reads the article • Reads any text you copied: paste it in the library and it is read like a document • Reads them aloud with the voices already installed on your device • Karaoke subtitles: the word being spoken is highlighted in real time, with a scale pop and a saturated colour • Speed from 0.5x to 3.0x with the pitch preserved — fast, without the chipmunk voice • Tables, figures, code and formulas are read too, and shown in views built for them • Picks up where you stopped, in every document • Interface in twelve languages, and it reads in every language your device has a voice for WHAT IT DOES NOT DO YET Being straight about this is cheaper than a bad review: • Scanned PDFs — pages that are only images — are not read yet. The app tells you the document is a scan instead of reading you nothing. • EPUB is not supported yet. • Playback stops when you leave the app. Background listening is next. WHO IT IS FOR Anyone who reads a lot and would rather listen. Students with a stack of course notes, anyone with a long report to get through, people who take text in faster by ear, and anyone who finds a wall of text easier to follow when the words move. ROTTENPDF PLUS An optional subscription that removes every ad — the banners and the full-screen ones — and changes nothing else: no feature is reserved for subscribers. It is billed monthly and renews automatically until you cancel. The price is shown in the app before you subscribe, and you can cancel at any time from your App Store account. Payment is handled by Apple: we never see your payment details. NOTHING IS LOCKED Every feature works without paying: no trial that expires, no feature behind a paywall, no account. The ads are what keeps it that way, and Plus is only for those who would rather pay than see them. RottenPDF itself collects nothing about you or your documents; the ad provider collects what its own policy describes, within the choices you make. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://fedeinfe.github.io/rottenpdf-privacy/

Screenshots

Artiful Reader4 screens
RottenPDF4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Artiful Reader at none against RottenPDF's 1. Artiful Reader also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks). On price 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. RottenPDF sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $1.99 per month. Artiful Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Artiful Reader ships an update every 4 days, RottenPDF every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Artiful Reader versus RottenPDF: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArtiful ReaderRottenPDF
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (12 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.4 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size93 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFrank LiuFederico Infelici

In-app purchases

None

Artiful Reader

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

RottenPDF

Subscriptions1
  • RottenPDF Plus$1.991 Month

Questions

Is Artiful Reader free?
Artiful Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is RottenPDF free?
RottenPDF is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Artiful Reader or RottenPDF have ads?
RottenPDF shows ads; Artiful Reader does not.
Which is updated more often, Artiful Reader or RottenPDF?
Artiful Reader ships an update every 4 days, and RottenPDF every 3 weeks. Most recently, Artiful Reader was updated on November 5, 2026 and RottenPDF on November 6, 2026.

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