Comparison

Library Audio Books & Reader vs libFT

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

Head to head
About

Library Audio Books & Reader

Access a vast collection of classic audiobooks, free ebooks from Project Gutenberg, and short stories with synchronized audio and text. Enjoy features like adjustable playback speed, sleep timers, and customizable reading settings. Organize your library with custom lists and manage your favorites and history in one place.

Highlights
  • Thousands of classic audiobooks
  • Project Gutenberg ebooks
  • Synchronized short stories
  • Adjustable playback speed
  • Sleep timer
  • Customizable reading settings
  • Offline downloads (Premium)
Features
Read full description

Library audio books & reader, free ebooks, and short stories with audio books reader, all in one place. Whether you want to listen on your commute, read before bed, or catch a quick short story on your lunch break, this app brings together three types of content so you never have to switch between apps. Audio Books Browse and stream thousands of classic audiobooks from the Librivox catalog. Each title includes chapter-by-chapter playback, so you can pick up exactly where you left off. Adjust the playback speed to match your pace, set a sleep timer so the app stops playing when you doze off, and keep listening in the background while you use other apps. Save any title to your favorites, and if you want to listen offline, download it with a Premium subscription. Ebooks from Project Gutenberg The app includes a built-in reader for thousands of free classic ebooks sourced from Project Gutenberg. You can adjust the font size, switch fonts, and flip on dark mode for comfortable reading at night. Hands-free reading lets the page scroll automatically so you can sit back and read without touching the screen. The reader tracks your progress and shows a page indicator, and you can search inside any book to find a specific passage. Premium users can also highlight text, add notes, and download titles for offline reading. Short Stories The Shorts section has over 100 short stories, each available with synchronized audio and text so you can read along while you listen. Filter by category or tag to find something that fits your mood. The player includes speed control, a sleep timer, and background ambient sounds to help you focus. Listening stats and offline downloads are available with Premium. Your Library, Your Way All three content types, audiobooks, ebooks, and short stories, can be added to custom lists you create and name yourself. Manage everything from the Lists section in the app. Your favorites, listening history, and downloads are all in one spot under the More tab. Free vs. Premium Free users can browse the full catalog, search, save favorites, and stream one audiobook in full with chapter playback, speed control, background listening, and a basic sleep timer. Listening history shows your most recent item. To listen to a second audiobook or access offline downloads, you'll need Premium. Premium unlocks unlimited audiobook listening, offline downloads for audiobooks, ebooks, and short stories, full listening history, advanced sleep timer options including volume fade-out and auto-restart, and the ability to highlight and annotate ebooks. Cellular download settings are also included with Premium. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.chaptio.com/librivox/privacy-policy.html

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

Library Audio Books & Reader4 screens
libFT4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: libFT at none against Library Audio Books & Reader's 3. On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Library Audio Books & Reader sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. libFT asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Library Audio Books & Reader against 5.0 for libFT. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Library Audio Books & Reader ships an update every 6 weeks, libFT every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Library Audio Books & Reader versus libFT: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLibrary Audio Books & ReaderlibFT
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB22 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperAHMET DOGANLogic FT Inc

Customer experience

Library Audio Books & Reader

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

libFT

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Library Audio Books & Reader

Subscriptions3
  • Library Audio Books Weekly$3.997 Days
  • Library Audio Books Monthly$8.991 Month
  • Library Audio Books Yearly$24.991 Year
None

libFT

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Library Audio Books & Reader free?
Library Audio Books & Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is libFT free?
libFT is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Library Audio Books & Reader or libFT?
Library Audio Books & Reader and libFT are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do Library Audio Books & Reader or libFT have ads?
Neither Library Audio Books & Reader nor libFT shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Library Audio Books & Reader or libFT?
Library Audio Books & Reader ships an update every 6 weeks, and libFT every 2 months. Most recently, Library Audio Books & Reader was updated on October 14, 2026 and libFT on October 8, 2026.

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