SlowRead vs Papyrus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SlowRead
This app helps you build a visually appealing digital bookshelf and encourages focused reading sessions by blocking distracting apps. Track your reading progress, organize your library, and create a personalized reading ritual.
- Customizable 2.5D digital bookshelf
- Distraction-blocking focus sessions
- Reading streak tracking
- TBR and library organization
- Effortless book addition (scan, search, photo)
- Import from Goodreads (CSV)
- Private, local-first library
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SlowRead is the book tracker with a bookshelf you will want to show off. Every book you read stands on your own shelf, with its real spine and cover. Keep your TBR, your reading journal and your reading log in one place, and share your bookshelf on BookTok and Instagram. YOUR BOOKSHELF • Every book stands on the shelf as a spine or as a cover. • Photograph your own copy to show its real spine, cover and sprayed edges, or use a photo another reader already shared. • Arrange your books by hand, lay them flat in piles and keep a series together. • Decorate with plants, candles, lights and more, and pick a theme for the wall and the wood. • Share a picture of your bookcase to your Stories on TikTok or Instagram. • Get a public profile at slowreadapp.com/@you with the bookcases you choose to show. BOOK CLUBS • Create a club or join one and read the same book together. • Talk in a channel for each part of the book, so nobody spoils what comes next. • Hide the parts of a message that are spoilers. • Vote on the club's next book. YOUR READING YEAR • Monthly and yearly wrap ups: cards to swipe through and share. • Your reader type, worked out from the books you finish. • A yearly reading challenge, and your year next to the last one. • Stats for pages, time and books, your reading speed and your top genres. • A reading streak, with past days you can fill in by hand. TRACKING WITHOUT EFFORT • Search millions of books or scan the barcode to add one in seconds. • Import your library from Goodreads, The StoryGraph, Bookmory, Fable or Libib. • Paperback, ebook and audiobook, even for the same book. • Track library loans with the due date and a reminder the day before. • Series grouped together, with your progress through each one. • Notes, quotes scanned from the page with your camera, and characters with a portrait and their relationships. • Half star ratings, rereads and did not finish. WIDGETS • Your bookshelf, what you are reading, your streak, your challenge and a daily quote on your Home Screen and Lock Screen. READING SESSIONS • Start a timed session from any book and log the page where you stop. • If you want, block the apps that distract you while you read, with Screen Time. All features described above require a subscription. A free trial is included, so you can try everything before paying. TERMS: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Papyrus
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Papyrus turns everything you've read into a warm, real bookshelf — right on your iPhone home screen. A cozy private library you actually want to look at. BRING YOUR LIBRARY HOME Every book you've read, standing on a beautiful shelf you can glance at without opening anything. As you finish books, the newest ones slide to the front — so your home screen quietly tells the story of what you've been reading, all year long. Still fully customizable, move the books around how you want, make changes to the shelf and background. THE WIDGET One of our premium paid features is to add the Papyrus widget in small, medium, or large. Your shelf lives on your home screen, gorgeous and glanceable. If you aren't interested in seeing the books then you can see your reading statistics - how many books and pages you've read this year. IMPORT IN SECONDS Bring your reading history over from Goodreads, StoryGraph, or any CSV in a single tap. Your past library fills your shelf instantly. No problem if you don't have any accounts - you can add books individually from our massive library. THREE WAYS TO SEE YOUR SHELF - Spine view with procedurally illustrated, cover-matched spines - Cover view to show off your front covers - A 3/4 perspective "crate" mode that feels like a real shelf Press and scrub to browse, and drag to reorder your books exactly how you like them. STATS THAT FEEL LIKE A FOLIO, NOT A DASHBOARD See how you rate, your fiction vs. nonfiction split, the decades you read across, and your favorite authors and genres — all rendered in big serif numerals with room to breathe. Look back on your year with Reading Wrapped. YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS Export your whole library any time — as a spreadsheet (CSV/XLSX) or a self-contained offline webpage. Free or Pro, your library is always yours to take with you. FREE TO START Try everything with up to 10 books in your collection — a real, full-fidelity trial, not a locked demo. Your wishlist is always unlimited and free. Upgrade to Pro to remove the collection cap and unlock your full library. Upgrade to Pro to unlock the full experience: - Unlimited collection — shelve every book you've ever read, no cap - Your complete library on every widget size and display mode - Full reading stats and Reading Wrapped across your entire history - Export your whole library any time — CSV, XLSX, or a self-contained offline webpage - No ads, no tracking, and your data is never sold — free or Pro Built by one person who wanted their bookshelf on their home screen. No ads. Your data is not sold. Just a beautiful place to keep the books you love. Bring your library home. Terms of Use (EULA): https://papyrus-b03fd.web.app/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://papyrus-b03fd.web.app/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Papyrus at none against SlowRead's shown. SlowRead's advantage is chart position (#20 vs unranked) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, 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. SlowRead sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $8.39 per 7 days and Papyrus sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | SlowRead | Papyrus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (778 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 25.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 778 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | — |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #20 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 117 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adrian Martinez Moreno | Tyler Nam |
In-app purchases
SlowRead
- Premium Weekly$8.397 Days
- Premium Annual Offer$32.991 Year
- Premium Annual3 Days trial$44.991 Year
- Lifetime access to Slowread$149.99
Papyrus
- Papyrus_monthly$1.991 Month
- papyrus yearly$14.991 Year
- papyrus lifetime$39.99









