Comparison

Seekquel vs The Shelf

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

Head to head
About

Seekquel

This app allows users to meticulously track their reading habits, manage their book library, and discover new titles. It offers extensive customization for the home screen and privacy controls, with optional community features. Syncs with e-readers and offers personalized recommendations.

Highlights
  • Customizable home screen with over 30 cards
  • Detailed book library management
  • Progress logging by page or time
  • E-reader sync (Kindle, Kobo, etc.)
  • Personalized book recommendations
  • Reading habit building tools
  • Privacy controls for profile visibility
Features
Read full description

Seekquel is a book tracker you set up yourself. There is a lot in it and none of it is compulsory: build your home screen from the parts you use, switch off the rest, and keep the community on its own tab. Plenty of readers run it as a plain reading log and never touch anything else. SET UP THE HOME SCREEN • More than thirty cards: currently reading, daily goals, your streak, recommendations, your reading calendar and more • Drag them into the order you want and switch off the ones you never use • Arrange your stats page and public profile the same way • 21 themes, from Dark Academia to Cottagecore, and more than twenty app icons • Home screen widgets, adjustable text size, reduced motion and reduced transparency DECIDE WHO SEES WHAT • Public, followers only, or private, then set each part of your profile on its own • Show your reviews but hide your stats, or turn a whole profile tab off • Choose who can message you and approve followers before they see anything • No ads, no data selling, and analytics you can decline • Export everything you have added, whenever you want TRACK YOUR LIBRARY • Add books by title, author, ISBN, or barcode scan • Want to Read, Reading, Paused, Read, and Did Not Finish • Log progress by page, percent, or time listened, in the edition you actually own • Custom shelves, shelves that fill themselves from rules you set, tags, and notes • Track what you own, what you borrowed, and what you lent out • Coming from elsewhere? Import from Goodreads, StoryGraph, or Hardcover, with your shelves, ratings and reviews SYNC YOUR E-READER • KOReader on Kindle, Kobo, PocketBook or Android sends your place, reading time, highlights and finished books • Readest and Xteink pocket readers connect too • Calibre keeps shelves, ratings, reviews and reading dates in step in both directions DISCOVER YOUR NEXT READ • A taste profile built from your genres, moods, themes and pacing • Browse by mood, trope and pace, not just broad genres • Pick For Me: a few quick questions, one considered recommendation • Shelve a book before it is published and hear the day it comes out • See the films and series a book was turned into • Mood, pace and content notes gathered from real reader reviews BUILD A READING HABIT • A reading timer, with ambient sounds like rain or a fireplace • Daily page or minute targets, and a streak with freeze days built in • Yearly goals and custom challenges, on your own or shared with friends • A monthly reading bingo card, and badges from Bronze to Platinum SEE YOUR READING • Books, pages, hours, streaks and genres at a glance • A Monthly Wrapped recap of the month just gone • Share cards for a finished book, a month or your whole year • With Pro: build your own charts, compare one period against another, and see reading heatmaps, pacing and mood trends THE COMMUNITY, ON ITS OWN TAB • Nothing social reaches your home screen unless you put it there • Rate books with stars, plus writing, plot, characters, atmosphere and impact • Follow readers, build shareable lists, and recommend books directly • Buddy reads with milestones and chat, and book clubs • Ask the community for a book and shelve their suggestions in one tap • Fix catalog mistakes yourself and build your reputation as a contributor Free on iPhone, Android and the web. Pro adds more themes, custom charts, deeper stats and higher limits. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://seekquel.app/privacy

About

The Shelf

Organize your entire book collection, track reading progress, and capture notes and quotes. This app offers a private, customizable space to manage your reading life, from adding new books to reviewing past sessions.

Highlights
  • Build and organize your book library
  • Track reading progress and focus sessions
  • Save notes, quotes, and journal entries
  • View detailed reading statistics
  • Customize app appearance
  • Sync and export library data
Features
Read full description

The Shelf is a private reading tracker for books you study, stories you love, and everything in between. Build a library that feels like yours, then track only what feels useful. BUILD YOUR LIBRARY • Search by title, author, or ISBN and choose the edition that matches yours. • Scan book barcodes on supported iPhone and iPad devices, or add books manually on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. • Keep each edition or physical copy separate, with its own progress, sessions, and reading history. • Save books as Owned, Wishlist, or Track. Organize them with your own Lists, Subjects, and shelf locations. • Keep track of borrowing and lending without changing your reading history. • Import Goodreads or StoryGraph CSV files, or import and export a complete JSON backup. MAKE TIME FOR READING • Start a Reading, Listening, or Studying Focus session with no time limit or a planned duration. • Browse your covers, choose a book, and settle into a book-centered Focus view. • Pause and resume the count-in or the session itself. Keep notes without ending your session. • Update pages, percentage, audiobook position, chapters, or study problems. • Record starting and ending pages, revisit past sessions, and keep rereads separate. • Follow an active session through Live Activities on supported iPhone and iPad devices. Choose a System or Clear Lock Screen background. REMEMBER WHAT YOU READ • Keep a book note, dated notes, quotes, page references, and photographs together in Notebook. • Capture text with the camera on supported iPhone and iPad devices, or add writing and images yourself. • Search your library and return to the books and annotations that matter. SEE YOUR READING LIFE • Explore activity, finished books, session totals, streaks, and reading history. • Set optional yearly goals without turning reading into a deadline. • Revisit your reading calendar and compare progress across Subjects. AT HOME ON YOUR APPLE DEVICES • Browse, edit, annotate, review your Dashboard, and use Focus on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. • Enjoy Mac menus, keyboard commands, pointer support, and file import and export. • On a paired Apple Watch, see current and recent books and progress, start and control Focus, or log a short past session. The companion works with your iPhone app. • On iPhone Duo, keep your place as you open, close, rotate, or partially fold the display. The closed outer display stays in portrait; the open inner display supports landscape. • Turn on optional private iCloud sync to keep your library across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. MAKE IT FEEL LIKE YOURS • Choose an included Look or your own background and two accent colors. • Customize the app's cards and appearance, including the new Deep Sea & Gold Look. • Invite Dewey into supported book and Focus views, with your choice of outfit and colors. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts, ads, tracking, analytics, subscriptions, or third-party SDKs. Optional book lookup sends a title, author, or ISBN only when you ask the app to search or fetch. Camera images, notes, and reading history stay on your device or in your own optional private iCloud library. Turn Online Lookup off for a fully offline library. Pay once, own it forever.

Screenshots

Seekquel4 screens
The Shelf4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Seekquel at Free against The Shelf's $4.99. Seekquel also leads on ratings volume (15 vs 3) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). The Shelf's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (100% vs 89%). On rating, update cadence, ads 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

Seekquel is free to download; The Shelf costs $4.99 up front. Seekquel sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. The Shelf asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Seekquel against 5.0 for The Shelf. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Seekquel has 15 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 89% of Seekquel's written reviews are positive against 100% of The Shelf's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Seekquel versus The Shelf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSeekquelThe Shelf
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.9 (15 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews89.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings15 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 3 daysEvery 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size78 MB59 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMohamed Sabri Ben ChaabaneAntonio Gordillo Toledo

Customer experience

Seekquel

All ratings15 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews19 reviews
Positive89.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.5%

The Shelf

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Seekquel

Subscriptions2
  • Seekquel Pro (Monthly)14 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Seekquel Pro Yearly14 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Seekquel Pro Lifetime$119.99
None

The Shelf

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Seekquel free?
Seekquel is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is The Shelf free?
The Shelf costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Seekquel or The Shelf?
The Shelf is rated higher. Seekquel averages 4.9 out of 5 from 15 ratings, while The Shelf averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Seekquel or The Shelf have ads?
Neither Seekquel nor The Shelf shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Seekquel or The Shelf?
Seekquel ships an update every 3 days, and The Shelf every 3 days. Most recently, Seekquel was updated on November 7, 2026 and The Shelf on October 31, 2026.

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