Immerse Research vs HolyBooks.App
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Immerse Research
Create thematic compilations from a vast offline library of sacred texts. Annotate passages, build cross-references, and export your work. Share your collections with a community of readers or discover theirs.
- Offline library of 400+ sacred texts
- Build thematic compilations with tags
- Annotate passages and create cross-references
- Export compilations to various formats
- Share and discover community-created collections
- Full-text search across all texts
- Listen to passages read aloud
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Immerse is a sacred-text reader built for research: read every tradition side by side, collect and annotate passages as you go, and turn them into organized, exportable compilations. It's an offline library of 400+ sacred texts — and a set of tools for building your own thematic compilations from across every tradition in it. BUILD COMPILATIONS Long-press any passage to select it, then add it to a compilation. Compilations are your collections: gather passages from the Qur'an, the Bible, the Upanishads, the Buddhist sutras, the Bahá'í writings and more under a single theme — Prayer, Justice, The Nature of the Soul. Your compilation grows one passage at a time, across every tradition in the library. ANNOTATE AS YOU READ Add notes to any selection. Create cross-references linking a passage in one book to a passage in another — the connections you notice, kept where you found them. When you build a cross-reference, tap Suggest a match to get AI-ranked related passages from across the whole library, each with a one-line reason. Everything anchors to the exact text you selected. EXPORT AND SHARE Export any compilation — or a set of cross-references, laid out side by side by tradition — as a Word document, PDF, spreadsheet, or Markdown file, complete with your notes. Or share your compilations or cross-references with a private link: anyone with the link can open them or save a copy into their own library. Ready to send, publish, or study from. A COMMUNITY OF READERS Make any compilation public and other readers can find it in Discover — preview its passages, then import the whole collection into your own library with one tap, and follow the readers whose work you want to keep up with. A living body of interfaith study, built by the people using it. THE LIBRARY 400+ complete sacred texts, all offline. Full-text search across every one of them at once — type a whole question and AI finds the passage that answers it, right alongside your keyword matches. Listen to any passage read aloud. Your reading position is saved automatically. Also available in Spanish, French, Persian, Chinese, Turkish, and Russian, with full right-to-left support for Persian. GUEST, NO ACCOUNT NEEDED Read and search the entire library offline, and share quotes. FREE WITH AN ACCOUNT • Compilations — group passages from across the library under your own themes • Notes — comment on any passage • Cross-references — link passages across the whole library • Suggest a match — AI-ranked related passages when you build a cross-reference • Quick compilation from search — add many passages to a compilation at once • Listen — tap the headphones to hear any passage read aloud • Daily Readings — follow a reading plan through any book, or get random verses from traditions you choose, with morning and evening reminders and a streak • Recently viewed — pick up where you left off • Export — compilations and cross-references as PDF, DOCX, CSV, or Markdown • Share links — send a compilation or cross-reference set by private link • Publish — make any compilation public for other readers to find • Discover — browse and import compilations other readers have published • Sync across all your devices IMMERSE PRO — $0.99/month, 30-day free trial Pro helps cover the running costs of the app. It adds: • AI summary — select a passage and get its meaning explained in the context of the book it comes from • Premium voices — natural, expressive narration for Listen, in your choice of voice • Import your own books — bring in EPUB, PDF, DOCX, or TXT files to read, search, and annotate* *Not every file imports cleanly. DOCX files with images or unusual formatting, and scanned (non-text) PDFs, may import unreliably or not at all.
HolyBooks.App
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Read, search and compare the Holy Books in many languages/translations. The HolyBooks.App offers many cool features, but still appears modest and straightforward. For free and ad-free! 6 translations are pre-installed. 1300 can be downloaded with 1 click. And over 2000 other translations in over 1000 languages can be easily imported. The app itself is currently available in 13 languages: English, Arabic, Farsi/Iranian, Urdu, Turkish, Indonesian, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Hebrew, Portuguese, Hungarian. The HolyBooks.App is available as real smartphone and tablet app, as native Windows and Linux apps, as well as a web app. The smartphone and tablet apps also offer the full range of functions offline. A login or registration is not necessary. One of the outstanding features is the comparison function. This allows two translations to be read synchronously side by side, in the same or another language. If the translations selected for this purpose contain the Strong numbers for the Hebrew and Greek word roots, tapping on a word will also highlight the corresponding word in the other column. The search function offers simple yet powerful options, such as searching for multiple words that must be close to each other regardless of their order. When the comparison function is active, both translations are searched at the same time. The words or parts of sentences found are highlighted in color. A diagram shows where in the text the verses found are located. In addition, individual words, verses or chapters can be marked with freely definable colors. For words, you can choose whether they should be displayed in just one verse, in one chapter or in all books. Thanks to the Strong numbers, the colors of the words are also displayed in other translations. Other functions are: • Dictionary for Hebrew and Greek words, including interesting references within the current translation • Colored highlighting of the words of Jesus • Extensive list of parallel passages • Searchable own notes on verses • Roll the dice to select a «random» verse • Reading plans (e.g. PowerHour, Revival) • Create QR codes that can be recorded with a camera app. The installed HolyBooks.App app or otherwise a browser will then open at the selected location • Read aloud function (not available for all languages) • Dimmed mode • Translation statistics with all words, sorted by frequency • Super fast • And: Works even if you don't have your favorite Holy Scripture with you as a book \uD83D\uDE0A None of the functions mentioned are presented in an intrusive way, so that you can easily focus on God's word, which is the main purpose of the HolyBooks.App. May God touch many hearts through the HolyBooks.App!
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Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HolyBooks.App at none against Immerse Research's 2. HolyBooks.App also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). Immerse Research's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs weekly). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Immerse Research sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. HolyBooks.App asks for nothing beyond the download.
Immerse Research ships an update every 3 days, HolyBooks.App weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Immerse Research | HolyBooks.App |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (5 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 230 MB | 92 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Shahrooz Shadbakht | xeFex AG |
In-app purchases
Immerse Research
- Pro$0.991 Month
- Immerse Pro Lifetime$30.00
HolyBooks.App
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Immerse Research free?
Is HolyBooks.App free?
Do Immerse Research or HolyBooks.App have ads?
Which is updated more often, Immerse Research or HolyBooks.App?
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