Comparison

Shelf vs Fixated

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

Head to head
About

Shelf

Discover your next favorite book with personalized recommendations based on your reading history. Avoid endless scrolling and find curated lists from notable sources. Save, track, and share books easily without needing an account.

Highlights
  • Personalized book recommendations
  • Curated lists from notable sources
  • Save and track read books
  • Share books with friends
  • No account required
  • Community favorites
Features
Read full description

Shelf finds your next favorite book. Tell Shelf a few books you love and it learns your taste — then hands you recommendations you'd actually want to read, each with a clear reason it was picked. No endless scrolling, no noise. Just good books, chosen for you. • Personalized picks that sharpen the more you react • "Loved by Readers" — see what the Shelf community keeps coming back to • Curated lists from Oprah, Reese, Obama, the Booker Prize, the Pulitzer, and more • Save books to your shelf, mark what you've read, pass on what's not for you • Share any book with a friend in a tap • No account, no sign-up — just open it and go Your taste, your shelf. Book recommendations that feel like they came from a friend who really gets you.

About

Fixated

Features
Read full description

Somewhere between "I have nothing to read" and "I have 47 tabs open," there's Fixated. Fixated is a discovery and community app for Boys' Love readers. Swipe through a growing catalog of real BL titles and manhwa, heart the ones that call to you, and watch your library fill up. No more forgotten titles. No more screenshots you can't find later. WHAT YOU CAN DO Discover. Swipe through titles like speed-dating for your next obsession. Tap a card to turn it over for the synopsis, tropes and heat level. Track. Everything you save lands in your library, with ratings, statuses and chapter progress. Switch to shelf view and see your collection as a row of spines. Already track on AniList or MyAnimeList? Bring your list with you. Filter. Content warnings and preference filters put you in control of what you see. Your comfort, your rules. Obsess together. Every trope room has a new question each week about a title the room is reading. Answer, react, and see what everyone else is feeling. Every week we also vote on one series to collectively lose our minds over. Share. Turn any title into a story card for Instagram or TikTok, and share your monthly Obsession Report. THE MAP, NOT THE BOOKSTORE Fixated doesn't host any chapters. Every title shows you who publishes it and where it's officially available, so you can support the authors on the licensed platforms where they actually get paid. Supporting authors is the whole point. Built by an independent fan developer, for the community. Ages 17+. Free to use, with an optional premium subscription for extra features. Come find your next fixation. The door's open. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://gunnii-jin.github.io/Privacy-Policy/privacyPolicyFixated.html

Screenshots

Shelf4 screens
Fixated4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Shelf at none against Fixated's 3. Shelf also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 5 weeks). Fixated's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price and ads 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. Fixated sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Shelf asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shelf ships an update every 10 days, Fixated every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Shelf versus Fixated: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShelfFixated
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB52 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperYaron SoleKERRI ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

In-app purchases

None

Shelf

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Fixated

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly Fixation7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • 6 Month Fixation7 Days trial$17.996 Months
  • Annual Fixation7 Days trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Shelf free?
Shelf is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Fixated free?
Fixated is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Shelf or Fixated have ads?
Neither Shelf nor Fixated shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Shelf or Fixated?
Shelf ships an update every 10 days, and Fixated every 5 weeks. Most recently, Shelf was updated on October 31, 2026 and Fixated on November 5, 2026.

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