Reading Room Reader vs Bare Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Reading Room Reader
Read full descriptionHide full description
eBook reader for downloaded books.
Bare Reader
Read full descriptionHide full description
Bare Reader is a calm, distraction-free way to read your EPUB books on iPhone. No accounts. No ads. No sync nags. No feed pulling you away from the page. Just your library and your books — stored privately on your device. Less than 5MB in size, Bare Reader is as lightweight as it gets. READING, THE WAY IT SHOULD FEEL Open a book and everything else disappears. A clean, paginated reading view lets you move through pages the way that feels natural to you: swipe, tap the edges, or use the on-screen page buttons. PRIVATE BY DESIGN LeafReader works entirely offline. Your books and your reading never leave your device: there's no account to create and no data collected. What you read is nobody's business but yours. Bring your own EPUBs and enjoy a reader that gets out of the way. Bare Reader is completely free to use. If you enjoy the app, you can optionally purchase a one-time license to remove the occasional support reminder. Purchasing doesn't unlock anything or change how the app works; it's simply a way to support ongoing development.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Reading Room Reader at none against Bare Reader's 1. Reading Room Reader also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 5 days). On price, ads, device support 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. Bare Reader sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Reading Room Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.
Reading Room Reader ships an update daily, Bare Reader every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Reading Room Reader | Bare Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Daily — better | Every 5 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 16.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Paul Ko | Nathaniel Rayestu Abdulrachman |
In-app purchases
Reading Room Reader
No in-app purchases
Bare Reader
- Support Development$1.99
Questions
Is Reading Room Reader free?
Is Bare Reader free?
Do Reading Room Reader or Bare Reader have ads?
Which is updated more often, Reading Room Reader or Bare Reader?
Other comparisons
