Comparison

ShelfCheck Pro vs GlowVox

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

Head to head
About

ShelfCheck Pro

Features
Read full description

Never buy the same book twice. ShelfCheck is the fastest way to check if you already own a book before you buy it. Just point your iPhone at the barcode, and in under a second you get a clear answer: red for owned, green for new, amber for a possible different edition. Built for book collectors, avid readers, and anyone who has ever come home from a bookstore only to realize they already had that book on the shelf. KEY FEATURES Instant Duplicate Check Scan any ISBN barcode and get immediate feedback. Three-layer matching checks exact ISBN, title and author fuzzy match, and online database lookup to catch duplicates even across different editions. Works Offline No Wi-Fi at the used book sale? No problem. ShelfCheck checks your entire local library instantly without an internet connection. Online metadata lookup happens in the background when you are back online. Zero Friction No account to create, no cloud service to sign up for, no social features to distract you. Open the app and start scanning. Your data stays on your device. Continuous Scan Mode Toggle continuous mode to scan dozens of books in minutes. Each scan shows instant feedback and automatically moves to the next. Perfect for cataloging an entire bookshelf or browsing a library sale. Your Book Library Browse all your books in a clean list view. Search by title, author, or ISBN. Sort by date added, title, or author. Filter by tags to find any book in seconds. Book Details and Notes Tap any book to see full details including cover, publisher, page count, and more. Add personal notes, mark books as read, and track which books you have lent out and to whom. Custom Tags and Lending Tracker Organize your collection with custom tags. Track lent books with borrower name and date. Never lose track of who has your favorite novel again. CSV Export Export your entire library as a CSV file for backup or import into other tools. Your data, your way. Manual Book Entry No barcode? No problem. Add books manually by entering the title, author, and ISBN. The app will still check for duplicates and look up metadata automatically. Smart ISBN Handling Automatically normalizes ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 formats. Handles hyphens, spaces, and prefix variations so you never miss a match. Default Shelf Location Set a default shelf location in Settings so every new book is automatically assigned to the right spot on your bookshelf. PRIVACY FIRST ShelfCheck collects no personal data. No analytics, no tracking, no third-party sharing. Your book library is your business. FREE TO USE Scan and check books with no limits. Store up to 50 books for free. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited books, continuous scan, custom tags, lending tracker, and CSV export. PRO SUBSCRIPTION Unlock the full power of ShelfCheck with a Pro subscription: - Monthly: $1.99/month - Yearly: $9.99/year (58% savings) - Lifetime: $19.99 one-time purchase All Pro plans include a 7-day free trial (monthly and yearly). SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: - Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. - Subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. - You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your account settings on the App Store after purchase. - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription.

About

GlowVox

Features
Read full description

Your iPhone becomes a handheld LED sign β€” and a megaphone. GlowVox scrolls giant glowing text across the screen and, when you want it to, shouts that text out loud on a loop. Night market, concert crowd, airport arrivals, a proposal after dark: hold it up and people see you from the other end of the street. WHAT IT DOES β€’ Full LED engine. Three marquee lanes, glitch, typewriter, strobe, neon glow, gradient shimmer and mic-reactive beats β€” with a built-in photosensitivity guard on the fast flashing. β€’ Say it out loud. Text-to-speech loops your wording with sweet, deep or cartoon voice effects, or loops your own recording, with up to +6 dB of outdoor gain for a Bluetooth speaker. β€’ Background music that knows its place. Loop a track behind the sign; the instant your shout-out starts the music ducks out of the way, then fades back when you stop. β€’ Photo to LED dot matrix. Bright pixels become lamps, dark ones stay black β€” pets, logos and idol photos all light up. β€’ Lock Screen pickup sign. A Live Activity keeps it on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, so the screen stays cheap on battery and you still never miss them. β€’ Ready-made templates across six scenes: market stalls, fan chants, proposals, parties, airport pickups and everyday utility signs like queue numbers and parking. β€’ Live variables. Put {time} or {date} in the text and it keeps itself current. β€’ Fan-color glowstick. One tap turns the whole screen into your idol's color, pulsing in rhythm, with the name on top in high contrast. β€’ Fill-in templates. Change the name or price and go; no rewriting the whole sign. β€’ Landscape, upside-down and mirror modes, adjustable font, size, speed and blinking, and a searchable color library. β€’ Hold-up lock. Freeze rotation and gestures while you hold the phone overhead, so nothing flips or pauses by accident. β€’ Built for long shifts. All-day mode lowers the frame rate or switches to a clear still sign, and the app suggests it when the phone runs hot or Low Power Mode is on. β€’ Flashlight: steady, strobe, SOS, or pulsing with the music. β€’ Sync several phones. Nearby phones show the same sign in step, or become a remote: pause, next sign, brightness and one-tap shout. β€’ Siri shortcuts jump straight into stall or cheer mode, a Home Screen widget relights your last sign, and one tap resumes your last playlist. β€’ Export and share as GIF, video or screen recording β€” and export any recording as MP3. β€’ Stop timer at 15/30/60/120 minutes, plus a low-battery prompt that offers a black-screen mode: the screen goes dark while the shout-out keeps going. PRIVACY, PLAINLY No developer servers. No data collection. No ads and no analytics SDKs. Your recordings and signs stay on your device. It is a one-time purchase: no subscription, no ads. The in-app purchase covers the full template, effect and motion library, text-to-speech and recording loops, background music, photo signs, GIF / video / screen-recording export, hosting a multi-phone sync, saving more than 3 signs, and playback without the watermark. Free users can preview a text-to-speech shout 3 times a day.

Screenshots

ShelfCheck Pro4 screens
GlowVox4 screens

Verdict

The call

ShelfCheck Pro and GlowVox are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters β€” price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them β€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. ShelfCheck Pro sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and GlowVox sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
ShelfCheck Pro versus GlowVox: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShelfCheck ProGlowVox
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyβ€”Every 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS1717.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size2 MB36 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerθ΄Ί ε‘¨δΊšε¨Ÿ 秦

In-app purchases

3 purchases

ShelfCheck Pro

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$19.99
1 purchases

GlowVox

One-time1
  • GlowVox ProFree

Questions

Is ShelfCheck Pro free?
ShelfCheck Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is GlowVox free?
GlowVox is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ShelfCheck Pro or GlowVox have ads?
Neither ShelfCheck Pro nor GlowVox shows ads.

Other comparisons