Comparison

Restricted Section vs Heard

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

Head to head
About

Restricted Section

Features
Read full description

Never buy a book you already own. Restricted Section is your personal book catalog for iPhone. Scan the barcode on any book to add it instantly — cover art, author, series, and metadata included. When you're browsing a store or a friend's shelf, scan to check ownership in seconds. SCAN TO ADD Point at any book's barcode. Restricted Section looks it up via Google Books and adds it to your library automatically. No typing required. ENTER ISBN MANUALLY Can't scan the barcode? Type the ISBN directly and get the same instant lookup. CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY A single tap launches the Check scanner. Scan any book for an immediate answer — green checkmark if you own it, red X if you don't. No more duplicates. TRACK YOUR READING Mark books as Unread, Reading, Finished, or Wishlist. Add a 1–5 star rating and personal notes to any book in your collection. BROWSE BY SERIES Group your books by series and see which volumes you have — and which are still missing. BUILT FOR PRIVACY Everything stays on your device. No account. No cloud sync. No analytics. The only network requests the app makes are ISBN lookups to fetch book metadata — nothing personal ever leaves your phone. Restricted Section is free, open source, and built for people who take their bookshelves seriously.

About

Heard

Features
Read full description

Heard turns timeless books into audiobooks, narrated by a natural neural voice generated right on your device. No streaming, no accounts - just open a book and press play, for free. Because the narration is created on your phone, it works anywhere: on a plane, on the subway, or with the Wi‑Fi off. A CURATED LIBRARY, INCLUDED FREE • 56 classic works of literature — Austen, Dostoevsky, Dickens, Homer, the Brontës, Poe and more • Sourced from Project Gutenberg and in the public domain • Synced reading with Text to Speech • Speed control for speech A READER THAT GETS OUT OF THE WAY • Clean, distraction-free pages with light, dark, and sepia themes • Adjustable font size and serif, sans, or mono typefaces • Pages turn automatically as the narration reads along • Always picks up right where you left off LISTEN HANDS-FREE • Tap play and follow along, or just listen, included with free app • A pocket-safe "Lock Screen" mode dims the display and blocks accidental taps while it reads • Requires a one-time 350MB download HEARD PRO • Every neural voice — choose the narrator you like best • Import your own EPUB files and listen to any book you own • A simple subscription that supports independent, privacy-first development Heard is free to read and listen to the entire built-in library with one voice. Upgrade to Pro anytime to unlock all voices and import your own books. Books included for free: A Christmas Carol, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A Doll's House, A Room with a View, A Tale of Two Cities, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Anna Karenina, Anne of Green Gables, Around the World in Eighty Days, Beowulf, Crime and Punishment, Don Quixote, Dracula, Emma, Frankenstein, Great Expectations, Gulliver's Travels, Heart of Darkness, Jane Eyre, Les Misérables, Little Women, Middlemarch, Moby Dick, Oliver Twist, Peter Pan, Pride and Prejudice, Robinson Crusoe, Romeo and Juliet, Sense and Sensibility, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Blue Castle, The Call of the Wild, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Enchanted April, The Great Gatsby, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Iliad, The Importance of Being Earnest, The King in Yellow, The Metamorphosis, The Odyssey, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Scarlet Letter, The Secret Garden, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Three Musketeers, The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Treasure Island, Twenty Years After, Wuthering Heights. — Heard Pro is an auto-renewing subscription, offered monthly or annually. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://alana314.github.io/heard-microsite-public/#/terms Privacy Policy: https://alana314.github.io/heard-microsite-public/#/privacy

Screenshots

Restricted Section1 screens
Heard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Restricted Section at none against Heard's 2. Heard's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence 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. Heard sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Restricted Section asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 3 level
Restricted Section versus Heard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRestricted SectionHeard
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB96 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperElijah Winteralana. sh

In-app purchases

None

Restricted Section

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Heard

Subscriptions2
  • Heard Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Heard Pro Annual$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Restricted Section free?
Restricted Section is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Heard free?
Heard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Restricted Section or Heard have ads?
Neither Restricted Section nor Heard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Restricted Section or Heard?
Restricted Section ships an update every 2 weeks, and Heard every 2 weeks. Most recently, Restricted Section was updated on October 31, 2026 and Heard on October 31, 2026.

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