Comparison

Reed vs MagicReader

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

Head to head
About

Reed

Features
Read full description

Reed is a calm, focused reader for the books and documents you already own. Open plain text, Markdown, and EPUB files and read them beautifully. • Open your own .txt, Markdown (.md), and EPUB files • Clean, typographic reading with light, sepia, and night themes • Adjustable font, size, margins, and page-turn style • Reading progress, bookmarks, and in-book search • Read aloud with text-to-speech • Reading stats and streaks • iCloud sync keeps your library and progress across all your devices • Smart text-encoding detection for older files No account required. Your library stays on your device and in your personal iCloud. Reed is free with ads — remove them anytime with a one-time purchase.

About

MagicReader

Features
Read full description

Read without touching the screen. MagicReader is a hands-free reader for EPUB, PDF and comics: turn your head, wave a hand, wink, or just say "next page" — and the page turns. Or sit back and let a natural voice read to you. Whether your hands are busy, wet, full, or simply resting — or touching the screen is difficult for you — MagicReader keeps the story going. NEW: OPENS LIKE A REAL BOOK • Ready for iPhone Duo — unfold it and your book becomes a two-page spread, with the spine right on the fold • Landscape reading — two pages side by side on iPad and most iPhones, for EPUB, PDF and comics, including vertical Japanese books • Flip page turns — pages turn over like paper and follow your finger • Split View on iPad and iPhone Duo TOUCH-FREE READING • Head control — turn your head left or right to flip pages; look up to open or close a book • Wink control — wink your right eye to go forward, your left to go back (Face ID devices) • Hand control — a cursor follows your hand; close your hand to grab a book, swipe from the screen edge to flip • Voice control — say "next", "back", "open", "read aloud" and more, in English, Japanese, Spanish, French or German • A guided tour teaches every gesture with live practice NATURAL READ-ALOUD • Natural, expressive voices read your EPUB books aloud — in English and Japanese • The sentence being spoken is highlighted, and pages turn in step with the narration • English narration powered by Kokoro; Japanese voices powered by VOICEVOX (VOICEVOX:No.7, VOICEVOX:å››å›½ć‚ćŸć‚“, VOICEVOX:é’å±±é¾ę˜Ÿ, VOICEVOX Nemo) • Books in Spanish, French and German are read by your device's system voice for that language, with nothing to download • Natural voices are downloaded once, then work fully offline — all speech is generated on your device YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR WAY • EPUB and PDF books, plus CBZ/CBR comics and manga • Beautiful animated bookshelf themes — drifting watercolour clouds, a starry cosmos, and story worlds that come alive behind special books • Japanese vertical text (ēø¦ę›øć) done right, with optional automatic furigana (ćµć‚ŠćŒćŖ) above kanji • Comfortable reading themes, adjustable fonts (including OpenDyslexic for dyslexia-friendly reading), and remembered positions THOUSANDS OF FREE CLASSICS • Browse and download public-domain classics from Project Gutenberg and Aozora Bunko (é’ē©ŗę–‡åŗ«) — from Alice in Wonderland to éŠ€ę²³é‰„é“ć®å¤œ — right inside the app PRIVATE BY DESIGN • The camera and microphone are used only to recognize your gestures and commands, entirely on your device • Nothing is recorded, nothing is uploaded, and there are no accounts, no ads, and no tracking — ever MagicReader began in 2012 as one of the first face-controlled book readers on the App Store. It has been rebuilt from the ground up for today's devices — same magic, new tricks. Reading is best when nothing comes between you and the story. Not even your hands.

Screenshots

Reed4 screens
MagicReader2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MagicReader at none against Reed's 1. MagicReader also leads on ads (none vs shown). On price, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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

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

Both are free to download. Reed sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. MagicReader asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
Reed versus MagicReader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterReedMagicReader
PriceFreeFree
Update frequency—Monthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB62 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOh Hyeon KwonLeo Rivas-Micoud

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Reed

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$2.99
None

MagicReader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Reed free?
Reed is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MagicReader free?
MagicReader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Reed or MagicReader have ads?
Reed shows ads; MagicReader does not.

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