Shelf vs Bookspine
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shelf
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Shelf is the simple, beautiful way to track every book you read — and actually show it off. Most reading apps are bloated social networks. Shelf does one thing well: it tracks your reading and turns it into stats you’re proud to share. ADD BOOKS IN SECONDS • Scan a barcode to add a book in one tap • Or add it manually — title, author, pages TRACK WHAT MATTERS • Currently reading, want to read, finished • Log reading sessions (pages & minutes) • Page-by-page progress and star ratings BUILD A READING STREAK • A gentle daily streak that keeps you turning pages • No shame, no pressure — just momentum YOUR YEAR IN BOOKS • A gorgeous, shareable stats card with a streak grid • Perfect for BookTok and Instagram • Home-screen widget with your streak at a glance PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Your library lives on your device • No account required, no ads, ever Shelf Pro (subscription) unlocks all card styles & themes, detailed stats, your animated Year in Books recap, and widgets. Free 7-day trial. Track. Show off. Read more. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Bookspine
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The book you're reading, on your Home Screen. Bookspine is a reading widget with no subscription and no ads: add a book, and your current read — with a progress ring — sits on the Home Screen. Tap the widget to add pages without opening the app. Most reading apps keep the widget behind a subscription. Here the widget is the point, so the Small one is free, and the number of books is never limited. ■ Free ・Small widget: the book you're reading, its cover or spine, and how far you are ・Add pages right on the widget (iOS 17 interactive widgets) ・Unlimited books — no five-book cap ・Finished books stay on your shelf, free, forever ・Search by title or author, or scan the ISBN barcode ・Works without a connection: you can always add a book by hand ・Set a reading goal for this year and see how close you are ■ Bookspine Pro (one-time purchase, not a subscription) ・Medium widget: cover, progress bar, pages left, books this year ・Large widget: this year's shelf — every book you've finished, lined up ・Lock Screen widgets: your progress without unlocking ・See your shelf by spines or by covers ・Reading goal widget: how far to this year's goal, on the Home and Lock Screens ・Year in review: books per month, pages read, your thickest book and the year's shelf — past years too ・iCloud sync: books, progress and your goal, the same on all your devices — even after a new iPhone ・To-read shelf widget: your to-read pile as spines, in Medium and Large ・Import from Goodreads: bring in what you've read, are reading and want to read from your export file, in one go ・Spine colors: pick the color of any book's spine ■ The shelf Books you finish line up on a shelf, oldest to newest. Books without a cover are drawn as a spine — a colour and the title — so the shelf never has grey holes in it. ■ Privacy Your books stay on your device. Only if you turn on iCloud sync (Pro), they sync through your own iCloud between devices signed in to your Apple Account — the developer never sees them. No account, no ads, no tracking. Only anonymous usage (which screens and widget sizes are used, whether Pro was purchased) is sent to improve the app — never your books, names or any Apple identifier. You can turn it off in Settings. Turn on “Also find covers on Apple Books” in Settings to fill in covers Open Library doesn't have (off by default). Book data comes from Open Library.
Screenshots
Verdict
Shelf and Bookspine are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Shelf sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Bookspine sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Shelf | Bookspine |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | — | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Yusuf Fuat Sarac | Minari Taniguchi |
In-app purchases
Shelf
- Shelf Pro Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Shelf Pro Yearly7 Days trial$22.991 Year
Bookspine
- Bookspine Pro$7.99









