Comparison

Waves vs Plain Reader

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

Head to head
About

Waves

Features
Read full description

Ever wished your favorite romance novel was written just for you? Now it is. Waves turns your imagination into a fully illustrated romance story in minutes. Choose your trope โ€” enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, dark mafia, grumpy billionaire, and more. Pick your main character and love interest. Set the scene, from a luxury penthouse to a small town to a fantasy kingdom. Dial in exactly how romantic and how dramatic you want it. Then watch your story come to life โ€” complete with a custom AI-generated book cover, made just for your story. Endless Stories, Made for You (Paid subscription required) No two readers get the same book. Every trope, character, and setting combination creates a completely original story, so your library is always one-of-a-kind. Keep the Story Going Fell in love with your characters? Generate the next chapter any time, and steer where the story goes next. Build Your Library Every story you create is saved to My Books, ready to revisit whenever you want to fall back into it. Share With the Community Written something too good to keep to yourself? Share your favorite stories to the Community tab, where readers can discover stories other users have created. Why Waves? Fully personalized romance stories, generated in minutes Custom cover art for every story Control your trope, characters, setting, romance, and drama level Continue any story with new chapters, on demand A growing library of your own stories, plus a community of shared ones Your next favorite romance is one tap away. Create your story with Waves. Premium content requires a subscription. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Plain Reader

This app provides a distraction-free reading experience for various file formats including EPUB, TXT, PDF, and comics. It allows direct access to files from cloud storage or external drives without importing or creating copies, offering customizable reading settings and text-to-speech functionality.

Highlights
  • Read directly from Files, iCloud Drive, USB
  • Customizable text and theme settings
  • Text-to-speech in 31 languages
  • Supports ZIP and CBZ archives
  • Right-to-left reading for manga
  • PDF text selection and search
  • Distraction-free reading interface
Features
Read full description

Plain Reader opens your books, PDFs, comics and image folders right where they are โ€” in Files, iCloud Drive, or on a USB drive or external SSD. No account, no import, no copies. READ, NOTHING ELSE โ€ข Menus stay hidden while you read. Tap the center to bring them back. โ€ข Pages fill the screen. Swipe, tap the sides, or drag the slider to jump anywhere. โ€ข Turn your iPhone or iPad sideways for two-page spreads, with the cover on its own. โ€ข Turn pages with a Bluetooth page turner or a keyboard. TXT AND EPUB โ€ข Choose the font, size, line spacing, margins and theme โ€” pages reflow to fit. โ€ข Listen: books in 31 languages are read aloud by natural voices made on your device. โ€ข Table of contents, search and bookmarks. TXT text encoding is detected automatically. COMICS AND MANGA โ€ข Opens ZIP and CBZ archives without unpacking them โ€” even ones with thousands of pages. โ€ข Right-to-left reading for manga. โ€ข A folder of images opens as one book. PDF โ€ข Sharp pages, search, table of contents, thumbnails and text selection. โ€ข Two-page spreads on wide screens. YOUR FILES STAY YOURS โ€ข Files are read in place and never uploaded anywhere. โ€ข Bookmarks and your reading position are kept for every book. โ€ข Works with iCloud Drive and external storage through the Files app. PLAIN READER PRO Plain Reader is free with a small banner ad. Watch one short video ad to read without banner ads for 2 hours, or to use Listen for 1 hour. Plain Reader Pro removes all ads and adds unlimited Listen, Auto Page Turn, and blocking the apps you pick while you read. Choose a Monthly or Yearly subscription โ€” Yearly starts with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers โ€” or a one-time Lifetime purchase. Restore it on your iPhone and iPad with the same Apple Account. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel them in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://ourbeom.com/plainreader/terms Privacy Policy: https://ourbeom.com/plainreader/privacy

Screenshots

Waves3 screens
Plain Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Waves at none against Plain Reader's shown. Plain Reader's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs fortnightly). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Waves sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $6.99 per 7 days and Plain Reader sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Waves ships an update fortnightly, Plain Reader every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 6 level
Waves versus Plain Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWavesPlain Reader
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviewsโ€”100.0% of reviews
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 3 days โ€” better
AdsNo โ€” betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetizationโ€”Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better18.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size46 MB45 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBentham LabsOurBeom

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Waves

Subscriptions1
  • Waves AI Pro$6.997 Days
4 purchases

Plain Reader

Subscriptions2
  • Plain Reader Pro (Monthly)$0.991 Month
  • Plain Reader Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$6.991 Year
One-time2
  • Plain Reader Pro$2.99
  • Plain Reader Pro (Lifetime)$12.99

Questions

Is Waves free?
Waves is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Plain Reader free?
Plain Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Waves or Plain Reader have ads?
Plain Reader shows ads; Waves does not.
Which is updated more often, Waves or Plain Reader?
Waves ships an update fortnightly, and Plain Reader every 3 days. Most recently, Waves was updated on November 5, 2026 and Plain Reader on November 1, 2026.

Other comparisons