Linea Reader vs MagicReader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Linea Reader
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Linea is a calm reading workspace for difficult material. Import PDFs, EPUBs, MOBI files, DOCX documents, Markdown, images, scans, and web pages. Read with thoughtful typography, highlight and annotate passages, listen from your current position, and ask questions without losing your place. Your library stays organized around the work in front of you. Resume where you stopped, move between chapters, and keep your reading progress together. Features: ⢠Import documents and URLs ⢠Read PDFs, ebooks, Markdown, and more ⢠Highlight passages and add notes ⢠Listen from your current reading position ⢠Ask document-aware questions while reading or listening ⢠Keep reading progress and annotations together ⢠Choose from four reading palettes AI and your data: Linea uses AI only when you ask it to. It does not run your documents through AI in the background. Eligible signed-in Linea accounts can use Linea's rate-limited managed Ask without a personal API key: the question and relevant document context are processed by Linea, which may call an upstream model. For a user-owned cloud provider, Linea sends your question and relevant document context directly from your device to that provider using the API key you supplied; Linea's developer does not receive those direct-to-provider requests. When available and selected, on-device Apple Intelligence requests stay on your device. Linea is built for sustained attention: fewer distractions, better context, and a clear path back to the thread.
MagicReader
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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" ā 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 ā or touching the screen is difficult for you ā MagicReader keeps the story going. NEW: OPENS LIKE A REAL BOOK ⢠Ready for iPhone Duo ā unfold it and your book becomes a two-page spread, with the spine right on the fold ⢠Landscape reading ā two pages side by side on iPad and most iPhones, for EPUB, PDF and comics, including vertical Japanese books ⢠Flip page turns ā pages turn over like paper and follow your finger ⢠Split View on iPad and iPhone Duo TOUCH-FREE READING ⢠Head control ā turn your head left or right to flip pages; look up to open or close a book ⢠Wink control ā wink your right eye to go forward, your left to go back (Face ID devices) ⢠Hand control ā a cursor follows your hand; close your hand to grab a book, swipe from the screen edge to flip ⢠Voice control ā 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 ā 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:åå½ććć, VOICEVOX:éå±±é¾ę, 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 ā 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 ā drifting watercolour clouds, a starry cosmos, and story worlds that come alive behind special books ⢠Japanese vertical text (ēø¦ęøć) done right, with optional automatic furigana (ćµćććŖ) 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空ęåŗ«) ā from Alice in Wonderland to éę²³ééć®å¤ ā 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 ā 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 ā same magic, new tricks. Reading is best when nothing comes between you and the story. Not even your hands.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: MagicReader at 17.0 against Linea Reader's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Linea Reader ships an update every 3 weeks, MagicReader monthly. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.
| Parameter | Linea Reader | MagicReader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks ā better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 ā better |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 62 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Arach Tchoupani | Leo Rivas-Micoud |
In-app purchases
Linea Reader
No in-app purchases
MagicReader
No in-app purchases









