Comparison

Lu Reader vs Unfold

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

Head to head
About

Lu Reader

This application offers a streamlined reading experience for various document and e-book formats, including EPUB and PDF. It features customizable reading settings, text-to-speech functionality, and smart library management. Users can back up their data to Google Drive.

Highlights
  • Supports EPUB, PDF, TXT, DOC, FB2, HWP, ZIP, CBZ
  • 11 customizable color themes
  • Adjustable font size, line spacing, and margins
  • In-app brightness control
  • Text-to-speech with adjustable speed
  • Automatic table of contents generation
  • Smart library with sorting and search
Features
Read full description

Lu Reader is a fast, clean, all-in-one reader for your documents and e-books - with no clutter and no sign-up required. SUPPORTED FORMATS - Text and e-books: TXT, EPUB, PDF, FB2, DOC, DOCX, HWP, HWPX - Archives containing text files: ZIP, CBZ COMFORTABLE READING - 11 color themes (cream, sepia, mint, black, navy and more) - Fine-tune font size, line spacing and margins - In-app brightness control for reading in the dark - Keep-screen-on, screen rotation and immersive full-screen mode VOICE READING (TTS) - Listen to any text with the current sentence highlighted - Adjustable speed from 0.6x to 2.0x - Choose from voices installed on your device - Sleep timer to stop automatically AUTOMATIC TABLE OF CONTENTS - Builds a chapter list even for plain TXT files - Detects multilingual chapter patterns - Jumps to and highlights the current chapter SMART LIBRARY - Add files from the Files app or the in-app file browser - Reading progress percentage and progress bar - Sort by name, date or progress, and search by filename - Bookmark your position; select a word for dictionary and translation - Auto-scroll and in-text search BACKUP & RESTORE - Safely back up your books, reading positions, bookmarks and settings to your own Google Drive - Restore everything on a new device Lu Reader keeps the focus on reading. Download it and enjoy your library, your way.

About

Unfold

Features
Read full description

A viewer for your own TXT, comic and PDF files โ€” without garbled text. NO MORE GIBBERISH Older TXT files are often saved in legacy encodings such as Korean CP949 or Japanese Shift_JIS, and many apps show them as random symbols. Unfold detects the encoding and opens the file correctly. If something still looks wrong, preview the text in each encoding and pick the right one. CHAPTERS, AUTOMATICALLY Unfold finds headings like "Chapter 1", "Prologue", "็ฌฌ1็ซ " or "์ œ1์žฅ" and builds a table of contents. Long texts without headings are split into sensible parts. Your position and bookmarks are saved automatically. COMICS, COMFORTABLY ZIP, CBZ and folders of images are sorted naturally (1, 2, 10), and file names zipped on Windows are repaired. Reading direction is remembered per book; turn the phone sideways for a two-page spread; margins can be trimmed automatically. EPUB, PDF AND IMAGES TOO ADDING FILES Put files in Files > On My iPhone > Unfold, or use Share > Unfold from another app. Whole folders work. A VIEWER FOR YOUR OWN FILES Unfold opens files you already have. It has no feature for finding or downloading books or comics online. Samples included: public-domain Korean short stories and a comic we drew ourselves. PRIVACY No sign-up and no server. Your files and reading positions stay on this device. No ads or analytics. UNFOLD PRO (ONE-TIME PURCHASE, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION) Read aloud with the built-in voice, auto-scroll, three extra backgrounds, and backup/restore of your reading data. All reading features are free. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://inphilchoi.github.io/unfold-privacy/

Screenshots

Lu Reader4 screens
Unfold4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Lu Reader at none against Unfold's 1. Unfold's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, 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. Unfold sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Lu Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 6 level
Lu Reader versus Unfold: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLu ReaderUnfold
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 4 daysโ€”
AdsYesNo โ€” better
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
MonetizationAd-supportedโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.515.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size95 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developersanghun jeongINPHIL CHOI

In-app purchases

None

Lu Reader

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Unfold

One-time1
  • Unfold Pro$2.99

Questions

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

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