Comparison

Actually Read vs Inspan Book Reader

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

Head to head
About

Actually Read

Enhance your reading experience by tracking books, blocking distractions with Deep Focus, and utilizing an AI companion for deeper comprehension. Import your own files or discover public domain books to build a consistent reading habit.

Highlights
  • Track reading progress
  • Deep Focus distraction blocking
  • Import EPUBs and PDFs
  • AI-powered book companion
  • Summaries and recaps
  • On-device AI processing
Features
Read full description

Actually Read helps you track your books, protect your reading time, and actually read—whether you’re reading an EPUB, a PDF, or a physical book. • Focus on the book you chose. Start a reading session, set a timer, and use Deep Focus to block the apps, categories, and websites you choose with Screen Time. • See your reading add up. Track books and focus sessions, create custom reading lists, review your reading history, and return to a calm, customizable reading space built around your current book. • Read your way. Import EPUBs and PDFs, discover free public-domain books, search within books, save bookmarks, highlight passages, and pick up where you left off. • Ask better questions with grounded AI. Actually Read uses retrieval-based AI to help you engage with a book, not replace it with an AI digest. Ask about a theme, scene, or passage, get a Story So Far recap, or request a chapter summary when you’re ready. • Stay grounded in the text. Actually Read retrieves relevant passages from your book and uses them as context for each answer. Responses prioritize cited supporting passages you can open directly in the reader and can respect your reading progress to help avoid spoilers. • Keep your content close. Book indexing, embeddings, and retrieval happen on-device. On devices with Apple Intelligence enabled, on-device AI can answer questions without sending your questions or book content to the cloud. • Choose Advanced AI when you want it. Only your question and the relevant excerpts retrieved to answer it are sent to the cloud—never the full book. Actually Read is for reading with more attention, more context, and fewer distractions. Some features require compatible hardware, Apple Intelligence, Screen Time permission, or an internet connection. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Inspan Book Reader

Features
Read full description

Make your books feel at home on every screen. Inspan Book Reader brings EPUB, FB2 and TXT files into a focused library with comfortable, customizable reading. Add books from your device, files shared from other apps, supported ZIP archives, Dropbox or OPDS catalogs. Once a book is imported, you can keep reading it offline. No account is required for local files. READ YOUR BOOKS • Open EPUB, FB2 and plain-text TXT books. • Import supported books from ZIP archives. • Browse chapters and jump straight to the part you need. • Return to your saved reading position. • Add bookmarks with short excerpts for quick navigation. • Choose page curl, slide or no page-turn animation. ORGANIZE YOUR LIBRARY • See book covers, titles, authors and reading progress in one place. • Search your library by title or author. • Mark favorites for easy access. • Share a book file or remove it from the library. MAKE EVERY PAGE YOURS • Switch between light and dark interface themes. • Use light, dark or fully custom reading colors. • Pick a font and adjust font size, line spacing and paragraph spacing. • Set left and right margins, text alignment and automatic hyphenation. • Show or hide page numbers. FIND AND IMPORT BOOKS Add OPDS catalogs and browse their sections inside the app. A Project Gutenberg catalog is ready to explore, and you can add other compatible catalogs. Connect Dropbox with read-only file access to browse folders and import supported books. Network access is only needed for online catalogs and Dropbox. Inspan Book Reader is designed for a calm reading experience, whether you read a short story on your phone or settle into a novel on a larger screen.

Screenshots

Actually Read3 screens
Inspan Book Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Inspan Book Reader at none against Actually Read's 1. Inspan Book Reader also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 days) and device support (4 vs 2). On price and ads there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Actually Read sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per month. Inspan Book Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Actually Read ships an update every 5 days, Inspan Book Reader every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Actually Read versus Inspan Book Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterActually ReadInspan Book Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (9 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings9 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS26.215.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB35 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPrism32 LLCNikolay Vorobyev

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Actually Read

Subscriptions1
  • Actually Read Plus3 Days trial$9.991 Month
None

Inspan Book Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Actually Read free?
Actually Read is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Inspan Book Reader free?
Inspan Book Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Actually Read or Inspan Book Reader have ads?
Neither Actually Read nor Inspan Book Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Actually Read or Inspan Book Reader?
Actually Read ships an update every 5 days, and Inspan Book Reader every 2 days. Most recently, Actually Read was updated on October 13, 2026 and Inspan Book Reader on October 14, 2026.

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