Widget Reader vs Pagecast
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Widget Reader
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Bring your own books into a quieter reading space. Widget Reader makes it easy to read a page, listen to a chapter, or enjoy a short passage from your Home Screen. • Import DRM-free EPUB, TXT, text-based PDF, MOBI/AZW, Markdown, HTML and FB2. • Choose files from your device, iCloud Drive or third-party cloud services enabled in Files. • Adjust fonts, text size, spacing, themes and page turns. • Listen with installed offline system voices, sentence highlighting and a sleep timer. • Save bookmarks, highlights and notes. Put your current book in a Home Screen widget. • Pro adds unlimited imports, organization, reading reports, advanced widgets, exports and optional private iCloud sync. Imported files are local copies; changes to the original do not update them. Export Google Docs to a supported format first. Scanned PDFs, OCR and DRM-protected books are not supported. Interactive widgets require iOS 17 or later. iPhone includes up to 10 unique books for free. Reading and library actions on iPad require Pro. Weekly and yearly subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled. Any trial is subject to App Store eligibility; see the purchase screen for current prices and terms. No app account or advertising. Books stay local unless you enable private iCloud sync. https://reader.jameshaoyu.com/privacy https://reader.jameshaoyu.com/subscription-terms https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Pagecast
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Pagecast reads the documents already on your phone out loud — PDF, EPUB, TXT, Markdown, DOCX, MOBI, AZW3. Import and listen. No account, no internet, no subscription. WHY PAGECAST • Truly offline. Speech is generated on your phone. Your files, titles and reading progress are never uploaded — listen on a plane or underground. • A bookstore built in. Free public-domain classics in seven languages — add one to your shelf and it's yours to read or listen to offline. • Buy once. There are no servers to pay for, so there is nothing to rent by the month. The free version is free forever; the lifetime upgrade is a single purchase you can restore on your next phone. • Natural pauses. Where a sentence breaks decides whether it sounds read or recited. The advanced sentence model places pauses at long clauses, quotes and dialogue. • Voices worth listening to. Super HD voices for English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French and German, with intonation that follows punctuation; three offline HD voices for Chinese; every voice built into your device stays free. • Mixed-language text. A second language inside the text is read by a second voice — no more English read with a Chinese accent, or the other way round. WHAT YOU GET • Automatic chapter detection with a tappable table of contents; seek by sentence • Keeps playing on the lock screen and in the background, with lock-screen controls • Sleep timer, 0.75–2× speed, text size and line spacing, night mode • The sentence being read is highlighted as you listen • Scanned PDFs are recognized automatically • Import straight from Files, Mail or any app's Share / Open In FREE vs LIFETIME Free: unlimited imports, every format, built-in system voices, chapters, speed, sleep timer and night mode — forever. Lifetime (one-time purchase, no auto-renewal): the advanced sentence model, offline HD and Super voice downloads, and two-voice mixed-language reading. Pay once, restore on any new device. LANGUAGES Interface and reading: English, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 日本語, 한국어, Español, Français, Deutsch. Questions or a format you'd like supported? pagecast@goyouhub.com Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: https://pagecast.goyouhub.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Widget Reader at none against Pagecast's 1. Pagecast's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. Pagecast sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Widget Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.
Widget Reader ships an update every 3 weeks, Pagecast weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Widget Reader | Pagecast |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 56 MB | 77 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 浩宇 黄 | 上海友购信息科技有限公司 |
In-app purchases
Widget Reader
No in-app purchases
Pagecast
- Lifetime Unlock$0.99









