Persimmon Reader vs PillowBook Reader

Persimmon is a simple, focused ebook reader built around one thing: reading. The interface stays out of your way and leaves as much room as possible for the book. No annotations, no AI features, no clutter—just open a book and read. Page turns are carefully tuned to feel responsive and natural. They follow your finger, stay smooth through fast repeated swipes, and are designed for people who read quickly. You can also rapidly flip through pages, a bit like thumbing backward through a paperback. Your library and reading progress can sync for free through your own cloud storage, so there’s no separate Persimmon account to create. Just use your existing cloud drive and keep reading across devices. Your books and reading data stay on your device unless you choose to sync them. Even then, they go directly to your own cloud drive.

Read your own books, quietly and comfortably PillowBook is a local-first reader for TXT and EPUB, designed to make reading feel calm and personal. No account is required, there are no ads, and your books are not uploaded to the developer's servers. Your books, reading position, bookmarks, notes, and reading history stay on your device by default, so you can read offline. MAKE IT YOUR READING SPACE • Choose light, dark, or system appearance, accent colors, and an app icon • Pick a reading palette, adjust page brightness, or use your own background image • Fine-tune fonts, text size, character and line spacing, paragraph spacing, and margins • Create custom book covers from your photos, with your choice of title position, size, and alignment READ YOUR WAY • Read horizontally or vertically • Turn pages, scroll continuously, use a lifelike page curl, or let pages advance automatically • Enjoy multilingual typesetting with ruby text, footnotes, and EPUB illustrations • Read two pages side by side in landscape on iPad and the inner display of iPhone Duo • Navigate with chapter lists, bookmarks, reading progress, and full-book search KEEP THE WORDS THAT MATTER • Underline a favorite passage or add a note with a photo • Revisit bookmarks, underlines, and notes in your Notebook • Turn notes into images to share • Translate selected passages on your device using Apple's system translation; language resources may need downloading first LISTEN WHEN YOUR EYES NEED A BREAK • Read aloud with system voices on iPhone and iPad • Use downloaded voices offline • Choose a voice, adjust playback speed, and set a sleep timer • Follow along with text highlighting and return to where you left off SEE YOUR READING GROW • Personalize the Me page with your name, avatar, and Reef or Aurora theme • Unlock reading levels and choose a level icon to display as your reading time grows • Look back at your weekly Reading Log and share a reading poster • Add Home Screen widgets for your current books and daily reading time • Invite friends to earn additional library capacity KEEP YOUR LIBRARY YOURS • Import TXT and EPUB from Files, the share sheet, or a browser on the same Wi-Fi • Automatically detect common text encodings and chapter structure • Redetect EPUB chapters from headings when the book's contents are too broad • Favorite or archive books, and track your reading time and progress • Protect the Vault entrance with Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode • Keep original imported files and check the library for incomplete books • Use the interface in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, or Japanese PillowBook does not provide or sell ebooks and does not support DRM-protected EPUB files. Please import only files you have the right to use. The free version holds up to five books. A one-time purchase unlocks Unlimited Library permanently. Additional capacity may also be available through friend invitations or promotional offer codes. No auto-renewing subscription.