Comparison

Booktrace vs Bookspine

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

Head to head
About

Booktrace

Track your audiobook progress with visual duration bars and a glanceable dial screen. Engage in spoiler-free chats about your current listening material. Review your listening habits with stats and a completion calendar.

Highlights
  • Visual duration bars for library
  • Spoiler-aware chat
  • Glanceable dial screen
  • Lock screen controls
  • Listening streaks and sessions
  • Completion calendar
  • Personalized shelves
Features
Read full description

Your books, on a shelf. Track every book you read or listen to, plan your TBR, and watch your reading year fill in. Booktrace works for print books, ebooks and audiobooks. Add a book, say what format it is, and start a session. For a paperback or an ebook you say which page you're on and Booktrace counts the pages down; an audiobook moves forward by the minutes you listened. Booktrace keeps the time either way. YOUR BOOKSHELF Take one photo of a row on your real shelf and every spine stands on a shelf inside the app, or scan books one at a time. Lean them, stack them, drag them into place, and add a plant, a lamp, or a photo. A bookshelf that looks like yours, because it is. YOUR TBR, SORTED Flip through your want-to-read pile like a crate of records, or let Pick one choose your next book when you can't decide. Browse your whole collection as a wall of covers, and see your history as a calendar of book covers. A SESSION DIAL YOU CAN GLANCE AT Start a session with one tap. A dial you can read from across the room keeps you oriented, and the same information follows you to your lock screen and Dynamic Island. Forgot to start it? Log the session after the fact. WHERE YOU READ If you read on the move, Booktrace can keep a map of the route, so you can revisit the walk that got you through chapter twelve. ASK WITHOUT SPOILERS The built-in chat only knows what you've read so far, so you can ask about a character, recap what happened, or catch back up after a break with zero risk of finding out what's next. STATS THAT ADD UP Streaks, sessions, hours, pages, and goals, with a calendar that fills in as you go. Every book you finish stands on its own shelf. MADE FOR AUDIOBOOKS TOO Narrator credits and ratings, real listening hours, playback speed, and duration bars that show how long each audiobook really is, so a 30-hour epic looks like one. BRING YOUR LIBRARY WITH YOU Import a Goodreads or Libby export in one go. Shelves, ratings, finish dates, formats, and page counts come along. - Scan a whole shelf in one photo - Your TBR in a crate, and Pick one for your next read - Print, ebooks, and audiobooks, tracked in one place, by page or by minute - Spoiler-aware chat that stops exactly where you are - A session dial built for a glance, on your lock screen too - Streaks, goals, sessions, and a reading calendar - Home Screen widgets and Siri Shortcuts SUBSCRIPTION Booktrace is available as a weekly subscription at $4.99 per week or a yearly subscription at $49.99 per year. A one-time Lifetime purchase is also available for $79.99. Some plans include a free trial; its length is shown before you confirm. Prices are in US dollars and may vary by region. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of that period. You can manage and cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when a subscription is purchased. Terms of Use: https://booktrace.app/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://booktrace.app/privacy.html

About

Bookspine

Features
Read full description

The book you're reading, on your Home Screen. Bookspine is a reading widget with no subscription and no ads: add a book, and your current read — with a progress ring — sits on the Home Screen. Tap the widget to add pages without opening the app. Most reading apps keep the widget behind a subscription. Here the widget is the point, so the Small one is free, and the number of books is never limited. ■ Free ・Small widget: the book you're reading, its cover or spine, and how far you are ・Add pages right on the widget (iOS 17 interactive widgets) ・Unlimited books — no five-book cap ・Finished books stay on your shelf, free, forever ・Search by title or author, or scan the ISBN barcode ・Works without a connection: you can always add a book by hand ・Set a reading goal for this year and see how close you are ■ Bookspine Pro (one-time purchase, not a subscription) ・Medium widget: cover, progress bar, pages left, books this year ・Large widget: this year's shelf — every book you've finished, lined up ・Lock Screen widgets: your progress without unlocking ・See your shelf by spines or by covers ・Reading goal widget: how far to this year's goal, on the Home and Lock Screens ・Year in review: books per month, pages read, your thickest book and the year's shelf — past years too ・iCloud sync: books, progress and your goal, the same on all your devices — even after a new iPhone ・To-read shelf widget: your to-read pile as spines, in Medium and Large ・Import from Goodreads: bring in what you've read, are reading and want to read from your export file, in one go ・Spine colors: pick the color of any book's spine ■ The shelf Books you finish line up on a shelf, oldest to newest. Books without a cover are drawn as a spine — a colour and the title — so the shelf never has grey holes in it. ■ Privacy Your books stay on your device. Only if you turn on iCloud sync (Pro), they sync through your own iCloud between devices signed in to your Apple Account — the developer never sees them. No account, no ads, no tracking. Only anonymous usage (which screens and widget sizes are used, whether Pro was purchased) is sent to improve the app — never your books, names or any Apple identifier. You can turn it off in Settings. Turn on “Also find covers on Apple Books” in Settings to fill in covers Open Library doesn't have (off by default). Book data comes from Open Library.

Screenshots

Booktrace4 screens
Bookspine3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: Booktrace at #40 against Bookspine's unranked. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Booktrace sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and Bookspine sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Booktrace ships an update every 5 days, Bookspine every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Booktrace versus Bookspine: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBooktraceBookspine
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscription—
Best chart rank#40 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size137 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBrian FisherMinari Taniguchi

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Booktrace

Subscriptions2
  • Weekly3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$79.99
1 purchases

Bookspine

One-time1
  • Bookspine Pro$4.99

Questions

Is Booktrace free?
Booktrace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bookspine free?
Bookspine is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Booktrace or Bookspine have ads?
Neither Booktrace nor Bookspine shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Booktrace or Bookspine?
Booktrace ships an update every 5 days, and Bookspine every 3 days. Most recently, Booktrace was updated on October 16, 2026 and Bookspine on October 13, 2026.

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