Comparison

Bookends vs Talk Fast

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

Head to head
About

Bookends

Manage your research references and PDFs on your mobile device. Search online databases, import metadata, annotate PDFs, and organize your library. Offers basic functionality for free with optional one-time purchase and yearly subscription for advanced features like cloud sync and unlimited imports.

Highlights
  • Search online reference databases
  • Import metadata and PDFs
  • PDF annotation and markup
  • Barcode scanning for references
  • Cloud sync across devices
  • Share online libraries
  • Create multiple libraries
Features
Read full description

Bookends is the reference management app you've been looking for. The basic version offers: • Search online sites directly (arXiv, Google Books, Google Scholar, JSTOR, the Library of Congress, PubMed, PubMed Central, and Semantic Scholar) or use the built-in browser (EZProxy-compliant) to download reference metadata and PDFs (access privileges required). Searches can return a maximum of 20 references, and only 50 references can be stored in your personal database. • Use unique identifiers such as DOI, PMID, ISBN, or arXiv id to autofill references. • View the text of PDF annotations in a note stream, and create your own with our powerful PDF markup engine. • Barcode scanning, one per day. • And many more features designed to help you discover, organize, and use reference information. Standard, one-time purchase ($14.99): • No limit on searches or importing. Premium, yearly subscription ($14.99). Requires a Standard purchase. • Cloud sync with all your iOS devices and Bookends for Mac (separate purchase). • Share online libraries with colleagues. • Scan documents with Mellel Mobile*. • Create multiple libraries. • Unlimited barcode scanning. • Extract PDF annotations with deep links to annotations and text. • Convenient UI to add PDF notes to the library. • Automate your actions with Shortcuts. * iPad-only. Requires a Mellel Mobile Premium subscription. Subscription is for one year and has an auto-renew option. The subscription can be managed in iOS -> Settings > [your name] > Subscriptions. A subscription will renew if it isn't canceled at least 24 hours before the renewal date. If the subscription is not renewed, Premium will be disabled but Standard will continue to work. Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Talk Fast

This app allows you to quickly convert your spoken words into text messages. It offers a simple workflow to talk, stop, and then copy your transcribed message to any application. It saves your last 50 transcriptions for easy access.

Highlights
  • Speech-to-text conversion
  • Copy text to any app
  • Save last 50 transcriptions
  • Usage statistics
  • Pay-as-you-go talk time
Features
Read full description

We are a husband and wife who text each other a lot, because we love each other... a lot. We built this app for us and we have been using it to communicate by text in a whole new way... by talking! We designed Talk Fast to be the fastest and most accurate way to talk your text messages, with a simple and fluid workflow that results in your text ready to paste anywhere you need it. Just push Talk, start talking, push Stop, and your message is ready to be copied into iMessage, WhatsApp, your email, or wherever you need it. Go back and copy your old transcriptions at any time; Talk Fast saves your last 50 messages. Check your usage stats in the Settings and buy more Talk Time. When you buy Talk Time, you get 2.5 hours of talk time on world-class transcription servers hosted by OpenAI and powered by OpenAI Whisper. You may ask why we are not using a private, offline version of Whisper like many other transcription apps, or why not just use Siri? Simply, they are not as fast or as accurate. Our focus is on making this a solid daily tool that you can use for transcription - that you can truly count on. We haven't found anything else as fast or as reliable and we built Talk Fast with a lot of attention and care to speed and reliability. We do not store your audio files or transcriptions in iCloud or anywhere else besides your iPhone. Our privacy policy and OpenAI Whisper's privacy policy can be found at: https://letstalkabout.app/privacy No need to buy a subscription. You only pay for transcription time in smaller chunks, as you consume them. Try Talk Fast: you will get hooked faster than you think!

Screenshots

Bookends4 screens
Talk Fast4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Talk Fast at 100% against Bookends's 76%. Talk Fast also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). Bookends's advantage is ratings volume (394 vs 7). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Bookends sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year and Talk Fast sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Talk Fast holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookends has 394 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Bookends's written reviews are positive against 100% of Talk Fast's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bookends ships an update every 2 months, Talk Fast every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on August 28, 2026 and September 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Bookends versus Talk Fast: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookendsTalk Fast
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (394 ratings)5.0 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings394 — better7
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size111 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSonny Software, LLCJohn Wright

Customer experience

Bookends

All ratings394 ratings
Positive92.1%
Neutral2.3%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews127 reviews
Positive76.4%
Neutral8.7%
Negative15.0%

Talk Fast

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Bookends

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Incompatibility with iCloud Optimized Storage
  • Unreliable sync between desktop and mobile versions
  • Occasional data loss or corruption

Requested features

4 requests
  • Nested folders and tags for better organization
  • Automatic PDF metadata extraction
  • Improved search and filtering capabilities
  • Seamless integration with third-party services

Talk Fast

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Bookends

Subscriptions1
  • Premium3 Months trial$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Standard$14.99
1 purchases

Talk Fast

One-time1
  • Talk Time$1.99

Questions

Is Bookends free?
Bookends is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Talk Fast free?
Talk Fast is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bookends or Talk Fast?
Talk Fast is rated higher. Bookends averages 4.7 out of 5 from 394 ratings, while Talk Fast averages 5.0 from 7 ratings.
Do Bookends or Talk Fast have ads?
Neither Bookends nor Talk Fast shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bookends or Talk Fast?
Bookends ships an update every 2 months, and Talk Fast every 2 weeks. Most recently, Bookends was updated on August 28, 2026 and Talk Fast on September 12, 2026.

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