Comparison

Glose vs Simon & Schuster Books

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

Head to head
About

Glose

This reading app enhances the experience with social features, allowing users to connect with others, share notes, and join online book clubs. Explore a vast ebookstore, read excerpts for free, and import your own EPUBs for offline access.

Highlights
  • Social reading and annotation sharing
  • Access to 1 million ebooks
  • Read up to 10% of any book for free
  • Import your own EPUBs
  • Offline reading capabilities
  • Create and join online book clubs
  • Generate and share quote cards
Features
Read full description

The next-generation READING APP that makes reading AWESOME with features to keep you engaged and motivated. Pick a book in our choice of 1 million, start reading any book for free, connect with other readers and share notes, highlights, and conversation - and become a better reader. Build your bookshelf in seconds : Create a free reader profile, organize your books, create lists. Browse our ebookstore : 1 million ebooks in all categories. Best sellers, fiction, non fiction, young adult, business, education etc... with great discounts and free classics. Start any book for free! One touch and you’re into any book for free. Read up to 10% of the content before deciding to pursue and purchase the book. Also, upload an import your own epubs from Dropbox, your desktop of anywhere else! Read anywhere, anytime, online and offline. Glose stores your current reads so you can read them offline, in the bus, subway, in the depths of a mysterious forest or a far away galaxy. Join the Community : see what other people are reading, recommending, highlighting, and annotating. Read with your friends! Create reading groups to read with your friends and share highlights and annotations. Shared annotations in the margins of the text make reading more engaging and exciting. Post a note and see what other readers think. Start an online book club! Create a group, pick a name and image, invite people and choose books : you’ve got your online book club read to go - around the world! Make reading beautiful : create beautiful quote cards from the books you read. Choose a sentence that inspires you, choose a background photo, and share the quote card on social media. More about Glose : Reading for better learning : our unique features makes your reading more conducive to text analysis, memorization, and study. Glose is used in leading schools and universities to power distribution of reading material and discussion around text. Our bookstore features the works of Malcolm Gladwell, Walter Isaacson, Stephen King, John Green, Paulo Coelho, James Patterson, E.L. James, Suzanne Collins, Danielle Steel, David Baldacci, Janet Evanovich, Nora Roberts, Dan Brown, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, George R.R Martin, and many more ! 
 • Read popular FREE ebooks by classic authors : Moby Dick, Alice in Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes, The Art of War, by Sun Tzu, The Marvelous Land of Oz, Tales from Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet, Pride & Prejudice and more. 
 On Glose, reading becomes social. You can highlight your favorite quotes with one touch, archive them, share them on social networks, and annotate them. So join our community of readers who read, share, and discuss the books they love! Glose provides the most powerful reading experience online. • Customise your reading settings to personalise your experience
 : fonts, spacing, page structure, background color (might mode and more). • Always pick up your reading at the right page thanks to automatic synchronisation of your Reading activity on all devices. 
 • Make new friends through books
 So what are you waiting for ? Don’t miss the inspiring conversations happening every day in Glose, and Download our app ! Connect with us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GloseApp) Follow Glose on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Glose)

About

Simon & Schuster Books

Access your purchased ebooks and audiobooks from simonandschuster.com. Enjoy features like bookmarking, customizable text, and offline playback. Listen to audiobooks with a sleep timer and background play.

Highlights
  • Offline ebook and audiobook access
  • Customizable e-reader (font, themes)
  • Audiobook playback controls
  • Sleep timer for audiobooks
  • Background audio playback
  • Cross-device bookmarking
Features
Read full description

An ebook and audiobook app designed exclusively for purchases made at simonandschuster.com. Welcome to the Simon & Schuster books app, powered by Glassboxx. We are delighted to offer you an easy and secure way to enjoy your ebook and audiobook purchases. No password required – you can either use our social sign on with Apple or Google, or simply log in with the email address used to buy the book and enter the verification code sent to your email – and your content awaits in the ‘My books’ area of the app, with formats clearly labelled. With the content in the cloud, downloading requires an initial internet connection. Once downloaded, you can access your books and enjoy them offline. THE EREADER ALLOWS FOR: • Page book-marking, opening the title at the right place when you pick up, even across multiple devices • Font-size and font face changes, as well as dyslexic-friendly font • Page colour themes (white, dark, and sepia) • Full text search • Highlighting • Annotations THE AUDIO-PLAYER WILL: • Auto-save your current position in the book – so that you can pick up right where you left off, even if listening on different devices • Allow for skip forward/backward to recap where relevant • Offer sleep timer option • Play on lock-screen, enabling easy access to playback controls • Play in background whilst browsing other apps • Play immediately, and download in the background (provided internet access is available) • Display accompanying materials for the audiobook • Integrate with Apple Car Play • Connect to Airplay devices

Screenshots

Glose4 screens
Simon & Schuster Books4 screens

Verdict

The call

Glose and Simon & Schuster Books both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 27% of Glose's written reviews are positive against 0% of Simon & Schuster Books's. Glose also leads on ratings volume (8.1K vs 119) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). Simon & Schuster Books's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, rating, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Glose against 4.4 for Simon & Schuster Books. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Glose has 8.1K ratings behind it against 119, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 27% of Glose's written reviews are positive against 0% of Simon & Schuster Books's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Glose ships an update every 3 weeks, Simon & Schuster Books every 2 months. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Glose versus Simon & Schuster Books: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGloseSimon & Schuster Books
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (8.1K ratings) — better4.4 (119 ratings)
Positive reviews26.7% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings8.1K — better119
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB36 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperReadwise, IncGlassboxx Limited

Customer experience

Glose

All ratings8,049 ratings
Positive86.9%
Neutral4.2%
Negative8.9%
Written reviews176 reviews
Positive26.7%
Neutral9.7%
Negative63.6%

Simon & Schuster Books

All ratings117 ratings
Positive86.3%
Neutral1.7%
Negative12.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

Glose

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Pages skipping or jumping unexpectedly
  • Highlighting and note-taking features not working as expected
  • Audiobook playback issues like skipping and glitching
  • Login and account management problems

Requested features

4 requests
  • Bookmark and annotation management
  • Customizable reading settings
  • Seamless sync across devices
  • Improved search and organization of library

Simon & Schuster Books

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Glose

No in-app purchases

None

Simon & Schuster Books

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Glose free?
Glose is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Simon & Schuster Books free?
Simon & Schuster Books is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Glose or Simon & Schuster Books?
Glose is rated higher. Glose averages 4.5 out of 5 from 8.1K ratings, while Simon & Schuster Books averages 4.4 from 119 ratings.
Do Glose or Simon & Schuster Books have ads?
Neither Glose nor Simon & Schuster Books shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Glose or Simon & Schuster Books?
Glose ships an update every 3 weeks, and Simon & Schuster Books every 2 months. Most recently, Glose was updated on November 6, 2026 and Simon & Schuster Books on November 6, 2026.

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