Comparison

Off Book! vs Subway Plays

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

Head to head
About

Off Book!

This app helps actors memorize lines by allowing them to create works, scenes, and characters. It offers features to record lines, reorder them, and rehearse scenes by muting or cueing your lines.

Highlights
  • Create Works, Scenes, and Characters
  • Record and Reorder Lines
  • Mute or Cue Your Lines for Rehearsal
  • Share Lines with Other Performers (In-App Purchase)
  • Drag-and-Drop Scene Reordering
  • Delete Entries via Swipe
Features
Read full description

Hi — I'm Steve. I'm a working actor, and I built Off Book! for myself because I was tired of scribbling on scripts and recording lines into voice memos I could never find again. Turns out a bunch of other actors wanted it too. So here it is, made by an actor, for actors. THE GIST Record your script line by line, then play it back to run your scenes anywhere — on the bus, at the gym, pacing your kitchen at 1am the night before opening. It's dead simple: • Make a Work (your play), add your Scenes, drop in your Characters, and Record your Lines. • Recorded a 30-line scene and one line's out of order? Don't you dare start over. Tap the "+" to slip a new line in, or just press-and-hold a line and drag it where it belongs. Voilà. • Scenes out of order too? Same deal — long-press and drag. Fixed. NOW REHEARSE Tap the Rehearse icon and you're in. Play the whole scene, or pick the character YOU'RE playing and flip on "Mute My Line" — the scene plays right up to your cue, then pauses just long enough for you to nail the line before your next cue rolls in. Want a little nudge? "Cue My Line" gives you a friendly *ding* right before it's your turn. And here's the good part for runaround rehearsing: playback keeps going when your screen locks or you switch apps. Lock-screen, Control Center, and headphone controls all work — so you can run lines completely hands-free. Speed it up, slow it down, loop a scene till it sticks. LINESYNC — RUN LINES WITH YOUR CAST Doing a show with other people? LineSync lets a director share a show's lines and recordings with the whole cast across phones. Invite your actors by email; they sync everything to their own phone for FREE. As castmates record their lines, the director hears them show up automatically — no nagging. LineSync is a small monthly subscription per show, paid by the director. The cast never pays a dime. BUILT FOR EVERY ACTOR Dynamic Type, VoiceOver, and Dark Mode work throughout — because the stage is for everybody. Off Book! is free with ads. If the ads cramp your style, there's a one-time "Remove Ads" tap and they're gone forever. Got a slick feature idea, or (gasp!) found a bug? Hit the support link and there's an email box waiting at the bottom — I read them myself. Now go get off book. Break a leg. — Steve ——— PRO TIPS ——— • "It won't save my lines!" → You probably skipped the microphone permission. Reinstall and tap YES when it asks, or go to iPhone Settings → Off Book! → switch Microphone ON. • To DELETE a Line, Character, Scene, or Work: swipe right-to-left and tap Delete. Careful — deleting a Character also deletes its Lines. • Long scene, phone left unattended? Set Auto-Lock to a long time (or Never) so it doesn't nap mid-rehearsal. Privacy Policy: https://thelyonessgroup.com/offbook/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Subway Plays

Experience New York City's subway system through immersive, site-specific audio plays. This app transforms your train ride into a full sensory theatrical performance, allowing you to choose your own schedule for a unique experience on select lines.

Highlights
  • Site-specific audio plays
  • Full sensory experience
  • Podplay genre
  • Self-scheduled performances
  • Supports 7, N, and L trains
Features
Read full description

Subway Plays: An App Play Ride New York City's subway system with nothing more than a set of headphones and this app to experience the site-specific, full sensory experience of a podplay for the 7, N and L trains. Put your earbuds in place and listen to the recorded production in which every surrounding sight, smell and sound plays a supporting role in the experience. Subway Plays are a self-scheduled performance: you can ride the various routes at night, early in the morning, or any time in between - you choose the day and time, which then affects the experience you have. Podplays are an emerging genre of theatre that take advantage of mobile technology to create site-specific audio-based theatrical experiences.

Screenshots

Off Book!4 screens
Subway Plays3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Off Book! at Free against Subway Plays's $2.99. Off Book! also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 21 months) and ratings volume (38 vs 4). Subway Plays's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.1) and in-app purchases (none vs 11). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Off Book! is free to download; Subway Plays costs $2.99 up front. Off Book! sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Subway Plays asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Subway Plays holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Off Book! has 38 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Off Book! ships an update monthly, Subway Plays every 21 months. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Off Book! versus Subway Plays: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOff Book!Subway Plays
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.1 (38 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings38 — better4
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 21 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.016.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB224 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperSteve LUGOVSKYJoshua Parmenter

Customer experience

Off Book!

All ratings38 ratings
Positive81.6%
Neutral2.6%
Negative15.8%
Written reviews78 reviews
Positive78.2%
Neutral3.8%
Negative17.9%

Subway Plays

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Off Book!

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • Keeps crashing
  • Glitching when pressing buttons
  • Saved someone else's lines instead of mine
  • Line sync does not work
  • App deleted all my scenes
Show 13 more
  • App won't open
  • Freezes every time to open
  • Can't make it play via Airpods
  • App shuts down every time I pressed the home button
  • Cannot change the character's name after the initial recording
  • Crashes after a certain number of lines
  • Won't even save my lines
  • App crashed and deleted all the work I'd done
  • Not very user friendly
  • Confusing to use
  • Paid features not working
  • Developer not responding to emails
  • Charged for non-working features

Requested features

22 requests
  • Ability to learn monologues
  • Ability to select self playing more than one character
  • Ability to upload full script by picture or PDF
  • Ability to mute or pause two characters instead of one
  • Ability to automatically cut blank noise at beginning/end of line
Show 17 more
  • Ability to edit lines after saving
  • Ability to export or share line recordings
  • Ability to play a line or whole show on repeat
  • Auto switching of characters in 2 person scenes when recording
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard
  • Easier and smoother to use interface
  • Video tutorial on how to use the app
  • More information on how to use the app
  • Ability to transfer lines from free to paid version
  • Fix crashing and deleting work
  • Fix app shutting down when pressing home button
  • Fix inability to change character name after initial recording
  • Fix inability to play via Airpods
  • Fix sync feature issues
  • Fix app not opening/freezing
  • Fix app deleting scenes

Subway Plays

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Off Book!

Subscriptions5
  • LineSync — Show 1$4.991 Month
  • LineSync — Show 2$4.991 Month
  • LineSync — Show 3$4.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • LineSync Show 4$4.991 Month
  • LineSync Show 5$4.991 Month
One-time2
  • One Month LineSync Subscription5 variants$1.99
  • Remove Ads$2.99
None

Subway Plays

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Off Book! free?
Off Book! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Subway Plays free?
Subway Plays costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Off Book! or Subway Plays?
Subway Plays is rated higher. Off Book! averages 4.1 out of 5 from 38 ratings, while Subway Plays averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Off Book! or Subway Plays have ads?
Off Book! shows ads; Subway Plays does not.
Which is updated more often, Off Book! or Subway Plays?
Off Book! ships an update monthly, and Subway Plays every 21 months. Most recently, Off Book! was updated on October 22, 2026 and Subway Plays on October 22, 2026.

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