LibraryThing vs OBC Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LibraryThing
Catalog your personal book, DVD, and CD collections. Easily add items by searching or scanning barcodes. Enhance your catalog with high-resolution cover photos and browse your collection visually.
- Catalog books, DVDs, and CDs
- Search for media items
- Scan ISBN barcodes
- Add high-resolution cover photos
- Browse collection by cover type
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The LibraryThing app allows LibraryThing members to catalog and browse their collections. LibraryThing is focused on books, but you can add most media, including books, DVDs and CDs. LibraryThing relies on data from Amazon, and over 65 million library records. Add books by searching for them or scanning their ISBN barcode with the camera. Add high-resolution cover photos of your books with the cover editor and browse your books by cover type to find copies that need better covers.
OBC Reader
Access a library of ePub2 books, download free titles from a community collection, and enjoy private books for members. Features include copy-paste, bookmarking, and text search for an enhanced reading experience.
- Read ePub2 books
- Download free books
- Community library access
- Private member books
- Copy-paste text
- Bookmarks
- Text search
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You can read books, download free books from the community library, and private books for Online Book Club members. This first version supports ePub2 format books in English. The e-reader allows copy-paste, bookmarks, and text search.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: LibraryThing at 3.5 against OBC Reader's 2.8. LibraryThing also leads on ratings volume (278 vs 10) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 13.0). OBC Reader's advantage is review sentiment (78% vs 48%). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
LibraryThing holds the better App Store score, 3.5 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LibraryThing has 278 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 48% of LibraryThing's written reviews are positive against 78% of OBC Reader's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
LibraryThing ships an update every 4 weeks, OBC Reader every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and June 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LibraryThing | OBC Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (278 ratings) — better | 2.8 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 48.2% of reviews | 77.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 278 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | LibraryThing.com | OnlineBookClub.org LLC |
Customer experience
LibraryThing
OBC Reader
Bugs and requests
LibraryThing
Reported bugs
3 issues- Barcode scanner not working
- Books disappearing from catalog
- Editing and saving issues
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to create custom collections
- Offline access to library
- Integration with other book apps
- Lending/loan tracking feature
OBC Reader
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
LibraryThing
No in-app purchases
OBC Reader
No in-app purchases
