Booklover vs Smart Comic Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Booklover
Organize and read a vast collection of eBooks, including PDFs, manga, and scanned books. Seamlessly sync with iCloud Drive and customize your reading experience with advanced reader settings and library management tools.
- Manage and view eBooks (PDF, ZIP/CBZ, RAR/CBR)
- iCloud Drive syncing
- Organize books by genre and bibliographic details
- Powerful search and Library Navigator
- Customizable reader settings
- Bookmarks and PDF annotations
- Support for archived image files
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Booklover is a highly responsive and robust eBook reader. It excels at handling PDFs, manga, and scanned books. The metadata-driven library management system makes it easy to organize and enjoy a large collection of books in PDF, ZIP/CBZ, and RAR/CBR formats. Seamlessly integrated with iCloud Drive, books in the iCloud Drive/Booklover folder automatically appear in the app’s library and can be downloaded on demand. In the library, you can organize books by genres and arrange them using various bibliographic details such as title, author, publisher, and more. With the search field and powerful Library Navigator, you can quickly locate a book among thousands in your collection. Customize your reading experience with settings for each book, including page layout, transition axis and style, cropping, filters, progress direction, background, and more. Booklover supports bookmarks with titles and notes, as well as PDF text annotations (highlights), text search, and a table of contents. Main Features: # General • Manage and view eBooks (PDF, ZIP/CBZ, RAR/CBR) • Support for archived image files in JPG, PNG, GIF, HEIF, WEBP, AVIF, and JPEG XL formats • Automatic syncing of book files placed in iCloud Drive/Booklover. On-demand caching (download) of the remote files • Import files via iTunes (Windows), Finder (Mac), AirDrop, Drag & Drop, "Open with..." etc. • Import files via apps from various cloud storage services, such as Dropbox and OneDrive, as well as other services accessible through the iOS Files app. • Slide Over / Split View (iPad) • Hardware keyboard support (mainly in the reader) # Library • Section books by genre (ON/OFF) • The Library Navigator (ON/OFF) • Histories of added and opened books • Context Menu for individual books (long-press a book cover) • Change sort order: By Title, Author, Publisher, Filename, Added Date, etc. • Alphanumeric Index Labels (ON/OFF) • Toggle display of cover accessories • Adjust cover grid size • Responsive Shadow (shows page volume with shadow) • Filter books by Status, Genre, Tags, etc. • Search books by various bibliographic details, file name, and tags # Reader • PDF text annotations (highlights) with notes, text search, and a table of contents • Bookmarks with titles and notes • Lists of bookmarks and PDF annotations • Page transition settings: Axis (Horizontal, Vertical), Style (Scroll, Continuous Scroll, Stack, Crossfade, Zoom fade, Instant) • Progress direction setting: Left to Right, Right to Left (for vertical text, manga, Arabic, etc.) • Page layout setting: Automatic, Single-Page, Two-Pages (spread) • Separate page layout settings for view orientation (Portrait / Landscape) • Page trimming (for images only) • Page sizing: Show All, Width-Fit, Height-Fit • Page thumbnail view (overview, bookmarks) • Image correction filters • Dynamic background (When the "Background Color" option for a book is set to "Dynamic") • Adjust page spread position (Insert adjuster page at the beginning of the book body) • Text recognition within images (with compatible devices only) • Export (share) the currently displayed page # Book Management • Edit metadata: Title, Author, Genre, Publisher, Published Date, ISBN, etc. • Edit Tags (Can be used as filter criteria in the side menu) • Extract metadata (title/author) from PDFs • Extract various metadata from file names with configurable extraction rules • Automatic/Manual cropping of book covers • Batch modification of book settings and metadata • Transfer book files: "Open with...", AirDrop, Drag & Drop, etc. • Can manage the content files and data separately ("Ghost Book") ——————————————— # Acknowledgments [Books used in the screenshots] • "Give My Regards to Black Jack" by SHUHO SATO (Manga on Web: http://mangaonweb.com) • Public domain books from Feedbooks (http://www.feedbooks.com) • Public domain comics from digitalcomicmuseum.com (http://digitalcomicmuseum.com)
Smart Comic Reader
This app offers a unique comic reading experience by automatically detecting and zooming into individual panels. It allows for seamless navigation between panels with simple taps, optimizing the view for smaller screens. Import comics from various sources and organize them within your iCloud or local storage.
- Automatic panel detection and zoom
- Seamless panel-to-panel navigation
- Optimized viewing for small screens
- Comic import from any source
- iCloud sync and local storage options
- Supports CBZ, CBR, and PDF formats
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A different kind of comic reader that offers a better way to read comics on a smaller screen. How it works: 1. Import any comic into the app. 2. Double tap on a panel and watch the app automatically detect its boundaries and zoom in on it. 3. Tap on the side of the screen to easily move to the next panel. If needed, the app will rotate the comic to make maximum use of your screen space. Key Features ============ Smart Reader: - Automatically zoom in and move between panels for a smooth reading experience. - Works with any comic, western or manga, no matter the art style. Panels do not need well-defined edges to be detected. - Always stay in control, let the app guide you over the page while you can always manually zoom and pan. Comic Collection: - Import comics from anywhere and organize your comic collection. - Comics are stored in iCloud to save storage space and keep your collection in sync across devices. - Your Smart Comic Reader collection is a regular folder on your iCloud Drive that you can access and manage from any iCloud connected device, like a Mac, or a Windows device using iCloud for Windows. - Also works locally if iCloud is disabled. - Supports comics in CBZ/ZIP, CBR/RAR and PDF formats. And many more features to come! If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to send them to: support@vandijk.dev. Comics in video and screenshots: “Pepper&Carrot”, David Revoy, CC-By “Plastic Man”, Quality Comics, Public Domain “Say Hello to Black Jack”, Shuho Sato
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Smart Comic Reader at 4.9 against Booklover's 4.6. Smart Comic Reader also leads on ratings volume (539 vs 57) and price ($2.99 vs $3.99). Booklover's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 weeks) and chart position (#20 vs #72). On review sentiment, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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
Booklover costs $3.99 and Smart Comic Reader $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Smart Comic Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Smart Comic Reader has 539 ratings behind it against 57, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of Booklover's written reviews are positive against 91% of Smart Comic Reader's.
Booklover ships an update fortnightly, Smart Comic Reader every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Booklover | Smart Comic Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | $2.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (57 ratings) | 4.9 (539 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 87.0% of reviews | 91.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 57 | 539 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #20 — better | #72 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 18.3 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Plastic Software, Inc. | Onne van Dijk |
Customer experience
Booklover
Smart Comic Reader
Bugs and requests
Booklover
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Smart Comic Reader
Reported bugs
3 issues- Deleted user's entire comic collection
- iCloud sync not working for some users
- Freezing/crashing issues on iPad
Requested features
6 requests- Page marking/bookmarking function
- Built-in dictionary/translation tool
- Vertical scrolling mode for webtoons
- Ability to manually arrange reading order
- Live Text integration for dictionary lookup
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- Widgets for quick access
In-app purchases
Booklover
No in-app purchases
Smart Comic Reader
No in-app purchases









