Comparison of iOS e-reader software

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following tables compare general and technical features for a number of iOS e-book reader software. Each section corresponds to a major area of functionality in an e-book reader software. The comparisons are based on the latest released version.

Navigation features[]

Product Developer Pagination Rotation Lock Auto-scroll Progress indicator Backward/forward Table of Contents Bookmarks Resume Cloud synchronisation Go To Full text search
[1] Beijing Founder Apabi Technology Limited Yes Yes No In library and in-book Yes Yes Unlimited Yes No Yes Yes
Blio[2] K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc. Yes No No In-book only Yes Yes Unlimited Yes No Yes Yes
Bluefire Reader[3] Bluefire Productions Yes Yes No In-book only Yes Yes Unlimited Yes Yes Yes Yes
[4] Datalogics, Inc Yes Yes No In-book only Yes Yes Unlimited Yes No Yes Yes
[5] Tien Thinh Vu Yes support on iPad, portrait only on iPhone No In library and in-book Yes Yes Unlimited Yes No Yes No
[6] Ebooks.com Limited Yes Yes No In library and in-book Yes Yes Unlimited Yes Yes Yes Yes
[7] Yuriy Melyushin Yes Yes Yes In-book only Yes Yes Unlimited Yes No Yes Yes
Apple Books[8] Apple Yes No Manual In-book only Yes Yes Unlimited Yes Yes Yes Yes
Kindle[9] AMZN Mobile LLC Yes Yes No In library and in-book Yes Yes Unlimited Yes Yes Yes Yes
Kobo Reading App[10] Kobo Inc. Yes Yes No In-book only Yes Yes Last place marker only Yes Yes Yes No
KyBook Reader[11] Konstantin Bukreev Yes Yes No In library and in-book Yes Yes Unlimited Yes No Yes Yes
KyBook 2[12] Konstantin Bukreev Yes Yes In library and in-book Yes Yes Unlimited Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MapleRead[13] Maplepop LLC Yes Yes No In library and in-book Configurable Yes Unlimited Yes Yes Yes Yes
Marvin[14] Appstafarian Yes Yes Yes In library and in-book Configurable Yes Unlimited Yes Optional Yes Yes
[15] Inkstone Software, Inc. Yes Yes No In-book only Yes Yes Unlimited Yes No Yes No
[16] Obreey Products Yes Yes Yes In-book only Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
[17] Ambibma Ltd. Yes Yes No In library and in-book Yes Yes Unlimited Yes No Yes Yes
[18] Tatsumi-system Co., Ltd. Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Stanza[19] Lexcycle Configurable Yes No In library and in-book Configurable Yes Unlimited Yes No Yes Yes
[20] Nix Solutions Ltd Mixed scrolling & pagination Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Unlimited Yes Yes Yes Yes
[21] Sandr Yes Yes No In-book only Yes Yes Unlimited Yes Yes Yes Yes
Product Developer Pagination Rotation Lock Auto-scroll Progress indicator Backward/forward Table of Contents Bookmarks Resume Cloud synchronisation Go To Full text search


Display features[]

Product Multi-column mode Styles (bold/italic/etc.) Page Turn Effects Themes Day/Night mode Enable/Disable sleep mode Brightness Control Indent paragraph Enable/Disable CSS Enable/Disable hyphenation Customize margins Customize text alignment Customize font Customize spacing: line/paragraph
Yes Yes Configurable Yes Yes Yes Vertical swipe Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Blio Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No No No Justification only Yes No
Bluefire Reader No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Vertical swipe No Yes No Pre-set choices only Justification only Yes Line only
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Pre-set choices only Justification only Yes No
Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes No No No No No Yes No
No Yes Yes No Yes (Disabled by default) Yes No No No No No Yes No
Yes Buggy Yes Yes Using styles Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Apple Books Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes No
Kindle Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No Pre-set choices only Yes Yes Line; pre-set choices only
Kobo Reading App No Yes Yes No Yes No Vertical swipe No Yes No No Yes Yes No
KyBook Yes Yes Yes Yes Using themes No Yes Yes Configurable Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
KyBook 2 Yes Yes Yes Using themes Yes Yes Yes Configurable Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MapleRead Configurable Yes Configurable Configurable Configurable Yes Vertical swipe Configurable Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Marvin Configurable Yes Configurable Yes Yes Yes Vertical swipe Yes Configurable Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Configurable Buggy Configurable Yes Using themes Yes Vertical swipe No No No Yes Yes Yes Line only
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes No Yes No
No Buggy Configurable Yes Yes Yes Vertical swipe Configurable No Yes None, small, large Yes Yes Yes
No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No
Stanza No Yes Configurable Yes Yes Yes Vertical swipe Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
No Buggy Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes
Product Multi-column mode Styles (bold/italic/etc.) Page Turn Effects Themes Day/Night mode Enable/Disable sleep mode Brightness Control Indent paragraph Enable/Disable CSS Enable/Disable hyphenation Customize margins Customize text alignment Customize font Customize spacing: line/paragraph


Edit/tool features[]

Product Highlight Annotate Edit meta-data Online dictionary Offline dictionary Lookup Wikipedia Translate Share TTS support (read aloud) DRM support Export to iTunes
No No No No No No No Two Chinese websites only No No Yes
Blio Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes
Bluefire Reader Yes Yes Author, Title, Publisher Yes No No No Facebook, Twitter, eMail No Yes Yes
Yes Yes Author, Title, Publisher No No No Yes No No Adobe DRM Yes
No No No No Yes No Yes eMail No No Yes
Yes Yes No No No No No Facebook, Twitter, eMail, Google+ No Adobe DRM Yes
No No No No Yes No No eMail No No Yes
Apple Books Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Facebook, Twitter, eMail, SMS yes, via VoiceOver Apple FairPlay Yes
Kindle Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Facebook, Twitter No Yes Yes
Kobo Reading App Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Facebook, Twitter No Yes Yes
KyBook Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Facebook, Twitter, eMail, VKontakte Yes No Yes
KyBook 2 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Facebook, Twitter, eMail, VKontakte Yes No Yes Yes
MapleRead Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Marvin Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Facebook, Twitter, eMail, customizable Yes No Yes
No No No No No No No No No No Yes
Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Facebook, Twitter, eMail, SMS No Yes Yes
No No Author, Title, Label No Yes No No Whole book only, eMail No No Yes
Yes Yes No No No No No No No No Yes
Stanza No Yes Yes No Yes No No Facebook, Twitter, eMail No No Yes
Yes No Yes No No No Yes eMail No No Yes
No No No No No Yes Yes eMail Yes No Yes
Product Highlight Annotate Edit meta-data Online dictionary Offline dictionary Lookup Wikipedia Translate Share TTS support (read aloud) DRM support Export to iTunes


Book source management features[]

Product Book store(s) Book search In-app Epub import Import via in-app Browser OPDS catalog Other import via Tag books Sort books
Yes Yes Yes No Yes eMail (MIME type)

Built-in web server

No Yes
Blio No No Yes No No eMail (MIME type) No No
Bluefire Reader Free ebook libraries only Yes No No No eMail (MIME type)

iTunes File Sharing

Built-in Web Server

No Yes
Yes No Yes Yes No eMail (MIME type) Yes No
Free ebook libraries only Yes Yes Yes No eMail (MIME type) No Yes
No No Yes No No Built-in web server Yes Yes
No Yes Yes Yes Yes Calibre (Bonjour)

Built-in web server

No Yes
Apple Books Apple Books Store Yes No No No eMail (MIME type) No Yes
Kindle No No No No No iTunes File Sharing No No
Kobo Reading App No No No No No eMail (MIME type) No No
KyBook Free ebook libraries only Yes Yes Yes Yes eMail (MIME type)

Google Books

Dropbox

Google Drive

Yandex Disk

VK Docs

Network folders

iTunes File Sharing

Yes Yes
KyBook 2 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes eMail (MIME type)

Google Books

Dropbox

Google Drive

Yandex Disk

OneDrive

iCloud

Could Mail.ru

OwnCloud (WebDav)

VK Docs

Network folders (SMB/CIFS)

Apple Folders App

iTunes File Sharing

Yes Yes
MapleRead Free ebook libraries only Yes Yes Yes Yes Built-in web server

Calibre (Bonjour)

eMail (MIME type)

Dropbox

iTunes File Sharing

Yes Yes
Marvin Free ebook libraries only Yes Yes Yes Yes Calibre (Bonjour)

eMail (MIME type)

Dropbox

iTunes File Sharing

Yes Yes
No Yes Yes No Yes Calibre (Bonjour)

eMail (MIME type)

No No
Yes Yes No Yes Yes iTunes File Sharing

eMail (MIME type)

No Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Calibre (Bonjour)

eMail (MIME type)

iTunes File Sharing

Yes Yes
No Yes No No No iTunes File Sharing

Dropbox

No No
Stanza No Yes Yes No Yes Calibre (Bonjour)

eMail (MIME type)

iTunes File Sharing

Yes Yes
No Yes Yes No Yes eMail (MIME type)

iTunes File Sharing

No Yes
Free ebook libraries only Yes Yes No Yes eMail (MIME type) No Yes
Product Book store(s) Book search In-app Epub import Import via in-app Browser OPDS catalog Other import via Tag books Sort books


Supported File Formats[]

See Comparison of e-book formats for details on the file formats.

Product total # of formats .cbr/.cbz .chm .djvu .epub .fb2 .html .mobi .pdb .pdf .rtf .txt
3 No No No Yes No No No No Yes No Yes
Blio 2 No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No
Bluefire Reader 2 No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No
2 No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No
10+ Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2 No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No
6+ No No No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Apple Books 2 No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No
Kindle 2 No No No No No No Yes No Yes No No
Kobo Reading App 2 No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No
KyBook 8 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes
KyBook 2 16 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
MapleRead 2 No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No
Marvin 2 Yes No No Yes No No No No No No No
1 No No No Yes No No No No No No No
8+ Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes
5+ No No No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
2 Yes No No No No No No No Yes No No
Stanza 5+ Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No
5 No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes
5 No No No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes
Product total # of formats .cbr/.cbz .chm .djvu .epub .fb2 .html .mobi .pdb .pdf .rtf .txt


License[]

Product Free License
Yes
Blio Partial (voices cost)
Bluefire Reader Partial (Cloudshelf edition is free) Proprietary
Yes
No
Yes Proprietary
No
Apple Books Yes Proprietary
Kindle Yes
Kobo Reading App Yes
KyBook / KyBook 2 Yes Proprietary, partially OS
MapleRead Partial (CX edition is free)
Marvin Partial (ability to see more than one book in library cost)
No
Partial
Yes Proprietary
Stanza Yes Proprietary
No
No

Special features[]

Product Special features
Support for the CEBX ebook format

VGA output support

Blio Support for the visually impaired
Bluefire Reader Optional PDF password protection

Localized in English, French, German, Norwegian, Icelandic, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Danish

Support for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language epub3 format including Vertical writing mode and R2L page order

Supports multiple concurrent Adobe user account activations, both Adobe ID and Vendor ID accounts

Export notes and highlights to email

Collections Feature for organizing user Library

Optional PDF password protection

Localized in Japanese, English, German, French, Russian, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese

Optional password protection

Displays Microsoft Office documents

Adjust screen brightness via swipe

Localized in Japanese, English, German, French, Russian, Vietnamese

Supports custom Stardict Dictionaries

Supports online translation to 105 languages

Full Epub3 support for in-book audio and video.

Online sync of all bookmarks, highlights, notes and reading position.

Import DRM free PDF and Epub files.

User created collections for organizing books.

Configurable status line

Custom PDF engine

Apple Books Apple Books can read text aloud to the user.
Kindle Ebooks can be emailed to an auto-generated Amazon email address
Kobo Reading App Strictly enforces registration with Kobo

Support for magazine subscriptions.

Extensive social media support via Facebook.

Reading statistics and achievements.

KyBook Localized in Russian, English

Supports online translation via Yandex.Translate

Allows loading user fonts

Extensive options for library sorting

Changing book covers via Google Image Search

Supports use of Tor Network

KyBook 2 Localized in English, Russian, German, Greek

Supports online translation via Yandex, Microsoft and Auto translation

Text to Speech technology

Allows loading user fonts

Extensive options for library sorting

Changing book covers via Google Image Searchand other sources

Supports Audio Books (mp3, m4a, m4b), comic books (cbr, cbz, cbt), Amazon format (awz) and archives (zip, rar, tar)

Supports use of Tor Network

Marvin Optional password protection.

Customizable page warmth and tint.

"Deep View" automatically creates name lists, summaries, adds references to (Wikipedia) articles and pins web pages, reviews, etc... to the book.

Specialized font to assist users with Dyslexia.

Integration and annotation syncing with Calibre.

Global & book-specific vocabulary.

Export notes, highlights, vocabulary & other user modifications to XHTML and CSV files.

Reading timer.

Configurable tap zones (next/previous page, show menus, rotation lock, toggle heads up display)

Optionally uses the rear camera for "look-through" reading.

Export book info, notes, highlights to mail, sms, Facebook, Twitter.

Localization in English and Russian.

Single page, dual page or scroll viewing modes.

Crop page margins manually or automatically to fit page content to the screen size.

Allows zoom in or out a page via pinch and stretch gestures.

Allows zoom to a particular text fragment via double touch.

Adjust font size via pinch and stretch gestures (epub, fb2, txt).

Basic support for Microsoft Office documents (DOC, XLS, PPT) & RTF.

Extensive East Asian support

Optional password protection

Single page, dual page or scroll viewing modes.

Choose from opening left to right / right to left / vertically for comics or manga.

Choose the pair of facing pages by setting the cover to on or off

Supports comic books (cbr, cbz), and archives (zip, rar)

Localized in English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese

Stanza Cover Flow[f 1]

Extensive options for library sorting

Customizable background picture & transparency settings

Has some stability problems on iOS >= 5.0

Stanza is not being updated any more

Displays Microsoft Office documents

Customizable background

Extensive options for library sorting

Product Special features
  1. ^ Not on the iPad

Further reading[]

Discontinued e-book reader software

  • The Readmill app, introduced in February 2011, read numerous formats on Android and iOS devices but shut down on July 1, 2014.[22]
  • Also the Blio,[23] DL Reader[24] and Stanza app are no longer available.

See also[]

  • Comparison of Android e-book reader software
  • Comparison of e-book formats - includes both device and software formats
  • Comparison of e-book readers - includes hardware e-book readers

References[]

  1. ^ "Apabi Reader". Founder Group. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  2. ^ "Blio". KNFB Reading Technology, Inc. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
  3. ^ "Bluefire Reader". Bluefire Productions, LLC. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  4. ^ "DL Reader". Datalogics Inc. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
  5. ^ "eBookMobi". Vu Tien Thinh. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  6. ^ "Ebook Reader". Ebooks.com Limited. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
  7. ^ "i2Reader". Unsanity. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  8. ^ "iBooks". Apple. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  9. ^ "Kindle". AMZN Mobile LLC. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  10. ^ "Kobo eBooks". Kobo Inc. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  11. ^ "KyBook". Konstantin Bukreev. Retrieved 2013-10-10.
  12. ^ "KyBook 2". Konstantin Bukreev. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  13. ^ "MapleRead". Maplepop LLC. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
  14. ^ "Marvin". Appstafarian. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  15. ^ "MegaReader". Inkstone Software, Inc. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  16. ^ "PocketBook reader". Obreey Products. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  17. ^ "ShuBook 2". Ambibma Ltd. Retrieved 2020-02-29.
  18. ^ "SideBooks". TOKYO IP. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  19. ^ "Stanza". Lexcycle. Archived from the original on 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  20. ^ "uBooks XL". NIX Solutions Ltd. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  21. ^ "iBouquiniste". Sandr. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
  22. ^ Bond, John-Michael (June 24, 2014). "Readmill is closing its doors on July 1, 2014". The Unofficial Apple Weblog.
  23. ^ "Connecting to the iTunes Store". Apple. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  24. ^ "Connecting to the iTunes Store". Apple. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
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