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 Blio K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc. Bluefire Reader Bluefire Productions Apple Books Apple Kindle AMZN Mobile LLC Kobo Reading App Kobo Inc. Stanza Lexcycle 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 Blio Bluefire Reader Line only Apple Books Kindle Kobo Reading App Stanza 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 Blio Bluefire Reader Apple Books Kindle Kobo Reading App Stanza 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 Blio eMail (MIME type) Bluefire Reader eMail (MIME type) iTunes File Sharing
Built-in Web Server Apple Books eMail (MIME type) Kindle iTunes File Sharing Kobo Reading App eMail (MIME type) Stanza Calibre (Bonjour)
eMail (MIME type)
iTunes File Sharing 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 Blio 2 Bluefire Reader 2 Apple Books 2 Kindle 2 Kobo Reading App 2 Stanza 5+ Product total # of formats .cbr/.cbz .chm .djvu .epub .fb2 .html .mobi .pdb .pdf .rtf .txt
License
Product Free License Blio (voices cost) Bluefire Reader (Cloudshelf edition is free) Proprietary Apple Books Proprietary Kindle Kobo Reading App Stanza Proprietary
Special features
Product Special features 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 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. Stanza Cover FlowNot on the iPad 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 Product Special features
Discontinued software The Readmill app, introduced in February 2011, read numerous formats on Android and iOS devices but shut down on July 1, 2014. Also the Blio, DL Reader and Stanza app are no longer available.
See also Comparison of Android e-reader software Comparison of e-book formats - includes both device and software formats Comparison of e-readers - includes hardware e-book readers
References