# justRead vs KyBook 3: the long format list, or an app that is still updated KyBook 3 opens DjVu, FB2, RTF and more, turns pages with a curl and reads from your own servers, but its newest release is dated 23 February 2019. justRead is current: widgets, Shortcuts, goals and read aloud with voices that run on the device. Checked 2026-10-28. Canonical page: https://justread.app/en/compare/justread-vs-kybook-3 ## Which should you pick? - **KyBook 3**: you read many file types (DjVu, FB2, RTF, MOBI), use SMB shares, WebDAV or Dropbox, want a low price, or your iPhone cannot run iOS 18.1. - **justRead**: your iPhone runs iOS 18.1 or later and you want an app that is still updated, with widgets, Shortcuts, goals, Calibre sync and read aloud with voices that run on the device. It costs $79.99 once, after a 14-day trial. ## The format veteran and the current app Both read DRM-free books. They differ in how many file types they open and in how recently they were updated. KyBook 3 opens DjVu, FB2, RTF and CBT comics as well as EPUB and PDF, turns pages with a curl, reads aloud, connects to OPDS catalogs, and keeps books on cloud drives and network shares. The newest release in Apple's lookup is dated 23 February 2019. justRead was updated in October 2026. It opens fewer file types and does more on the phone: ten widgets, Shortcuts and Siri, goals and streaks, read aloud with voices that run on the device and a two-way Calibre sync. Reviewers still use KyBook 3 in 2026, and several ask for an update. One could not create the account for its cloud sync. Those are individual reports, quoted below with the rating and version. ## What each app costs KyBook 3 is the cheaper app at every tier. ### KyBook 3: free to download The App Store lists KyBook 3 as Free with in-app purchases. Upgrade to Pro is listed at $4.99. [1] ### KyBook 3: sync is a subscription The store says synchronization requires a subscription. It costs $4.49 for 3 months or $14.99 for a year. [1] ### KyBook 3: what Pro adds The maker's site lists DjVu, tabs, a content server, auto scrolling, drawing on pages, PDF Reflow and Tor as Pro features. [2] ### justRead: free for 14 days, then paid justRead costs $4.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $79.99 once, after a 14-day trial. [3][4] ## justRead and KyBook 3, row by row A Yes or No always has a source. Click a mark to see it. Not listed means the store description and the maker's archived site do not mention it. | What matters | justRead | KyBook 3 | | --- | --- | --- | | Price | $79.99 once. A 14-day trial, then $4.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $79.99 once. [3][4] | Free. Upgrade to Pro is listed at $4.99. [1] | | What Pro adds | Trial, then paid. The 14-day trial is followed by a paywall. [4] | DjVu and more. Pro adds DjVu, tabs, a content server, auto scrolling, drawing on pages, PDF Reflow and Tor. [2] | | Newest release | 5.6. On the App Store since October 2026. [5] | Feb 2019. The newest release in Apple's lookup is dated 23 February 2019. [6] | | Oldest iOS | iOS 18.1 [4][5] | iOS 11.0 [1] | | iPhone and iPad | iPhone and iPad [4] | iPhone and iPad. The store lists it as designed for iPad and not verified for macOS. [1] | | EPUB and PDF | Yes [4] | Yes [2] | | MOBI and AZW3 | No. The import list holds no MOBI or AZW3 entry. [4] | Yes [2] | | FB2, TXT, RTF and DjVu | No. The import list holds no FB2, TXT or DjVu entry. [4] | Yes. DjVu is a Pro feature. [2] | | Comics | CBZ and CBR. CBR is repacked into CBZ on import. [4] | CBR, CBZ and CBT [2] | | Audiobook files | Yes. Plays m4b, m4a, mp3, aac and flac with a chapter list. [4] | Yes. Plays MP3, M4A and M4B, and streams audiobooks from cloud storage. [2] | | Page turning | Page curl. An opt-in page curl for paginated EPUB, and continuous scroll. [4] | Curl, scroll, slide [2] | | Read aloud | On the device. Apple voices, and two sets of downloadable neural voices that run on the device. PDFs are not read aloud. [4] | Yes. The maker's help page lists a known issue: speech stops after one word, sentence or paragraph. [2][7] | | Reading statistics and goals | Yes. A Statistics tab with a goal calendar heatmap, a daily goal, a pages goal, a yearly books goal and a streak. [4] | Not listed. The maker's site names no statistics, reading goal or streak. [2] | | Dictionaries | Dictionary sheet. A dictionary sheet with an extra Wikipedia source. [4] | Your own. Custom dictionaries in Dictd, StarDict and Lingvo DSL formats. [2] | | Search in a book | Full text. Searches the whole book or the chapter, with a match counter. [4] | Full text, fuzzy, regex. Searches textually, fuzzily or with regular expressions. [2] | | Drawing on the page | No. justRead does not draw ink on a page. [4] | Yes. Drawn annotations work with Apple Pencil in any ebook. [2] | | Export notes | Markdown, PDF. Exports a book's highlights as Markdown and as PDF, and to Readwise. [4] | Four formats. Annotations export as Markdown, HTML, PDF and RTF. [2] | | Built-in sync | iCloud. Syncs position, bookmarks, highlights, finished state, covers, settings and fonts. [4] | Subscription. Sync needs a subscription: $4.49 for 3 months or $14.99 for a year. The maker's site marks syncing the files as coming soon. [1][2] | | Cloud drives and shares | Through Files. Has no Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive connector. Those services appear as folders the Files app shows. [4] | Direct. Books can live in iCloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Yandex Disk, SMB shares or a WebDAV server. [2] | | OPDS catalogs | Yes. Ships Project Gutenberg as a built-in catalog and downloads books from any OPDS catalog. [4] | Yes. A built-in list, your own catalog such as a Calibre content server, and .onion catalogs over Tor. [2] | | Calibre | Two-way sync. Imports from a Calibre content server and syncs highlights, notes and bookmarks both ways. [4] | As a catalog. A Calibre content server works as your own OPDS catalog. [2] | | Read a book in place | Yes. Reads a book from the folder you chose in Files without copying it. [4] | Not listed [2] | | Widgets | Ten. Five home-screen widgets and five lock-screen widgets, plus a Control Center control. [4] | Not listed. Neither the store description nor the maker's site names a widget. [6][2] | | Shortcuts and Siri | Yes. Exposes App Intents for Shortcuts and Siri. [4] | Not listed. Neither the store description nor the maker's site names Siri or Shortcuts. [6][2] | | CarPlay | Yes. Plays audiobooks and Read Aloud in CarPlay as an audio app. [4] | Not listed. Neither the store description nor the maker's site names CarPlay. [6][2] | KyBook 3 is closed source, so its cells describe its store listing and its maker's site, not its code. Every cell was re-read on 28 October 2026. ## Read aloud in justRead KyBook 3 has text to speech. justRead adds voices that run on the device. justRead reads an EPUB aloud with Apple's voices and highlights the sentence being read. Two sets of neural voices, Kokoro and Supertonic, download once and run on the device. KyBook 3's maker lists text to speech among its features, and its own help page lists a known issue where speech stops after one word, sentence or paragraph. ## Where KyBook 3 is the better pick Six places where KyBook 3 is better. ### More file types It opens FB2, TXT, RTF, DjVu, MOBI and AZW3 as well as EPUB and PDF, and CBT comics on top of CBR and CBZ. justRead's import list holds no MOBI, AZW3, FB2, TXT or DjVu entry. [2][4] ### The price KyBook 3 is free to download and Upgrade to Pro is listed at $4.99. justRead costs $79.99 once after its 14-day trial. [1][3] ### Older iPhones KyBook 3 needs iOS 11.0 or later. justRead needs iOS 18.1. An iPhone that cannot update to iOS 18.1 can still run KyBook 3. [1][4] ### Cloud drives and network shares Books can live in iCloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Yandex Disk, SMB shares or a WebDAV server. justRead has no connector for Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive, and those services appear only as folders the Files app shows. [2][4] ### Drawing on the page Drawn annotations work with Apple Pencil in any ebook. justRead does not draw ink on a page. [2][4] ### Your own dictionaries and a sharper search Custom dictionaries in Dictd, StarDict and Lingvo DSL formats, and book search that can be fuzzy or use regular expressions. justRead has a dictionary sheet with a Wikipedia source and a full-text search. [2][4] ## Where justRead is the better pick Six places where justRead is better. ### It is still updated justRead 5.6 reached the App Store in October 2026. The newest release in Apple's lookup for KyBook 3 is dated 23 February 2019, and the news list on its maker's site ends with v0.7.5 in February 2019. [5][6][2] ### Widgets and the lock screen Five home-screen widgets, five lock-screen widgets and a Control Center control that continues your book. KyBook's store description and its maker's site name no widget, lock-screen feature, Siri, Shortcuts or CarPlay. [4][6][2] ### Shortcuts and Siri justRead exposes App Intents for Shortcuts and Siri. Neither KyBook's store description nor its maker's site names Siri or Shortcuts. [4][6][2] ### Goals and streaks A daily goal, a pages goal, a yearly books goal, a streak and a statistics tab with a calendar heatmap. KyBook's maker names no statistics, reading goal or streak. [4][2] ### Read aloud with voices on the device Apple's voices plus Kokoro and Supertonic neural voices, all on the device. KyBook 3's help page lists a known issue where speech stops after one word, sentence or paragraph. [4][7] ### Two-way Calibre sync justRead imports from a Calibre content server and syncs highlights, notes and bookmarks both ways. KyBook 3 adds a Calibre content server as an OPDS catalog. [4][2] ## How to move from KyBook 3 to justRead Your books are files, so they move with you. ### Export your annotations first KyBook 3 exports annotations as Markdown, HTML, PDF and RTF. Keep a copy of those files before you move. [2] ### Find your book files KyBook 3 keeps books in iCloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Yandex Disk, on SMB shares or on a WebDAV server. The same files are what you add to justRead. [2] ### Convert what justRead cannot open justRead has no import for MOBI, AZW3, FB2, TXT or DjVu files. Convert them to EPUB or PDF first, for example with Calibre. [4] ### Add the books to justRead Open them from the Files app or Mail, or point justRead at a folder in iCloud Drive for a bulk import. justRead can read a book in place from the folder you chose, without copying it. [4] ### Reconnect your catalogs justRead downloads books from OPDS catalogs and imports from a Calibre content server, with a login and several libraries. [4] ### Try it before you pay The app starts with a 14-day free trial, so you can test it on your own books first. [4] Note the page you are on in each book first, because reading positions stay inside the app that made them. ## What KyBook 3's users say Five App Store reviews from the US store, quoted as written. Three praise KyBook 3 and two are about its age. > This is the only reader I’ve found that allows you to organize your library by folders. > > App Store review, 5 stars, version v0.7.8, US, 15 August 2026 > a truly well-polished ebook reader > > App Store review, 5 stars, version v0.7.8, US, 14 June 2025 > The best reader for translating individual words and phrases that I’ve seen. > > App Store review, 4 stars, version v0.7.8, US, 30 July 2026 > it hasn’t been updated in seven years and it won’t be connected to other apps unless it’s updated right away > > App Store review, 5 stars, version v0.7.8, US, 3 October 2026 > app appears dead. Hasn’t been updated in years. > > App Store review, 1 star, version v0.7.8, US, 9 April 2026 ## KyBook 3 questions ### Is KyBook 3 free? To download, yes. The App Store lists it as Free with in-app purchases. Upgrade to Pro is listed at $4.99, and sync is a subscription at $4.49 for 3 months or $14.99 for a year. [1] ### Is KyBook 3 still updated? The newest release in Apple's lookup is dated 23 February 2019, and the news list on the maker's site ends with v0.7.5 on 4 February 2019. Reviewers were still posting in October 2026, and some asked for an update. [6][2][8] ### What iOS does KyBook 3 need? iOS 11.0 or later, which is why an old iPhone can still run it. justRead needs iOS 18.1 or later. [1][4] ### Does KyBook 3 have text to speech? Yes, the maker lists text to speech to voice any ebook. Its help page lists a known issue where speech stops after one word, sentence or paragraph. [2][7] ### Does KyBook 3 have widgets, Siri or Shortcuts? Its store description and its maker's site name none of them. KyBook 3 is closed source, so this describes what the listing says, not what the code holds. [6][2] ### Does KyBook 3 turn pages with a curl? Yes. It turns pages with scroll, curl and slide. justRead has an opt-in page curl for paginated EPUB. [2][4] ### Which formats does KyBook 3 open? EPUB, FB2, TXT, RTF, PDF, DjVu, CBR, CBZ, CBT, MOBI and AZW3, plus MP3, M4A and M4B audiobooks. The maker says EPUB and PDF must be DRM-free. DjVu is listed as a Pro feature. [2] ### Does KyBook 3 work with Calibre and OPDS? Yes. You can add your own OPDS catalog, such as a Calibre content server, and .onion catalogs over Tor. justRead imports from a Calibre content server and also syncs highlights, notes and bookmarks both ways. [2][4] ### Can justRead open DjVu, FB2 or MOBI? No. justRead's import list holds no MOBI, AZW3, FB2, TXT or DjVu entry. Convert such files to EPUB or PDF first. [4] ### Is justRead a good KyBook 3 alternative? If your iPhone runs iOS 18.1 or later and you want an app that is still updated, with widgets, Shortcuts, goals and read aloud with voices on the device, yes. If you read DjVu, FB2 or RTF files, or want the lowest price, keep KyBook 3. [4][2][1] ## Other readers worth a look If neither app fits, these four have a page of their own. ### Yomu: a $7.99 one-time price and a Mac app Yomu Pro costs $7.99 once and works on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Yomu opens EPUB, Mobi, Kindle and PDF files, and CBZ and CBR comics. See [justRead vs Yomu](https://justread.app/en/compare/justread-vs-yomu). [9][10] ### Readest: free sync on desktop and phone Readest is open source, and its Free plan syncs library, progress, highlights and notes across devices. It runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS and the web. See [justRead vs Readest](https://justread.app/en/compare/justread-vs-readest). [11][12][13] ### Anx Reader: open source with AI on your own key Anx Reader is MIT licensed, syncs through WebDAV and runs on Android, iOS, macOS and Windows. Its AI assistant needs your own API key. See [justRead vs Anx Reader](https://justread.app/en/compare/justread-vs-anx-reader). [14][15][16] ### BookFusion: one library on web, iOS and Android BookFusion reads on the web, iOS and Android, and has an E Ink mode for Android tablets. Plans start at $1.99 a month and the pricing page shows no one-time purchase. See [justRead vs BookFusion](https://justread.app/en/compare/justread-vs-bookfusion). [17][18] ## Try it on your own books Add your books and see the widgets, goals and iCloud sync. The app starts with a 14-day free trial. ## How we checked justRead.app makes justRead. Every justRead cell comes from the app's source code at the 5.6 release. KyBook 3's cells come from its US App Store listing and Apple's lookup record, both re-read on 28 October 2026, and from the maker's own site and help page as saved by the Internet Archive on 22 December 2024. Those two pages are an archived copy, not a live read. "Not listed" means the store description and the archived maker's site do not mention the feature. KyBook 3 is closed source, so this is a statement about its listing, not a code audit. We did not install KyBook 3 or test it on a device. Its lines describe what its pages say, not how the app behaves for you. Prices change. KyBook 3's come from its store listing, justRead's from its own site. The reviews come from the US App Store feed and are quoted as written. ## Sources 1. KyBook 3, App Store listing (US): price line, iOS version, rating and in-app purchases (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kybook-3-ebook-reader/id1348198785), accessed 2026-10-28. 2. The KyBook maker's site, Internet Archive copy (captured 22 December 2024) (https://web.archive.org/web/2024/http://kybook-reader.com/), accessed 2026-10-28. 3. justRead pricing and trial, from the justRead site (https://justread.app/en/#pricing), accessed 2026-10-28. 4. justRead 5.6 app behavior, read from the app's source code at the release build (our own review), accessed 2026-10-28. 5. justRead, App Store listing (US): version 5.6, minimum iOS and last update (https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6757948605?pt=128143318&ct=home-hero&mt=8), accessed 2026-10-28. 6. Apple's lookup record for KyBook 3: release date, release note and store description (https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=1348198785&country=us), accessed 2026-10-28. 7. The KyBook maker's help page, Internet Archive copy (captured 22 December 2024) (https://web.archive.org/web/20241222190622/http://kybook-reader.com/help.html), accessed 2026-10-28. 8. KyBook 3, App Store reviews (US storefront), quoted as written (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kybook-3-ebook-reader/id1348198785?see-all=reviews), accessed 2026-10-28. 9. Yomu maker's FAQ: the Pro purchase, its price and the devices it covers (https://www.yomu-reader.com/support/faq/purchase/), accessed 2026-10-28. 10. Yomu home page: supported formats (https://www.yomu-reader.com/), accessed 2026-10-28. 11. Readest pricing page: what the Free plan includes (https://readest.com/pricing), accessed 2026-10-28. 12. Readest README at the v0.12.16 tag: platforms (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/readest/readest/v0.12.16/README.md), accessed 2026-10-28. 13. Readest licence file at v0.12.16 (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/readest/readest/v0.12.16/LICENSE), accessed 2026-10-28. 14. Anx Reader licence file at the v1.14.0 tag (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Anxcye/anx-reader/v1.14.0/LICENSE), accessed 2026-10-28. 15. Anx Reader README at the v1.14.0 tag: sync and platforms (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Anxcye/anx-reader/v1.14.0/README.md), accessed 2026-10-28. 16. Apple's lookup record for Anx Reader: the AI key note (https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=6743196413&country=us), accessed 2026-10-28. 17. BookFusion, reading apps page: platforms and E Ink mode (https://www.bookfusion.com/reading/apps), accessed 2026-10-28. 18. BookFusion pricing page: plan prices (https://www.bookfusion.com/pricing), accessed 2026-10-28.