The best EPUB reader apps for iPhone and iPad in 2026

Every iPhone can open an EPUB, but the app that does it decides a lot: how the page looks, whether your highlights follow you to the iPad, and whether a folder of two hundred books turns into a tidy library or a chore. This guide compares five readers that are on the App Store and still updated in 2026, plus ours, which is not on the store yet.

One thing to know before you read on: we make Glosa, one of the apps below, and this blog is ours. Glosa is not on the App Store yet. We have tried to describe every app, ours included, by what it does, and to say plainly where each one falls short.

If you only need to open one EPUB today, How to read EPUB files on iPhone and iPad walks through the steps.

What to look for

Three questions sort most readers quickly. First, which files will you open? If you have Kindle files from older purchases or friends, you need an app that reads DRM-free MOBI and AZW3 as well as EPUB. Second, where do your books live? A folder in iCloud Drive, a Calibre server at home and a public catalog all need different import options. Third, what do you do while you read? Some people want a quiet page and nothing else; others want dictionaries, translation or read aloud.

No app on iOS can open EPUBs that carry store DRM from another company. That limit applies to every reader in this list.

Apple Books

Apple Books is already on your iPhone. Tap an EPUB in Files and it opens in Books, and it can also save PDFs you receive in Mail or Messages. It offers reading themes, fonts, line height and letter spacing, vertical scrolling, reading goals, and iCloud sync of your library, position, notes and highlights across Apple devices.

It is the easiest choice and costs nothing. The limits show when your collection grows: it is built around Apple's own store, and the reading and library options are deliberately few. Best for you if you read a handful of DRM-free books and want zero setup.

Yomu

Yomu is an independent reader that runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac. It opens EPUB, MOBI, AZW and AZW3, comics (CBZ, CBR) and PDF, and imports from iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, OPDS and Calibre. Its library has folders, tags and editable metadata, and it exports books with annotations as text, Markdown or JSON.

The free version limits the number of documents and can show ads. Yomu Pro, listed as a $7.99 in-app purchase at the time of writing (October 2026), removes both and adds an iCloud library synced across devices. Best for you if you want a calm, well-designed reader with good library tools and a one-off price.

Readest

Readest is open source and runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, other platforms and the web. It opens EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, CBZ, TXT and Markdown, connects to OPDS catalogs, Calibre and Calibre-Web, and syncs through its own cloud or through iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, WebDAV or S3. It also offers downloadable offline voices for read aloud, translation of a sentence, page or whole book, and KOReader progress sync.

The app is free, with optional Plus and Pro plans starting at $4.99 on the App Store. It is still before version 1.0 (0.12 at the time of writing), so expect frequent changes. Best for you if you read on more than Apple devices, or want one library on an e-reader, a Windows laptop and an iPhone.

PocketBook Reader

PocketBook Reader is free and handles a wide range of formats: EPUB, FB2, MOBI, PDF, DJVU, DOCX, RTF, TXT, HTML, CBR and CBZ, plus MP3 and M4B audiobooks. It can open EPUB and PDF books protected with Adobe DRM, which most readers here cannot, supports OPDS catalogs, and has a free PocketBook Cloud for syncing books, positions and notes.

The interface carries many settings and the look is busier than the quieter apps in this list. Best for you if you have library or store books with Adobe DRM, or a PocketBook e-reader you want in sync.

BookFusion

BookFusion is a reader and a cloud library. The app reads EPUB, PDF and CBZ/CBR, keeps your books in BookFusion's cloud, syncs progress and highlights across devices, and connects to Calibre with metadata, series and tags. Highlights export as CSV, Markdown, HTML or PDF.

It is built around its own cloud, and other formats such as AZW3 or FB2 must first be uploaded through its web app. There is a free tier, with paid plans from $1.99 a month listed on the App Store. Best for you if you want your Calibre library in the cloud and read across many devices.

Glosa

Glosa is our app, for iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo on iOS 17 or later. It opens EPUB, PDF, DRM-free MOBI and AZW3, TXT, Markdown and HTML, imports single files or whole folders, and downloads from OPDS catalogs such as Calibre, Calibre-Web, Kavita, Komga and Project Gutenberg. Scanned PDFs get on-device text recognition. The page has an e-paper look: greys only, a serif page, no animation.

Where it differs most is while you read. Double-tap a word and you get its meaning in that sentence, in any of sixteen languages, with offline StarDict, MDict, DICT, Slob and Yomitan dictionaries alongside. It reads aloud with Apple voices or downloadable natural voices, and syncs your library, highlights and places through your own iCloud, with no account to make.

What it lacks: it is not on the App Store yet, there is no Android, Mac or web version, and it cannot play audiobook files. It is free today, with no ads and no in-app purchases; AI meanings have a free daily allowance. Best for you if you read in a second language or want a quiet, paper-like page. For Kindle files, see How to open MOBI and AZW3 files.

A note on KyBook 3

Older guides often recommend KyBook 3. It is still listed on the App Store, but its last update was in February 2019. An app that has not been updated in more than seven years may break with a future iOS release, so we would not start a new library in it.

Side by side

App	Price (October 2026)	Formats beyond EPUB	Sync	Standout
Apple Books	Free	PDF	iCloud	Already installed, no setup
Yomu	Free, Pro $7.99	MOBI, AZW3, PDF, CBZ, CBR	iCloud (Pro)	Clean design, iPhone, iPad and Mac
Readest	Free, plans from $4.99	PDF, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, CBZ, TXT, Markdown	Own cloud, iCloud, WebDAV and more	Runs on almost every platform
PocketBook Reader	Free	PDF, MOBI, FB2, DJVU, DOCX, comics, audiobooks	PocketBook Cloud	Opens Adobe DRM books
BookFusion	Free, plans from $1.99 a month	PDF, CBZ, CBR	BookFusion cloud	Calibre library in the cloud
Glosa	Free, not on the App Store yet	PDF, MOBI, AZW3, TXT, Markdown, HTML	iCloud	Word meanings in context, e-paper page

Which one to choose

If you read a few books a year, Apple Books is enough. If you want a better page and library without a subscription, Yomu is a strong pick. If you move between an iPhone and a Windows or Android device, Readest fits. If your books carry Adobe DRM, PocketBook Reader is the one that opens them. If you keep everything in Calibre, look at BookFusion, or read our guide to Calibre on iPhone and iPad.

Glosa fits if you read in a language you are still learning, or if a grey, still page is what keeps you reading. When it reaches the App Store, it will be free to try.