Kindle app alternatives for iPhone and iPad

The Kindle app is good at one thing: reading books from your Amazon account. People look for an alternative when they want something it does not do well for them, such as reading EPUBs from other shops, borrowing from a library, keeping books on a home server, or simply a different page.

Before the list, a disclosure: we make Glosa, one of the apps compared here, and this is our blog. Glosa is not on the App Store yet. We have kept the descriptions to what each app does, and we say where ours is the wrong choice.

First, what you can and cannot move

Books you bought in the Kindle Store carry Amazon's DRM. They open in Kindle apps and on Kindle devices, and no other reader on iOS can open them. Switching apps does not bring those purchases with you, so for many people the realistic plan is to keep the Kindle app for Amazon books and use a second app for everything else.

What you can move freely are DRM-free files: EPUBs from Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks, Humble Bundle or authors who sell directly, PDFs, and DRM-free MOBI or AZW3 files. Amazon's own Send to Kindle accepts EPUB and PDF, so the Kindle app can read those too, but the alternatives below let you keep the files themselves.

For reference, the Kindle app is free, needs iOS 17 or later, and offers a built-in dictionary, X-Ray, Wikipedia lookup, translations, highlights and notes, and sync of your place across devices.

Apple Books

Apple Books comes with your iPhone and has its own store. It also opens DRM-free EPUBs you tap in Files, and saves PDFs from Mail or Messages. Themes, fonts, spacing, vertical scrolling and reading goals are all there, and your library and highlights sync through iCloud.

It is the closest like-for-like swap: a store plus a reader, free, with no setup. The trade is that it ties you to Apple devices. Best for you if you want to buy new books somewhere other than Amazon and stay inside Apple's apps.

Kobo Books

Kobo Books is Rakuten Kobo's store and reader, with ebooks and audiobooks, night mode, a sleep timer, CarPlay and sync of bookmarks, highlights and notes with Kobo e-readers. It needs iOS 18 or later. You can also import your own DRM-free EPUB or PDF files through Google Drive, Mail or a Mac, but Kobo's help page says imported files stay on the device you added them to and do not sync.

Best for you if you are moving from a Kindle to a Kobo e-reader and want the same account on your phone.

Google Play Books

Google Play Books has a large store of ebooks, audiobooks, comics and manga, and lets you upload your own PDF and EPUB files from the Files app or an email. Uploaded books sit in your library alongside purchases and you can read them on a phone, tablet or computer. Notes can sync with Google Drive. It needs iOS 18 or later.

It only takes PDF and EPUB, and you need a Google account. Best for you if you already live in Google's services and want your own files and store books in one library that also works in a browser.

Libby

Libby is not a store. With a library card, it lets you borrow ebooks, audiobooks and magazines from your public library for free, download them for offline reading, and keep your place in sync. In the U.S. it can also send library ebooks to your Kindle.

It only reads what your library has, and loans end when they end. Best for you if most of what you read is new books you would rather borrow than buy.

PocketBook Reader

PocketBook Reader is a free reader that opens a long list of formats, including EPUB, MOBI, PDF, FB2, DJVU, DOCX and comics, and plays MP3 and M4B audiobooks. It can open EPUB and PDF files protected with Adobe DRM, which most readers cannot, and it supports OPDS catalogs and a free PocketBook Cloud for sync.

It has many settings and a busier interface than the others. Best for you if you buy from shops that sell Adobe DRM books, or own a PocketBook e-reader.

Readest

Readest is an open-source reader for iPhone, iPad, Mac, other platforms and the web. It reads EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, CBZ, TXT and Markdown, connects to OPDS and Calibre, and syncs through its own cloud or a service you choose, such as iCloud or WebDAV. It can also keep progress in step with KOReader on an e-reader. The app is free, with optional plans starting at $4.99 on the App Store at the time of writing (October 2026).

It has no store, so it suits people who already have files. Best for you if you want the same library on every device you own, not only Apple ones.

Glosa

Glosa is our reader for iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo, on iOS 17 or later. It has no store of its own: you bring DRM-free EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW3, TXT, Markdown or HTML files, import a whole folder at once, or download from OPDS catalogs such as Calibre, Kavita, Komga and Project Gutenberg. If you have Kindle files without DRM, How to open MOBI and AZW3 files explains what works.

If you liked the Kindle dictionary, Glosa goes further in one direction: double-tap a word and you get its meaning in that sentence, in any of sixteen languages, with offline dictionaries and sentence translation next to it. It reads aloud with Apple or downloadable natural voices, imports and exports your Goodreads shelves, and syncs library, highlights and places through your own iCloud with no account.

It is the wrong choice if you want to buy books in the app, listen to audiobook files, or read on Android or a computer; it does none of those. It is free today, with no ads and no in-app purchases, though AI meanings have a free daily allowance, and it is not on the App Store yet.

Side by side

App	Price (October 2026)	Store	Your own files	Standout
Kindle	Free	Kindle Store	Via Send to Kindle	Your Amazon purchases
Apple Books	Free	Apple Books	EPUB, PDF	Built in, no setup
Kobo Books	Free	Kobo	EPUB, PDF, not synced	Pairs with Kobo e-readers
Google Play Books	Free	Google Play	EPUB, PDF	Works in a browser too
Libby	Free with a library card	Library loans	No	Free new releases from your library
PocketBook Reader	Free	No	Many formats, Adobe DRM	Opens Adobe DRM books
Readest	Free, plans from $4.99	No	Many formats	Runs on almost every platform
Glosa	Free, not on the App Store yet	No	EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW3, TXT, Markdown, HTML	Word meanings in context

How to choose

Ask where your next books will come from. If the answer is a store, pick the store you prefer: Apple Books, Kobo or Google Play Books. If it is your library, add Libby. If it is files you already own, a reader such as PocketBook, Readest or Glosa will do more with them than a store app. Many people end up with two: one store app for purchases and one reader for everything else. If your files live in Calibre, our guide to reading your Calibre library on iPhone and iPad covers the setup.