Quick verdict
- What it is
- Store information collected; independent summary not yet available.
- At a glance
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- From $1.49/mo
- Free to download
- In-app purchases
Categories and search queries
Official categories
- Books
- Entertainment
AppCorpus categories
Key functions
| Function | Availability | Access | Scope | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family Sharing | Yes | Unknown | App Store | Store published |
| Free app | Yes | Free | — | Store published |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Limited free | — | Store published |
Screens
App Store
27 store screenshots
Pricing & paywalls
App Store
Shown for US
- Panels+ Monthly — $1.49/month
- Panels+ Monthly — $14.99/year ($1.24/mo)
- Panels 2 — $19.99
- Panels 3 — $19.99
- Panels 3 Upgrade — $9.99
Ratings & reviews
App Store
Shown for US
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5/5Can’t Beat It
I’ve been using panels for going on 2 years now. In the beginning, it was really cool to be able to read my manga and comics on my iPad because I switched from physical books to digital thanks to the pandemic. Panels was really nice in the beginning albeit a bit lackluster feature wise. Over the course of my use, it’s been improving each update, adding all sorts of wonderful features and just making it a better experience. By far my favorite feature to day is them adding custom SMB server support. I have it connected to my home server where all my e-books are stored and now it’s just like my Plex server. Panels is definitely my go to app for all things comic related. You honesty can’t beat it in my opinion. I don’t even make reviews for apps but Panels is definitely one that deserves the praise. I put all my friends on to it and they love it just as much as I do. Please keep up the good work Panels time, y’all are truly making something special here for us comic lovers .
DocRobertz · 30 Aug 2026
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5/5Worth the convenience.
I was trying to self host my own manga server using Jellyfin and once I got it working, I noticed that manga wouldn’t load to my phone using my reverse proxy. After many hours of troubleshooting, I downloaded Panels after reviewing some Reddit threads and figured it was worth a shot. I was a previous user of Chunky (another manga app that has been deleted I believe) and loved the OneDrive connection capability. I couldn’t find an app I liked since Chunky. Panels has easily taken that spot. I look forward to getting my Jellyfin server running and working properly but I think I’ll try the SMB connection first on Panel. If you are curious and want to try it out for a month, I’d say it’s worth the $2. At the moment, I’d probably pay the one time cost for a total unlock of the app just because of the convenience alone.
Zowzy · 30 Aug 2026
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3/5Issues on Mac OS 15.6
I love Panels on my iPad, so I was ecstatic when I saw it had finally come to Mac. While the interface is great, and it has dark mode unlike Simple Comic or YAC, I’ve run into some issues. First, it crashes. I’ve had the app freeze and crash on me while adjusting settings at least 3 times in the past 2 days. Finally, my biggest gripe: reversing reading order is finicky. I read almost exclusively manga, so it’s important that I’m able to read right to left. For some reason, the buttons you click to go backward and forwards do not reverse when reversing reading order, although your arrow keys do. I’ve also run into issues with the scroll wheel. It may just be my mouse, but scrolling a single page requires at least two full spins of the scroll wheel which is not easy to do. Being able to adjust scroll sensitivity would help this. It would also be nice to be able to use the vertical scroll wheel on your mouse to scroll your comic horizontally if you choose. Please fix reverse reading order and the scroll wheel sensitivity and this could be 5 stars!
zhijoh · 30 Aug 2026
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3/5Polished for a Jagged Rock
This is one of the better readers from a basic UI standpoint, but probably one of the worst from a technical one. You can add files through iTunes, but not whole folders. As for retrieving them from the app, you might as well forget it. You must create the folders in the app separately, either to import into or add to later. These folders also become part of the app and cannot be managed anywhere else. It’s an overly tedious design that hints at poor development or excessive attempts to force subscription without first building the trust that it will be any less tedious. Subscriptions meant to cover the cost of services make sense. After all, some do charge the developers. Lumping in services that the developers don’t pay a dime to maintain should be a separate, one-time fee to cover the cost of publishing the app. I can’t see paying Panels monthly to cover the cost of using my local server, unless they plan to send out techs to maintain it. After my experience importing files, I wouldn’t want to pay for that experience again. There is almost no animation to reading beyond the generic slide. For one of the most expensive apps to own, it is sad to fall short of the stock Books app included by Apple. Overall, I like the basic look of the UI and hope that one day the functionality catches up. Until then, I will continue to sync with Chunky and import the files here to organize when I get to it. If not for the UI, I probably wouldn’t bother at all.
AbandonedCart · 30 Aug 2026
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3/5UPDATE: Missing functionality - used to be great
Update: 2.4.4 - the last few versions I’ve had trouble other comic names. I’m importing via airdrop to my iOS device (latest software) and two comics had the end of their file names cut off. File names are the exact same length of other comics in the series that did not have naming issues. When I use the “rename” feature and save, the file name reverts to what it was and never changes. // Update: 2.2.2 - I’ve updated my iOS device hardware and am on the latest softwares for my device and the app. I’m unable to airdrop directly to the app (was able to do this in ver. 1 and iOS 12) and my Files app recognizes CBZ files to share with Panels, but it does not recognize CBR files as sharable with the Panels app. // Update: 2.02/3 fixed the crash upon app start. Comics read fine now as they did before. Tested the search feature and THAT crashed the app 3-for-3 when I tried it. Good thing the app loads up and reading comics is normal, not good that standard features still cause app crashes. Also, I liked starting at the Library page in the old app. I recommend letting users choose their landing page upon opening the app. As someone who uploads comics on devices with smaller storage spaces, all the “READ NOW” features are pretty useless for me as I keep no more than 20 comics loaded in (usually less). // Old: App doesn’t even load up now. It just crashes. Should have waited to move to version 2 until after testing was complete.
Generic Review N.7. · 30 Aug 2026
Privacy & accessibility
App Store
Privacy
- Data Not Linked to You — Analytics — Usage Data — Product Interaction Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Analytics — User Content — Customer Support Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — App Functionality — Diagnostics — Crash Data Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — App Functionality — Diagnostics — Other Diagnostic Data Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — App Functionality — Diagnostics — Performance Data Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — App Functionality — Identifiers — Device ID Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — App Functionality — Identifiers — User ID Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — App Functionality — User Content — Customer Support Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — App Functionality — User Content — Other User Content Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Diagnostics Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Identifiers Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — Usage Data Developer declared
- Data Not Linked to You — User Content Developer declared
Accessibility
No accessibility labels collected yet.
Versions
App Store
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3.10.0
- New Panels 4 feature preview: Live Translations (on-device) Read comics in any language supported by iOS. Panels translates on your device (iPhone, iPad, or Mac) and overlays the translated text back into the original speech bubbles so you can keep reading naturally. Enable it in Settings -> Panels Labs. - New icon pack: Pastel Soft pastel icons to bring a little spring to your springboard. - News section A new place to keep up with Panels updates and announcements. Bug fixes: • Crash opening the app and app taking too long to open • iCloud reading sessions now sync properly across devices • Fixes around tapping the sides to advance to the next comic • Fixed blank cells in languages other than English
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3.10.1
- New experimental feature: Live Translations (on-device) Read comics in any language supported by iOS. Panels translates on your device (iPhone, iPad, or Mac) and overlays the translated text back into the original speech bubbles so you can keep reading naturally. Enable it in Settings -> Panels Labs. - New icon pack: Pastel Soft pastel icons to bring a little spring to your springboard. - News section A new place to keep up with Panels updates and announcements. Bug fixes: • Crash opening the app and app taking too long to open • iCloud reading sessions now sync properly across devices • Fixes around tapping the sides to advance to the next comic • Fixed blank cells in languages other than English
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3.11.0
New features - Rebuilds the library indexer from scratch — streaming architecture, deferred metadata processing, parallel rendering during prefetch, dual fingerprinting, and safer path construction. The result is faster indexing, lower memory usage, and better reliability overall - Adds TAR/CBT support with automatic decompression for TAR variants (.tar, .cbt) and compressed forms (.tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .tar.xz), ensuring compound file extensions are recognized and displayed correctly Improvements - Improves PDF rendering performance and quality by removing an unnecessary JPEG round-trip and optimizing image rendering for pages loaded from disk, plus faster prefetch for native PDF mode - OPDS servers using Digest authentication are now supported - Web server icon now tints green with a pulse animation when running Bug fixes - Fix import of accented filenames - Fix locked content name leak in Up Next by showing the correct subtitle for locked items - Fix deadlock during iCloud library import - Add timeouts for reading progress fetch/update in Komga and Kavita to prevent hangs and keep syncing after reading - Fix thumbnails rendering as white - Fix locked content appearing in the Reading Now section - Fix low-res thumbnails on Retina displays - Fix OPDS cross-device reading session lookup using a normalized URL fallback - Fix library progress indicators not updating after a settings change - Fix iCloud library not detecting externally added files - Fix web server unreachable from local network - Fix double page reader jumping pages on portrait-to-landscape rotation
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3.11.1
Bug fixes - Fix blurred thumbnails missing or unblurred for locked iCloud library folders - Fix iCloud library not detecting externally added files - Fix low-res thumbnails on Retina displays - Fix locked content appearing in the Reading Now section - Fix library progress indicators not updating after a settings change - Fix OPDS cross-device reading session lookup using a normalized URL fallback - Fix crash on library indexing progress updates - Fix iCloud-related UI hangs caused by main-thread XPC calls
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3.12.0
Features - Introducing the Panels Store — browse and buy DRM-free comics directly in the app, with 80% of revenue going to creators Enhancements - Browse the store by comics, series, publishers, and curated collections - Preview pages before you buy with full page galleries - Improved age rating controls — set your comfort level and lock mature content behind a passcode Fixes - Various fixes and stability improvements from 3.11.1
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3.12.1
Introducing the Panels Store — browse and buy DRM-free comics directly in the app, with 80% of revenue going to creators
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3.12.2
Introducing the Panels Store — browse and buy DRM-free comics directly in the app, with 80% of revenue going to creators - Fix purchases for free comics
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3.12.3
This update sharpens the Panels Store experience and squashes a few rough edges: - Smoother store browsing: scroll-based paging for the prominent carousel, smooth zoom/pan on store previews, and "See All" now lands on the correct section - OPDS catalogs gain facet and sort option support - Improved library performance — fixes navigation lag and freezes when browsing your collection - Fixes an OOM crash when opening the thumbnail gallery on tall PDF pages - Fixes custom themes silently reverting and saved themes not appearing - Hides the Tab Bar settings entry on iPad where it doesn't apply - Cross-comic transitions are more reliable (chevron behavior after navigation) - Refreshed translations and improved Chinese localization
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3.12.4
Fix crash on iOS26.5 when rotating the device. Fix navigating to the correct page when tapping a page thumbnail.
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3.12.5
Fix navigating to the correct page when tapping a page thumbnail. Fix reader not respecting device margin settings.
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3.12.6
New features - Added a new right-side panel for vertical-scroll comics on iOS and Mac, letting you tap thumbnails to jump to the page and approximate vertical position - Introduced a dedicated Search and Explore screen in the Store tab Improvements - Sharper thumbnails for tall manhwa pages in vertical-scroll mode; thumbnails are scaled so the short side matches standard page width. Fixes - Fixed several crashes — when opening your library, importing comics, and saving reading progress in the background.
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3.13.0
New features - Added a Storage screen that shows exactly what's using space (cached metadata, remote images, extracted pages) and lets you delete individual items instead of only clearing everything at once - The reader's page-scrub bar can now be repositioned and resized to your liking, with a new settings screen to configure it - Improved the accuracy of automatic panel-by-panel reading order detection Improvements - Fixed publisher avatars sometimes showing blank and an empty "See all publishers" list in the Store - Fixed sorting of comics with decimal chapter numbers (e.g. "12.5") so they appear in the correct order Fixes - Fixed Magic Keyboard arrow keys not turning pages in the reader on iPad - Fixed blank pages when reading certain EPUB comics - Fixed Store publisher links failing to open correctly - Fixed a crash when opening a Store link to a comic with a missing cover image - Fixed being unable to delete an individually selected item in Downloads - Fixed adding OPDS library servers that report an insecure address but actually serve securely - Fixed a crash when swiping to delete items in Settings
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3.13.1
New features - Links in comic, series, and publisher descriptions in the Store are now tappable and open in-app. Fixes - Fixed an issue where managing your cache in Settings could incorrectly trigger the Panels+ paywall. - Fixed the action toolbar not appearing when selecting multiple items in Cloud Downloads. - Fixed reading position sync issues for OPDS and other remote sources.
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3.13.2
· 26 Jul 2026
Fixes - Fixed Reading Now showing empty when "Only show titles on this device" was enabled - Fixed some reading history not syncing to new devices - Fixed the double-page reader occasionally jumping to the wrong page after returning from the background - Fixed an issue that could prevent purchases from completing - Fixed reading progress failing to sync in some cases, including for people with very large libraries - Fixed automatic panel-by-panel detection failing to download its detection model on some devices - Fixed Store "See All" lists, like Top Selling or Latest Releases, not showing items in the correct order
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3.13.3
New features - Your purchases now sync with your Panels Account - Added a "Manage Devices" screen (Settings > Account) to see and remove the devices authorized to use your Panels Plus purchase - You can now hide Home, Search, and Store from the sidebar on iPad Improvements - Added a "Force Resync" option for your reading history (Reading Now > All Sessions) to manually refetch it from the server - Your Panels Plus status now refreshes automatically when returning to the app Fixes - Fixed the webtoon reader overlapping content behind the Dynamic Island - Fixed vertical and paginated readers landing at the wrong spot when navigating back to a previous page - Fixed some reading history not fully syncing to new devices - Fixed reading progress reverting to an earlier page - Fixed OPDS comic covers ignoring your configured server address - Fixed the Manage Space screen becoming unresponsive while it calculates how much space each library and cache is using - Fixed OPDS and Kavita library feeds reloading unnecessarily every time you return to them
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3.13.4
· 25 Aug 2026
Fixes - Fixed reading progress being lost instead of retried when it couldn't be sent to your Panels Account — pending sessions are now uploaded as soon as you're signed back in - Fixed a comic left open on one device overwriting newer reading progress synced from another device
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3.9.10
## Improvements - Faster library indexing with progressive updates (files appear as they're indexed) - Better handling of temporarily disconnected external libraries - Display promotional discounts and introductory offers in subscription UI - Support for pay-as-you-go and pay-up-front introductory offers ## Bug Fixes - Fix crash when loading products with introductory offers - Fix security scope issues causing file access errors - Fix crash on iOS 15 when displaying discount banners - Fix iOS 15 crash with negative sizes in collection view layouts - Fix widget progress calculation and display - Fix some OPDS servers not showing thumbnails
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3.9.11
Fixes: - Fixed crash when using FaceID for locking content on iOS26. - Fixed avatar appearing disabled in settings. - Remove year recap stars effect after user sees year recap.
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3.9.13
Fixes: - Fix CloudDocs deadlock crash. - Fix AirDrop file handling on iOS 26. - Automatic OPDS streaming cache cleanup. - Improve poster thumbnail handling and cache updates. - Fix Kavita not marking comics as fully read. - Fix opening comics from Files or widgets on iPad.
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3.9.14
Bug fixes - Fixed widget becoming black with big covers - Fixed OPDS downloads not resumable from Reading Now - Fixed duplicate breadcrumb names when clicking favorites on macOS - Fixed side taps at the end of a comic not proceeding to the next one - Fixed multiple Files imports failing or stopping at 20% progress - Fixed external libraries becoming unlinked after reopening the app - Fixed Panels Store link
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3.9.2
New Features • Enhanced Widget Experience - Brand new widget with customizable options and full iOS 26 support • iOS 26 Optimized - Full support for iOS 26 TabBar and top menu actions on iPad Improvements • Better Control - System Settings > Panels now displays your support identifier and lets you disable automatic reader restoration on launch • Performance - Optimized metadata generation with reduced file operations for faster library loading Fixes • Kavita Integration - Reading progress sync now works correctly with zero-based page updates • Visual Polish - Improved widget text contrast, fixed navigation bar display issues on iOS 26, and resolved iPad layout problems • UI Refinements - Enhanced switch animations and proper widget rendering with default values
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3.9.3
Improvements • Stability - Major improvements to app reliability with fixes for multiple crash scenarios Fixes • Critical Fixes - Resolved crash when viewing comic actions, eliminated iCloud file access deadlock, and fixed issues with collection/comic scrolling • iOS 26 Beta Support - Fixed crash on early iOS 26 beta versions when using glass effect UI • OPDS Servers - Fixed server identification with legacy configurations
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3.9.4
Improvements • Stability - Major improvements to app reliability with fixes for multiple crash scenarios • Performance - Updated Firebase SDK to latest stable version for improved reliability and performance Fixes • Critical Fixes - Resolved crash when viewing comic actions, eliminated iCloud file access deadlock, and fixed issues with collection/comic scrolling • iOS 26 Beta Support - Fixed crash on early iOS 26 beta versions when using glass effect UI • OPDS Servers - Fixed server identification with legacy configurations
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3.9.5
## Improvements - Faster library indexing with progressive updates (files appear as they're indexed) - Better handling of temporarily disconnected external libraries - Display promotional discounts and introductory offers in subscription UI - Support for pay-as-you-go and pay-up-front introductory offers ## Bug Fixes - Fix crash when loading products with introductory offers - Fix security scope issues causing file access errors - Fix crash on iOS 15 when displaying discount banners - Fix iOS 15 crash with negative sizes in collection view layouts - Fix widget progress calculation and display - Fix some OPDS servers not showing thumbnails
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3.9.6
## Improvements - Faster library indexing with progressive updates (files appear as they're indexed) - Better handling of temporarily disconnected external libraries - Display promotional discounts and introductory offers in subscription UI - Support for pay-as-you-go and pay-up-front introductory offers ## Bug Fixes - Fix crash when loading products with introductory offers - Fix security scope issues causing file access errors - Fix crash on iOS 15 when displaying discount banners - Fix iOS 15 crash with negative sizes in collection view layouts - Fix widget progress calculation and display - Fix some OPDS servers not showing thumbnails
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3.9.7
## Improvements - Faster library indexing with progressive updates (files appear as they're indexed) - Better handling of temporarily disconnected external libraries - Display promotional discounts and introductory offers in subscription UI - Support for pay-as-you-go and pay-up-front introductory offers ## Bug Fixes - Fix crash when loading products with introductory offers - Fix security scope issues causing file access errors - Fix crash on iOS 15 when displaying discount banners - Fix iOS 15 crash with negative sizes in collection view layouts - Fix widget progress calculation and display - Fix some OPDS servers not showing thumbnails
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3.9.9
## Improvements - Faster library indexing with progressive updates (files appear as they're indexed) - Better handling of temporarily disconnected external libraries - Display promotional discounts and introductory offers in subscription UI - Support for pay-as-you-go and pay-up-front introductory offers ## Bug Fixes - Fix crash when loading products with introductory offers - Fix security scope issues causing file access errors - Fix crash on iOS 15 when displaying discount banners - Fix iOS 15 crash with negative sizes in collection view layouts - Fix widget progress calculation and display - Fix some OPDS servers not showing thumbnails
Alternatives
- Comic Book Viewer — Same category + similar ratings
- BookPlayer — Same category + similar ratings
Availability by market
- US
Data quality & evidence
- Page completeness
- Live store listing
- Last verified
- 30 Aug 2026
- Sources
- App Store
- Independent summary has not been published yet.