The Best iOS Manga Reader Alternative in 2026 (That Also Translates)

If you read manga on an iPhone, you’ve probably seen a reader app you relied on disappear from the App Store, or you’ve come over from Android looking for Tachiyomi and found there isn’t one. Tachiyomi was discontinued in early 2024. Its Android successor is Mihon, and neither has ever run on iOS.

This post explains why the iOS options look the way they do, then goes through the main manga reader apps for iPhone and iPad and what each one is suited to.

Why iOS manga readers keep disappearing

Apple reviews every app on the App Store and removes apps that host unlicensed content or look like piracy tools. Reader apps that bundle a built-in source of pirated chapters tend to get pulled, sometimes after they’ve built a large user base.

Android allows sideloading, so Mihon and its forks can live outside the Play Store and read from whatever sources you add. iOS doesn’t allow that in the same way, so there is no true Tachiyomi or Mihon for iPhone. (If you were hoping otherwise, we wrote about why there is no Mihon for iOS, and why an App Store app using that name isn’t theirs.)

What’s left on iOS falls into three groups: readers for files you already own, readers that connect to a self-hosted library such as Komga, and source-based apps in the Tachiyomi style. Knowing which group you need narrows the choice a lot.

iOS manga reader apps in 2026

Tachimanga

Tachimanga is the app most people find when they search for a Tachiyomi alternative on iOS. It’s a source-based reader on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Apple Silicon Macs. It also reads ZIP, CBZ and EPUB files and connects to a Komga server, and it has tracking, downloads and backups. There’s a free tier and a paid Premium unlock. If Tachimanga is what you’re replacing, our Tachimanga alternatives guide goes into more detail.

Aidoku

Aidoku is an open-source, ad-free reader in the Tachiyomi style for iPhone, iPad and Mac. You add sources to pull chapters from different sites, and it can also import local files and connect to a media server. It isn’t distributed through the App Store, so you install it through TestFlight, AltStore or a sideloaded IPA. It uses its own source format rather than Mihon extensions, and its documentation only covers its own backup format, not Mihon or Tachimanga backups. More in our Aidoku alternatives guide.

Paperback

Paperback is an ad-free reader for iOS with third-party extensions, offline downloads and tracker support for services such as AniList and MyAnimeList. The App Store version has stayed on 0.8.11 since February 2025, while newer builds have been on TestFlight, so check which version your extensions need before you move your library to it. See our Paperback alternatives guide if you’re leaving it.

Mangayomi

Mangayomi is a newer cross-platform reader that also handles anime. It runs on Android as well as Apple devices. It’s a younger project, so its extension ecosystem is smaller than the Mihon one.

Panels

Panels is a reader for your own CBZ, CBR, CB7, PDF and comic EPUB files on iPhone, iPad and Mac. It also streams from OPDS servers such as Komga and Kavita, and syncs reading progress through iCloud. It doesn’t read from online sources. If your collection is made up of files you own, that’s the case it’s built for.

Official apps: Manga Plus and VIZ Manga

If you mostly read Shonen Jump titles, Shueisha’s Manga Plus is free, and VIZ Manga has free recent chapters plus a low-cost subscription for the back catalogue. Both are legal and already translated. The catalogues are limited to those publishers, but there’s no setup and the authors get paid. If your series is on one of them, read it there.

Madomi

Madomi is our app, so weigh this section accordingly. It’s a source-based reader for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android that adds sources through Mihon / Tachiyomi-compatible extensions, reads your own files (CBZ, CBR, ZIP, EPUB, PDF and images) and connects to Komga. It can import Mihon .tachibk and Tachimanga .tmb backups. The main difference from the other apps here is that it also translates pages with AI as you read, which is aimed at series that don’t have an English release. The reader is free, trackers included; cross-device sync and unlimited downloads are part of a one-time in-app purchase, and unlimited translation is a subscription.

How they compare

App	How you install it	Platforms	Reads from
Tachimanga	App Store	iPhone, iPad, Mac	Online sources, local files, Komga
Aidoku	TestFlight, AltStore or IPA	iPhone, iPad, Mac	Online sources, local files, media server
Paperback	App Store (older build) or TestFlight	iOS	Online sources via extensions
Mangayomi	Varies by platform	iOS, Android and others	Online sources
Panels	App Store	iPhone, iPad, Mac	Your own files, OPDS servers (Komga, Kavita)
Manga Plus / VIZ	App Store	iOS, Android, web	Official catalogue only
Madomi	App Store, Google Play	iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android	Online sources, local files, Komga

A rough way to choose: if you only read files you own, look at Panels or any reader with good file support. If you want a Tachiyomi-style app and don’t want to sideload, Tachimanga and Madomi are on the App Store. If you’re comfortable with TestFlight or AltStore, Aidoku is an option. Whatever you pick, sources added from third parties can break or vanish, so keep a backup of your library.

When the series isn’t in your language

Every reader above assumes the chapter is already in a language you can read. A lot of manga, and most manhwa and manhua, never gets an official English release or runs far behind the original.

The free workaround is to screenshot a panel and run it through Google Translate or Google Lens. That’s fine for a few bubbles but slow over a whole chapter, and it struggles with vertical Japanese text. A translator that works on the page as you read, like the one built into Madomi, saves that back-and-forth. We walked through the process for Korean in how to read Korean manhwa without knowing a single word of Korean, and for Chinese in how to read Chinese manhua in English without waiting for translations.

If keeping AniList or MyAnimeList up to date matters to you, our post on manga readers that sync with AniList and MyAnimeList explains how tracker sync works across these apps.

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