Is it free?
Reading your local files is free at full quality — Hold Zoom, double-page spreads, right-to-left, webtoon scrolling, with no limit on how many series you keep — that's the trial, and it doesn't expire. Premium adds server connections, cloud drives, streaming, sync, the privacy features, Panel View, and the deluxe reader touches: page curl turns, Crop Borders, the spine shadow and margins between facing pages, and Match Page backgrounds. You can get it as a $19.99 lifetime unlock (one payment) or a subscription — $1.49/month or $14.99/year, with a 3-day free trial.
Do I need a subscription to use my own server?
No. That's the whole point. The subscription exists for people who prefer paying small amounts over time — it's the same Premium either way, and the lifetime unlock covers everything with one payment, no monthly fee to reach hardware you run yourself.
Which servers work?
Komga and Kavita natively — including two-way, page-level reading-progress sync — plus Audiobookshelf (the comics on an ABS server, with server-rendered covers and the same two-way progress sync), and anything that speaks OPDS: Codex, Ubooquity, Calibre-Web, Stump, and more. SMB shares and WebDAV work too, no server software needed.
Which formats does it read?
CBZ/ZIP, CBR/RAR, CB7/7z, PDF, plain folders of images, and image-based ePub (DRM-free, fixed-layout comic ePubs). Manga, manhwa, and webtoons are first-class: true right-to-left reading and a long-strip vertical mode with automatic detection.
What is Panel View?
A way to read one panel at a time. Halftone finds the panels on each page, on your device, and steps through them in reading order — right-to-left for manga — zooming each one to fill the screen. Tap or swipe to move on, hold to see the whole page. When a page's layout can't be read with confidence, such as a splash or a cover, it's shown whole rather than guessed at. Panel View is part of Premium.
Can it keep a folder on my server in sync?
Yes. Add a folder as a Synced Library and it gets its own section on your shelf: new series appear on their own, and anything you remove stays removed. On file shares and cloud drives you can also choose to keep its sub-folders as nested folders instead of flattening them.
Does reading progress sync with my server?
Yes — two-way and page-level with Komga, Kavita, and Audiobookshelf. Stop reading on your iPhone and the server's own web reader opens on the same page; read on the web and the app catches up. For sources that have no server-side progress of their own — SMB, WebDAV, OPDS, Dropbox, OneDrive, a Files-app folder — that's what iCloud sync is for (next question).
Does it sync between my iPhone and iPad?
Yes, two ways. With Komga, Kavita, or Audiobookshelf, progress syncs through the server itself — connect both devices and your page follows you automatically. For everything else there's iCloud sync, running on your own iCloud account — no account with us, no server of ours in the middle. Turn it on in Settings (it's off until you do). How it works: point both devices at the same SMB share, WebDAV server, OPDS catalog, or Files-app folder, and the app matches comics by their path on the share — so it keeps working when your NAS changes IP address or you connect by hostname on one device and address on the other. Locally imported files sync too: the app recognizes the same comic by its content, so import the same file on both devices — or delete it and import it again later — and your page follows you. Reading progress, hidden comics, and each series' reading mode and direction all travel. Server connections themselves stay per-device — you add a server once on each device (passwords never leave that device's Keychain), and sync picks the comics up from there. Progress for the sources that sync through their own server — Komga, Kavita, Audiobookshelf — deliberately stays with that server, one source of truth per comic, no double-syncing.
Can I read offline?
Yes. Pin any chapter or series for offline with one tap — it downloads in the background on a queue that survives leaving the screen — and refresh it from the source whenever you like.
iPhone? iPad? Mac? Android?
iPhone and iPad now (iOS 16.4+). Mac is planned next, Android after that once the iOS app has proven itself — honest answer: one platform done properly at a time.
Where does the content come from?
From you. The app never bundles, fetches, or sources comics — no built-in catalogs, no "sources," no extensions. Your files and your servers are the only inputs. That's a hard rule, not a version-one limitation.
