Best iOS Manga Reader Alternative in 2026 (+Translation)

If you read manga on an iPhone, you already know the drill. You find a reader app you like, you build your library around it, and a few months later it’s gone from the App Store. Or you’re switching over from Android, you go looking for Tachiyomi, and there just isn’t one. Tachiyomi itself was discontinued in early 2024, its Android successor is Mihon, and neither has ever run on iOS.

iOS is a rough place to be a manga reader. The apps that survive are good, but the whole category feels smaller and more fragile than it does on Android. So here’s an honest look at your actual options in 2026, whether you’re hunting for a Tachimanga alternative, a Tachiyomi-for-iOS replacement, or just a solid iPhone manga reader, plus the one gap none of them fill.

One thing up front: if your problem isn’t which reader to use but that the series you want isn’t in English, most of this list won’t help you. The one that will is Madomi, which reads and translates on your iPhone. Jump straight to it, or read on for the full comparison.

Why iOS manga readers keep disappearing

The short answer is the App Store. Apple reviews every app and pulls anything that pulls unlicensed content or looks like piracy. Reader apps that bundle a built-in source of pirated chapters tend to get removed, sometimes after they’ve already built a following. That’s why a reader you loved last year might not be installable today.

Android is different. It lets you sideload, so open-source readers like Mihon (the app that carried on after Tachiyomi shut down) and its many forks can live outside the Play Store entirely and pull from whatever source you point them at. iOS doesn’t allow that in the same way, at least not without a lot of friction. That’s why there’s no true Tachiyomi or Mihon for iPhone, only apps that work around Apple’s rules in different ways.

What survives on iOS, then, are apps that play by Apple’s rules: readers for files you already own, readers that connect to your own self-hosted library, and a handful of source-based apps that stay quiet enough to keep passing review. Once you understand that split, picking the right one gets a lot easier.

The best iOS manga reader apps in 2026

Here’s the honest rundown. Each of these is a legitimate option depending on how you read.

Tachimanga — The name most people land on when they search for a Tachiyomi alternative on iOS. It’s a paid, source-based reader that pairs with a self-hosted Komga library, which is what gets it closest to the old Tachiyomi feel. If “Tachimanga alt” is what brought you here, it’s worth trying first, though the paid unlock and source upkeep put some people off.
Aidoku — The best free, open-source option, and the closest spiritual replacement for Tachiyomi. Source-based: you add extensions to pull chapters from different sites. It’s clean, actively maintained, and the community around it is solid. The catch is setup: you manage sources yourself, and any given source can break or disappear.
Paperback — Another source-based reader iOS fans have relied on for years, with iCloud sync and tracker integration (AniList, MyAnimeList). Its availability has wobbled over time, so check whether it’s currently installable in your region before you commit your library to it.
Mangayomi — A newer cross-platform, open-source reader that also handles anime. Another name that comes up in “apps like Tachiyomi” lists if Aidoku isn’t clicking for you.
Panels — The best pick if you own your files. Panels is a gorgeous reader for CBZ, CBR, and PDF, and it connects to self-hosted libraries like Komga, Kavita, and Plex. It’s built for people with legally acquired collections, not scraping sites, which is exactly why it stays on the App Store without drama.
Official apps (Manga Plus, VIZ) — If you mainly read mainstream Shonen Jump titles, Shueisha’s Manga Plus and VIZ Manga are free, legal, and translated. Limited catalogues, but no setup and no gray area.
Madomi — The odd one out, because it’s a reader and a translator. It opens your own files, connects to Komga, and reads manga sites like the others, but it also translates every page with AI as you scroll. More on that below, since it’s the option built for the one thing the rest can’t do.

Here’s how they stack up at a glance:

App	Free	Reads from manga sites	Your own files + Komga	Translates raws
Tachimanga	Paid unlock	Yes	Yes (Komga)	No
Aidoku	Yes	Yes	Local files	No
Paperback	Yes	Yes	Komga via source	No
Mangayomi	Yes	Yes	Local files	No
Panels	Paid unlock	No	Yes	No
Manga Plus / VIZ	Yes	Official only	No	Already in English
Madomi	Free plan	Yes	Yes (Komga)	Yes

Notice the last column. Every app can show you the art; only Madomi can turn a raw Japanese, Korean, or Chinese page into something you can actually read. That single “Yes” is the whole reason this post exists.

If your series is available in English on one of these, you’re set. Read it, support the author, move on. The trouble starts with everything that isn’t in your language yet, which is the whole right-hand column above.

The gap none of them fill: language

Every reader above assumes the chapter is already in a language you can read. That’s a big assumption.

A huge amount of manga, and most manhwa and manhua, either never gets an official English release or runs hundreds of chapters behind the raws. If you follow anything even slightly off the beaten path, you eventually hit a wall: the art is right there on the page, and you can’t read a word of it.

None of the iOS readers solve this. They’re readers, not translators. So the workflow most people fall back on is screenshotting a panel, cropping it, pasting it into Google Translate, and squinting at the result. It works for one bubble. It falls apart across a whole chapter, and it’s miserable with vertical Japanese text or dense Korean and Chinese lettering.

Madomi: an iOS manga reader that translates as you read

This is the gap Madomi is built for. It’s a manga reader on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and it translates every page with AI in real time as you scroll. No screenshots, no copy-paste.

A few things make it different from the readers above:

Read your own files. Open CBZ, PDF, ZIP, and more, the same as any file-based reader.
Connect your own library. Point it at a self-hosted Komga server and read your collection from your phone.
Read on manga sites too. Open a page and let Madomi translate it in place.
Translation is the whole point. Japanese manga, Korean manhwa, Chinese manhua, and webtoons, translated on the page in the language you actually read, automatically while you scroll.

So instead of “read the chapters that already exist in English,” Madomi lets you read the ones that don’t. That’s the part Aidoku, Paperback, and Panels leave to you.

The free plan covers casual reading. Madomi Premium removes the daily limit and gives you faster, higher-quality translation if you’re powering through a backlog. The same account works across iOS, Android, and the browser, so you’re not paying twice to read on your phone and your laptop.

You can get Madomi on the App Store for free and try it on a chapter right now. No card, no sign-up wall.

Which iOS manga reader should you pick?

Quick decision guide:

You own a legal library (CBZ files or a Komga/Kavita server) and only ever read in English. Panels is the nicest pure reader for owned content. Madomi opens the same files and Komga libraries too, so if there’s any chance you’ll want a raw chapter translated later, it does both jobs from one app.
You want a source-based, Tachiyomi-style reader for English scanlations. Aidoku (free) or Tachimanga are the closest fit. Just know sources are your responsibility and can break.
You read raws, or your series is stuck untranslated. Use Madomi. It’s the only one here that reads and translates, so it’s not really competing with the others, it’s solving a different problem none of them touch.
You want one app that does everything. Madomi reads your files and Komga library and translates as you go, covering the reader job and the language job at once. For most people that’s the simplest answer.

If you’ve done this with other languages before, the workflow is identical. We walked through it 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.

Try it on the series you’ve been stuck on

Pick the manga that stalled out in English. Grab Madomi on the App Store, open the chapter you’ve been blocked on, and read it in your language. The whole thing takes about two minutes.

FAQ

Is there a Tachiyomi for iOS? Not officially. Tachiyomi was discontinued in 2024 and its successor, Mihon, is Android only. On iPhone, Aidoku is the closest free open-source alternative, and Tachimanga (paired with Komga) is the closest full experience. iOS doesn’t allow sideloading the way Android does, so nothing is quite identical.

What’s the best Tachimanga alternative on iOS? If you want free and open source, Aidoku. If you own a library and want a clean reader, Panels. If your real problem is untranslated chapters rather than which app to use, Madomi reads and translates, which none of the others do.

Can I read my own CBZ or PDF files on iPhone? Yes. Panels and Madomi both open CBZ, PDF, and other common formats, and both connect to a self-hosted Komga library.

Does Madomi work on iPad and Mac? Yes. The App Store version runs on iPhone, iPad, and macOS from the same download.

Is Madomi free? There’s a free plan that covers casual reading with a monthly credit allowance. Premium removes the limit and adds faster, better translation.

Is it legal to read and translate raw manga? Reading from an official publisher’s site is legal, and running a translator on top is the same as using Google Translate on any foreign-language page. Where you read matters more than how you translate it. Support the official English release whenever one exists.