A WebNovel app alternative — offline, aloud, on one shelf.
The official WebNovel app is where you buy chapters and support the people who write and translate them. Here's what it's good at, where readers want more, and how to read WebNovel's free chapters offline in Arc Reader.
WebNovel has an official app — WebNovel – Read Novels & Manga, published by Cloudary Holdings Limited, on the App Store and Google Play. It's free to download, and chapters beyond the free ones are unlocked with coins or a membership, sold as in-app purchases. If WebNovel is where you read, and you want every chapter the day it drops, the official app is the place to do it — that's how the authors and translators get paid.
If you also read on Royal Road, a cultivation MTL site and a Syosetu isekai, or you want WebNovel's free chapters offline with voices that work on a plane, a separate reader app fills the gap. Arc Reader — which we make, so weigh that accordingly — reads WebNovel's free chapters into the same offline shelf as hundreds of other sites. Locked chapters stay locked. We don't bypass paywalls, and we don't want to.
What is WebNovel?
WebNovel is the international, English-language arm of 起点 (Qidian), China's biggest web-fiction platform. China Literature launched it in 2017, starting with licensed English translations of Qidian novels and opening, soon after, to English originals uploaded by anyone. Its store listing today describes both — translated and exclusive novels, original stories, plus manga and comics.
That double life matters. On WebNovel you'll find:
- Licensed translations of Chinese web novels — xianxia, xuanhuan, urban fantasy — often the official English version of something that started on Qidian.
- English originals written for the platform, many of them long-running serials.
- Comics and manhua, which a novel reader app doesn't touch.
What the official WebNovel app is good at
Be fair to it first. The official app is the only place where the whole WebNovel catalog — every chapter, the newest ones included — is legitimately readable.
- Buying chapters. Coins and memberships are sold in the app, per its store listing. Reader reviews and community posts also describe free passes earned through check-ins and daily reading, and a Privilege tier for advance chapters. The rules shift over time, so check the app itself.
- Supporting the people behind the book. On a licensed translation, your coins pay the platform, the author and the translator. On an original, they pay the writer. Votes, comments and gifts land where the author can see them.
- Comics. If you read manhua alongside novels, it's one app for both.
The store description doesn't promise offline downloads or read-aloud. Users on app forums describe downloading chapters and a narrator in some versions — features change with updates, so check the current listing before you plan a long flight around it. The age rating also lists advertising.
Where people want more from a WebNovel app
None of this is a knock on WebNovel. It's what any single-platform app can't do by design:
- Other sites on the same shelf. WebNovel's app reads WebNovel. Your Royal Road serial, your Scribble Hub LitRPG and your FanMTL cultivation novel live elsewhere — one app per site.
- Offline voices you control. A long cultivation novel is a lot of commuting. Readers want voices that run on the phone, with no connection and no per-minute cost, that can learn how to say a sect name once.
- Reading comfort. Fonts, true black, paper page curl, e-ink mode, volume-key page turns — the small things that matter at chapter 1,400.
- The raw, in your own translation. When a licensed translation is behind the Chinese original, some readers want the 起点 chapter itself, translated with a model they choose.
- New-chapter tracking across sites. One list that tells you what updated, whatever site it came from.
How to read WebNovel offline in Arc Reader
- Find the novel on webnovel.com in Safari or Chrome — the book's page, not a chapter. Mobile links (m.webnovel.com) work too.
- Paste the link into Arc Reader, or share it straight from the browser. You can also search across sources from inside the app.
- The free chapters download in the background, Wi-Fi only by default. They open with no connection.
- Locked chapters stay locked. Anything WebNovel puts behind coins, a pass or Privilege isn't downloaded. Chapters you've bought belong to your WebNovel account — read those in the official app.
- New free chapters are detected. You get a notification, and they can download themselves.
Then it reads like everything else on your shelf — light, sepia, dark or true black, a dozen reading fonts, paper page curl, slide or continuous scroll, e-ink mode. How importing works.
Does WebNovel have text-to-speech? Listening offline instead
Whatever the official app offers this month, Arc Reader's answer doesn't depend on it. 140 natural voices in 31 languages run on the device — no internet, no per-minute cost — and the phone's own voices work too. Words highlight as they're read, you can tap a paragraph to jump there, set a sleep timer and speed, control it from the lock screen, and it advances to the next chapter on its own. Pronunciation rules fix a character or sect name once for the whole novel; ambient rain, fire or piano can play underneath.
That turns WebNovel's free chapters — and everything else you've downloaded — into an audiobook you can take anywhere. More on listening · turning a web novel into an audiobook.
Reading the Chinese original on 起点 with your own AI key
Many WebNovel translations start life on 起点中文网 (Qidian), and Arc Reader reads Qidian too. If the English edition is behind, or the novel was never licensed, you can read the original and translate it with your own AI key — Gemini, OpenAI, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, Groq or any OpenAI-compatible service. Translate ahead of where you are or the whole novel, keep names consistent, read it bilingual (original and translation together), and the translation is saved with the chapter.
The same rule holds there: Qidian's paid VIP chapters stay paid. A reader app doesn't change that. And a machine translation is not the licensed one — if a book has an official English edition you love, that's the one worth paying for.
Official WebNovel app vs Arc Reader
| Official WebNovel app | Arc Reader | |
|---|---|---|
| WebNovel's free chapters | Yes | Yes — downloaded to the phone |
| Locked / paid chapters | Yes — buy with coins, passes or membership | No — read them in the official app |
| Supports authors and translators | Directly, through purchases | Not directly — buy chapters on WebNovel |
| Comics and manhua | Yes | No |
| Other sites on one shelf | No — WebNovel only | Hundreds of sites, many languages |
| Offline reading | Not promised in the store description | Every downloaded chapter, unlimited on free |
| Read aloud | Check the current version | 140 on-device voices in 31 languages, offline |
| Translate raws with your own AI key | No | Yes — including 起点 (Qidian) |
| New-chapter alerts | For WebNovel books | Across every site on your shelf |
| Account | WebNovel account for purchases and library | None needed — read as a guest |
| Ads | Listed in its age rating | A few ads on free; Pro removes them |
The honest summary: they're not really rivals. The official app is where WebNovel's paid chapters live. Arc Reader is where WebNovel's free chapters sit next to everything else you read — offline, and out loud. Plenty of readers will want both. More reader apps, compared.
Which sites besides WebNovel does Arc Reader read?
Hundreds, in many languages — Royal Road, Scribble Hub, Novel Updates, WTR-Lab, FanMTL, NovelFull, Light Novel Pub, Novel Fire, 小説家になろう (Syosetu), カクヨム (Kakuyomu), Novelpia, 起点 (Qidian), 番茄, Project Gutenberg and many more. Your own EPUB, PDF, MOBI, TXT and DOCX files go on the same shelf. Missing a site? Request it in the app. The full guide to web-novel sources.
FAQ
Can I read WebNovel offline?
Yes, for the free chapters. Paste a WebNovel novel's page link into Arc Reader and every free chapter downloads to your phone — they open with no connection, and downloads are unlimited on the free app. Locked chapters aren't downloaded; read those in the official WebNovel app.
Can Arc Reader unlock WebNovel's paid chapters?
No. Chapters WebNovel locks behind coins, passes, Privilege or a membership stay locked in Arc Reader. We don't bypass paywalls. Buying chapters in the official app is how authors and translators get paid.
Is there a free WebNovel app alternative?
Arc Reader is free to download and read with. The free app has a few ads while you read, and Pro removes them. It reads WebNovel's free chapters plus hundreds of other sites, with no account needed. It isn't affiliated with WebNovel.
Does Arc Reader read WebNovel aloud?
Yes. Any downloaded chapter can be read aloud by 140 natural voices in 31 languages that run on the phone, with no internet and no per-minute cost. Word highlighting, a sleep timer, lock-screen controls and auto-advance to the next chapter are built in.
Can I read the Chinese original of a WebNovel translation?
Often, yes. Many WebNovel translations start on 起点 (Qidian), which Arc Reader also reads. Translate it with your own AI key, from Gemini, OpenAI, DeepSeek or any OpenAI-compatible service. Qidian's paid chapters stay paid.
Paste a link.
Listen offline.
Arc Reader downloads every chapter to your phone and reads it aloud with voices that run on the device. Free on iOS and Android.