Precious Pages' reading app is now CAT-HA, with a shelf of free Filipino novels
The publisher relaunched its old iReader app under a new name and added a Free to Read collection. It is on Google Play, the App Store and Huawei AppGallery.
Precious Pages Corp., one of the biggest publishers of Filipino novels, has relaunched its reading app as CAT-HA. It was known before as Precious Pages iReader. The app lets you read romance novels on your phone, and a section called Free to Read carries selected titles at no cost.
Company president Segundo Matias Jr. said the free shelf came from a simple worry: that plenty of Filipinos want to read but cannot buy books.
Alam naman natin 'yung crisis na marami sa mga Filipino ang hindi nakakapagbasa. Minsan nakakalungkot isipin na may mga taong hindi nakakabili ng books o walang access sa mga reading materials. Kaya 'yung mga ganitong klaseng initiative, tulad ng app na libre, malaking bagay.
Why it matters
Most reading apps here are stocked with English titles. This one is Filipino by default, and it runs on the three stores that cover almost every phone sold in the country: Google Play for Android, the App Store for iPhone, and Huawei AppGallery for Huawei units that cannot use Google. If you ride two hours to work, that is free reading material you already have data for.
Matias said he wants to widen the shelf beyond romance in the coming months and years, naming comics and children's books as the next targets. He also said the titles are picked, not dumped in, so what you open should at least be edited properly.
The catch to watch
Free to Read is a collection, not the whole library. Selected titles are free and the rest are still paid, and the announcement did not say how many books are in the free shelf or how often it changes. The comics and children's books are a plan, not a feature you can open today. Install it, check what is actually free right now, and judge it on that.