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The 10 best speed reading apps to boost reading skills
Speed Reading III for Mac aims to help users read faster by showing a basic technique that can improve one's focus. This application doesn't test comprehension or give explicit pointers on how to.
How much time do you regularly take going through long articles or your favorite book? There is probably a queue of books, articles or novels that you would have tackled if you had more than 24 hours in a day!
Machine-assisted reading apps offer an efficient solution for people who love to read digital content. In this article we will look at some of the best speed reading apps for iOS, Android, desktops and browsers that will help you process content quickly and learn accelerated reading techniques.
1. Spreeder CX
The Spreeder Pro edition (visit website) has been rated by users as one of the best e-Reader apps and is particularly suitable for those who wish to speed read entire eBooks and electronic documents.
Another great value is the app’s training modules which will also teach you how to improve reading speed and efficiency on digital devices. Designed by eReflect, it is available for Mac and Windows but the all-in-one license also includes a free browser, iPad and iPhone app.
Training – Spreeder aims to reduce inefficient reading habits such as regression, restless eye fixations or subvocalization. There are various training modules or guided exercises available that will teach you how to overcome them. As a result, users will see improvements in their overall productivity, save time and comprehend the content more effectively.
Reading Modes – It’s easily possible to adjust the app to your needs, e.g. set different font sizes, speeds or color schemes. You can also choose from the four reading modes Serial, Flow, Highlight and Scroll to highlight or display content in a way that fits a specific reading need.
eBook Library – The speed reading app lets you read large amounts of electronic content in various ways. You can either upload your own content or browse a library of more than 20,000 eBook titles. It accepts all formats and document types.
Multiple Users – One license allows you to install and access Spreeder on as many machines as you want. You may also create separate accounts for up 5 users to let colleagues, friends and family enjoy it as well. Combined with the multi-cross platform availability this increases the app’s overall good price-value.
Cloud technology – ‘CX’ stands for cloud extended. One benefit is that all your results and activities will be automatically synchronized between your devices. Customers will also get updates to the latest technology as well as feature upgrades for up to 3 years.
Verdict – Getting rid of bad reading habits and increasing your digital reading speed are the two core goals of CX. The combination of educational expert courses and latest RSVP technology is a very effective strategy to help users process digital content faster be it for reading pleasure or to boost general work performance. It’s certainly one of the best speed reading apps on the market.
Price: $67. Visit website.
Rating: ★★★★★★
Availability: Desktop, Browser, iPad
2. The 7-Speed-Reading App
7-Speed-Reading (visit website) is a popular browser and desktop app to improve overall reading efficiency. The main focus is on exercises, games and progress tracking.
A highlight not seen in other speed reading apps are the expert video tutorials featuring the world’s most recognized teachers in the field. Hence, learning from the best is certainly a strategy behind this program.
This app is suitable for those who prefer to learn on a laptop or desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome), however, there is no specific iOS/Android version available. The browser app offers a workaround allowing access to the app via tablet or smartphone for those on the go.
Features – Having a price tag of $79.95 this speed reading app is certainly not an instant buy but looking at the features explains why it is the most expensive candidate on this list here. The expert video tutorials are an excellent way to teach the relevant knowledge, while the step-by-step guides, games and exercises aim to set you on track to practically improve comprehension, eliminate bad reading habits and triple your reading speed (claim by eReflect).
Furthermore, you can use your own reading material, practice with any web resources and set up your own classes. Up to 5 users can create an account while the app itself can be installed on as many computers as wanted. The progress tracking stats provide in-depth information about a user’s weak areas, test times, results and other valuable numbers.
Verdict – A powerful app for laptop and desktop computers to learn to read faster. Suitable for those who are in the market for learning the skill itself and less for an app that facilitates eBook reading.
Price: $79.95. Visit website.
Rating: ★★★★★★
Availability: Desktop, Browser
3. AceReader Cloud
AceReader Cloud is a popular speed reading app that is based on the award-winning AceReader program. It will help students to further enhance their digital reading and content comprehension skills.
The Cloud edition comes with a lot of possibilities that all aim at one goal: to boost your speed while also teach you to retain more information, hence, to make you more productive when processing digital content.
The design, features and programming of this app refer to a variety of technologies.
7 Speed Reading Download Mac Version
RSVP Reading Technology – With Rapid Serial Visual Presentation you can highlight certain parts of the text and work on your learning goals just by adjusting the app’s settings.
Tachistoscopic Scroll Presentation – This feature encourages you to train your eyes to move at a certain speed by presenting the text in a specific way.
Reading modes – There is a training and a reading mode. The first one focuses on the training part in order for you to reach your goals. It includes drills, games and numerous engaging exercises.
The second mode refers to the enhancement of your reading skills. This app offers a set of personalized options such as uploading your own texts to engage you even further.
Verdict – AceReader is an app that can take your reading skills to the next level. The fact alone that it is eligible for mobile use makes it a strong candidate for teaching you how to read faster and go through any type of digital content more effectively.
Price: from $39/year.
Rating: ★★★★★☆
Availability: iPad, iPhone, Browser
4. Speed Reader for Android
Speed Reader is an eBook book reader app on Android. One of the best features is the RSVP mode allowing you to go through books at a maximum speed of 750 (free) or 1,250 words per minute (premium).
This way readers can process big chunks of information quite fast and thus save a lot of time before deciding to go into more detail.
Features & Highlights
One of the more notable things to highlight is the availability to read the material in RSVP mode in other apps. Think of Pocket, Zite, Feedly or ColorNote. It actually works in many other reader apps too. Furthermore, if you are not fully comfortable t oread at higher speeds you can first use one of the build-in drills to practice essentials skills. This makes the app more valuable against pure text highlighting apps.
Premium Features – However, don’t get too excited as some of the features do not come for free or are limited in their performance. If you wish to upload your own eBook in txt or ePub format you will be required to go premium. On the other side, if you don’t mind being limited to the 750 wpm RSVP mode in the free version, I think this will serve you well to enjoy digital reading at faster speeds.
Verdict – A neat and well-organized speed reading app for Android to develop the right skills and read eBooks at faster speeds. There are tutorials and game drills available. The premium version will further expand on the features available in the free version.
Price: Free download. In-app purchases from $2.99.
Rating: ★★★★★☆
Availability: Android (view store)
Playstore Alternatives: Reading Trainer, Reedy, Spritz Fast Reading
5. ReadQuick App
Apps make use of various techniques like meta-guiding, rapid serial visual presentation or display words in rapid succession so that your reading speed can increase massively.
One of the best speed reading apps is ReadQuick which is designed for iOS. It helps you to read through e-books, articles and blogs in a faster way.
Excellent Integration
This app offers direct integration with Instapaper and Pocket making it easier to go through your entire reading list. You may also simply use your preferred browser to navigate to any page of your choice and then read articles with ReadQuick. Alternatively, you can choose to go through articles using services such as Longreads, Macworld, TechMeme and Talking Points Memo.
Reading Lists and Statistics
In an ideal world, ReadQuick helps make time for all the reading that has been pending on your “to-do” list for a long time. It may also aid in increasing your comprehension as well as the ability to grasp more in less time. One feature is to track the number of words and articles that you have read and provides you with helpful statistics to optimize app use and reading speed. ReadQuick will also analyze each article and tell you the approximate time it requires to complete an article.
Price: Download for $9.99. View store.
Rating: ★★★★★☆
Availability: iPhone, iPad, Mac
6. ReadMe! App
This speed reading app stands out from other apps due to the integration of Spritz technology. It will show the user one or more words at a time by presenting an optical recognition point which is highlighted in red. This way your eyes should keep their focus on the highlighted word and not skip away. This technique makes it easier to read at high-speed without requiring any more training.
This app is available for iPhone and Android devices. Key features and highlights:
7 Speed Reading Download Mac Os
- Provides control over reading speed
- Renewal subscription offered on monthly or yearly basis.
- Monthly charges of $0.99 per month are being currently offered.
- Pay via iTunes account or Google Play Account
- Add books to one device and it will show up on your other devices
- An E-PUB Reader which supports rich formats and high quality pictures on your device
Some users have mentioned that offline availability is limited and sometimes they faced issues in making use of this feature at all. There are also reports that changing the reading speed caused the app to freeze or close. Most users are, however, satisfied with ReadMe! and can recommend it.
Price: $1.99. View store.
Rating: ★★★★☆☆
Availability: Android, iPhone
7. Reedy. Intelligent Reader App for Android
Reedy is a speed reading app developed as an extension for Google Chrome but is also available for Android in Playstore, Based on RSVP technology it will highlight words in fast sequences allowing users to read web content, eBooks or PDFs up to three times faster.
Features
The app allows speeds of up to 2,000 wpm which can be adjusted depending on reading purpose. Three reading modes are available: regular, fast reading and text-to-speech voice reading.
Smart Slowing will slightly reduce speed towards the end of a sentence or punctuation. Reedy also allows to insert custom content and offers offline functionality. The in-book search functionality is great to find specific content quickly. Bookmarks can be set.
To improve comprehension the focus point is set to the beginning of each word displayed. A dark theme mode might prove to be more effective for some readers and can be activated. There are also settings for font-size and reading area.
Using Reedy
Reedy can be used by sharing a link from Pocket reader. You can also select the text on your phone or browser and then use ‘ALT + S’ to launch the reading mode. Alternatively, use a right-click to open the contextual menu to start it. Other handy shortcuts include Up/Down to change speed or +/- to increase the font size during a read.
Reedy is free to download but offers in-app purchases from $0.99 to activate premium features and options. Supported formats: epub, fb2, html, txt and zip-archives.
Price: Free download. $0.99 for in-app products.
Rating: ★★★★★☆
Availability: Android, Chrome extension. (View store).
8. QuickReader App
Here is another app claiming to give you effective “super reading eyes”. QuickReader works for both iPhone and iPad user and requires iOS 8.0 or later to function properly. This app is packed with all the features you expect to be included in a speed reading app and is less expensive than the solutions mentioned above. One highlight is getting access to a library of more than 2 million e-books.
Touch-free Reading
This is something that caught my eye: QuickReader offers you touch-free reading with speeds from 10 to up to 4,000 words per minute. This will help overcome the hassle of turning pages at a pre-set speed.
Enhance Reading Speed Effectively
One interesting tool is the “time-tested” technique which can help increase your reading speed steadily. Finish your books two or even three times faster.
Highly Customizable Experience
The interface is highly customizable and you can choose the color, size and orientation of the text according to your own choice. There are various designer color schemes that you can activate within the library.
Things to consider?
A few users mentioned they are experiencing difficulties while using this app in combination with a PDF reader, as some words get changed into words that cannot be comprehended easily.
Price: QuickReader can be downloaded at the price of $4.99 which sounds competitive compared to other apps on the market. It comes in various languages including English, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Italian, Chinese, Greek and many more.
Store:View in store.
Rating: ★★★★☆☆
Availability: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
9. Outread App
Outread is a speed reading app to build your reading ability and enhance comprehension using a rather minimalistic approach. It claims to make your life easier by skipping unneeded gimmicks and focusing on techniques enabling you to read faster than with any other app.
7 Speed Reading Download Mac 7
Outread works for iPhone and iPad and requires iOS 7.0 or later. Some of the key features and highlights of this app are given below:
- Assistance in reducing sub-vocalization
- Offers guided reading technique
- Very simple to use and configure
- Synchronization with Instapaper, Pocket and E-reader
- Feature to save articles and books and use them for later
- Reading speed can be adjusted; and so can be the high-lighter size and color
- Choose theme for night and day mode
- Add web pages or articles from Safari through the book mark option
- Track your progress over time, get accurate statistics for analyzing your performance
- outRead can be downloaded for iTunes at the price of $2.99
7 Speed Reading Download Mac Download
Although most of the users were satisfied with the performance of Outread, there were a few ones who claimed that it does not allow them to save web pages or articles to third-party apps from a particular share sheet. However, considering the very low price, this app is particularly interesting to those with a limited budget or if you just want to give a random app a try to see how the technology works in general.
Price: $2.99. View store.
Rating: ★★★★☆☆
Availability: iOS
10. The Speed Reading App, Android
Speed Reading is available for Android devices and allows its users to independently develop their reading speed.
It offers a selection of courses to practice different skills. Various ‘simulators’ are available (Schulte Table, memory simulators or attention tools) to help you achieve these goals. The initial download is free but upgrades will be necessary to fully use it.
7 Speed Reading Download
Features
There are three sections available to practice your skills: Reading, Training and Motivators. Furthermore, a library allows you to read entire books in fb2, ePub, txt formats, e.g. The Fellowship of the Ring. The above-mentioned simulators allow you to train specific skills to either remember words or numbers, to expand your eye vision or to recognize objects faster.
Outcomes
Like other apps on the market as well, the Speed Reading app for Android will help to save time when reading, identify relevant text passages reliable, improve memory and vocabulary skills and last but not least develop your thinking and problem-solving skills.
Verdict
One of the few Android speed reading apps available that actually try to teach you better reading skills. The app, however, doesn’t come for free and it will cost you a few bucks or Euros for each item you wish to unlock. If you don’t mind using a browser or desktop app you may want to consider alternatives such as Spreeder which offer a lot more features and tools.
Price: Free. Google Play. In-app purchases required to fully use it.
Rating: ★★★★☆☆
Availability: Android (view store)
Best Speed Reading Apps 2020: Summary and Verdict
The speed reading apps mentioned above can be either downloaded from a company’s website, iTunes or Google Playstore. However, it is recommended to consider your need for education and also the frequency of usage and then decide if a certain app is worth the money you are paying for.
Recommendation: For users who actually want to improve their reading skills and comprehension Spreeder (visit website) and 7SR are both excellent choices. Acceleread or QuickReader are also good options, with amazing features and are reasonably priced.
They offer an attractive combination of features, technical specifications, the capability to learn or improve a skill and a smooth interface that I personally require from a speed reading app.
Further reading:Best Speed Reading Software | Best Online Speed Reading Courses