Outread: Speed Reading

• Outread+ — $49.99/year ($4.16/mo) (derived from the IAP title)

Last verified 31 Jul 2026

4.7 1323 ratings · App Store

1. 5/5Really Great

   Whole heartedly recommend, especially if you consider yourself to have ADD. I generally don’t go in for the whole speed reading thing. I think it’s a flashy, cool thing to market to people who are wrapped up in the hustle culture we find ourselves in. Reading faster is not necessarily productive. I do love that I can pace my reading though, because I often get distracted. I enjoy being able to see how much time I’ve spent *actually reading*, not just counting the amount of time I’ve sat down with the intention of reading. Both the pacing and the time tracking have done wonders for me. I’ve spent 30 mins a day for a week reading at 200wpm (which is not very fast) and I’ve noticed considerable improvement in my ability to read text I encounter in my day to day. This app has already paid for itself in my opinion. This is a comfortable reading speed for me and I’m able to retain full comprehension. It’s the pacing that’s the magic ingredient. The app acts as a finger guiding your eye across the text and it gets you in the zone quickly. I didn’t think this was possible for me and I’m delighted. In its most basic form, it’s simply a tool to help you practice reading, and you get better at what you practice. Developers: When I’m browsing for a book to read, I would love to see the estimated time to complete the book. This could reference the users current wpm setting, or provide a generic range of speeds and times required for completion. A truly worthwhile app. Thank you.

   Williampb3 · 31 Jul 2026

2. 5/5Incomplete; still 5/5

   [Attention: when trying free demo, explore the app for a while because some features you might not see are hiding—some in the settings and others in plain sight. How Outread is not at the top of some best-of-apps-category list makes me question if it’s the fault of the dev for the user interface or if apple isn’t promoting it for some reason. ] Without naming names, I have previously purchased a different speed reading app, tried a few more, even began a free trial on a subscription (as if the little app was some service) that was a complete waste... then tried my luck with Outread. Did the “Welcome note” and got a speed-read tour of the app’s features and when I went to load my thick epub... I needed to buy the full version... SOLD. The modest price (read non-subscription) makes me feel like I can support the dev without bleeding money on months I might not use the app. One price, and it stays snugly on my home screen ready for a new book, should one present itself. I can say that I would only like some guide lines above,below, and on either side of my active words—along with center letter highlighting—and Outread would be much closer to a speed reading app-killer. But as it stands now, it already is. My fear is the developer placed the “flashing” method of reading behind a more traditional reading method that is harder, and potential new users see that and uninstall, not even knowing this app does it. The price, current features, and compatibility make this one app the best I’ve used THUS FAR. FYI, I believe I read this app is English-only.

   WTF_Actual · 31 Jul 2026

3. 5/5Data Privacy

   Though I haven’t tried out the app yet, I chose this reader because the developer’s privacy policy states that customer data will not be sold. The developer does use Google Firebase so I looked up the privacy policy for that service provider, which states that end user data usage is determined by the customer’s (app developer’s) policies. Other reader apps do not provide this level of privacy protection. I’ll update this review after I’ve had enough time to make an opinion on it. Update: I’ve given it a few weeks now and I have significantly improved my reading speed. I love how easy it is to import articles and books. However, there’s already a good library of books included in the app, so users may not even need to import any books. I recommend this app for increasing reading speed without losing comprehension.

   Carrots&Celery · 31 Jul 2026

4. 5/5The Best

   I’ve tried a lot of readers, but Outread is hands down the best. I browse The NYT and Washington Post for articles of interest. Using the Share extension I can quickly and seamlessly add them to Outread. I do most of my reading using the Spritz method, and Outread has added some fantastic features such as customizable settings for the length of pauses at the end of sentences, after commas, etc. You can sort the items in your list alphabetically, by length of article, or by items most recently added. The developers have really thought of everything to facilitate the reading process. There is even a good collection of classics you can read for free.

   Dr. L. · 31 Jul 2026

5. 4/5Would love to see a few improvements!

   I seriously LOVE this app— especially the feature that highlights groups of words to help with focusing, which is honestly a game-changer; I struggle with ADHD and I can’t even start to tell you how helpful it is to my work!!! Meanwhile, I do see a few things that I think can benefit from some improvements to really meet a larger variety of readers’ needs: 1. I’d really appreciate it if Outread had a “highlight/mark” feature like Kindle or Apple Book does— by which I don’t mean your “highlighting the font” feature (as I said, LOOOVED it!!!), but one that allows the reader to color-mark words/sections and perhaps to add notes to those highlighted/marked parts. It’s just quite frustrating for me to not being able to make notes/marks on my texts as I read them… 2. I also REALLY enjoy the exercises/trainings!!!! However, I do wish there were more levels to be challenging… For example, the highest level of the eidetic memory training exercise (the second exercise; where you remember how many letters appear each time) is only 13 (I think?); I was actually quite surprised (and disappointed) when I found that there’s no higher level!!! I mean! There’re 26 letters in the English language so you guys don’t really have to stop at D??… And then I had to look for other apps with similar trainings and have more apps to pay for even though I really just needed one!… I guess my point is, you can throw more different letters there and definitely more than 7 letters each time; some of us really enjoy it when things are more challenging!! :) Above all, thank you guys for Outread— it’s a game changer and worths every cents!

   bakedchalice · 31 Jul 2026

Privacy

Accessibility

No accessibility labels collected yet.