Read 2–5× faster on macOS with zero effort.
Speed Reader uses RSVP to show text one word at a time at your pace.
Articles, books, PDFs — anywhere on your Mac.
macOS 14+ · Swift 5.9 · MIT · No telemetry
Traditional reading spends time moving your eyes across each line. Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) keeps words in one fixed position, while Optimal Recognition Point (ORP) highlighting guides your eye to the most useful letter.
Speed Reader is a native SwiftUI app: fast, lightweight, and built for macOS. No Electron, account, trial, paywall, analytics, or crash-reporting service.
- 100–1000 WPM — adjust speed live with buttons or keyboard shortcuts.
- ORP highlighting — keep eye fixation stable as words change.
- Multi-format reading — PDF, EPUB, DOCX, Markdown, FB2, TXT, and images.
- Built-in OCR — read scanned PDFs, images, or any selected screen area using Apple Vision.
- Clean URL extraction — paste an article link and remove navigation, ads, and clutter.
- Smart pauses — stop automatically on images, formulas, tables, and code blocks.
- Search and table of contents — navigate long documents without losing your place.
- Local reading history — continue recent files and URLs, view streaks, WPM, and time saved.
- Menu bar access — start from clipboard, file, URL, or screen capture without changing workflow.
- Custom appearance — fonts, colors, themes, reader sizes, and per-mode controls.
| Main Window | Notch Widget |
|---|---|
|
 |
| Preview text, highlight the current word, and control playback in one place. | Keep a minimal Dynamic Island-style reader around the MacBook notch. |
| Separate Window | Zen Mode |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Read beside other apps in an adjustable floating glass panel. | Enter a distraction-free fullscreen reader with context, scrubbing, and chunked words. |
| Input | Support |
|---|---|
| Documents | PDF, EPUB, DOCX, Markdown, FB2, TXT |
| Images | JPEG, PNG, TIFF, HEIC, BMP via OCR |
| Web | Article URLs with clean text extraction |
| Screen | Native area capture with Vision OCR |
| Clipboard | One-click reading from the menu bar |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
⌘⏎ |
Start reading |
Space |
Play or pause |
← / → |
Previous or next word |
⇧← / ⇧→ |
Back or forward 10 words |
↑ / ↓ |
Change speed by 50 WPM |
R |
Restart |
⌘F |
Search current text or document |
⌘⇧O |
Open table of contents |
⌘⇧V |
Read clipboard from menu bar |
⌘⇧U |
Read active browser URL |
⌘⇧A |
Capture screen area |
Esc |
Close reader or document |
Requirements: Xcode 26+, XcodeGen, and macOS 14+ SDK.
git clone https://github.com/khlebobul/speed-reader.git
cd speed-reader/SpeedReader
xcodegen generate
xcodebuild -project SpeedReader.xcodeproj -scheme SpeedReader -configuration Debug buildOpen SpeedReader/SpeedReader.xcodeproj in Xcode to run or debug the app.
Issues and pull requests are welcome. Keep changes native, local-first, and focused.
Speed Reader is free and open source under the MIT License.