On the App Store since 2010
Still eyes. Fast words.
Flash Reader shows text one word at a time, always in the same place, so your eyes stay still and the words come to you.
Paste text, share a page or a link from another app, or open a file. Flash Reader turns it into a clean read and keeps your place in every document.
Designed for iPhone Duo. Open the phone, and the words flash on one half with the text around them on the other. Close it, and you carry on where you were.
You are reading one word at a time. Your eyes have not moved since the first one. Every word lands in the same spot, with one letter marked under the two small ticks, so your eyes can rest there and let the words come to them.
On a page, your eyes do a lot of quiet work. They jump from word to word, land a little early or a little late, and sometimes slip back to check a line they already passed. Here that work is gone. The words do the moving, and you do the reading.
Notice the small pauses. A comma holds a word a beat longer, and the end of a sentence holds it longer still. A new paragraph leaves the stage empty for a moment, like a breath. Short words like "the" and "of" pass quickly, because you hardly need to see them.
If this feels slow, try a faster speed below. If it feels fast, tap to pause. You set the pace, and the words wait for you.
That is all there is to it. One word, one place, and your eyes at rest.
Be there when it ships.
Flash Reader 4 is finished when it is right, not when a date says so. It arrives on the App Store as a free update for everyone who has Flash Reader, and as a new download for everyone else.
The stage above is the app's reading engine in miniature. Questions before it ships: support@flashreaderapp.com.
Three ways to read.
Flash
One word at a time, centred by width, with one letter in red to hold your eye.
Chunk
Two to four words at a time, for a calmer rhythm.
Reader
The full text, to look back or find your place.
Tap once to pause. Play starts the sentence again, so you keep the thread.
Speed, with receipts.
Most speed reading apps promise a thousand words a minute with perfect recall. The science says otherwise, and Flash Reader is built to respect it. Understanding holds to about 350 words a minute, then drops. New readers start at 250. The ruler shows which zone your speed is in, so you always know when you are reading and when you are skimming. Natural pacing gives short, common words less time and long or rare words more, and punctuation adds a pause. Your effective speed counts the pauses too.
Paste it, share it, open it.
- Paste text, or tap the clipboard chip to read what you copied.
- Share text, a web page or a link from any app.
- Open a file from the Files app, or send one to Flash Reader with Open in.
- Paste a link and Flash Reader keeps just the article.
- Siri and Shortcuts: flash your clipboard, import a link or text, resume reading.
- Every document remembers its place, its mode and its speed.
- TXTPlain text.Free
- MDMarkdown.Free
- PDFWith embedded text.Pro
- DOCXWord documents.Pro
- RTFRich text.Pro
- HTMLSaved web pages.Pro
- EPUBBooks.Free update
- SCANScanned pages and photos of pages.Free update
- MACFlash Reader for Mac.Free update
Free updates ship when they are ready. Nothing on this page is sold before it exists.
iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo.
iPhone for stolen minutes. iPad for study, with the library beside the reading view and a keyboard that drives both. iPhone Duo, designed for: open it and the words flash on one half with the text around them on the other; close it and you carry on where you were.
One purchase covers iPhone and iPad.
Mac follows as a free update. Free update
No account. No server. No tracking.
Flash Reader has no account, no sign in and no server of its own. Imports happen on your device, and nothing you read is sent to us. There is no analytics code in the app and nothing in it that tracks you.
Free to start. Pro when you need it.
Free
Text you paste, copy or share reads free, forever, at full quality: every mode, every speed, every theme, links, TXT and Markdown files, and three documents on the shelf at a time.
Pro
PDF, DOCX, RTF and HTML files, an unlimited shelf, and every format that ships later.
- By the year 14 days free, then yearly.
- Pay once. It's yours.
- By the month
The App Store shows the price in your currency.
No account. No ads. No weekly plans. Annual and monthly Pro renew until cancelled in your Apple Account settings.
Bought Pro inside Flash Reader back in the day? It still counts. Restore purchases brings it back on any device, forever.
Bought the app itself in the paid years, before 2015? Flash Reader 4 recognises that on first launch and offers Pro Lifetime at a returning price.
Sixteen years in four sentences.
2010. Flash Reader arrives on the App Store, years before one word at a time got famous. 2019, the last update ships and the app slowly goes quiet. 2026, we rebuilt every line of it. Welcome back.
Questions.
Does speed reading actually work?
Partly, and we are honest about which part. Reading one word at a fixed point removes the work your eyes normally do, which feels dramatically faster and helps focus. Understanding holds up well to around 350 words a minute and drops beyond 500. Flash Reader shows you the zone you are in and an effective speed that counts your pauses, instead of pretending otherwise. The studies are on the method page.
What happened to the old Flash Reader?
It relied on a conversion server that no longer exists, so imports broke and the app went quiet after 2019. Flash Reader 4 needs no server at all. Everything happens on your device.
I bought Pro years ago. Do I pay again?
No. If your Apple Account ever bought Pro inside Flash Reader, Pro is yours in version 4, free, forever. Tap Restore purchases in Settings and it comes back on any device. If you bought the app itself before 2015, Flash Reader 4 recognises that on first launch and offers Pro Lifetime at a returning price. If you bought the separate Flash Reader Pro app, write to us and we will sort it out.
What can I import?
Anything you paste, copy or share, web articles by their link, plain text, Markdown, PDFs with embedded text, Word documents, RTF and saved web pages. Books in EPUB, scanned pages and photos of pages come as free updates.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Reading, importing files and your stats need no connection. Importing a link fetches that page, so it needs one.
What does it cost?
Text you paste, copy or share reads free, forever. Pro opens PDF, DOCX, RTF and HTML files and an unlimited shelf, by the year with 14 days free, by the month, or once. The App Store shows the price in your currency.
Which devices?
iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo, on iOS 26 or later. One purchase covers iPhone and iPad. On an older iPhone or iPad, the App Store keeps offering the last version that runs there. Mac follows as a free update.
Can it help with ADHD or dyslexia?
A 2025 study found that young adults with ADHD understood more when reading one word at a time than from a page, while readers without ADHD did slightly worse. Flash Reader is built with that reader in mind. For dyslexia the evidence is thinner, so we make no claim; the app offers a choice of fonts, OpenDyslexic among them, and an adjustable word size. The studies are linked on the method page.
Is there a Mac version?
Not yet. Mac follows as a free update, covered by the same purchase. Until then, a file saved to iCloud Drive on the Mac opens in Flash Reader from the Files app on your iPhone or iPad.