# Phloem: Paper Reader — Read papers. Stay focused.

> Read papers. Stay focused. (iPhone/iPad app by Houfu Chen.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/phloem-paper-reader/id6813510395 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Houfu Chen](https://appshunter.io/developer/6813510397)
- Category: Productivity, Education
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 15.0 · 19 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-09-25
- Data updated: 2026-10-24

## What is Phloem?

Phloem is a calm, local-first reading desk for research papers on iPad and iPhone.

Import PDF and Word documents, read without distractions, and keep your thinking beside the source. Search a paper, highlight passages, write notes, track your place, use the movable reading guide, and switch between focused reading layouts. Clean note lettering is the default, and the Handwritten switch brings back a more personal notebook feel whenever you want it.

On iPhone, Phloem keeps it simple for reading on the go: listen to a paper with the voices on your phone, look up any word, find a passage, and highlight what matters.

For handwritten PDF notes, turn on Write and use Apple Pencil directly on the page. Add ideas in the margins, circle figures, or sketch on scanned and blank pages without OCR. Choose from eight ink colors and three pen widths. Hold Pencil still for about 0.6 seconds after a long open stroke to straighten it, adjust the endpoint before lifting, or keep writing naturally with pressure-sensitive strokes. Your handwriting stays anchored to its PDF page as you zoom and change layouts; fingers remain available for navigation.

For text highlighting, Mark opens its bottom toolbar and keeps colors available as you highlight and change colors. Pencil strokes include complete endpoint words. The toolbar offers Define for the selected passage or the latest selected highlight still on the current page.

On PDFs, Write's Eraser and Mark's Erase both remove touched handwriting strokes and text highlights. One Undo restores the whole sweep; the Zen dock also includes Undo without leaving focused reading. The text Reader's highlight eraser is unchanged. Handwriting is saved with the library and in JSON backups. Export original PDF and the PDF in a NotebookLM package remain the unannotated original file; they do not embed Phloem handwriting or highlights.

For review work, Phloem keeps imported comments, linked passages, replies, and revision notes together. You stay in control of every link and every edit.

Private by design

- No Phloem account
- No advertising or Phloem analytics
- Local reading works offline after a document is imported
- Portable JSON backups include editable handwriting, typed notes, and highlights, but exclude original documents and private credentials
- Online features run only when you choose them

Online definitions, PDF URL imports, external links, and cloud file providers require an internet connection. Keep original document files separately.

## Is Phloem safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess Phloem.

## Is Phloem legit?

Phloem: Paper Reader has limited verification signals. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Phloem is 58 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.2.5 — 2026-10-24

Phloem now runs on iPhone. On a phone it keeps things simple: one bar with Library, Look up, Listen, Find and More, so you can listen to a paper or look up a word wherever you are. Turn the phone on its side and the bar moves to the edge. On iPad, everything works as before.

- Night light: a warm lamp over the page for reading in a dark room. Tap the new Night button on the Zen dock (under More on iPhone), and set how far the light reaches in Reading settings.
- Close Listen and open it again: it picks up at the start of the sentence it was reading.
- Turning a single page now shows its back the right way round: the same page, mirrored, like real paper.
- Highlighting next to blank paper on iPad no longer selects the whole page, and a selection no longer jumps onto the next page.

### 1.2.4 — 2026-10-21

Write on sticky notes. A sticky note on a PDF now takes handwriting: place one with Apple Pencil or your finger and just write. Switch to Type for the keyboard, erase whole strokes, and undo stroke by stroke.

- Spotlight, a new guide shape beside Rows and Columns: a magnifying glass that enlarges the words under it while the rest of the page dims. Tap to place it and drag its handle to move it. Find it in the Zen guide menu or in Settings.
- Listen highlights the sentence being read on every PDF page, including pages with figures, and skips diagram labels and captions.
- Only the play pin moves where Listen reads, so tapping the page no longer makes it jump.
- In Zen, the upright Highlight strength slider follows your finger up and down.
- White ink on a sticky note stays visible in the dark Workspace.

### 1.2.3 — 2026-10-16

Listen, Phloem's read-aloud, now uses the voices installed on your iPad, including the natural Premium and Enhanced voices you can download for free in Settings > Accessibility > Read & Speak > Voices > English (try Jamie). Everything is spoken on your iPad; nothing you read is sent anywhere.

- Listen has its own button on the side rail.
- The sentence being read is highlighted and kept in view while the rest of the page fades back.
- Drag the play pin onto any line to start reading from there, or tap it to jump to a section.
- A speed slider from 0.5x to 2x, with 1x in the middle.
- The page layout control is now a round button like the rest.

### 1.2.2 — 2026-10-15

- New: reading lists. Line up the papers you want to read, note the question you are reading each one for, and tick them off as you go. Add a paper by title, author or DOI, or import a list from Zotero, Mendeley or Google Scholar. Tap a paper to read it: papers in your library open right away, and open-access papers open straight from the list.
- Listen: Phloem reads the paper aloud with your iPad's own voices, skipping equations, tables, captions, citations and the reference list. Start from any section or paragraph, and choose Jamie or another natural voice. Phloem shows where to download one in Settings.
- Select text for the new Copy button and, with the optional AI assistant, "What does this mean?". Define now gives a single word its dictionary meaning.
- Holding a citation shows its reference, even in papers whose citations are not links.
- Settings shows your Phloem version, and a small notice appears when a newer one is on the App Store.
- With a keyboard attached, Escape after a tap in the Workspace clears your lasso selection instead of closing the paper.
- Definitions you looked up before 1.2 stay saved and work offline.
- Smaller fixes.

### 1.2.1 — 2026-10-13

- Handwriting in the Workspace keeps up with your Pencil, even on long, full sheets.
- No more pause after writing with a large book or library open: sync no longer re-reads the copy it just saved.
- Sticky notes on PDF pages: tap a spot, type, and the note stays there at every zoom.
- Export an annotated PDF: your highlights, handwriting and notes are written into the original file.
- DeepSeek is no longer offered as an AI provider, for privacy. Any DeepSeek key saved on this iPad is deleted. AI stays optional and off unless you turn it on.
- In portrait, the Workspace can sit below the paper.
- Smaller fixes: white Workspace ink in dark mode, zoomed page turns land where you were reading, a second tap on an open tool closes it, guide thickness in percent, Pencil and finger taps no longer open PDF links by accident, and clearer contrast and labels for accessibility.

## More apps by Houfu Chen

- [Game Life: Cellular Worlds](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/game-life-cellular-worlds/id6821541367)
- [Qi: Go & Gomoku](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/qi-go-and-gomoku/id6821608519)

All apps by Houfu Chen: https://appshunter.io/developer/6813510397

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-24.*