# Rectoly: How to Read Papers — Read your first paper yourself

> Read your first paper yourself (iPhone/iPad app by Takaki Takemura.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rectoly-how-to-read-papers/id6825233450 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Takaki Takemura](https://appshunter.io/developer/6793454900)
- Category: Education, Productivity
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 80 MB
- Languages: American English, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, French (France), German (Germany), Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese and 10 more
- Released: 2026-10-26
- Data updated: 2026-10-29

## What is Rectoly?

Rectoly: How to Read Papers is an app for students reading research papers for the first time. You've just joined a lab, you're reading the literature for your senior thesis, or you've been asked to present a paper in your seminar. Rectoly stays with you until you can read research papers on your own. Instead of writing the answers for you, it teaches you a way of reading: finding what a paper says, and where.

READ IN THREE PASSES
First pass: just the title, abstract, figures and conclusion (5–10 minutes). Second pass: the figures and tables, and the text that describes them. Third pass: the details of the methods. Rectoly guides you to the next part to read, in order, and remembers how far you've read in each paper. If you stop partway, you can pick up where you left off.

FIVE QUESTIONS: YOU FIND THE ANSWERS
Research question, method, data, findings, limitations. The app asks, “Where does this paper state its purpose?” and you highlight the paragraph you found. The app checks whether your highlight falls where the answer is written. If it's off, Rectoly guides you to the paragraph where the paper says it. It never says “wrong.” Once you've found all five, you've read that paper.

SEE HOW A PAPER IS PUT TOGETHER
In Reading Mode, the margin shows colors for background, purpose, method, results and limitations. Tap an abbreviation to jump to where the paper defines it.

SUM IT UP IN YOUR OWN WORDS
For each of the five questions, write a line in your own words — by hand in the margin with Apple Pencil, or typed. Afterward, compare it side by side with the original text. Nothing is graded.

ORIGINAL AND TRANSLATION
Translate any paragraph into your own language, right where you are. Translation runs on this device; the paper is never sent to a translation service.

EASIER READING IN READING MODE
Two-column papers become a single column that's easy to read, even on a phone. You can go back to the original PDF anytime. Highlight, underline and write by hand without leaving Reading Mode.

WORK BACK FROM YOUR DEADLINE
Answer “When do you want to have it read by?” and the app spreads the three passes and the five questions over the days, with a reminder only at the time you choose (once a day at most). A widget on your Home Screen shows your next step. After 3 days and again after 1 week, you practice recalling the paper from your own highlights and summary. Your progress is shown as a weekly count, not a daily streak.

SAMPLE PAPERS FOR YOUR FIELD
For your first four weeks, you can practice with sample papers from your field. Each one comes with an explanation of the reading order and questions written for that paper. Sample papers are free.

AI DOESN'T WRITE THE ANSWERS
AI is used only to check where your highlights overlap the original text. The AI runs on this device, and the paper never leaves it. If AI can't run on your device, you can also set up your own API key (only then is it sent to the provider you chose).

THE PDFS YOU ALREADY HAVE
Open them from the Files app (iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox and more), including class handouts and papers you downloaded from your university's website. No sign-in needed.

WHEN YOUR RESEARCH BEGINS: Rectoly for Zotero / for Mendeley
Once you start managing references, you can move up to Rectoly for Zotero or Rectoly for Mendeley. The papers you've read, your highlights, handwriting and summaries come with you as they are.

14-DAY FREE TRIAL → ONE-TIME PURCHASE
The sample papers and the first PDF of your own are free. Try every feature free for 14 days. No subscription: pay once and keep using it.

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 14-day Trial | Free | one-time |
| Rectoly Pro (one-time) | $9.99 | one-time |


## Is Rectoly safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess Rectoly.

## Is Rectoly legit?

Rectoly: How to Read Papers appears legitimate, with a few gaps. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Rectoly is 65 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 2 releases)

### 1.1.0 — 2026-10-28

iPhone Duo support
• The app now supports iPhone Duo. On the open inner display it uses the iPad layout: the sidebar beside the list, two panes side by side, the original beside its translation. On the closed outer display it works as on an iPhone.
• Half open, the divider between two panes sits on the fold and the page readout stays clear of it; closed, the Reading Mode bookmark button moves to the edge the phone opens from. The welcome screens fit the Duo’s screen height as well.

Fixes and improvements
• Fixed: annotations and handwriting could disappear after a paper was closed and reopened. Undoing the first annotation of a paper could silently stop all saving for that paper, and an annotation or stroke made while the paper was still loading was lost when loading finished.
• Fixed: with the same paper open on both sides, one copy could save over the other and erase its additions, edits and deletions, and a stale copy could be written back when the paper was closed.
• Fixed: with “Turn pages together” on in the split view, turning pages quickly on one side could pull the other side back a page.
• Fixed: handwriting could be rolled back. A stroke drawn while a backup was being restored from iCloud could drop the restored pages, drawing over a restored page could erase the restored strokes on it, and a stroke after importing an archive into an open paper could bring back the pages the import had removed.
• Fixed: with translation switched on but unavailable — after the trial, for example — handwriting on translated lines looked as if it had silently vanished. It is now counted and listed under “Unmatched handwriting”.
• Fixed: translation of an open paper could stay on hold after the language data for translation had been added in the system settings — on returning to the app, it now checks again whether the language data is there. Also fixed: the download of the translation model could sit at 0%; if it does not start within a short while, a retry is now offered.
• Fixed: in Reading Mode, on a two-column page where a figure’s label sat between the columns, the two columns could be read one line at a time, alternating left and right.
• Fixed: the app could crash right after going to the background, when a hint about a button was about to appear while the app was not in front.
• Fixed: the app could be closed by the system right after it went to the background.
• Fixed: starting read-aloud, and overlaying the translation on the page, could freeze the screen for a moment. The character-by-character passes in text analysis and translation are lighter as well.
• On iPads with less memory (4 GB or less), the app now holds less at once: the model behind related-passage search is released sooner after use, the sidebar keeps only the most recent page thumbnails, library-wide analysis waits while a paper is open, and background structure analysis runs one paper at a time.
• The app’s concurrency was reviewed throughout under the Swift 6 rules, fixing races that could in rare cases garble the display or close the app: in drawing with “Darken PDF pages”, in figure cards and in the sidebar’s page thumbnails.

### 1.0.0 — 2026-10-27

No release notes.

## More apps by Takaki Takemura

- [Onyx - Dark Mode](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/onyx-dark-mode/id6793454898)
- [Rectoly for Mendeley](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rectoly-for-mendeley/id6798338667)
- [Rectoly for Zotero](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rectoly-for-zotero/id6803044396)

All apps by Takaki Takemura: https://appshunter.io/developer/6793454900

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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 2026-10-29.*