Speed Reading UpRead vs Scholarly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Speed Reading UpRead
Enhance your reading speed and comprehension with a science-backed approach. Effortlessly process web articles, PDFs, and documents at an accelerated pace. Customize your reading experience with adjustable speed, fonts, and colors for improved productivity and time savings.
- Read faster without special training
- Reduce reading effort
- Read web articles and documents
- Save content for offline reading
- Customize reading speed, font, and color
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Read faster. Without effort nor any special training. Sounds like a dream? It’s not, thanks to science: the approach we use has been tested by neuro-scientists and proved effective over a wide range of studies. We made it available on iOS and iPadOS with a sleek design and some nice advanced features that will make it a pleasure to use. With UpRead you will be able to: - Read faster, in a matter of minutes. No kidding - Reduce reading effort so that you can read longer - Read articles from the web, imported from Safari or other apps - Read PDF files and other text documents - Save your content and read it later, offline - Customise the reading experience by setting speed, font and color. You’ll be much more effective, process more information and save time. Your professional and personal life will both have a nice boost from using just one little app. There’s no price for this. Since we’re sure you’ll love the app, you can try UpRead for free for a limited time. If you’re still (slowly) reading this, it’s time to press that GET button and start the download. Try the app, it’s worth more than a thousand words. Here’s a few reviews about us: > Magnifique application qui accélère la lecture tout en améliorant l'attention. Indispensable. — Manitoo, Switzerland, Sep 2019 > This app is the one thing I never knew I needed so desperately. […] For my fellow columnist hounds, UpRead is absolutely essential. — dfe1998, USA, Sep 2019 > I have used every flash reader I could Get my hands on. […] The back end works somehow where the others fail. [… ] You will surprise yourself by how fast you can go over time. Now friends who see me reading something look at how fast the words go and tell me that they just see flashing gobbledygook. I thought the same thing but the learning curve is painless! […] Thank you to the UpRead team!!! Finally! An app worthy of my bottom bar! — eightyanthony, USA, Aug 2019 > It's not a free app but it's worth your money! Simple to use very intuitive, I am reading more than ever! Highly recommended. — dhernz1, Honduras, Jul 2019 We’re really happy to receive feedback from our users. We seriously try to make the app better and better based on what you tell us. Please, try the app and let us know your opinion too. Feel free to contact us by visiting https://crazyhorseapps.com/support. Terms of service: https://crazyhorseapps.com/apps/terms-of-service
Scholarly
Enhance your reading with AI-powered tools. Choose from speed reading, text-to-speech, or auto-scroll modes. Digitize documents with OCR and track your reading progress to build better habits.
- Speed reading (RSVP)
- Text-to-speech with highlighting
- Auto-scroll reading
- Camera document scanning (OCR)
- Speech-to-text dictation
- AI-powered summaries
- Reading statistics and history
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Transform any text into your preferred reading experience. Scholarly helps you read faster, focus better, and learn more with three powerful reading modes, smart text input, and AI-powered insights. THREE WAYS TO READ - Speed Reading (RSVP) Master speed reading with Rapid Sequential Visual Presentation. Display one word at a time in large, clear text with adjustable words-per-minute control. Read 2-3x faster while maintaining comprehension. Perfect for articles, documents, and study materials. - Text-to-Speech Reading Listen while you multitask with natural-sounding voices. Real-time word highlighting keeps you engaged as the text is read aloud. Choose from system voices or upgrade to Premium AI voices powered by OpenAI for the most natural speech synthesis available. - Auto-Scroll Reading Smooth, continuous scrolling at your preferred pace. Adjust speed in real-time with an intuitive slider. Perfect for focused reading without manual scrolling distractions. SMART TEXT INPUT Camera Document Scanning - Point your camera at any document, book, or printed text. Advanced OCR technology instantly extracts text with high accuracy. Speech-to-Text Dictation - Speak naturally and watch your words appear. Perfect for capturing ideas, notes, or content hands-free. Photo Upload - Import images from your library and extract text instantly. Great for digitizing old documents or screenshots. Manual Input - Traditional text entry with a clean, distraction-free editor. AI-POWERED INTELLIGENCE (Pro Feature) Smart Summaries - Get instant key points and comprehensive summaries powered by Apple Intelligence. Perfect for quickly understanding long articles or documents before deep reading. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS Reading Statistics - Monitor words read, time spent, sessions completed, and average reading speed. Build consistent reading habits with streak tracking and daily breakdowns. Reading History - Access your last 10 reading sessions (free) or unlimited history (Pro). Quickly revisit previous texts with automatic word count and date tracking. Streak Tracking - Build momentum with daily reading streaks. Watch your longest streak grow as you develop consistent reading habits. PRODUCTIVITY FEATURES - Adjustable reading speed for all modes - Skip forward/backward controls in speed reading - Real-time word highlighting in speech mode - Share texts and reading stats with friends - Clean, modern SwiftUI interface - Full iPad support with landscape mode - Haptic feedback for enhanced interaction - Dark mode support PERFECT FOR • Students reading textbooks, research papers, and study materials • Professionals processing reports, emails, and business documents• Busy readers who want to read more in less time • Anyone with dyslexia, ADHD, or visual processing differences • Commuters and multitaskers who prefer audio learning • Language learners practicing reading comprehension • Researchers scanning and analyzing documents • Anyone building consistent reading habits SCHOLARLY PRO Upgrade to unlock premium features: Premium AI Voices - 6 natural-sounding voices AI Summaries - Instant key points and comprehensive text analysis Unlimited History - Keep every reading session forever Advanced Statistics - All-time stats with detailed breakdowns Ad-Free Experience - Pure, distraction-free reading USE CASES Speed through lengthy documents in minutes. Listen to articles while commuting or exercising. Scan physical documents and read them digitally. Build a daily reading habit with streak tracking. Study more efficiently with AI-powered summaries. Practice speed reading techniques. Improve focus with distraction-free RSVP. Access reading material hands-free. Start reading smarter today with Scholarly! Privacy Policy: https://ryanschefske.github.io/scholarlyPrivacyPolicyindex Terms and Conditions: https://ryanschefske.github.io/scholarlyTermsAndConditionsindex Apple's EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Speed Reading UpRead at none against Scholarly's shown. Speed Reading UpRead also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 37 months) and ratings volume (116 vs 10). Scholarly's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.2). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Speed Reading UpRead sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days and Scholarly sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Scholarly holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Speed Reading UpRead has 116 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Speed Reading UpRead ships an update every 2 months, Scholarly every 37 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Speed Reading UpRead | Scholarly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (116 ratings) | 4.6 (10 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 53.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 116 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 37 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.3 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alain caltieri | Ryan Schefske |
Customer experience
Speed Reading UpRead
Scholarly
Bugs and requests
Speed Reading UpRead
Reported bugs
10 issues- Froze on intro page
- Did not display text from imported PDF
- Asks for purchase on start screen
- Lifetime subscription not available in app
- Importing limited to documents without images or chapters
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- Document imports often fail
- Large documents (over 2MB) fail to import
- PDFs with non-parsable text are unreadable
- Reading rate appears inaccurate (e.g., 100 wpm is closer to 60)
- Articles take significantly longer to read than estimated time
Requested features
15 requests- Add ability to read more than one word at a time
- Option to include articles (a, an, the) and punctuation
- Ability to upload books
- Search feature within text
- Pause reading stream by pressing and holding
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- Display pictures and diagrams
- Voice feature for accessibility
- Option for red focus character and frame
- Word grouping feature
- Faster maximum WPM (e.g., 10,000)
- File compatibility for PDF, EPUB, and HTML
- Automatically strip citations or edit imported text
- Landscape mode
- Cloud sync across devices
- Integrate with Kindle and other reading apps
Scholarly
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Speed Reading UpRead
- Speed reading, weekly7 Days trial$0.997 Days
- Speed reading, monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- UpRead Speed Reading Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
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- Speed reading, yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Speed reading, lifetime$54.99
Scholarly
- Scholarly Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
- Scholarly Pro Yearly$39.991 Year
Questions
Is Speed Reading UpRead free?
Is Scholarly free?
Which has better reviews, Speed Reading UpRead or Scholarly?
Do Speed Reading UpRead or Scholarly have ads?
Which is updated more often, Speed Reading UpRead or Scholarly?
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