Comparison

Flash Reader vs Phone Drive

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Flash Reader

Enhance your reading speed and comprehension with this app. It presents text one word at a time, in chunks, or as a traditional reader, allowing you to adjust speed and track progress. Supports various file types and offers a free tier with an optional Pro upgrade.

Highlights
  • Word-by-word reading mode
  • Chunk reading mode
  • Traditional reader mode
  • Adjustable reading speed
  • Supports PDFs, EPUBs, Word files
  • Camera scanning for text
  • Siri integration
Features
Read full description

Flash Reader is back, and better than ever. It read you one word at a time years before that was a trend. On the App Store since 2010, rebuilt from scratch for version 4, and everything happens on your device. Paste it, share it from any app, open a PDF, EPUB or Word file, or point the camera at a page, and you're reading. Every document keeps your place, and a widget, Control Center or Siri takes you straight back in. THREE WAYS TO READ • Flash: one word, one spot, and the pages fly. One letter in red holds your eye. • Chunk: a few words at a time, for when you would rather stroll. • Reader: the whole text, for a look back. Tap to pause. Play picks the sentence back up, so you never lose the thread. SPEED, WITH RECEIPTS Understanding holds to about 350 words a minute, then it slips. Flash Reader starts you at 250, the ruler shows which zone you are in, and your real speed counts the pauses too. Go faster whenever you like; the ruler tells you what it costs. Little words pass quickly, long or rare ones get a beat more, and a full stop gets its pause. Rest breaks when you want them. READ ANYTHING, START ANYWHERE • Copy anything, anywhere. Tap the clipboard chip, or the button in Control Center, and it flashes. • Share text, a web page or a link from any app: articles, mail, messages, notes. • Open PDF, EPUB, Word and text files from the Files app. • Point the camera at a page, or pick a photo or a screenshot. The text is read on your device. • Drop in a link and get the article, with none of the clutter around it. • Say "Flash my clipboard" or "Resume reading" and Siri does the rest. • Every document keeps its place, its mode and its speed. • Search, sort and rename. Deleted documents wait in Recently deleted. BACK IN ONE TAP Continue Reading and Streak widgets for the Home and Lock Screens. Flash clipboard and Resume reading in Control Center. Stats keep words read today, your streak and your real speed, pauses and all. ROOM TO READ Four themes (Paper, Ink, Sepia and High Contrast), a choice of fonts, an adjustable word size, and reading in landscape. On iPad, the library sits beside the reading view and a keyboard drives both. Designed for iPhone Duo: open it and the page unfolds beside the words. The whole app speaks 50 languages. FREE AND PRO Free to start. 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 opens PDF, EPUB, Word, RTF and HTML files, scans and photos, and an unlimited shelf. One purchase covers iPhone and iPad, and your library and your place travel between them through your own iCloud. Choose Pro by the year with a 14-day free trial, by the month, or pay once and keep it. Annual and monthly Pro renew automatically until cancelled in your Apple Account settings, at least 24 hours before the period ends. No account. No ads. No analytics and no tracking. COMING BACK? Your books, your speed and your bookmark come along from the old version. If you bought Pro inside Flash Reader before, it is still yours: Restore purchases in Settings brings it back on any device. If you bought the separate Flash Reader Pro app, write to us and we will sort it out. More formats and modes are coming as free updates. Flash Reader 4 needs iOS 26 or later. On an older iPhone or iPad, the App Store keeps offering the last version that runs there. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://flashreaderapp.com/privacy Questions: support@flashreaderapp.com

About

Phone Drive

Easily transfer files between your mobile devices and computers wirelessly. Organize documents, view media, and access cloud storage all within one app. Secure your data with passcode protection and biometric unlock.

Highlights
  • Wireless file transfer to PC/Mac
  • Organize files with folders
  • View PDFs, Office docs, images
  • Built-in music and video player
  • Connect cloud storage (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)
  • Passcode and biometric security
Features
Read full description

Move files between your iPhone, iPad and computer over Wi-Fi, then keep them organized in Phone Drive. Store documents, view PDFs, play music and manage local files alongside your connected cloud accounts. TRANSFER FILES TO PC OR MAC Connect your iPhone or iPad and computer to the same Wi-Fi network. Open the address shown in Phone Drive in your computer's web browser to upload or download files. No USB cable or separate desktop app is needed for browser transfers. KEEP FILES ORGANIZED Create folders for work, study and everyday life. Copy, move, rename, delete and share files. Create ZIP archives or unzip received files, and keep the documents you need stored in Phone Drive for offline access. VIEW DOCUMENTS AND PHOTOS Read PDFs and preview supported Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Pages, Numbers and Keynote files. View images and text files in the app. Edit plain text and source code with the built-in text editor. PLAY YOUR MUSIC AND VIDEOS Listen to your own music with playlists, shuffle, repeat and background playback. Watch supported videos or stream compatible media from connected cloud services. CONNECT YOUR CLOUD STORAGE Access supported Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, iCloud Drive and Yandex Disk accounts, plus FTP and WebDAV servers. Manage files across connected locations from the same app. ADD A PASSCODE Restrict access to Phone Drive with a passcode and unlock with Face ID or Touch ID on supported devices. FILES FOR WORK AND EVERYDAY LIFE Bring a presentation to a meeting, carry PDFs for a trip, or move photos and music from your computer to your phone. Import photos from your library and keep related files together in folders. Phone Drive is free to download. Some features, including cloud connections and device-to-device sharing, require in-app purchases. Check the options available in the app. For local Wi-Fi transfers, keep Phone Drive open and your device awake until the transfer finishes. Cloud services require an internet connection and a supported account. Learn more: https://sixbytes.io/products/phone-drive Privacy Policy: https://sixbytes.io/products/phone-drive/legal/privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://sixbytes.io/products/phone-drive/legal/terms

Screenshots

Flash Reader4 screens
Phone Drive4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Phone Drive at 4.7 against Flash Reader's 4.2. Phone Drive also leads on review sentiment (73% vs 49%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Flash Reader sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Phone Drive sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Phone Drive holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Phone Drive has 1.8K ratings behind it against 163, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of Flash Reader's written reviews are positive against 73% of Phone Drive's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Flash Reader ships an update every 6 weeks, Phone Drive fortnightly. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Flash Reader versus Phone Drive: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFlash ReaderPhone Drive
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (163 ratings)4.7 (1.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews49.3% of reviews73.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1631.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB132 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperDidstopiaEightythree Technology

Customer experience

Flash Reader

All ratings163 ratings
Positive78.5%
Neutral8.0%
Negative13.5%
Written reviews136 reviews
Positive49.3%
Neutral5.9%
Negative44.9%

Phone Drive

All ratings1,817 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral2.9%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews882 reviews
Positive73.1%
Neutral6.7%
Negative20.2%

User reviews

Flash Reader

From 163 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Ahead of its time
  • 👍 Simple to use
  • 🚀 Helps read books efficiently
  • 👍 Useful, easy to use
  • 👍 Brilliant app, great time saver

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Doesn't allow to open modern websites
  • 🐛 Restarts the book being read
  • 🐛 Crashes when using camera
  • 🐛 Bugs and stops working
  • 🐛 Loses reading progress

Phone Drive

From 1.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast file transfers
  • 📁 Convenient file management
  • 🎵 Good audio playback
  • 👍 User-friendly interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 💰 Paywalled features
  • 🔄 Inconsistent updates
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding/accessing files

Bugs and requests

Flash Reader

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices
  • Crashes when switching modes
  • Loses reading progress
  • Inaccurate resume times

Requested features

10 requests
  • Fancy text like newer video captions
  • Bookmarks and navigation
  • Support for Google Drive
  • Quick rewind option
  • Table of contents
Show 5 more
  • Search option
  • Ability to go backward/forward
  • Choose page to go to
  • Dark mode
  • Advanced analytics dashboard

Phone Drive

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Frequent app crashes
  • Unreliable file transfers
  • Incompatibility with newer iOS versions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Playlist management options
  • Video playback support
  • Improved cloud storage integration
  • Customizable file organization

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Flash Reader

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Pro Annual14 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time7
  • Flash Reader Pro$0.99
  • Flash Reader Pro2 variants$1.99
  • Flash Reader Pro$2.99
Show 4 more
  • Flash Reader Pro$3.99
  • Flash Reader Pro$4.99
  • Pro Lifetime$39.99
  • Pro Lifetime$79.99
5 purchases

Phone Drive

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Cloud Service Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Premium Cloud Service Yearly$6.991 Year
One-time3
  • Reset Password$1.99
  • Upgrade to Full Version$4.99
  • Premium Cloud Service Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is Flash Reader free?
Flash Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Phone Drive free?
Phone Drive is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Flash Reader or Phone Drive?
Phone Drive is rated higher. Flash Reader averages 4.2 out of 5 from 163 ratings, while Phone Drive averages 4.7 from 1.8K ratings.
Do Flash Reader or Phone Drive have ads?
Neither Flash Reader nor Phone Drive shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Flash Reader or Phone Drive?
Flash Reader ships an update every 6 weeks, and Phone Drive fortnightly. Most recently, Flash Reader was updated on November 6, 2026 and Phone Drive on November 6, 2026.

Other comparisons