Comparison

Flash Reader vs Speed Reader

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

Speed Reader

Enhance your reading comprehension and speed with a tool that displays one word at a time. Gradually increase your reading pace from 300 to over 750 words per minute through consistent practice. Customize your experience with various themes and visual aids.

Highlights
  • One-word-at-a-time display
  • Adjustable words per minute
  • Spritz speed reading technique
  • Visual line support
  • Custom text input
  • Text sharing from other apps
  • Dark and light themes
Features
Read full description

Read faster without turning reading into a game. Speed Reader is a speed reading app that shows text one word at a time using RSVP and Spritz-style speed reading. Your eyes stay still. You start around 300 words per minute and can work up to 750 WPM or more when the pace feels right. How it works: Paste text, share an article from another app, grab what’s on your clipboard, or paste a website link and the app will try to extract the article for you. Hit play. Words appear in a fixed spot so you spend less time scanning a page and more time actually reading. Use it for: • Articles and news you would otherwise skim on your phone • Study texts and long assignments • Emails, notes, and anything you can share or paste • Full web pages, when you only have the link • Your own writing, when you want to hear the rhythm at speed Special words: Speed reading should match how you read, not the other way around. Add any word or character as a special word — a period, a name, a heading — and decide what happens when it appears: • Extra delay, so the end of a sentence actually lands • Split the text there • Stop the reading Add as many special words as you want and tune each one. That is how you keep 750 WPM from turning into a blur. Features: • Adjustable words per minute • Spritz speed reading with an optional focus point • Speed reading lines for visual support • 1 to 10 words on screen at once • Pause whenever you need to stop • Write or paste your own text • Share text from other apps and start reading immediately • Read from the clipboard • Paste a link and extract the page to speed read • Special words with delay, split, or stop • Light and dark themes This is not a course and not a book library. It is a fast reader for text you already have — in the app, from share, from the clipboard, or from a URL. The more you use Speed Reader, the easier higher WPM feels. Try it when you want a speed reading app that reads your pages, not just a demo paragraph. https://vanniktech.de/SpeedReading/privacy_policy.html https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Flash Reader4 screens
Speed Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Flash Reader at 4.2 against Speed Reader's 3.8. Flash Reader also leads on ratings volume (163 vs 6). Speed Reader's advantage is review sentiment (75% vs 49%) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 Speed Reader sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Flash Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Flash Reader has 163 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 49% of Flash Reader's written reviews are positive against 75% of Speed Reader's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Flash Reader ships an update every 6 weeks, Speed Reader every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Flash Reader versus Speed Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFlash ReaderSpeed Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (163 ratings) — better3.8 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews49.3% of reviews75.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings163 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB83 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperDidstopiaNiklas Baudy

Customer experience

Flash Reader

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

Speed Reader

All ratings6 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral16.7%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Speed Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
7 purchases

Speed Reader

One-time7
  • Unlimited Spritz option$1.99
  • Unlimited colors$1.99
  • Unlimited Speed Read files$1.99
Show 4 more
  • Unlimited history$1.99
  • Unlimited Speed Read links$1.99
  • Remove ads$2.99
  • Premium - Unlock everything$11.99

Questions

Is Flash Reader free?
Flash Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Speed Reader free?
Speed Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Flash Reader or Speed Reader?
Flash Reader is rated higher. Flash Reader averages 4.2 out of 5 from 163 ratings, while Speed Reader averages 3.8 from 6 ratings.
Do Flash Reader or Speed Reader have ads?
Neither Flash Reader nor Speed Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Flash Reader or Speed Reader?
Flash Reader ships an update every 6 weeks, and Speed Reader every 2 months. Most recently, Flash Reader was updated on November 6, 2026 and Speed Reader on November 3, 2026.

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