Sightlines vs leaf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sightlines
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Read faster and retain more with Sightlines—the speed-reading app powered by Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) techniques. Traditional reading wastes up to 80% of your time on eye movement alone. Sightlines displays one word at a time in a fixed position, delivering text directly to your brain's optimal recognition point. The result? Reading speeds up to 800 words per minute with less eye strain and deeper focus. Speed Read Anything: • Import ePubs or PDFs from your files • Share documents directly to the app • Save articles instantly from any URL • Paste text directly for immediate reading • Sample content included to get started RSVP Technology That Works: • One word at a time display eliminates eye movement • Optimal Recognition Point (ORP) highlighting for faster processing • Adjustable speeds from 100 to 800 WPM • Smooth speed transitions while reading • Context view shows surrounding sentences when paused Track Your Reading Progress: • Detailed analytics: words read, sessions, and actual WPM achieved • Daily, weekly, monthly, and all-time statistics • Visual charts show your speed improving over time • Reading streaks keep you motivated and consistent • Automatic progress saving—pick up exactly where you left off Personalized Reading Experience: • 6 themes: Dark, Light, Sepia, Night, Paper, and System • Each book remembers your preferred reading speed • Chapter navigation for ePub books • Distraction-free, full-screen reading mode Who Is Sightlines For?: • Students tackling heavy reading loads • Professionals staying current with articles and reports • Book lovers who want to read more in less time • Anyone looking to improve focus and reduce screen fatigue Stop moving your eyes. Start moving through your reading list. Use of this app is subject to Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
leaf
This app offers a natural reading experience with customizable scrolling and page-turning options. Access thousands of free ebooks or import your own EPUB and PDF files. Organize your library, take notes, and create a personal reading journal.
- Vertical and horizontal scrolling
- Import EPUB and PDF files
- Access Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks
- Bookmarks, highlights, and notes
- Exportable Reading Journal
- Library organization with shelves
- iCloud syncing
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Scroll naturally. Read deeply. leaf is a reading app built for your phone. Read on your own, or let leaf read to you. Read with a natural vertical scroll, or turn pages with a page curl when you want a more traditional feel. leaf flows through your book the way your thumb already moves. When your attention keeps sliding off the page, tap play. leaf sets a gentle pace and lights up each line as you go. Turn on the voice and it reads the page aloud while you follow along, or lock your phone and keep listening. Narration uses the voices built into your iPhone, so it's free and unlimited, works offline, and your books never leave your phone. Browse and download over 70,000 free books from Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks: classic literature, philosophy, fiction, and more. Import your own EPUB, PDF, and Markdown files too. No reading streaks. No goals. No ads. No noise. Just you and the book. READ ALONG AND NARRATION - Tap play and leaf sets the pace, lighting each line as you read - Turn on the voice and leaf reads the page aloud as the highlight follows - Free and unlimited: no hours to count, no account to make - Runs on your iPhone, works offline, and never uploads your books - Keeps reading with the screen locked. Pause, play, or skip back 15 seconds from the lock screen or your headphones - Picks a voice in your book's language. Apple's Enhanced and Premium voices are a free download and sound the most natural - Change the speed any time, pause with a tap, or step back a sentence - Works with every reading flow (not yet with PDFs) READER - Three reading flows: Page Curl, Slide, or Continuous scroll - Vertical or horizontal page turns - Light, Dark, System, and E-Ink themes - Bookmarks, highlights, and notes - Multi-paragraph highlighting and sharing - Search within any book - Typefaces including Classic, Modern, Lexend, and Atkinson Hyperlegible - Adjust font size, spacing, and text density - Set a reading intention for each book - An exportable Reading Journal is created automatically when you highlight text or write a note PDFs - Read PDFs with the same reading flows as books - Pages follow your theme automatically, in light or dark - Columns are detected and shown one at a time, so the text is bigger and you never scroll sideways to read a line LIBRARY - Organise books into shelves, grouped into sections you can collapse - Filter by shelf, intention, or reading status - Sort by title, author, last opened, or shelf - View books as Grid or List - Search your entire library - Drop supported book files into the leaf folder and they'll appear in your library automatically - Use iCloud to share books between devices - Continue reading from your current book with the Home Screen widget FREE BOOKS - Browse and download from Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks - Over 70,000 free classic and public domain titles - The Call of the Wild is included, so you can start reading straight away - Import your own EPUB, PDF, and Markdown files - Supports multiple file and folder import LEAF PRO - Six more themes: Sepia, Ivory, Mist, Forest, Midnight, and Amber Night - Design up to six custom themes of your own - Three more typefaces (Literata, Spectral, and Merriweather) or import your own - Line, paragraph, and letter spacing - Sync your library across devices - Sync reading progress, highlights, notes, bookmarks, shelves, and Reading Journal entries Privacy Policy: https://readleaf.co/legal Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
Sightlines and leaf are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Sightlines sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and leaf sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Sightlines ships an update every 4 days, leaf weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sightlines | leaf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 3.8 (6 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 6 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 76 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kyle Foley | Abraham Jesri |
In-app purchases
Sightlines
- Sightlines Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
- Sightlines Pro Yearly$19.991 Year
leaf
- Leaf Pro7 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Leaf Pro7 Days trial$12.991 Year









