Comparison

iReadr vs Papyrus

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

Head to head
About

iReadr

Features
Read full description

iReadr helps you read everything faster — books, articles, PDFs, EPUBs, web pages, and documents. It's a speed reading app that displays text one word at a time at a fixed point on screen, a proven technique called RSVP (Rapid Serial Visual Presentation) that eliminates eye movement so your brain can focus purely on comprehension. HOW IT WORKS Traditional reading requires your eyes to scan across lines, jump between paragraphs, and backtrack when you lose your place. This limits most people to 200-250 words per minute. iReadr removes these bottlenecks: - Words appear one at a time in a fixed position on screen - The Optimal Recognition Point (ORP) is highlighted — the natural fixation point where your eye focuses in each word - Adaptive timing gives longer words and punctuation extra display time for natural pacing - Adjustable speed from 100 to 1,000 WPM with quick presets With regular practice, readers comfortably reach 400-600+ WPM while maintaining comprehension. IMPORT ANYTHING - Add articles from any web URL — content is automatically extracted - Share links from Safari, Apple News, or any app using "Send to iReadr" - Import TXT, PDF, and EPUB files directly from your device - Clip articles from Safari using the built-in Safari Extension - Paste any text to start reading instantly TRACK YOUR PROGRESS - See total words read, daily reading time, average WPM, and reading streak - View charts of words read and WPM trends over the last 7 days - Review recent reading sessions with detailed stats DESIGNED FOR iOS - iCloud sync keeps your library and progress in sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac - Home screen widget shows your last-read text with a one-tap Continue Reading shortcut - Read Aloud mode speaks each word as it appears using text-to-speech - Customizable highlight colors, font sizes, chunk sizes (1-3 words), and focus point position - Full support for Dark Mode and Dynamic Type - Available in 10 languages: English, Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Chinese Whether you're reading articles, books, research papers, or study materials — iReadr helps you get through it faster.

About

Papyrus

Organize, annotate, and cite research papers within a native Apple ecosystem. This workspace allows you to import PDFs and citation records, take notes, and manage your reading collections as structured projects. It offers local-first storage with optional cloud sync and various export formats.

Highlights
  • Read and annotate PDFs
  • Organize citation records
  • Take Markdown notes
  • Search entire library
  • Create structured projects
  • Local-first storage
  • Optional iCloud/WebDAV sync
Features
Read full description

Papyrus is a native research workspace for reading, annotating, organizing, and citing PDFs — built for iPad, iPhone, and Mac. READ AND ANNOTATE Open a paper in a fast built-in reader. Highlight, underline, and mark up pages, and every highlight stays searchable and linked back to its source. Bookmark a page as you go, and pick the paper up later from a Reading card that remembers where you stopped. On iPad, a References tab looks up the open paper's reference list and related work, so you can follow a citation trail and add what matters to your library without leaving the page. WRITE ON THE PAGE WITH APPLE PENCIL Mark up a PDF directly on iPad — annotate a proof, sketch beside a figure, work a derivation out in the margin. Your ink belongs to the paper and travels with it, encrypted, to your other devices. NOTES BESIDE THE SOURCE Keep Markdown notes next to each paper: headings, tables, code blocks, LaTeX math, and [[note]] cross-references. Notes stay with the paper and export as PDF when you need to share them. NOTEBOOKS Gather notes from across your library onto themed shelves — a topic, a chapter you're drafting, a reading group. Filing a note copies nothing and moves nothing: it still belongs to its paper, still says which paper that is, and one tap takes you there and back. A note can sit on several shelves at once. Fill a new shelf from what you've already written, search it by a note's text or by the paper behind it, order it four ways — including oldest paper first, which reads your own notes forward through the literature — and export a whole shelf as one Markdown document. All Notes lists everything you've written in one place, filed or not. ORGANIZE THE WAY YOU THINK Folders — a paper can live in several — plus tags, star ratings, and seven colored flags you can name yourself, each with its own shape so they stay tellable apart at a glance. Smart Collections keep themselves current from rules you set, including flag rules. Review Duplicates finds look-alike papers and merges each set after you confirm, combining tags, folders, projects, notes, and highlights. FIND ANYTHING Search titles, authors, notes, and highlights — or the full text inside your PDFs. TURN READING INTO WRITING Projects are where a reading pile becomes a manuscript. Group the papers behind a chapter or article, give each one a role, and capture evidence — claims, quotes, and your own interpretation — tied back to the source paper and page. Write the project note from a template (related work, method comparison, experiment plan, thesis chapter, reviewer response), keep its revision history, and run a preflight that catches missing citation keys and metadata gaps before you export. Export a bundle with Markdown, a BibTeX bibliography, and the PDFs. IMPORT AND CITE Bring in PDFs, whole folders, or BibTeX and RIS files — including libraries exported from Mendeley and Zotero. Papyrus looks up metadata by DOI or arXiv ID and fills in the details. Save papers straight from Safari with the included extension. Copy citations in the style you write in, and export BibTeX or RIS whenever you need them. READ ANYWHERE Paste an arXiv link, a DOI, or a PDF URL and Papyrus imports it, looks up the details, and fetches the PDF. Add a paper to Read Later and its PDF downloads ahead of time, so a flight or a commute doesn't need a signal. Ask Siri, or search from the Home Screen, to pick up the paper you were last reading on the page you left it. YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR DEVICES Your library syncs over iCloud across iPad, iPhone, and Mac. No account to create, no tracking, no ads. Free to download and use — every feature included, no in-app purchases, no subscription.

Screenshots

iReadr4 screens
Papyrus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: iReadr at none against Papyrus's 2. Papyrus's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Papyrus sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. iReadr asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iReadr ships an update every 2 weeks, Papyrus weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 8, 2026 and August 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
iReadr versus Papyrus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriReadrPapyrus
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShmoopi LLCZhenda Fu

In-app purchases

None

iReadr

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Papyrus

One-time2
  • Papyrus Lifetime Unlock$3.99
  • Papyrus Lifetime Unlock$5.99

Questions

Is iReadr free?
iReadr is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Papyrus free?
Papyrus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do iReadr or Papyrus have ads?
Neither iReadr nor Papyrus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iReadr or Papyrus?
iReadr ships an update every 2 weeks, and Papyrus weekly. Most recently, iReadr was updated on September 8, 2026 and Papyrus on August 27, 2026.

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