Strobe vs Synapse

Speed read your own books and documents, one word at a time. No ads, no subscription, no account. Strobe is a speed reading app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It uses Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP): each word appears in the same spot on screen, so your eyes stay still instead of scanning across lines. Import a PDF, EPUB, plain-text, or Markdown file, share an article from Safari, or paste text, then read at 100 to 1,000 words per minute. HOLD TO READ • Press and hold to read. Let go to pause. • Slide up or down while you read to change speed without losing your place. • Swipe sideways while paused to step word by word. • Prefer hands-free? Tap with two fingers, or switch to tap to play. TIMING THAT FOLLOWS THE TEXT • Smart Timing keeps longer words on screen a little longer. • Punctuation Pauses slow down at sentence ends, commas, dashes, ellipses, and closing quotes, and you set the length of each. • Complexity Timing speeds up common words and slows down rare ones. • Acronyms and hyphenated words get extra time automatically. • Blank After Sentences adds an optional moment of empty screen between sentences. A FIXED POINT FOR YOUR EYES • Each word lines up on a red focus letter, its Optimal Recognition Point (ORP). • Show the previous and next words faintly on either side. • An open quote or parenthesis stays faintly above the word until it closes. YOUR LIBRARY • Every document gets a cover, and Continue Reading takes you back to your exact word. • iCloud sync keeps your library and your place in step across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. • Share an article from Safari, or a link or text from another app, and read it without the page's menus and ads. • Ask Siri to continue reading, or keep your current book on your Home Screen, Lock Screen, or Mac desktop with the Continue Reading widget. • EPUB tables of contents and PDF bookmarks become chapters, each with its reading time at your speed. • Open the full text with your place highlighted, search for any word or phrase, and tap a word to resume from there. • Page numbers, running headers, and footers are removed on import. • Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text is split into words, and Arabic keeps its connected letterforms. MAKE IT YOURS • Seven fonts, adjustable text size, four text colors, and seven highlight colors. • A true black background for OLED screens and reading in the dark. • Every document remembers its own speed. • Keyboard shortcuts on Mac and iPad: Space to read, arrow keys to step, ⌘N for new text, ⌘O to import. • Works with VoiceOver, Larger Text, and Reduced Motion. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your documents are processed on your device and synced only through your own iCloud. Strobe needs no account and has no ads, analytics, or tracking. FREE AND OPEN SOURCE Strobe is free, with no subscription or in-app purchases. The source code is public on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license. Strobe can't import DRM-protected EPUBs or password-protected PDFs.

Synapse transforms the way you capture and connect knowledge. Every book you read, every film that moves you, every idea worth keeping — Synapse turns them into a living graph where nothing stays isolated. — CAPTURE WHAT MATTERS Add books, movies, series, journals and personal notes as sources. Write fast, think clearly. Notes link themselves through [[wikilinks]] as you type. — SEE HOW YOU THINK Your knowledge graph visualises every connection in real time. Tap any node to explore. Tap any edge to read why two ideas are connected. Drag nodes to organise your mental map the way you see the world. — DISCOVER HIDDEN CONNECTIONS Synapse AI reads your entire graph and surfaces non-obvious links between notes — the kind your conscious mind skipped. Swipe right to accept a connection and save the reason forever. — DISCOVER WHAT TO READ NEXT Open any source and let Gemini recommend a book, film and series that share its soul. Not keyword matches — deep thematic resonance. — YOUR DATA, YOUR CONTROL Everything is stored locally on your device, encrypted at rest. Export your full graph as JSON at any time. Delete your account permanently in one tap. Synapse is for readers, thinkers, and anyone who believes their best ideas come from connecting what they already know.