Tempo vs Reed
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tempo
This app presents text one word at a time, helping you maintain focus and progress through reading material. It offers adjustable pacing, rewind capabilities, and a distraction-free reading environment. Save your content locally and track your reading habits.
- RSVP reading mode
- Adjustable reading pace (WPM)
- Pause, rewind, and review text
- Import text and supported files
- Local reading library
- Reading progress tracking
- Customizable themes and typography
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Tempo is a calm focus reader for people who want to keep moving through books, notes, articles, and study material without losing their place. The reader uses RSVP reading: it shows text one word at a time, with simple controls for pace, pause, rewind, and review. Instead of filling the screen with distractions, Tempo keeps the current word centered and gives you just enough context to continue confidently. Use Tempo to: * Paste text or import supported files * Read one word at a time in a focused RSVP view * Adjust your words-per-minute pace * Pause, rewind, and jump back into context * Save reading material in your local library * Track reading sessions, progress, stats, and streaks * Choose themes and typography that feel comfortable * Unlock unlimited local reading with a one-time purchase Tempo is built for focused reading, not fake productivity. It does not promise magic speed gains or replace careful reading. It gives you a calmer way to move through text, stay engaged, and finish more of what you start. Your reading material stays local by default in this release. Tempo is designed for content you own, created, or otherwise have the right to read.
Reed
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Reed is a calm, focused reader for the books and documents you already own. Open plain text, Markdown, and EPUB files and read them beautifully. • Open your own .txt, Markdown (.md), and EPUB files • Clean, typographic reading with light, sepia, and night themes • Adjustable font, size, margins, and page-turn style • Reading progress, bookmarks, and in-book search • Read aloud with text-to-speech • Reading stats and streaks • iCloud sync keeps your library and progress across all your devices • Smart text-encoding detection for older files No account required. Your library stays on your device and in your personal iCloud. Reed is free with ads — remove them anytime with a one-time purchase.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Tempo at none against Reed's 1. Tempo also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). On price and device support 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
Both are free to download. Reed sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Tempo asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Tempo | Reed |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days | — |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Josh Hoffman | Oh Hyeon Kwon |
In-app purchases
Tempo
No in-app purchases
Reed
- Remove Ads$2.99









