Kairo vs SpeedyRead
Kairo
kairoreader.comSpeedyRead
speedyread.appSide by side
| Figure | Kairo | SpeedyRead |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $1.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Speed Reading Apps | 7.7 (#16) | 8.4 (#6) |
| Reading controls | Kairo offers reading profiles and controls for pacing, typography, brightness and focus, plus six reader themes. | Reading speed is adjustable from 300 to 725 WPM, with a tactile speed wheel and haptic feedback. |
| Support | The site directs users with questions about files or features to [email protected] and links to a page to support Kairo. | The privacy policy provides [email protected] for questions and support requests. |
Plans
In their own words
Kairo
Kairo is a free Android app for reading DRM-free ebooks and documents in standard, adaptive RSVP, and Bionic Reading modes. The reader offers scrollable chapters, inline images, a table of contents, bookmarks, progress tracking, and a movable focus word. Adaptive RSVP aligns words with ORP and changes timing based on punctuation, word length, syllables, clauses, and readability. Bionic Reading emphasizes word beginnings while showing more sentence context. Reading profiles control pacing, typography, brightness, and focus, with six themes available. Focus mode provides a full-screen view and can optionally enable Android Do Not Disturb. Kairo 1.1 supports EPUB, MOBI, PRC, AZW, FB2, FB2.ZIP, DOCX, text-based PDF, TXT, Markdown, HTML, and HTM. Files must be DRM-free; scanned PDFs and OCR are unsupported. Imported content and reading data remain in private device storage.
SpeedyRead
SpeedyRead is an iPhone speed-reading app that presents text one word at a time using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation. It imports PDFs, Word documents, ePubs, Markdown, HTML, and other content, and can open files from the Files app. Readers can also paste a web address for article extraction or scan printed pages with live OCR and torch support. The reading pace can be adjusted from 300 to 725 WPM with a speed wheel and haptic feedback. An audio mode speaks each word in sync with the display, with adjustable audio speed from 50 to 450 WPM and multiple voices.
The app includes comprehension exercises, guided training, dark and light modes, five accent colors, automatic session saving, and reading-position resumption. Its library and progress are stored locally; personal files are not synced to servers unless a future cloud backup is enabled. The privacy policy says anonymous usage statistics are collected, with device model and OS version potentially collected for diagnostics. Support requests may involve an email address. SpeedyRead requires iOS 18.0 or later. It has a free download, and Monthly Premium costs $1.99 a month with a 14-day free trial.