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Read your files faster. Without handing them over.
Import a PDF or an EPUB and read it one word at a time, at a pace you set. The file is parsed inside your own browser and stored on your device. It is never uploaded, because there is no server for it to be uploaded to.
Open ReadKinetic and drop a file on it. Nothing to install, no account, no email address.
Why this is unusual
Almost every tool that reads a wide range of formats does the reading on a server. That is the honest explanation for a competitor advertising fifty-plus file types: your file is sent to a machine you do not control, converted there, and sent back. It works, and for most people most of the time it is fine.
It stops being fine the moment the file is an unpublished manuscript, a paper under review, a contract, a medical document, or anything your employer would take a dim view of you uploading. At that point the question is not whether the company is trustworthy — it is whether the upload happened at all.
Here it does not. The proof is simple enough to run yourself: turn off your network and import a book. It works. A tool that uploaded your file could not do that.
What that means concretely
The file is parsed by your own browser
Unzipping an EPUB, decompressing a Kindle book, pulling text out of a PDF — all of it is JavaScript running on your machine. The extracted text goes into your browser's local database and stays there.
There is no account, so there is no profile
No email, no password, no sign-in. Nothing to leak in a breach, nothing to sell, nothing to hand over if someone asks. Your reading history is not private because of a policy — it is private because it was never collected.
It keeps working offline
As a Progressive Web App it installs to your home screen and runs with no connection after the first visit. On a plane, in a basement library, on a train through a tunnel. This is not a separate feature — it is what being local looks like from the outside.
The two things that do touch the network
Worth naming rather than glossing over. The app itself is downloaded from a server the first time you open it, like any web page. And PDFs using certain non-Latin character encodings fetch character maps from a public CDN. Neither carries a single word of your content.
Where it sits among the alternatives
If you search for a way to read documents without uploading them, you will mostly be pointed at desktop readers — Foliate, Sumatra PDF, Calibre's viewer. They are good, they are local, and if what you want is a normal page-based reader you should use one.
None of them shows you one word at a time. That technique — RSVP, Rapid Serial Visual Presentation — is the thing that removes the eye movement from reading: the saccades along each line, the return sweep back to the next one, and the reflex to drift backwards over something you already understood.
The tools that do offer RSVP in a browser are mostly extensions aimed at web pages, or services that want your file on their server. Local files, word-at-a-time, in a browser, with no upload is a small overlap, and it is the whole reason this exists.
What it costs you
Being honest about the trade, because there is one and it is real.
Your library does not follow you between devices. No server means no sync. What you read on your laptop is on your laptop. You can export a backup file and restore it elsewhere, but that is a deliberate act rather than something that happens quietly.
Clearing your browser data deletes it. There is no copy anywhere else, so there is nothing to restore from. That is the same property as the privacy, seen from the other side.
DRM-protected books still will not open. Encrypted is encrypted. See the format list for what does and does not open, and why.
Common questions
Is my file really never uploaded?
Correct. The file is opened, unzipped and parsed by JavaScript running in your own browser, and the extracted text is stored in your device's local database. No copy is sent anywhere. The simplest proof is that importing works with your network turned off — a tool that uploaded your file could not do that.
How can I check that for myself?
Open your browser's developer tools, switch to the Network tab, and import a book. You will see the file being read locally and no upload request. Or turn off your wifi and import anyway — it works, because there is nothing to reach.
Do you have my reading history?
No. There is no account, so there is nothing to attach a history to. Your library, your place in each book, your speeds and your statistics are all in your browser's storage on that one device. If you clear your browser data they are gone, and there is no copy anywhere for us to restore.
What about the ads on the blog?
The blog carries one Google ad unit. The reader itself carries none, and no ad or analytics script has any access to your books — they are in local storage the ad script cannot read. The site uses Vercel Analytics for page counts, which does not use cookies or build a profile of you.
Does anything about my reading leave the device?
Nothing about what you read. Two things do touch the network, and both are worth naming: the app is downloaded from a server the first time you open it, and PDFs in some non-Latin encodings fetch character maps from a public CDN. Neither carries any of your content.
How is this different from Foliate or Sumatra PDF?
Those are excellent local desktop readers, and if you want a normal page-based reader you should use one. Neither shows you one word at a time, and both need installing. ReadKinetic is a browser-based RSVP reader — the paced, word-at-a-time technique — with the same privacy property and nothing to install.
What about browser extensions like Jiffy Reader?
An extension reads web pages you are already on, which is genuinely useful and a different job. It cannot open the EPUB or PDF sitting in your downloads folder, which is the case this is built for. Extensions also ask for permission to read data on the sites you visit; this asks for nothing.
Is it free, and what is the catch?
Free, with no account, no trial and no paid tier. It is built by one person and funded by optional donations and a single ad on the blog. The catch, such as it is: because nothing is on a server, your library does not follow you to another device. Your place in a book can, without one — a twelve-character code carries it, and nothing is stored to make that work.
Open a file and see.
Free, no account, nothing uploaded. Works offline once loaded.
Open ReadKinetic →Related: Read across devices · Every supported format · EPUB speed reader · PDF speed reader · Privacy policy