https://www.readkinetic.com New features, fixes and writing from ReadKinetic — a free, local-first speed reader. en Fri, 31 Jul 2026 06:39:09 GMT https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-31-the-app-says-what-it-is-while-it-loads readkinetic:2026-07-31-the-app-says-what-it-is-while-it-loads Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Changelog · Improved Opening the reader on a slow connection used to mean staring at a black screen until the app appeared — and if JavaScript failed outright, that was all you ever got. There is now a plain description of what ReadKinetic does in its place, with links to the rest of the site, replaced by the reader the moment it is ready. Nothing about how the app works has changed: it is still your browser doing all of it, with nothing uploaded. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-31-the-site-menus-open-on-hover readkinetic:2026-07-31-the-site-menus-open-on-hover Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:59:00 GMT Changelog · Improved You no longer have to click to see what is in a menu, and moving the mouse down into one no longer closes it in your face — there was a small dead gap between the label and the menu that used to swallow the pointer. Clicking "Blog" now takes you to the essays page rather than only opening a list. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-31-the-essays-have-a-home-of-their-own readkinetic:2026-07-31-the-essays-have-a-home-of-their-own Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:58:00 GMT Changelog · New All nineteen essays now live at readkinetic.com/blog, grouped by subject rather than buried in a dropdown — guides, the neuroscience of eye movement, the measured research numbers, honest comparisons, accessibility, and reading in scripts most speed readers were never built for. You can subscribe to them by RSS from the same page. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-31-the-film-grain-is-back-on-two-pages-that-lost-it readkinetic:2026-07-31-the-film-grain-is-back-on-two-pages-that-lost-it Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:57:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed The Legal and 404 pages were missing the paper grain the rest of the site has, because the texture was defined in a stylesheet those two pages do not load. It now lives somewhere every page can reach, and the EPUB and PDF pages picked it up too. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-read-a-book readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-read-a-book Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Research Real word counts for twelve well-known books, and the hours each takes at 250, 400 and 600 words per minute — plus why page counts tell you nothing. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/how-to-read-research-papers-faster readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/how-to-read-research-papers-faster Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:59:00 GMT Guide Reading a paper front-to-back is the slowest way to learn whether it matters. The order that actually works, and which sections punish you for rushing. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-30-three-new-essays readkinetic:2026-07-30-three-new-essays Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:58:00 GMT Changelog · New Why most speed readers break on Japanese, Chinese and Thai — and what it takes to fix. How to read research papers and textbooks faster, including the order to read a paper in, which saves more time than any technique. And how long a book actually takes, with real word counts for twelve well-known books at three reading speeds. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-30-pages-for-epub-and-pdf readkinetic:2026-07-30-pages-for-epub-and-pdf Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:57:00 GMT Changelog · New Two pages explaining exactly what ReadKinetic does with each format — what it pulls out of an EPUB, what it strips from a PDF, and, just as importantly, what neither can do. If you have ever wondered why a scanned PDF imports empty or why a DRM-protected book will not open, the answers are there. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-30-headers-clear-the-notch-on-every-page-properly-this-time readkinetic:2026-07-30-headers-clear-the-notch-on-every-page-properly-this-time Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:56:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed Two days ago this was reported as fixed. It was not: each page styles its own header, and those styles quietly overrode the shared rule meant to hold the bar clear of a Dynamic Island — so most pages still sat underneath it. Every header is now rebuilt the same way, spanning the full width of the screen with its own clearance for the notch and for the side cutouts in landscape. Checked on all twenty-seven pages rather than assumed. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-30-the-reading-demos-speak-japanese-too readkinetic:2026-07-30-the-reading-demos-speak-japanese-too Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:55:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed The small reading demos on the blog still split text on spaces, so the Japanese sample flashed an entire paragraph as one word — demonstrating the exact failure the article next to it was describing. They now segment words the way the app itself has since Tuesday, centre the word for ideographic scripts, use a font that has the glyphs, and report speed in 文字/分. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-30-the-website-reads-in-its-own-typefaces-again readkinetic:2026-07-30-the-website-reads-in-its-own-typefaces-again Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:54:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed The About, Contact, Legal and 404 pages were falling back to whatever font your system happened to offer, because the site’s typefaces were only loaded by the pages that pull in the main stylesheet. They now live somewhere every page can reach. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-30-menus-behave-themselves readkinetic:2026-07-30-menus-behave-themselves Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:53:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed The menus in the site header could both be open at once, and on a narrow screen a long one could run off the edge. Only one opens now, they stay inside the screen whatever its width, they close on Escape, and the Formats menu is no longer hidden on a phone. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/speed-reading-japanese-chinese-thai readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/speed-reading-japanese-chinese-thai Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Languages Most speed readers break on scripts without spaces — a whole Japanese paragraph arrives as one flash. Why it happens, and how segmentation fixes it. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-29-words-pause-while-you-pick-a-speed readkinetic:2026-07-29-words-pause-while-you-pick-a-speed Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:59:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed Sliding to change speed already paused the words when you were holding to read, but not during hands-free reading — so the text kept flying past while you were still choosing a pace. Now it waits in both, and picks up again at the new speed the moment you let go. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-29-the-controls-now-fit-on-one-page readkinetic:2026-07-29-the-controls-now-fit-on-one-page Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:58:00 GMT Changelog · Improved The help screen was an eight-step tour that ended by telling you to start reading — which is odd, because you are already reading. It is now a single reference sheet: every gesture and every keyboard shortcut, grouped by what you are trying to do, so you can find the one thing you forgot and get back to your book. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-29-dense-passages-now-read-a-little-slower readkinetic:2026-07-29-dense-passages-now-read-a-little-slower Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:57:00 GMT Changelog · Improved The pace already eased off before individual difficult words. It now also notices when a whole passage is heavier than the rest of the book — a technical stretch, a dense argument — and carries a slightly slower pace through it, then lifts again. The change is deliberately gradual, so you feel the weight of the passage rather than a gear change. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-28-reads-japanese-chinese-and-thai readkinetic:2026-07-28-reads-japanese-chinese-and-thai Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Changelog · New Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Khmer, Lao and Burmese do not put spaces between words, so a whole paragraph used to arrive as a single flashed "word". ReadKinetic now finds the real word boundaries in those scripts. Japanese also reads the way Japanese should: the word sits centred, the speed is shown in 文字/分 (characters per minute) instead of a misleading word count, the ideographic comma gets its proper pause, and the text renders in a font that actually has the glyphs. Nothing changes for English. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-28-books-open-at-chapter-one-more-often readkinetic:2026-07-28-books-open-at-chapter-one-more-often Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:59:00 GMT Changelog · Improved Most EPUBs never mark where the story begins, so they opened on the cover. ReadKinetic now works it out from the book’s own structure and skips past the cover, title page, copyright and contents. It is deliberately cautious: if there is any doubt, it leaves you at the start rather than risk skipping real writing. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-28-paste-straight-from-your-clipboard readkinetic:2026-07-28-paste-straight-from-your-clipboard Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:58:00 GMT Changelog · New Copy an article anywhere, open Import, and tap once to paste it in. It works on every device, including iPhone and iPad, where getting a file into a browser is otherwise awkward. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-28-every-alphabet-renders-cleanly readkinetic:2026-07-28-every-alphabet-renders-cleanly Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:57:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed The highlighted letter in the middle of each word could land inside a character in Hindi, Tamil, Arabic and some emoji, splitting it in half. It now always lands on a whole character, in every script. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-28-page-headers-stay-where-they-belong readkinetic:2026-07-28-page-headers-stay-where-they-belong Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:56:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed On the website, headers now stay pinned as you scroll and no longer hide behind the camera notch or Dynamic Island on newer iPhones. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/speed-reading-with-adhd readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/speed-reading-with-adhd Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Accessibility If reading with ADHD means re-reading the same paragraph three times and losing your place constantly, the problem may not be attention itself — it may be the format. Here is why a fixed-pace reader changes the equation, and where it doesn't. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-25-reads-on-any-screen-down-to-a-watch readkinetic:2026-07-25-reads-on-any-screen-down-to-a-watch Sat, 25 Jul 2026 11:59:00 GMT Changelog · Improved On a very small screen the menus used to fill the whole display and squeeze the reading word down to a sliver — or off the screen entirely. Now the interface sheds what it does not need as the screen shrinks, so the word always has room. On a watch-sized browser the reader fills roughly two-thirds of the screen instead of a tenth. Nothing changes on a normal phone or desktop. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-25-chapter-list-opens-reliably readkinetic:2026-07-25-chapter-list-opens-reliably Sat, 25 Jul 2026 11:58:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed On some layouts the chapter menu opened behind the reading area, so tapping a chapter started reading instead of jumping to it. It now opens cleanly on top, closes with a tap anywhere outside, and fits any screen. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-25-books-open-in-their-own-typeface readkinetic:2026-07-25-books-open-in-their-own-typeface Sat, 25 Jul 2026 11:57:00 GMT Changelog · New ReadKinetic now pulls the font a publisher embedded in an EPUB and reads the book in it — the way the book was meant to look. This is the new default; you can still force one font for everything, or pin a specific font to a single book. Your library shows each book in the font it will open in. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-25-a-library-that-shows-your-reading-not-just-your-books readkinetic:2026-07-25-a-library-that-shows-your-reading-not-just-your-books Sat, 25 Jul 2026 11:56:00 GMT Changelog · Improved Rebuilt from the ground up. Each book leads with how much of it is left — “about 3 sittings”, “6 chapters to go” — because that is the thing you actually want to know when choosing what to pick up. Real titles and authors are read from the file instead of the filename, and every book gets a small colour identity of its own. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-25-leaving-continuous-play-is-now-a-single-tap readkinetic:2026-07-25-leaving-continuous-play-is-now-a-single-tap Sat, 25 Jul 2026 11:55:00 GMT Changelog · Improved Once you are reading hands-free, one tap — or the spacebar — stops it. Getting out of a mode should never cost more than getting in. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-25-scanned-pdfs-now-tell-you-the-truth readkinetic:2026-07-25-scanned-pdfs-now-tell-you-the-truth Sat, 25 Jul 2026 11:54:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed A PDF that is really a stack of page images has no text to read. Instead of importing something blank and leaving you puzzled, ReadKinetic now says so and points you at OCR. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/speed-reading-and-dyslexia readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/speed-reading-and-dyslexia Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Accessibility RSVP removes the eye movements that many dyslexic readers find hardest — but it is not a cure, and the research is more nuanced than the marketing suggests. Here is what genuinely helps, what doesn't, and why. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-24-the-interface-fades-away-while-you-read readkinetic:2026-07-24-the-interface-fades-away-while-you-read Fri, 24 Jul 2026 11:59:00 GMT Changelog · New While words are moving, the buttons and chrome recede and the light closes gently in around the word; everything returns the instant you stop. It fades out slowly and comes back fast on purpose — a quick fade would catch your eye, which is the one thing a reader like this exists to prevent. On by default, and switchable in Settings. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-24-the-pace-eases-off-before-a-hard-word readkinetic:2026-07-24-the-pace-eases-off-before-a-hard-word Fri, 24 Jul 2026 11:58:00 GMT Changelog · New Reading is not perfectly even — you slow a little as a difficult word approaches. ReadKinetic now does the same, easing the pace down over the couple of words before a rare or long one, then recovering. It works out which words are hard from the book itself, so it needs no dictionary and works in any language. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-24-themes-are-now-places-to-read-in readkinetic:2026-07-24-themes-are-now-places-to-read-in Fri, 24 Jul 2026 11:57:00 GMT Changelog · Improved Sixteen scenes, each with its own light — a lamp pool, a candle that quietly breathes, moonlight, a darkroom safelight that protects your night vision, a drafting-table blueprint. Not colour swatches, but somewhere the page is actually lit. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-24-every-book-remembers-its-own-speed readkinetic:2026-07-24-every-book-remembers-its-own-speed Fri, 24 Jul 2026 11:56:00 GMT Changelog · Improved A dense book and a thriller are not read at the same pace. ReadKinetic now keeps a separate reading speed for each book and restores it when you open it, and the library estimates time-left at that book’s own pace. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/return-sweep-in-reading readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/return-sweep-in-reading Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Neuroscience Every time you reach the end of a line, your eyes make a long jump back to the next one. This return sweep misses its target more often than you think, and it is quietly stealing your reading speed. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/why-you-forget-what-you-read readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/why-you-forget-what-you-read Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:59:00 GMT Neuroscience You finish a book and remember almost nothing a month later. That is not a memory defect — it is how forgetting works. Here is the research on why it happens and the small number of things that genuinely help. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-23-cleaner-text-from-epubs-and-pdfs readkinetic:2026-07-23-cleaner-text-from-epubs-and-pdfs Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:58:00 GMT Changelog · Improved Running headers, footers and stray page numbers no longer land in the middle of your sentences, and words split across a line break are rejoined while genuine compounds like “well-being” are left alone. A quiet check now runs on every import and warns you if a file came out badly, instead of handing you a mess without a word. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-23-books-open-where-the-story-begins readkinetic:2026-07-23-books-open-where-the-story-begins Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:57:00 GMT Changelog · Improved Unread EPUBs now start at chapter one instead of the cover, title page and copyright — when the file marks where its content begins. The front matter is still there if you scrub back for it. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-23-bring-your-own-font readkinetic:2026-07-23-bring-your-own-font Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:56:00 GMT Changelog · New Upload a .ttf, .otf or .woff and read anything in it. Stored on your device only, like everything else here. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-22-learn-the-controls-by-doing-them readkinetic:2026-07-22-learn-the-controls-by-doing-them Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Changelog · Improved The welcome now walks you through each gesture — hold to read, lock continuous play, scrub, change speed — by having you actually perform it once, so you reach your first book already knowing how it works. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-22-the-saved-pop-up-is-gone readkinetic:2026-07-22-the-saved-pop-up-is-gone Wed, 22 Jul 2026 11:59:00 GMT Changelog · Fixed A little confirmation used to appear over the reading area every few seconds, which pulled your eye off the word. Saving still happens constantly and automatically — it just no longer announces itself. https://www.readkinetic.com/changelog#2026-07-22-readkinetic-launched readkinetic:2026-07-22-readkinetic-launched Wed, 22 Jul 2026 11:58:00 GMT Changelog · New A free, local-first speed reader for your own EPUBs, PDFs and text — one word at a time, entirely in your browser, with nothing uploaded and no account. Shared with the world for the first time on Hacker News. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/average-reading-speed readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/average-reading-speed Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Research Most people read far slower than they assume, and most speed reading claims are far higher than the evidence supports. Here are the actual measured numbers, and what they mean for you. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/read-your-own-books-faster readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/read-your-own-books-faster Sun, 28 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Guide A complete workflow for speed reading the books you already own — EPUB, PDF, DOCX and more — with progress that saves itself, works offline, and never leaves your device. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/speed-reading-for-students readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/speed-reading-for-students Fri, 26 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Guide A free, realistic speed reading system for students drowning in readings — how to get through textbooks, papers, and PDFs faster without losing comprehension. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/free-spreeder-alternative readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/free-spreeder-alternative Wed, 24 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Comparison Looking for a Spreeder alternative that's free, needs no account, and reads your own EPUBs and PDFs? Here's an honest comparison and a local-first option. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/best-free-speed-reading-apps readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/best-free-speed-reading-apps Sat, 20 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Comparison An honest comparison of the best speed reading apps — Spreeder, Spritz-style readers, Reedy and more — and which one is actually free, private, and reads your own books. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/does-speed-reading-hurt-comprehension readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/does-speed-reading-hurt-comprehension Tue, 16 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Research The honest answer to whether speed reading wrecks comprehension — what the studies actually show, where the real trade-off is, and how to read faster while keeping what you read. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/how-to-train-your-wpm readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/how-to-train-your-wpm Mon, 23 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Guide Reading with RSVP is like training a new muscle group. Here is the exact 3-week progressive overload schedule to safely double your reading speed without losing comprehension. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/bionic-reading-vs-rsvp readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/bionic-reading-vs-rsvp Mon, 09 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Comparison Bionic Reading and RSVP are both designed to help you read faster. Only one has solid evidence behind it. Here is an honest comparison. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/regression-in-reading readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/regression-in-reading Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT Neuroscience Re-reading the same sentence isn't just a bad habit; it's your brain's automatic error-correction mechanism. Here is why it ruins your reading momentum, and how to stop it. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/subvocalization-myth readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/subvocalization-myth Mon, 09 Feb 2026 12:00:00 GMT Neuroscience Every speed reading course tells you to stop saying the words in your head. Neuroscience explains why that is biologically impossible — and what you should do instead. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/what-are-eye-saccades readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/what-are-eye-saccades Mon, 26 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Neuroscience Eye saccades are the rapid jumps your eyes make between fixation points while reading. Understanding them is the first step to reading faster without losing comprehension. https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/speed-reading-guide readkinetic:https://www.readkinetic.com/blog/speed-reading-guide Mon, 12 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT Guide Learn how to speed read by eliminating subvocalization and eye saccades. The RSVP technique is the only method with real neuroscience behind it.