ReadQuick for iOS – Review

ReadQuick is to read web content quickly.

ReadQuick is a ghost that still answers the door. Forbes praised its design in 2013. Engadget said it enforced focus. Rene Ritchie of iMore called it “invaluable.” The same year the last review was published, Action Now Ltd dissolved.

The company ceased to exist in January 2014. The speed reading app stopped evolving. What I find on the App Store now is the same product those reviewers saw, untouched, aging quietly inside an ecosystem that has rebuilt itself several times over.

That tension is where this review begins: a tool that was genuinely good, still technically present, but answering to no one. This review covers what ReadQuick does, who it once served well, and why its current status deserves honest scrutiny before you trust it with your reading life.

What ReadQuick Actually Is

ReadQuick is an iOS-only RSVP app, which means Rapid Serial Visual Presentation. Action Now Ltd built it to flash words at speed, one at a time, up to 1,000 words per minute, directly from a saved article queue.

It pulls content from Pocket, Instapaper, Evernote, and Feedly. A built-in browser handles direct article capture without leaving the app.

At launch, it occupied a clear niche: fast, focused article consumption for iPhone and iPad users. The last documented release was built for iOS 9. Current App Store status, iOS 17+ compatibility, and active maintenance are all unverified.

How does ReadQuick work?

• It takes a selected article, book, newspaper, or magazine and converts it into a recognized format.
• ReadQuick then flashes the publication back to you on screen, one word at a time.
• The speed can then be adjusted in the settings menu.

If you compare ReadQuick with other apps, it is important to understand how each one actually works. To learn techniques for manually processing content and material faster, we recommend Spreeder or Iris Reading.

Who Still Has a Reason to Try It

The narrow remaining use case is an iOS user with an existing Pocket or Instapaper library, someone who wants frictionless RSVP reading and doesn’t need ongoing support or modern features. Commuters. Short-break readers.

Anyone who has already trained themselves to read comfortably at 400+ wpm without losing comprehension.

A secondary audience might include readers curious about RSVP as a technique. For them, ReadQuick is a low-barrier way to test whether word-flashing suits their cognitive style, assuming it still functions on current hardware.

The honest exclusions matter here. Android users have no version to consider. Readers who need comprehension support, annotation tools, or AI-assisted triage will find nothing useful.

Anyone requiring a maintained app with responsive support should stop reading this review and look at Outread instead. The company dissolved more than a decade ago. There is no one to contact if something breaks.

Reading tip:  If you want AI to actually save reading time, start with a focused overview instead of scattered tips. The main AI speed reading guide walks you through my 3‑Step AI Speed Reading Method and shows where tools, AI summaries, and listening apps realistically help.

From there, you can dive into tutorials on AI‑supported reading workflows such as our ChatGPT for speed reading guide — and compare carefully selected AI speed reading apps and text-to-speech apps or AI summarization tools before committing to any subscription.

What ReadQuick Does — When It Works

1. The Core RSVP Experience

The central mechanic is word flashing. ReadQuick displays one word at a time at a speed you control, between 50 and 1,000 words per minute. A multi-word display option exists for readers who find single-word presentation too disorienting.

The logic is sound: removing eye movement and line scanning would theoretically significantly reduce reading time.

In practice, I find RSVP works best for light, familiar content. News articles. Blog posts. Opinion pieces. The moment text becomes dense, technical papers, legal documents, or anything requiring re-reading, the format fights you. You can’t glance back. You can’t pause to think.

What reads as a feature on a spec sheet becomes a genuine constraint inside complex material. That said, the focus of enforcement is real. Engadget’s 2013 observation still holds: if your attention drifts, you miss content. That pressure is genuinely useful for easily distracted readers working through routine articles.

• RSVP at 50–1,000 wpm is adjustable and responsive to individual pace
• Single-word or multi-word display modes offer some flexibility
• Focus enforcement is a real, useful side effect of the format
• Dense or complex material does not suit RSVP well

2. Reading Queue and Integrations

The Pocket, Instapaper, Evernote, and Feedly integrations were genuinely well-executed for their era. Saving an article to Pocket and having it surface in ReadQuick’s queue was a clean, frictionless workflow.

The built-in browser allowed direct capture. Clipboard importing, paste any text and give it a title, extended the content scope further.

These integrations remain the strongest structural argument for using ReadQuick. If your reading queue has always lived in Pocket or Instapaper, the pipeline from save to speed-read is logical and purposeful. No manual file handling. No unnecessary friction.

The question I keep returning to is whether those integrations still authenticate correctly against current API versions. Service APIs evolve constantly. An app last updated several years ago may have broken OAuth connections or incompatible endpoints. This is genuinely unverified, and it matters before you commit to the workflow.

• Pocket, Instapaper, Evernote, and Feedly integration was native and seamless
• Built-in browser and clipboard import expand content options
• Current API compatibility with these services is unconfirmed

3. Stats, Sync, and Display Options

ReadQuick tracks words per minute, total words read, and total reading hours. For readers who find progress data motivating, this is a reasonable incentive layer, modest but present.

iOS device sync keeps playlists and activity consistent across iPhone and iPad. A traditional reading mode sits alongside the RSVP flash view, useful for readers who want to switch modes mid-session.

Multi-language support, including Norwegian, Swedish, and Vietnamese, added genuine breadth for non-English reading lists. That was unusual for an RSVP app at the time, and I notice it still isn’t universal among competitors.

• Statistics tracking provides basic performance feedback
• Cross-device iOS sync was functional at launch
• Traditional and RSVP modes can be toggled within the app
• Multi-language support extends use beyond English content

Reading tip:  Tools and apps are useful, but most lasting gains come from a few solid tutorials you revisit. If you suspect habits, not software, are holding you back, do this. Start with a fundamentals guide on how to speed read, then move into practical lessons on skimming and scanning, and reading word chunks.

Where ReadQuick Gets or Got It Right

The design holds up.

Forbes’ praise of its minimal, intuitive interface wasn’t hollow flattery. RSVP apps can easily become cluttered with speed sliders, menus, and mode toggles competing for attention. ReadQuick kept its visual presentation clean and purposeful.

For a reading experience that demands sustained focus, that restraint is not decoration — it’s the product.

The integration logic was ahead of its time.

In 2013, connecting a speed reader directly to Pocket and Instapaper was genuinely smart product thinking. I notice that many current apps still handle this awkwardly, routing users through manual exports or clunky workarounds. ReadQuick’s read-later pipeline was coherent and considered from the start.

The format enforces attention.

RSVP reading is not comfortable at first. Your eyes have nowhere to wander. Your mind, accustomed to scanning and skimming, either adapts quickly or resists entirely.

For readers who know they drift, this constraint yields real focus gains on appropriate content — and I think that’s worth acknowledging, without overselling it.

• Clean, focused interface reduces cognitive friction during reading sessions
• Read-later integration with Pocket and Instapaper remains structurally sound
• RSVP format creates genuine attention discipline for routine, light content
• None of these strengths compensates for the absence of active development

ReadQuick Cons and Issues

Here is where I have to be direct.

The company dissolved in 2014.

READQUICK LIMITED, as a registered entity, ceased to exist more than a decade ago. The app may still appear in App Store search results. It may even launch on your device. But there is no active development team, no support channel, no bug fix queue, and no accountability structure of any kind if something breaks.

A frozen codebase on modern hardware.

The last known release was built for iOS 9. Current iPhones run iOS 26 and beyond. The gap between those two environments is not a minor version difference — it is a decade of architectural change applied to an abandoned codebase.

Features that worked cleanly on older hardware may behave unpredictably, crash silently, or fail entirely. I can’t tell you it won’t. Nobody can, because nobody is maintaining it.

No AI features exist.

For a website like ours, built around AI-assisted reading workflows, this is not a minor gap — it is a fundamental absence. There is no summarisation. No key point extraction. No integration with ChatGPT, Claude, or any modern AI layer.

What you get is pure RSVP, which was genuinely novel in 2013 and is now a commodity feature in actively maintained apps that offer far more.

Comprehension trade-offs are real.

RSVP does not reliably support deep retention for complex material. Reading research has consistently documented this limitation.

ReadQuick never addressed it, and no subsequent updates introduced comprehension-support features like spaced repetition or highlight-and-review systems. Speed without retention is not a reading tool. It’s a performance.

• The company behind ReadQuick dissolved in January 2014
• Last known release was built for iOS 9; current compatibility is genuinely uncertain
• No AI features, no spaced repetition, no modern reading science integration
• Current iOS compatibility is unverified and carries a real risk on modern devices

ReadQuick Pricing

One historical source cites a $4.99 price point at original launch, with a later $3.99 reference appearing in an iPad-specific context. Whether either figure reflects current App Store pricing — or whether the app remains listed at any price at all — cannot be confirmed from available data.

ReadQuick vs AI Speed Reading

Honestly, it doesn’t fit cleanly. The 3-Step AI Speed Reading Method, which anchors this site’s approach to faster, smarter reading, relies on AI tools at each stage: pre-reading with AI summarisation, active reading with pacing tools, and post-reading with comprehension review.

ReadQuick covers only the middle stage. And only partially, since RSVP without comprehension scaffolding is speed without retention.

If ReadQuick functions on your current iOS device, I think it could serve as a Step 2 pacing tool for low-complexity articles in your Pocket or Instapaper queue. You would still need a separate AI layer for pre-reading triage and post-reading synthesis.

That’s workable — but it’s also the kind of patchwork workflow that modern alternatives handle far more natively, without the assembly required.

For readers building a complete AI-assisted reading system, the better path starts at the AI speed reading guide.

Readers specifically looking for RSVP-capable tools that integrate with modern workflows will find more practical options in the speed reading apps comparison. ReadQuick occupied a specific moment in the evolution of reading apps. That moment has passed.

ReadQuick Verdict: A Relic Worth Approaching Carefully

Our review rating is 4/10.

Four points, not zero, because the underlying design was genuinely good, the integration logic was sound for its era, and RSVP reading does serve a real purpose for the right reader.

If ReadQuick functions on your device, and if you have a Pocket or Instapaper queue you want to move through faster, it delivers on its original promise. I can’t call that nothing.

What I cannot do is recommend it without reservation. The company dissolved over a decade ago. The codebase hasn’t been meaningfully updated. Compatibility with current iOS versions is unknown. There is no support. There is no roadmap.

There is also no one to contact when something stops working — and on a device running the current iOS, something very plausibly will. For a tool you’re trusting with your reading workflow, that’s not a minor caveat. It’s the central fact.

Skip it if you need reliability, modern AI integration, ongoing updates, or anything approaching active support.

Two alternatives worth considering:

Outread, which offers similar RSVP functionality with active development and a comprehension-focused design, and Readwise Reader, which pairs a read-later queue with spaced repetition and deep annotation tools.

ReadQuick at a Glance

App Name	ReadQuick
Developer	Action Now Ltd (READQUICK LIMITED — dissolved January 2014)
Platform	iOS only
Minimum iOS Requirement	iOS 9 (current compatibility unverified)
Core Technology	RSVP (Rapid Serial Visual Presentation)
Speed Range	50–1,000 words per minute
Integrations	Pocket, Instapaper, Evernote, Feedly
AI Features	None
Last Known Release	Final release before company dissolution (built for iOS 9)
Current App Store Status	Unverified — manual check required
Pricing	$3.99–$4.99; current pricing unconfirmed
Best For	iOS users with existing read-later queues wanting simple RSVP reading
Not For	Android users, anyone needing AI features, active support, or modern iOS compatibility guarantees
Alternatives	Outread (active RSVP app), Readwise Reader (read-later with retention tools)
SPL Rating	4/10

Interesting sources:

If you like to see what the evidence actually says about speed reading and reading tech, it’s worth dipping into original research rather than app marketing. These non‑commercial sources on RSVP reading, bionic reading, eye movements, regressions, comprehension, and retention are a solid starting point:

Curious what science says about RSVP, bionic reading, eye fixations, and regressions? These original studies and reviews are a good starting point:

• Modern Speed‑Reading Apps Do Not Foster Reading Comprehension (Rayner et al., 2016):
  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29461715/
• Perceptual Learning in an RSVP Reading Task (Chung, 2014):
  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4274879/
• Guiding the Gaze: How Bionic Reading Influences Eye Movements (2025):
  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12565662/
• Eye Movements and Fixation‑Related Potentials in Reading – Review (Schuster et al., 2020):
  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7157570/
• A Cognitive Model of Regressive Eye Movements During Reading (von der Malsburg & Vasishth, 2020):
  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7888242/