Reedy App for Android and Chrome – Review

Reedy app – Intelligent reader for Android and Chrome

Reedy – Intelligent Reader is an app to boost your reading pace using RSVP technology.

Reedy displays text one word at a time, gradually increasing the pace at which the words are flashed on-screen. The Reedy app can be downloaded to any Android device or Google Chrome system.

In general, Reedy allows you to process digital content such as eBooks, web articles and text documents quickly and comfortably while keeping retention rates at high levels. There is text-to-speech support.

Reedy Intelligent Reader – Overview

You may now ask whether there are any differences between Reedy and other popular speed reading apps on the market. And, why you should download the Reedy app and pay for certain services if you already have extensions or free tools for your web browser, e-books and word files.

Well, the main difference is that the words are displayed one at a time and that the interval between words can be set faster or slower. This, the developers say, will almost double your pace immediately, improve retention of knowledge and allow you to read for longer periods at a time.

Ok, the Reedy app is not the only one offering that. However, it does it really well using the latest algorithms. The Spritz technology that was used for the development of the Reedy app was originally designed to help beginners and those with learning disabilities read more smoother.

Reedy offers excellent navigation and a modern interface. You can open document files (epub, fb2, html, txt, zip) or web links, and import content from other tools and services. You can save and navigate content through a convenient bookmark system.

Reedy App – Features

Versatile. Reedy can be used with text in almost any format. You simply open a file or import from SD cards, then select the text that you wish to read, right-click and activate Reedy. It also works with Google Drive and Dropbox.

Variable reading modes. There are three modes: regular (slower), fast (up to 3000 words per minute) and even text-to-speech mode. Yes, the Reedy app will read the text to you.

More than just text. Tables, images and styled text are efficiently displayed. This is often an issue with other tools, but according to user reviews, this seems to be working fine on Reedy.

User friendly. Reedy allows you to adjust the text size, color and font to make things easier. It also features day and night themes that will ensure that the brightness of your screen is always at a comfortable level.

Smart text display. You can adjust your pace or pause at any time. When you pause, you will be presented with a quick preview of the entire text. The display speed is also automatically slowed when complicated words or punctuation marks are encountered.

Full records kept. Reedy gives you access to a quick list of all web pages, documents and bookmarks. This makes it easy to continue reading where you left off previously or to review the material that you have already read.

No-nonsense user-interface. The user interface is clean, easy to use and intuitive. The Reedy app is being updated infrequently though, which is quite common for many other services in the field. There is support for English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch and Russian.

Reedy App – Pros and Cons

Speed reading vs reading fast. Despite the claims of the developers, the Reedy app does not teach you accelerated literacy skills. It may, however, help some readers to increase pace based on RSVP. On the downside, it does not allow you to skim material before processing, an essential part of quick reading, especially for study purposes.

No scientific base. Literacy skills and retention have been the focus of many empirical studies. Processing text one word at a time is not conducive to retaining the central theme of entire sentences, paragraphs and even sections.

Excellent teaching tool. On the upside, the Reedy app can be a very valuable tool in teaching beginners to process content fast and to open up new worlds to those suffering from learning disabilities.

Versatility. The ability of the Reedy app to display images and tables is a definite plus and gives it an edge of other services.

Good user interaction. A goodly number of users have commented on the fact that the developers are very quick to react to suggestions and complaints. This must be seen as a very large plus too.

iOS users. I’m afraid but Reedy is not available for iPhone and Co. I don’t think it ever will, as some tools will be simply created for one system in mind. If you need an alternative you may want to check out Spreeder, Outread or ReadMe. There are many options though, please see our round-up review (link above) for further inspiration.

Reedy App Review – Verdict

It is difficult to understand why the average reader will want to process text one word at a time. It is just too easy to get completely lost in the nuances of the text, especially with long sentences and paragraphs. I tried it, but the app’s welcome in my digital world was very short-lived.

However, don’t let that hinder you from trying new tools. You can download the Reedy app for free on the Google Play Store, and test various features. At some stage, you will need to decide to upgrade in order to use all of its features. Without going premium it will remain a limited service for sure.

Pricing: Free download. In-app purchases from $0.99 – $9.99 per item.
Reedy reviews: Based on user reviews the current rating is 4.6 out of 5.
Reedy Chrome Extension: Chrome Web Store
Reedy Android: View in Play Store

Have an opinion? Please share this post or your experience with the Reedy app or extension in the comments below.