Read at speed. Comprehend at depth.

Stay focused and actually take in what you read. Velo reads the EPUBs and PDFs you already own — plus the articles and read-later pile you send from the web — and renders every one of them beautifully. RSVP keeps your attention on the meaning: turn it down as a focus aid for dense material, or let your speed rise as comprehension gets cleaner. Three reading modes — RSVP, Scrub, and Reader — one perfectly synced position. 7-day free trial.

50–1,000 WPM · fluid mode switching · EPUB · PDF · web articles · Offline
Book II — Meditations 0:40
185 WPM

Live demo running the real Velo engine — tap to read word-by-word, Reader to drop back into the page. Your place stays perfectly synced.

You buy books.
But don't finish most.

Don't let your unread stack of books get the best of you. Velo helps you stay focused, keep your place, and move through the pages quickly — without losing the thread.

Your library. And the whole web.
Read with real focus.

Velo isn't a bookstore and it isn't a Kindle replacement. It's the best place to read everything you already have — the EPUBs and PDFs you own and the articles you save from the web — rendered beautifully, with an RSVP focus mode nothing else can match.

The books you own

Drop in any DRM-free EPUB or PDF — papers, reports, manuscripts, textbooks, business non-fiction, DRM-free purchases. Velo renders real typography, figures, and footnotes, not a stripped text dump.

The whole web

Share any article from Safari, or drain the read-later pile you've been collecting. It lands in Velo cleaned up — no ads, no clutter — and ready to read in any mode, online or off.

Send to Velo

From Files, Safari, Mail, or any app via the iOS Share Sheet — one tap and it's in your library, structured and synced across your devices. Getting content in should never be the hard part.

Velo reads the files you actually own — DRM-free EPUB and PDF. Retail Kindle and Apple Books titles are locked to their own apps, so no third-party reader can open them (including us). The good news: most of what slows you down isn't a novel — it's a 40-page report — and there's a world of gorgeous, DRM-free books to read.

Kindle, DRM & where to find great books →

Three modes. One position.
Zero friction.

01 · RSVP

RSVP Mode

One word at a time, at your speed. No eye movement. ORP alignment locks focus on each word's recognition point. Adaptive timing handles punctuation and complexity automatically.

50 — 1,000 WPM
catchwhatyoumissedfast
↔ · Scrub

Scrub Mode

Drag to scrub through words with momentum physics. A sliding context window keeps you oriented without breaking focus. The fastest way to rewind and catch what you missed.

Gesture-controlled
02 · Reader

Reader Mode

Full page text with your position highlighted. Scan ahead, re-read, let your eyes roam. One tap snaps back to RSVP — right where you left off. Your instincts, your pace.

Your natural pace

Drop in a PDF. Get a real book.

Most readers treat PDFs like flat images. Velo's on-device intelligence pipeline transforms raw PDFs into structured, navigable reading experiences.

Chapter Detection

Automatically detects chapters, parts, and sections from the PDF's structure. Hierarchical table of contents with word counts and progress tracking per chapter.

Footnotes & Endnotes

Footnotes are extracted from the page layout and linked inline. Endnotes are matched to their references. Bibliography, index, and appendices are detected and separated.

Clean Text

Running headers stripped. Page numbers removed. OCR artifacts cleaned up. Two-column academic layouts properly resequenced. What you read is the author's words — nothing else.

Import From Anywhere

Files, Safari, Mail, or any app via the iOS Share Sheet. Share an article from Safari and it lands in your inbox, cleaned up and ready to read in any mode.

Works with scanned books too. Vision OCR extracts text from photographed pages, then the same intelligence pipeline structures it into chapters and clean prose.

On-device processing. Your books never leave your device.

What you actually get

Every feature solves a real reading problem. No gimmicks.

Finish more books
clear your backlog

When you stay focused, you stop re-reading and stalling — so you move through books faster as a result. The reading list that's been haunting you? You can actually finish it this year.

Understand all of it
comprehension preserved

Confused by a passage? Switch to Reader mode. Re-read, scan back, get your bearings — then return to speed without losing your place.

Stay in the zone
focus-first design

RSVP eliminates eye wandering and distractions. One word, one moment, full attention. Especially effective for ADHD readers.

Read anywhere
iPhone + iPad

Your library is fully offline. No connection needed. Cloud sync picks up when you reconnect, so you're always at the right page on every device.

Reading is not one activity. It's a dynamic process where the reader constantly adjusts strategy based on content difficulty.

— The principle behind Velo's three-mode design

Read your whole reading list —
and actually retain it.

Forty tabs and a folder of 200 PDFs you're supposed to have read. Kindle mangles two-column papers, Apple Books won't even open half of them, and you retain nothing skimming a scanned chapter at 1am. Velo is built for exactly this.

Hard PDFs, made readable
smart import

Two-column papers resequenced, running headers and page numbers stripped, scanned chapters OCR'd into clean prose. The papers Kindle mangles and Apple Books won't open — finally legible.

Footnotes & citations intact
nothing lost

Footnotes are pulled from the page and linked inline, endnotes matched to their references, bibliography and appendices detected and separated. Hit a figure or an equation and one tap drops you into Reader at the exact word, layout intact.

Focus, even at 1am
slow rsvp

Turn RSVP down and it becomes a focus lock — one word at a time, nowhere for tired attention to wander. Get through the dense passage once, and actually remember what it said.

Velo reads the PDFs and EPUBs you already own — your textbooks, lecture notes, and every paper you've exported. Need more? arXiv and PubMed exports, Project Gutenberg, and Standard Ebooks are free and DRM-free — import any of them in a tap.

Bring your own reading list · all DRM-free

Absorb the docs and technical
books you keep meaning to finish.

You buy DRM-free by default — No Starch, Pragmatic, O'Reilly, Leanpub, Manning — and you judge a reader on whether code and diagrams survive. Velo is the best place to actually read that shelf, with a focus mode nothing else ships well.

Code blocks & diagrams, preserved
faithful rendering

Technical EPUBs keep their structure — code blocks stay monospaced, diagrams and tables stay where the author put them. PDFs hold their layout where the source allows, not flattened into a reflowed text dump.

Long docs & specs, structured
smart import

Drop in an RFC, a whitepaper, or a 300-page manual. Chapter detection, clean headings, and footnote linking turn it into something you navigate like a book — not a wall of text you scroll and lose.

Prose fast, code slow
three modes

RSVP the narrative at speed to keep momentum, then one tap into Reader the moment you hit the listing you need to actually study — at the exact word, spatial layout intact.

Your O'Reilly, No Starch, Pragmatic, and Leanpub shelf is DRM-free by default — Velo reads all of it. Add recurring DRM-free tech bundles from Humble Bundle, or author-direct PDFs from Gumroad. Bring your own file; your library stays yours.

DRM-free by default · bring your own shelf

Built for serious readers

EPUB & PDF

Import any book. Full TOC navigation, chapter tracking, and format-aware rendering.

Velobrary

A built-in library of free public-domain classics. Download as many as you like — no account needed, and they never count against your import limit.

Enhanced ProcessingPro

Academic and scanned PDFs get AI-powered chapter detection, footnote linking, and running header stripping. Pro includes 20 conversions per month.

Cloud SyncPro

Books, reading position, highlights, notes — and your reading stats — sync across devices and survive reinstalls and phone upgrades.

Native iOS App

Built for iPhone and iPad. Gestures, haptics, Live Activities on the Lock Screen, and performance tuned for the hardware you own.

Fully Configurable

Speed, font size, colors, punctuation pauses, fade timing — every detail of your reading experience.

Progress Tracking

See exactly where you are in every book. Time remaining, chapter progress, and reading speed analytics.

Offline Library

Your books are stored locally. Read anywhere, even without internet. Cloud sync when you reconnect.

Highlights & NotesPro

Mark passages and add your own notes while reading. Export everything as Markdown or plain text.

Simple. Free to try.

Try Velo Pro free for a week. Keep going for less than $6 a month.

Free
$0 forever
  • All three reading modes — RSVP, Scrub & Reader
  • Velobrary — unlimited free public-domain classics
  • 3 personal imports to try with your own books
  • EPUB & PDF, fully on-device
  • Progress tracking
Start Free
7-day free trial
Velo Pro
Save 35% vs monthly
$5.83 / month, billed $69.99 yearly
  • Everything in Free
  • Unlimited personal library
  • 20 Enhanced Processing conversions per month
  • Cloud sync across iPhone & iPad — library, position, highlights & stats
  • Highlights, notes & export
  • Priority queue and support
Start 7-Day Free Trial

Or $8.99/month. Cancel anytime in iOS Settings.

Pro Monthly
$8.99 / month
  • Everything in Velo Pro
  • Same 7-day free trial
  • Cancel anytime
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Need more Enhanced Processing?

Pro includes 20 AI conversions per month. Buy extra credits any time — they never expire.

10 credits
$4.99
$0.50 each
50 credits
$19.99
$0.40 each · save 20%

Credits are only used after your monthly allowance runs out.

7-day free trial · Cancel anytime in iOS Settings → Subscriptions

Questions people actually ask

Still unsure? Send us a note at hello@veloreader.com — we reply within a day.

Will I actually take in what I read?

That's the whole point. RSVP removes subvocalization and eye wandering — the two things that fragment attention — so more of your focus stays on the meaning. When a passage gets dense, turn the pace down and use RSVP as a focus aid, or switch to Reader mode with one tap, re-read at your natural pace, then jump back without losing your place. The modes are a toolset for comprehension, not a race.

What's the catch with speed reading?

Classic speed reading gimmicks (skimming patterns, "photo reading") don't survive scientific scrutiny. RSVP is different — it's a display technique used in reading research labs for decades. It doesn't magically make you read faster; it removes physical barriers so you can read at your true thinking speed. Most people find their sweet spot between 400 and 700 WPM.

What file formats can I import?

EPUB and PDF. Import from Files, Safari, Mail, or any app via the iOS Share Sheet. Velo includes on-device processing for chapter detection, footnote extraction, and text cleanup. Scanned PDFs work too — Vision OCR extracts the text, then the intelligence pipeline structures it into clean prose.

What is Velobrary?

Velo's built-in library of free public-domain books — classics you can download and read without an account, and without using your personal imports. It's the fastest way to try all three reading modes on real books before importing your own.

What is Enhanced Processing?

Velo's AI pipeline for complex academic and scanned PDFs. It extracts the real structure — chapters, headings, footnotes, endnotes, back-matter — into a clean, navigable reading experience. Pro includes 20 Enhanced Processing conversions per month. You can buy more any time with 10-credit ($4.99) or 50-credit ($19.99) packs. Credits never expire.

Does it work offline?

Yes. Your entire library is stored on your device. You can read, switch modes, and track progress without any network connection. Cloud sync picks up automatically when you reconnect.

Can I use it on multiple devices?

Your Pro subscription covers iPhone and iPad, with macOS on the roadmap. Cloud sync keeps your library, reading position, highlights, notes — and your reading stats — in sync across devices automatically. Start a chapter on iPhone at the gym, finish it on iPad at home.

Is it good for ADHD or dyslexic readers?

Many ADHD readers find RSVP especially effective because it eliminates the eye-wandering and visual distractions that break focus in traditional reading. Dyslexic readers often benefit from the controlled word presentation and the ability to adjust speed, font, and spacing to their preference. Velo isn't a medical treatment, but the focus-first design helps.

How does cancellation work?

Your subscription is managed by Apple. Cancel any time in iOS Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions. No phone calls, no forms, no "are you sure?" popups designed to make you give up.

What about my privacy?

Your books never leave your device for basic reading. On-device processing handles EPUBs, text files, and simple PDFs. The only time content touches a server is during Enhanced Processing (opt-in, for complex PDFs) or cloud sync (encrypted in transit and at rest). We don't sell data, run ads, or track what you read.

Why not just use Apple Books / Kindle?

Those apps are great for linear reading. They don't have RSVP, don't have mode switching, don't run locally on your own PDFs without re-uploading, and don't process academic or scanned books into structured content. Velo is for people who read across formats and want to stay focused enough to actually finish the stack.

What you can read — and where to find more.

Velo reads the DRM-free EPUBs and PDFs you own, plus the web — and there's a whole world of great books that qualify. Here's how it works, no fine print.

Does Velo work with my Kindle books?

Honestly, no — and neither can any other third-party app. Kindle books are locked to Amazon with DRM, so only Amazon's own apps can open them. Velo reads the DRM-free EPUBs and PDFs you own outright: papers, reports, textbooks, manuscripts, and DRM-free purchases. Most of what slows you down isn't a novel anyway — it's a 40-page report, and Velo is built for that.

Can Velo remove DRM or convert my locked books?

No — and it never will. Removing DRM is illegal, and it's a line we won't cross. If you try to import a file that's DRM-protected, Velo declines it with a clear message rather than attempting to unlock it. We'd rather tell you plainly than pretend otherwise.

So what can I actually read in Velo?

Any DRM-free EPUB or PDF, plus web articles: research papers, textbooks you own, business non-fiction, reports, contracts, manuscripts and drafts, technical books, and your read-later pile. If it opens in the Files app as a normal EPUB or PDF, Velo can read it — beautifully, in any of the three modes.

Where do I find great DRM-free books?

A lot of the best reading is DRM-free. Standard Ebooks and Project Gutenberg offer thousands of beautifully formatted classics, free. Kobo and Smashwords sell large catalogs of DRM-free titles. Publishers like No Starch, Pragmatic, and Tor ship DRM-free by default, and authors selling direct (Gumroad, Leanpub) almost always do too.

How do I tell if a book is DRM-free before I buy?

Stores that sell DRM-free books usually say so right on the product page ("DRM-free" or "no DRM"). When in doubt, DRM-free-first sources like Standard Ebooks, Project Gutenberg, and the DRM-free sections of Kobo and Smashwords are safe bets. Any file you can open in Apple Books or Files as a normal EPUB or PDF is yours to read anywhere — Velo included.

Will Velo ever support Kindle or Apple Books titles?

Not by removing their DRM — that's a permanent no. Those catalogs are locked to their own apps by design. And that's fine: Velo is built for the reading that benefits most from focus and speed — your owned documents, papers, technical books, and the web — which is overwhelmingly DRM-free already.

Start reading at the speed of thought.

Velo is in public beta on TestFlight. Join the waitlist and we'll send your install link — and you'll be first in the door when we land on the App Store.

7-day free trial · Cancel anytime · iPhone & iPad