Active reading system

Remember what
you read

You finish a book, and two weeks later it's gone. That's not your memory failing — that's what passive reading does. ClearRead turns reading into something that stays.

Try it free — no signup See how it works

Runs in your browser · Works offline · Your data stays on your device

Reading a section in ClearRead with sentences underlined

Reading a real book — underline as you go, in three colors.

You read the book. You highlighted it. You understood it.

A month later, someone asks: “What was it about?”

“It was… good.”

The problem isn't you. The problem is that reading only goes one way.

Four steps, every section

Active recall and spaced repetition — the two most evidence-backed techniques in learning science — built into how you read.

01

Predict

Guess before you read. Even a wrong guess primes your memory.

02

Read

Short, digestible sections. Underline what matters.

03

Explain it

Say it in your own words. Where you stall is where you didn't understand.

04

Lock it in

Grade your recall; it comes back on exactly the right day.

Explain the section in your own words

Step 3 — no multiple choice. You write it.

Comparing your explanation with the concepts you missed

Step 4 — what you missed, then you grade yourself.

PDF · EPUBYOUR OWN BOOKS
KindleIMPORT HIGHLIGHTS
EN · DE · FR · TRFOUR LANGUAGES
OfflineNO INTERNET NEEDED
Exam mode

It tells you exactly what to study today

Set your exam date. ClearRead works out how much you'll actually remember on that day, splits what's left across the days you have, and hands you one button: start.

  • A readiness score you can't fool
  • Today's plan: reviews + new sections
  • Your weakest sections, ranked
  • Pick which books count toward the exam
Exam mode dashboard with readiness score and daily plan
Exam study mode where underlining creates a card
Study, not just reading

Every line you underline becomes a card

Exam study is its own space — separate from your normal reading, with its own progress and its own notes. Underline a sentence and it turns into a study card automatically.

The night before, flip through them like slides, in five card designs — or print the whole set.

Novel mode

Fiction doesn't need a quiz

Novels get a different rhythm: long, flowing chapters and one question at the end — what changed? That's it.

Meanwhile it quietly builds a character notebook, and a recap that only ever shows you what you've already read. Nothing gets spoiled.

Novel mode with a drop cap and flowing chapter text
Searching a concept across the whole library
Your library, connected

Your books start talking to each other

Type a concept and see every sentence it appears in, across every book you've read. While you're reading, ClearRead points out ideas you've already met somewhere else.

Every highlight is kept with its source, ready to export as citations.

The rest of it

Real screens, not mockups.

Home screen
Your library and daily streak
Import screen
Drop in a PDF — it splits itself
Notebook
Every note you've written
Concepts met in other books
Ideas you've met elsewhere
Concept search
Search across all your books
Settings
Four languages, backup, Drive

Install it. Keep it. Own it.

ClearRead isn't a website you visit — it's an app you keep, with data that belongs to you.

Add it to your home screen

It installs like a real app — iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows. One tap and it lives on your home screen with its own icon, opening full-screen.

  • ✓Works with no internet at all
  • ✓Its own icon, no address bar
  • ✓Reminders when a review is due
  • ✓Nothing to install from an app store

On iPhone: open in Safari, tap Share (↑) → Add to Home Screen.

Your progress, on every device

Connect your own Google Drive with one tap. Your library, highlights and review schedule follow you — phone, tablet, laptop.

  • ✓Saved to a private folder in your Drive
  • ✓Survives clearing your browser
  • ✓We never see it — no server on our side
  • ✓Optional — backup files work too

No account with us. No password to remember.

AI doesn't read it for you

ClearRead runs no AI while you read. Your text is never sent to a server and nothing is summarized for you. The point isn't for a machine to understand the book — it's for you to understand it, and still have it a month later.

Pay once. Keep it forever.

No subscription. No monthly creep. Unlimited books, unlimited time.

Full version
$29 once

Lifetime access · Free updates

  • Unlimited PDFs, EPUBs and text
  • Exam mode and novel mode
  • Concept web and quote bank
  • Google Drive sync across devices
  • Works offline, installs to your home screen
  • Use on 3 devices
Get ClearRead — $29

Want to try it first? Open the free version

A typical reading or study app$8–12 / month
That's one year$96–144
Three years$288–432
ClearRead$29 · once

Subscriptions exist because most apps keep your library on their servers, and servers cost money every month. ClearRead doesn't work that way — everything runs on your device and syncs to your own Drive. There's no server bill to pass on to you, so there's no honest reason to charge you every month.

I built this for myself. I'd read a book a month for a year and realized I couldn't tell you what any of them said. Highlighting felt like studying — it wasn't. So I made the thing that forces me to say it back.

— the maker of ClearRead

Questions

Does it really work offline?

Yes. Once you've opened it, ClearRead works with no internet at all. Add it to your home screen and it opens like any other app — reading, reviews, notes and PDFs, all on your device.

Where is my data stored?

On your device. If you connect Google Drive, a copy is kept in a private area of your own Drive so it follows you across devices and survives a browser reset. We run no server and never see your data. You can also export a backup file at any time.

What files can I import?

PDF, EPUB, TXT, Markdown, and text you paste in directly. If you use a Kindle, you can import every highlight you've ever made from its My Clippings.txt file.

Why isn't this a subscription?

Because there's nothing to bill you for monthly. Your books and progress live on your device and in your own Drive — we don't host them. A subscription would cost you $100 or more a year for something that costs us nothing to keep running.

How many devices can I use?

Three with a single license — comfortably covers a phone, a tablet and a laptop.

Does it use AI?

Not while you read — that experience is fully AI-free and offline. Optionally, when you import a book, a small model can run on your own device to pick key concepts more accurately. It's entirely your choice, and everything works with it turned off.

Which languages does the interface support?

English, German, French and Turkish. The content language is independent — you can read a book in any language regardless of the interface.

Keep reading.
This time, keep it.

No signup, no card. Try the sample and see the whole loop in two minutes.

Try it free See pricing