RapidReads: Building a Secure Speed-Reading Tool for Everyone
The story behind building a secure, offline speed-reading app that started as an internal tool and became a public Mac App Store application
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The story behind building a secure, offline speed-reading app that started as an internal tool and became a public Mac App Store application
A secure, offline speed-reading app that helps you read faster with less eye strain while keeping your data private.
View on App StoreBefore I ever wrote a line of code for RapidReads, I was a loyal user of Spreeder, a website designed to help you read faster by showing one word at a time. It's a simple concept: Spreeder flashes each word in a fixed spot on your screen, so your eyes don't sweep across lines of text. Less eye movement, faster reading. For someone like me, who doesn't have perfect vision and prefers large text sizes, this was a revelation.
When I worked at startups, this tool was a lifesaver. Long emails, documentation, technical specifications: all became much more manageable. But then I moved into big tech, and suddenly security and privacy policies made tools like Spreeder impossible to use. Pasting company data into a third-party website just wasn't going to happen.
The solution? Build my own tool.
The first version was rough: a basic internal web app that mimicked Spreeder. It worked well enough for me. When I switched companies, I needed the same functionality again. This time, I decided to work closely with the infosec team. Their number one request? Make the entire application work offline with zero network access.
So I did. I built my first native macOS app. These were the pre-Mac Catalyst days, so I had to leave UIKit behind and learn how to do things the Mac way. It was simple, but it worked. And because it was entirely offline, infosec loved it.
Once the app started circulating among coworkers, the feedback loop began. A few brave colleagues tested it. They suggested improvements. I added features. More feedback followed. This continued until one day, a new hire casually told me about "this internal speed-reading app" they had been using, without even realizing I built it.
It became clear that RapidReads needed to go public. Preparing it for the App Store gave me the opportunity to refine it further. I enlisted some help from AI along the way:
These optimizations, while things I could have done manually, were accelerated by using AI as a coding partner.
Today, RapidReads:
I built RapidReads out of necessity, but it has become something far more meaningful: a secure tool that helps people reclaim time and focus, one word at a time.
Download RapidReads and start reading faster with better focus and privacy.
View on App Store