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
Published 2025-03-01
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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 wrote RapidReads I used Spreeder constantly. One word at a time, fixed spot on screen, less eye movement, faster reading. For someone with mediocre vision who likes big text, it was perfect.
At startups I pasted long emails and docs into Spreeder all day. When I moved to big tech, that stopped. I couldn't paste internal data into a random website.
I hacked together an internal web clone first. Ugly, worked for me. New job, same problem. This time I sat with infosec. Their ask was simple: zero network access. Everything local.
So I built a native macOS app. Pre-Mac Catalyst, which meant learning Mac APIs instead of coasting on UIKit. Simple app. Fully offline. Security team signed off.
A few colleagues tried it and kept sending notes as I shipped fixes. Eventually a new hire told me about "this internal speed-reading app" they loved. They had no idea I built it. That was the moment I thought it should be public.
Shipping to the store forced polish. I used AI as a second pair of eyes on boring stuff:
I could have done the work alone, but the help made it faster.
RapidReads runs on macOS and iOS, stays offline, and does the one thing I needed at work: read faster without sending your text anywhere.
I built it because I couldn't use Spreeder at my day job. It turned into the app I actually open when a wall of text lands in my inbox.
Download RapidReads and start reading faster with better focus and privacy.
View on App Store