Close Reader is an e-book reader for iPhone, iPad and Android. Select a word and a card translates it in context, reminds you who a character is or explains the hard part. The AI knows the book only up to your page.
Tap the underlined words in the book.
En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no ha mucho tiempo que vivía un de los de , adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor. Una olla de algo más vaca que carnero, salpicón las más noches, los sábados, lentejas los viernes, algún palomino de añadidura los domingos, consumían las tres partes de su hacienda. El resto della concluían sayo de velarte, calzas de velludo para las fiestas, con sus pantuflos de lo mesmo, y los días de entresemana se honraba con su vellorí de lo más fino.
Tenía en su casa una ama que pasaba de los cuarenta, y una sobrina que no llegaba a los veinte, y un mozo de campo y plaza, que así ensillaba el rocín como tomaba la podadera.
2 pages left in the section3%
Hold a word or select a passage, and a card brings what you need: a translation, a reminder about a character or the background. No switching to a dictionary or a search engine.
The meaning in this very sentence, not a dictionary entry three screens long — or a plain definition when the book is in your own language. One tap translates the whole sentence or paragraph, and “Save word” keeps the word with the sentence where you met it.
Forgot who Wickham is? Select the name, and the card opens on “Who’s this?” by itself. The answer comes only from the chapters you’ve already read. Under it, “First appearance” takes you to where the name first came up.
An officer in the regiment quartered at Meryton; Elizabeth meets him in chapter 15. He has told her that Mr. Darcy denied him the living he was promised — and she believes him.
Save to notesDetailed answer · ≈ 180 First appearanceChapter 15Period details, allusions, idioms and tangled syntax, explained in plain words and in your language. “Check sources” looks it up on the web and links to the pages it used.
Entail: Longbourn can only pass to a male heir. The Bennets have five daughters, so the estate will go to a distant cousin — Mr. Collins.
Save to notesDiscuss in chatCheck sources · ≈ 120–340You decide what starts when you select text: a translation, an explanation or nothing at all. The switch is always at hand, in the reader’s top bar.
Scroll the page: the line follows you, and the answer grows with what you’ve read. Whatever is below the line never reaches the AI.
Scroll the page: the line follows you, and the answer grows with what you’ve read. Whatever is below the line never reaches the AI.
Who has taken Netherfield?
Not known yet. Mrs. Bennet is only about to tell. [1]
A young man of large fortune from the north of England. No name yet. [1]
Mr. Bingley, young and rich, from the north of England. [1]
Mr. Bingley: young, single, four or five thousand a year. [1]
Mr. Bingley: young, single, rich. Mrs. Bennet already sees him married to one of her daughters. [1]
How does it all end? I haven’t read past the line.
“My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”
Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.
“But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.”
Mr. Bennet made no answer.
“Do you not want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife impatiently.
“You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”
This was invitation enough.
“Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”
“What is his name?”
“Bingley.”
“Is he married or single?”
“Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!”
“How so? How can it affect them?”
“My dear Mr. Bennet,” replied his wife, “how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.”
“Is that his design in settling here?”
“Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes.”
“I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go, or you may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better, for as you are as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you the best of the party.”
It moves with you, page by page.
In “No spoilers” mode the chat and “Who’s this?” get neither the title nor the author, so the AI can’t fill in the plot from memory.
When a question needs facts from outside the book, the search isn’t told the title or the author, and spoiler sites are left out.
Finished it, or reading it again? Switch modes and ask anything.
A recap of what you’ve read, who’s who, why a character did what they did, what a scene means. Answers link to the passages they rely on — and the chat doesn’t look past your page either.
Each one starts from its own question. “Discuss in chat” under an explanation opens a chat about that passage.
When a short answer isn’t enough, it goes deeper and builds on what was already said.
The field shows what a question costs, and every answer shows what it spent.
Quick questions
Real history, science, the author’s life: when a question needs it, the chat looks things up on the web and lists its sources. You can turn this off in Settings → Privacy.
Back to a book after a month? Close Reader offers a recap: the story in brief first, then the latest chapters in more detail. In the contents, every chapter you’ve read has its recap, and the one you’re in has a “Recap so far”.
Ask where something happened and the answer comes as a list of places: one card per scene, with the chapter’s name. A tap opens the book right there.
Keep your books on a Calibre, Calibre-Web, Kavita or Komga server? Add its OPDS catalog, and Close Reader searches it and downloads books in one tap.
Title, author, series or topic, narrowed by language, topic or format and sorted your way. Turn on fast offline search, and a home library is searched instantly, even without the network.
Books you already have are marked. EPUB comes first; other formats are a tap away.
Nothing goes through our servers, and the password stays on your device.
Open a book from Files, Mail or a messenger, or download it from your own library — it lands on your shelf. A book can be in any language. PDFs work the same way: selection, cards, chat, and two fingers zoom the page.
Even without any AI, Close Reader is simply a good reader. It adapts to your eyes and remembers what you’ve read.
“I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go, or you may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better, for as you are as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you the best of the party.”
2 pages left in the section3%
The slider shows chapters, bookmarks, notes and recent jumps. Drag it and you see the text at that spot. A jump only looks: your reading position stays put until you read three pages there or press “Read from here”. Your last jumps wait in “Where you’ve been”.
What you find in a book stays with you: words in your vocabulary, thoughts in your notes, good AI answers right beside the text.
Every word is saved with its translation and the sentence where you met it. Flashcards adapt to your memory, a daily reminder tells you when words are due, and the list exports to CSV.
Highlight passages, write notes on them, keep good AI answers and share a quote as a picture. Everything is gathered book by book, opens at the right place and exports to Markdown.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
Jane AustenPride and PrejudiceSign in, and your books, reading position, notes, vocabulary and chats match on every device. Or don’t — everything works without an account. Your books and bookmarks wait where you left off.
The app speaks 20 languages, including Arabic, and translates into more than 40 — into your native one, even if the menus are in another.
Your books live on your device, so reading needs no internet. Translations, explanations and chat do.
Your first 7 days come with 1,500 , no account needed. Every feature is on every plan; plans differ only in energy. Reading, notes and flashcards stay free after that.
Understand every word
$4.99 a monthor $39.99 a year
Never lose the thread
$9.99 a monthor $79.99 a year
Read between the lines
$19.99 a monthor $149.99 a year
You see the price before you tap: a word costs 1 , bigger requests show theirs in advance.
On a plan, a single answer costs no more than 500 .
You can buy 10,000 for $2.99 or 30,000 for $6.99, and that energy never expires.
US prices. Your store shows the price for your country.
I’m Claudy. I live in this app, and on the blog I tell you what these books are really about. 18 episodes so far, with numbers counted in the books themselves.
In the App Store for iPhone and iPad and on Google Play for Android phones and tablets. It’s free to download.
You can try Close Reader for free: your first 7 days come with 1,500 energy (), no account needed. A word costs 1 ; bigger requests, like a chat question or a chapter recap, show their price before you ask. Reading, notes and flashcards stay free after that; AI help then needs a plan or energy you buy. Every feature is on every plan; plans differ in energy. Light (understand every word), Medium (never lose the thread) and Max (read between the lines) give 15,000, 40,000 and 80,000 a month: everyday translations, explanations and questions, plus about 25, 70 or 150 detailed answers. On a plan, a single answer costs no more than 500 . Medium starts with a 7-day free trial, and extra energy you buy never expires.
Your own EPUB, FB2, MOBI, AZW3, PDF and TXT files without DRM. The book can be in any language.
Open the EPUB in Close Reader: in the Library tap “+”, then “File on this device”, or pick Close Reader under “Open in…” in Files or Mail. Hold a word, and a card translates it as it is used in that sentence; “Whole sentence” and “Whole paragraph” translate more. The book stays in its own language: Close Reader translates what you select and doesn’t make a translated file. It works the same on iPad and Android, and in PDF, FB2 and MOBI books. How to translate a book, step by step.
Yes. Hold an English word, and its translation in that sentence appears over the page, in the language set in Settings → “Translate into”. “Save word” keeps it for flashcards. No book yet? Here are twelve free classics in English, from everyday words to harder ones.
Yes. Add your own OPDS catalog, such as a Calibre, Calibre-Web, Kavita or Komga server, then search it, filter and download books in one tap. Close Reader connects straight to your server. How to connect it.
Only the text up to where you are — unless you switch to “Whole book” yourself. In “No spoilers” mode the chat and “Who’s this?” don’t even get the book’s title or author; explanations do. Details are in the Privacy Policy.
Yes. When a chat question needs facts from outside the book — real history, science, the author’s life — Close Reader looks them up on the web and lists its sources; under an explanation, “Check sources” does the same. In “No spoilers” mode the search isn’t told the title or the author. Such answers cost more: “Check sources” shows its price on the button, and the chat shows the most a search can cost while it runs. You can turn web search off in Settings → Privacy.
On your device. If you sign in, the files sync through private storage that only your account can access. You can delete your account and all cloud data in Settings.
Not for reading. Yes for translations, explanations and chat.