ReadMe! (BeeLine & Focus) Reviews

by Gv1120001

ReadMeBeeLineFocus is an abomination. The UI/UX is completely counter-intuitive and never makes any sense once you’ve figured it out.

Want to use the service for more than a few minutes? Create an account and login. But that’s fine and hardly out of the ordinary, even if it is buggy and difficult.

But do you want to use the Spritz reader itself? Create another account and login - the entire experience is even more buggy.

Perhaps you’ve downloaded ReadMeBeeLineFocus to speed read on a plane? You’re SOL, because you needed to set the Spritz reader to work offline when you still had internet access.

The idea that they actually charge a subscription fee for the miseries of using ReadMeBeeLineFocus is completely malicious.

by Chase Langley

I would out-right buy a $20 spritz reader than have to subscribe and go through all of the turmoil of a subscription-based system even for $5/year or what ever the going rate is. There is no reason to have the spritz reader require internet connection or be subscription-based for that matter. Just greed. I’ll change this review when you’ve changed your business practices. Such a shame - hoping another tech company utilizes the spritz technology in a much more consumer-centric product. Very disappointed with ReadMeBeeLineFocus.

by [Hamlet]

I contacted support, and received confirmation that they knew about this issue: your book does not continue at the same spot of you close the book and come back, or if you close ReadMeBeeLineFocus and come back.

It seems absolutely unforgivable that a reading app cannot continue on the page I left off on.

It has been year after year and they have still not fixed this issue.

by Them And Us

I pay for the premium version of ReadMeBeeLineFocus and yet there is a frickin time gated mechanic that the developers have added which only lets you create a book every 5 minutes. It’s beyond ridiculous. Not to mention the constant bugs, crashes, books disappearing, and syncing issues. Half the time I can’t log in and can’t sync books across multiple devices, but there’s no shortage of pop-ups telling me to upgrade to premium, which I already have. I wish I could give zero stars. Great concept unfortunately being ruined by inept developers.

by Rzmonk76

Beeline is an incredible feature but spritz is just a fad. There is no retention with it at high speeds. If you could change spritz speed on the fly (-1) with an up/down swipe that would be helpful. My tech support question was answered by a script. (-1)The font support is horrid (-1). Dyslexie, which is the only alternative font provided is not OpenDyslexic. Dyslexie is missing the weighted characters that help with my vision problems. I will not extend my subscription if I can’t view books in OpenDyslexic. Every ebook reader I’ve come across has this font available except ReadMe!

by DrSee™

I’ve had ReadMe! for years - since before you had to pay for it. It’s still just a basic reading app. I got it because I wanted to try Spritz - which itself has issues. Even after years of availability, the library STILL cannot be sorted. If you are an avid reader as I am, you have thousands of books. Imagine trying to find a particular book. Now imagine remembering the book but not remembering the author’s name or the book title. You have to sort through thousands of titles until you maybe see something that reminds which book you’re thinking of.

The developer should have provided us with sorting capability YEARS ago - sort by title, sort by author, sort by category.... and that’s another issue. There is no way to categorize your books. The bookshelf should have been able to have categories assigned - fiction, non-fiction, young adult fiction, children’s fiction (where the books I write listed), science fiction, non-fiction biographies, non-fiction autobiographies, history - you get the picture.

This is still just a basic app with limited capability. At least Apple’s iBooks gives you the ability to create categories to put your books under. Perhaps the developers should look at iBooks and Marvin for examples of what a reader should be able to do....

by Giggly Cardinal Fan

I downloaded the ReadMe! App so that I could download my college books to an app that would read it to me during my long commute. The description said it was possible but I was never able to get that functionality to work. To top it off, I downloaded the pdf ebooks to ReadMeBeeLineFocus but when I would try and read my chapters, ReadMeBeeLineFocus would go blank as if nothing was on the screen. I had to repurchase the book to my iPad iBook because i could take the chance of it glitching during an exam. The only reason I gave it two stars vs one is because when I could read the books it was easier to view than the standard iBook format.

by Feltronc

Even though I’ve been a subscriber for a long time, I stopped using ReadMeBeeLineFocus months ago because it will just not remember the last read location, and without that, there isn’t much of a point in using it. I love all the other features, but they can’t justify they time I waste trying to find where I was.
I open it from every time there’s an update to see if it’s been fixed, but nothing.
I haven’t lost hope yet.

by Littlenincompoops

I was a premium user before. I downloaded ReadMeBeeLineFocus again today.

The technology is superb, but the UI and overall design need a major update. It feels like using apps from the early days of iOS. Navigating and usage feel slow.

by Drrjv

Excellent rapid reader App with great import features including email, Dropbox and browser. Uses Spritz interface like several other Apps of similar nature (RushReader is my other favorite.) Could do without the Skeuomorphic 'bookcase'. Otherwise, a solid App that allows me to read my iBook and Kindle purchases (using iBookCopy or Calibre.)

I give ReadMeBeeLineFocus a plus over RushReader as it has more Spritz options.

Would love to see Apple buy these guys out and incorporate features into the iBook App :-)

by Watermellonfish

I use ReadMeBeeLineFocus to read free books using Spritz and it's great, helps me read long books quickly. I recently emailed their customer support and they were very quick to respond and help me out.

by Rlr1031

I paid for the premium, unlimited version and I’ve enjoyed ReadMeBeeLineFocus , particularly the Spritz integration. I can fly through many books with this feature. I hope the team keeps improving ReadMeBeeLineFocus and tightening the integration with Spritz.

by Simon In Nanjing

It Works well. some books in chinese characters may have problems with spritz partly due to the chinese style of not using spaces much. I like when it says how long in time to end of chapter and to the end of the book.

by Putter98

Helpful tool for quick reviews of documents. It’s a little expensive but it works well and can save time. I’d like to see lower costs for people who don’t have high usage. Maybe a low time based user option.

by Haggy6

I have read with surprise the negative reviews of the ReadMe! app since I have used it for several years without having any of the problems others are reporting. When i follow the instructions, I have no trouble getting new books into the library provided they are in the correct format. If you are having trouble losing a book, it is probably because the publisher has protected it from being put into a format, that is compatible with ReadMeBeeLineFocus to stop you from reading the book anywhere except on their site. You really shouldn't complain just because ReadMe will not help you violate the rules established by the entity you bought the book from.

Both Spiritz and BeeLine Reader work well at all times. I had no qualms about becoming a premium member, especially since it permits me to increase the reading speed. The reviews that criticize ReadMeBeeLineFocus because the developer charges something for it are, I believe, unreasonable. In our capitalist society, we should expect people to be paid when they develop and provide something we want.

I think ReadMeBeeLineFocus is great and so almost all my reading on it.

by Gimmeanynickname

ReadMeBeeLineFocus is fantastic. I was already a very fast/avid reader, but still, there were classics I’d put off. ReadMeBeeLineFocus has made it possible for me to increase my reading speed as well as finish off a few of those books on my list. I find my comprehension is higher at this pace with ReadMeBeeLineFocus than when I “skitter” or photoread. My nine-year-old goddaughter loves ReadMeBeeLineFocus , too, and always asks to play with it on my phone. We read quite a bit of Little Women together that way. It would be amazing if this were integrated with more formats, but it’s not that hard to find books. It’s also extremely good for the purposes of writing: I load my rough drafts up as PDFs and read them, which keeps me from editing while reading, and allows me to quickly get the sense of a whole.

by Asi Es Cierto

This is one really great app. I use it regularly - Especially with Spritz, it works great.

I’m noticing a number of bad reviews here. It seems that these are coming from people who’ve only spent a couple of minutes with ReadMeBeeLineFocus . It does take a little bit of getting used to. But very quickly, you would want to use nothing else in your speed reading efforts.

They have sales every once in a while that enable you to get a lifetime subscription for very little money. It is beyond worth it.

Give ReadMeBeeLineFocus a chance. Read with it for a while and U2 will be blown away at how much faster you’re able to read and how much fun it is to work with ReadMeBeeLineFocus .

by Kdogg08

I love ReadMe and find it to be so helpful as it incorporates various reading techniques that increase speed and comprehension. The free version is very functional, especially for a single device. The higher cost subscriptions offer enhanced services, such as sync across devices allowing smooth transition from one to the other as well. Definitely worth checking out!

by Ricardo.M.O

ReadMe is a valuable addition to the reading and comphrension tools in my learning tool box. I am an immigrant and a little self conscious about my my command of the English language. This program is not an end-all, but a practical instrument for improving reading/writing/comprehension skills. This application is a good learning platform and the undue criticism of its practicality, user-friendliness or issues with bugs appears at times seems deliberate and uncalled for. I have enjoyed many months (12+) of reading with the application and apart from requiring me to log in with more frequency than I like the application has worked flawlessly.

I whole-heathy recommend this application.
Thank you for your time and attention.

by Cal.f.w

I purchased ReadMeBeeLineFocus for use by my (mildly) dyslectic child. While she has used it off and on, I find myself using it quite often to read articles when I have short openings in my calendar.

It helps me focus and move through article where I might otherwise get distracted with all the options afforded to my by an iPhone.

Well worth the purchase price.

by FaShUnPhOtOg

I’ve had ReadMe! for years - since before you had to pay for it. It’s still just a basic reading app. I got it because I wanted to try Spritz - which itself has issues. Even after years of availability, the library STILL cannot be sorted. If you are an avid reader as I am, you have thousands of books. Imagine trying to find a particular book. Now imagine remembering the book but not remembering the author’s name or the book title. You have to sort through thousands of titles until you maybe see something that reminds which book you’re thinking of.

The developer should have provided us with sorting capability YEARS ago - sort by title, sort by author, sort by category.... and that’s another issue. There is no way to categorize your books. The bookshelf should have been able to have categories assigned - fiction, non-fiction, young adult fiction, children’s fiction (where the books I write listed), science fiction, non-fiction biographies, non-fiction autobiographies, history - you get the picture.

This is still just a basic app with limited capability. At least Apple’s iBooks gives you the ability to create categories to put your books under. Perhaps the developers should look at iBooks and Marvin for examples of what a reader should be able to do....