About Focal
A reading app that respects your comprehension and your privacy.
Focal is a focus-assisted reader for Android. It uses RSVP — Rapid Serial Visual Presentation — to show one word at a time at a single fixed point on the screen. Because your eyes don't have to jump across lines, there's less visual overhead, and it's easier to stay locked in on what you're reading.
Comprehension first, not a vanity number
Most speed-reading apps chase a big words-per-minute figure and let you crank it until you retain nothing. Focal is built around the opposite idea: a pace where speed and understanding actually coexist. It defaults to a comfortable speed, eases you in with a gentle warm-up, and adds natural pauses at punctuation so sentences have room to land. When you lose the thread, one swipe rewinds a whole sentence.
The fixed focal point
Each word is positioned so its Optimal Recognition Point — the spot your eye naturally lands on — stays in the same place, highlighted in a warm accent color. That consistency is what lets your attention settle instead of hunting around the page.
Read whatever you've got
Paste text, upload documents (PDF, DOCX, EPUB, TXT, Markdown), import any public web article by URL, or browse and read public-domain books. Everything you add is saved to a local library that remembers exactly where you left off.
Private by design
Focal has no account, no login, no analytics, no ads, and no trackers. Your reading library lives only on your device — we run no servers and never receive your data. When you want it gone, one tap in Settings clears everything. Read the full Privacy Policy.
Beware Of The Old Soldier
Focal is independently built and quietly maintained — no investors, no growth-hacking, no dark patterns. Just a tool that does one thing well and gets out of your way.