Question 1

Where are my files stored?

Accepted Answer

Books you upload go to a private Cloudflare R2 bucket scoped to your account — no one else can read them, not even other FocusReader users. We extract the text once on upload, store it in our Neon database, and use the original for re-downloads. EPUB and PDF images are also stored privately. We never share, train on, or sell your files.

Question 2

Does it cost anything to read aloud?

Accepted Answer

No. The Read-aloud feature uses your browser's built-in voices (Google on Chrome, Apple's neural voices on iOS/macOS Safari) — zero API calls, zero cost.

Question 3

Will this actually help my ADHD?

Accepted Answer

We can't promise. We can promise the defaults are tuned from peer-reviewed work on visual attention — anchor emphasis at 35%, a pomodoro default of 15 minutes, Read-aloud with sentence sync — and the free plan lets you try the whole thing on 3 books before you decide.

Question 4

What file types are supported?

Accepted Answer

PDF (up to 80 MB), EPUB (with images extracted), any web article URL (we strip ads and clutter via Mozilla Readability), and pasted plain text.

Question 5

Does the read-aloud work when my screen is off?

Accepted Answer

Not yet. Browsers suspend Web Speech the moment the screen locks — a platform restriction, not a bug. We're looking at cloud-generated audio (Pro) so background playback works like Audible.

Question 6

Can I sync between phone and laptop?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Your reading position, library, highlights, and preferences all live in your account. Sign in on any device and you're at the exact page you left.

Question 7

What about my highlights?

Accepted Answer

Select any text in the reader to save a highlight — yellow, orange, or green. They show up in the Highlights tab grouped by book.

Read like your mind actually works.