Read Tracker by Hearth Software DE

Read aloud at your Mac.
Every word lights up.

Read Tracker listens through your Mac's microphone and highlights each word the moment you say it, so you never lose your place on a big, calm page. Open the PDF, Word file or e-book you are working on, click a hard word to hear it, or let it read to you.

Coming soon to the App Store $2.99, one time
💻 For Macs with Apple silicon (M1 and later). One purchase for your Mac, iPhone and iPad.
🔒 No account, no tracking. When your Mac recognizes the language on the device, what you say never leaves it.
A Mac window running Read Tracker: a story being read aloud, with the current word highlighted in yellow, the next word underlined and the words already read in gray
🖥️ Made for the desk.

Homework, a lesson over video, a speech to rehearse, a new language to practice: a lot of reading aloud happens at a desk, with the document already open on the computer. Read Tracker puts that text on a big, calm page that follows your voice like a finger under the line, and gives you the hard word the moment you need it. Many readers with dyslexia find the large print and the steady highlight a real help.

What it does

🎤
Follows your voice

Click the microphone and read. The word you are on lights up and grows a little; words you have read turn gray, and a dotted line marks any you skipped.

🔊
Hear any word

Click a word to hear it in a natural Apple voice. Pause on one for a few seconds and a "Hear it" button appears right above it.

👆
Continue from anywhere

Click and hold any word, and reading carries on from there. Skip a page, go back a paragraph.

🗣️
Read it to me

The app reads the text aloud and lights up each word exactly as it is spoken, at the speed you choose.

🔁
Read and repeat

One sentence at a time: the app reads it, you say it back, and it tells you how it went.

🌐
Translate a word

Reading in a language you are learning? Click a word for its translation and the whole sentence's, with Apple's translation running on your Mac (macOS 15 and later).

🔤
Dyslexia-friendly

Lexend, OpenDyslexic and Atkinson Hyperlegible fonts, wider spacing, a line focus that dims the rest, and soft page colors.

📈
Reading report

After each reading: your time, words per minute compared with last time, and the words worth practicing.

📂
Your own documents

PDF, Word, EPUB e-books and text files open straight from your Mac's folders. Or copy text from a web page or an email and paste it in.

Help at the exact moment you need it

A Mac window: the reader has paused, and a Hear it bubble appears above the next word, weather
Stuck on a word? A "Hear it" button appears above it. One click and you hear it.
A Mac window: the app reading a story aloud, with the spoken word, home, highlighted
Listen first. The app reads to you and lights up every word, then you read it yourself.

Learn a language, watch your progress

A Mac window with a German text and a card translating the clicked word Buch as book, with the whole sentence in English
Click any word for its translation and the whole sentence's, and hear it spoken.
A Mac window showing a reading report: 42 words in 26 seconds, 97 words per minute, 17 more than last time, a rising line over seven sessions and two words to practice
After every reading, your pace compared with last time and the words worth practicing.

Comfortable for every reader

A Mac window in dyslexia-friendly mode: a wide font, extra spacing, a warm page color and a line focus that dims the other lines
Dyslexia-friendly mode: fonts made for reading, wider spacing and a line focus.
A Mac window in the dark look, with the current word highlighted
Easy on the eyes, day and night, with text as large as you like.
Uses the speech recognition built into your Mac.

Read Tracker listens through Apple's own speech recognition, in more than 30 languages, among them:

EnglishGermanFrenchSpanishItalian PortugueseDutchSwedishDanishNorwegian FinnishPolishCzechRussianUkrainian TurkishGreekHebrewArabicHindi JapaneseChineseKoreanVietnameseThai

When a language is available on your Mac itself, it is recognized right there and works without internet; otherwise Apple's servers recognize it. The app itself is in English, German, French, Spanish and Hebrew.

Questions

Which Macs does it run on?

Macs with Apple silicon: M1 and later. On the Mac, Read Tracker is the iPad version of the app, running in its own window, so Macs with an Intel processor cannot run it. Translating a word needs macOS 15 Sequoia or later.

Do I pay again for my iPhone and iPad?

No. One purchase covers your Mac, your iPhone and your iPad, signed in with the same Apple Account.

Which documents can it open?

PDF, Word (.docx), EPUB e-books and text files, and any text you paste in. Books bought on Kindle, in Apple Books and in most other e-book stores are locked so that only the store's own app can open them; Read Tracker opens unlocked EPUB books, which includes tens of thousands of free classics. Scanning a printed page with the camera is on the iPhone and iPad.

Does it work without internet?

Yes, in every language your Mac recognizes on the device: reading, highlighting, hearing words, reading aloud, the report and the dyslexia-friendly mode all work offline. Translation needs the internet once, to download the two languages.

Is my voice recorded?

No. The app listens only while the microphone button is on, and never saves or sends audio. When a language is not available on the device, Apple's speech recognition handles it on Apple's servers, under Apple's privacy policy. See the Privacy Policy for the details.

Does it help with dyslexia?

Many readers with dyslexia find it easier to keep their place with the highlight, the line focus, the spacing and the fonts made for them. Read Tracker is a reading aid, not a treatment: it does not diagnose or treat anything, and it is no substitute for a teacher or a specialist.

Is it a subscription?

No. Pay once and it is yours, on Mac, iPhone and iPad. No ads, no account, no tracking.