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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Readwise Reader vs Matter

Readwise Reader 4.6★ · Free to download 75
Winner Readwise Reader
Matter 4.6★ · Free + IAP 60

Readwise Reader is the better choice for serious readers who prioritize a comprehensive feature set and robust highlighting, despite its higher price and occasional bugs, while Matter appeals to those seeking a simpler, aesthetically pleasing read-later experience with good text-to-speech.

Full reviews: Readwise Reader · Matter

Readwise Reader offers a powerful, all-in-one reading hub with excellent text-to-speech and highlighting, though it struggles with bugs and a high price. Matter provides a beautiful interface and natural voice reader, but users report issues with content parsing, customer support, and a lack of a true free tier.

Head to head

Features & Content Aggregation edge: Readwise ReaderR5R7R8R12
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader is praised for its extensive features, including saving various content types (research, epubs, PDFs, feeds, websites, YouTube transcripts), and its ability to consolidate all reading in one place R5R8R20R29. Users appreciate custom email addresses for newsletters and saving links within emails . However, some report issues with RSS customization R7, difficulty saving full articles behind paywalls R16, and problems with PDF saving or Apple Pencil functionality R12.
Matter Matter is valued for its ability to redirect newsletters, save articles, and offer curated content R62. It also supports RSS feeds, though some users find this feature limited and unreliable . Users report difficulties getting PDFs or text emails into the app , and issues with saving paywalled articles R71R99R114. The content curation can become repetitive and some users note a lack of diverse authors .
Ease of Use & Interface edge: MatterR2R3R25R27
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader is praised for its 'impeccable interface' and being 'so easy to use, yet so many awesome features' R2. Users find it intuitive and a 'beautiful experience' . However, some find the iOS app awkward and non-native, especially on iPadOS, lacking features like a sidebar or external keyboard support found in the web version R27. There are also complaints about slow loading times R3R25 and small fonts on iPad .
Matter Matter is consistently lauded for its 'beautiful reading experience' and 'prettiest and best interface' R62. Users appreciate its simplicity and clean feed . However, some find its formatting obnoxious and basic functionality like saving articles, managing the queue, and search are described as 'half baked or straight up broken' . Login issues via email are also reported .
Reliability & Performance tieR3R4R6R9
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader is frequently criticized for being buggy and unreliable. Users report numerous bugs R3, crashes after updates , slow loading and lagging R3R25, and overheating on phones R9. Specific issues include broken TTS R4, improper article saving R6, highlighting menu not appearing , and YouTube playback flickering . While some claim battery and performance issues have been fixed , others continue to experience them .
Matter Matter also faces reliability concerns. Users report that the browser extension sometimes only creates a link instead of pulling the article , articles sometimes don't save , and newsletters are often missing . PDF conversion is noted as unreliable . Several users experienced data loss after updates or issues with the app not recognizing their paid subscription . Transcription services are reported as not working or taking excessively long .
Text-to-Speech (TTS) tieR4R29R44R56
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader's TTS feature is highly praised as 'excellent' and 'amazing,' allowing users to listen to articles, books, and even YouTube transcripts R29R44R56. It's considered a key feature that makes media listenable R44. However, one user reported TTS being broken after an update, with buttons jumping ahead instead of back R4.
Matter Matter's AI 'readers' are described as 'most natural and “listenable”' R62 and a 'great product that allows me to save news articles from multiple sources, and provide text to voice playback' R71. Users appreciate its ability to convert content to audio R71. Some note that it rarely gets messed up , but one user wished for word-by-word reading instead of chunks .
Price & Value edge: Readwise ReaderR2R21R30R41
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader is frequently criticized for its high price, with users calling $10-13/month or $95/year 'ludicrously high' R21R30R42. Some question the value, stating it 'provides no distinct value on its own to warrant that price' . Despite this, some users find it 'absolutely worth it' R2 and an 'obvious decision' to renew their subscription , especially if they are serious readers R20R41.
Matter Matter's pricing is a major point of contention. While advertised as 'Free + IAP,' many users report no true free plan, only a 7-day trial before being charged $14.99/month or $79.99/year R67R87R88. This lack of transparency and 'predatory subscription tactics' are widely criticized R67. Users find the price 'a bit steep' and cannot justify paying monthly .
Customer Support edge: Readwise ReaderR2R23R34R44
Readwise Reader Readwise Reader's support is generally viewed positively. The team is described as 'highly responsive to emails' R2 and making users 'feel like a human' R2. They are noted for extending free trials R2 and being quick to acknowledge and resolve issues R23R44. However, one user reported being unable to get a refund for a key function not performing as expected R34.
Matter Matter's customer support receives significant criticism. Users report opening multiple tickets without hearing back for weeks , and some claim they only get attention after writing a bad review . There are instances of no help available for login issues or no reply after losing key functionality . Some users describe developers as 'cheap' and unresponsive to bug reports .
Missing Features/Analytics edge: Readwise ReaderR7R11R20R22
Readwise Reader A significant complaint for Readwise Reader is the lack of reading statistics, streaks, or goals, which users find essential for tracking progress R22. Developers reportedly consider this a low priority . Other missing features include widget support R11, TTS playlists R20, compact view for RSS R7, and basic PDF functions like printing or exporting as PDF .
Matter Matter users desire a widget for unread articles and better RSS support . Some key features like bulk delete in inbox and archive have been removed . The search function is described as 'half baked or straight up broken' . Users also wish for a single purchase option instead of monthly subscription .
Pick Readwise Reader if

Pick Readwise Reader if you are a serious reader who wants a powerful, all-in-one hub for various content types, value excellent text-to-speech and robust highlighting, and are willing to pay a premium for a feature-rich experience and responsive customer support R2R20R29.

Pick Matter if

Pick Matter if you prioritize a beautiful, clean interface for read-later articles and newsletters, enjoy natural-sounding text-to-speech, and are looking for a Pocket replacement, but be aware of potential issues with content parsing and customer support R62.

Evidence note: Both apps have a significant number of negative reviews, especially concerning bugs and pricing. Readwise Reader's negative reviews often focus on performance issues and the high subscription cost, while Matter's are heavily skewed towards its misleading 'free' tier and poor customer support. The lifetime ratings are very similar despite these issues.

Frequently asked

Is Readwise Reader free?
Readwise Reader is free to download, but users report that a trial is typically required, and after it expires, a subscription is needed to continue using the app, with prices around $10-13 per month or $95 per year R1R21R30R42.
Does Matter have a free version?
Matter is advertised as 'Free + IAP,' but many users report that there is no true free plan, only a limited 7-day trial before requiring a paid subscription of $14.99 per month or $79.99 per year R67R87R88R91.
Which app has better text-to-speech?
Both apps offer highly-rated text-to-speech features; Readwise Reader's is described as 'excellent' and 'amazing' for various content types R29R44R56, while Matter's AI 'readers' are praised as 'most natural and “listenable”' R62R71.
Do these apps work with paywalled articles?
Readwise Reader users report difficulty importing full articles behind paywalls, often only getting the first paragraph R16. Matter users have mixed experiences; some find saving works great with paywalled articles if opened in Safari on iOS or using the Chrome extension R71, but others report WSJ links not working even after saving from within the paywall R99R114.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R5] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Revolutionized how I consume media: I finally feel like I have a grasp on everything I read and a single place to read it all. Highly highly recommend
  2. [R7] Readwise Reader 1/5 · US No RSS compact view: Unlike every other rss app or similar apps such as email clients that all offer compact view vs default or vs expanded etc, Reader still has 0 options to customize the RSS screen. Can’t hide the image, can’t hide the excerpt etc so it’s a terrible rss experience and seems more aimed for the view one would want for curated saved articles not all ones rss feeds. Every years more
  3. [R8] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Wow!: So I came from rss.app and Feedly cause I want to keep up with the playoffs.. I understand reader isn’t fast pace but it’s what I’m looking for .. use Flipboard and whatever is out there to find an article dump it in my library.. get feeds dump then then read them on my own time.. I been doing read later for now .. don’t get me started on chatting with highlights. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! Using
  4. [R12] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Disingenuous update re Apple Pencil: Yes, you can finally use an Apple Pencil to highlight. But it’s nothing like you’d expect. You can’t highlight PDFs unless you’re in “text” view. Ok, annoying, but maybe not the end of the world. Until you switch back to pdf view. Then you can’t see your highlights anymore. Forget about something basic like handwriting notes. Not available. I realize this is a
  5. [R2] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US absolutely worth it: this is the only app I’ve found worth paying a yearly subscription for. impeccable interface. so easy to use, yet so many awesome features. when I first started using Reader, I was between jobs. when my (already generous) free trial ended, they extended it by three more months for me + were highly responsive to emails. I did not feel like a random user; the Readwise team has
  6. [R3] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Great app, disastrous quality control: The amount of bugs this app has is amongst the highest I've ever seen on any app, whether high quality or otherwise . It's too bad, because this thing is really, really, really good when it works. For at least a year or two now, my inbox on my iPhone just does not want to work properly. It takes forever to load, and I've cleared the cache and done everything
  7. [R25] Readwise Reader 1/5 · US Extremely slow to refresh: App is extremely slow at initial open. It get better once everything is loaded but that takes forever
  8. [R27] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Inexplicably not the web-app on iPad OS: I love Readwise on my phone, my Palma, and my web browser. It’s the best reading app & it’s expensive enough that I almost trust it’ll stick around (unlike Omnivore…). For unknown reasons, though: the iPad OS app is the web browser’s inferior in every way. The lack of a sidebar is nuts and it’s basically a high-res version of the phone app. What’s up with t
  9. [R4] Readwise Reader 1/5 · US TTS broken again: No QA testing before each update? Now when using TTS and you tap the button to jump back, it jumps ahead instead. Acceptable for a free or cheap service, not acceptable at this price.
  10. [R6] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Unreliable: I love the idea of this app. I love the feature set. What I do t love is that a substantial portion of the articles I save get improperly saved. For example, I saved an article and the top and bottom sections (about 80% of the article) weren’t saved. I tried the same thing in GoodLinks, none. The article was as expected. Not sure what’s going on here but great features can’t make up f
  11. [R9] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Severe overheating: I've renewed my subscription for two years in a row, and my phone always gets hot shortly after opening the app. So I mostly use the web version. iOS has had many updates in between, and each time I hoped an update would fix the overheating, but the developers still haven't solved this problem. I hope the developers take this issue seriously and resolve it soon. · translated
  12. [R29] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Elegant Interface - and a true 2nd Brain: I save everything in it - research, epubs, pdfs, feeds from twitter lists, and websites, blogs. The text to speech feature is excellent for anything from articles to books.
  13. [R44] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US My most used iOS app: I love the text-to-speech feature, making any media listenable while allowing for reading without losing one's place. The app receives consistent updates and provides excellent support. The highlight feature is transformative.
  14. [R56] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Turned my books into audiobooks: I really like this app, I can read every kind of document I want, including YouTube where I can highlight text. Also, the text to speech feature I use to listen to my epub books before I go to sleep. Amazing.
  15. [R21] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Subscription: Can’t justify $12/m
  16. [R30] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US Good App, too pricey: I enjoyed my first day using the app, but learned that it costs about $10-13 a month! I read that a year ago it was $8-9. In a perfect world I would use this app, but this cost is ludicrously high for the service offered. Subscriptions are everywhere now and I’m frankly fine with a free version that is slightly worse.
  17. [R41] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US Excellent App: This is the app for those that read a lot and remember what they read.
  18. [R23] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US The best all-in-one reader around: This app has changed the way I consume almost all online, and some offline content. While it’s not perfect (yet), it is very actively developed and supported. New features are coming all the time and when things break, they’re at least quickly acknowledged and usually resolved reasonably fast as well. It’s the best app I’ve seen in this category and I’ve tried pl
  19. [R34] Readwise Reader 1/5 · US Very disappointed and want a refund.: This cannot grab all of my annotations from all of my apps and put them in a single place, as I understood that it could. I am a power user on a variety of reading apps and it does not perform the key function that I wanted it for. Please contact me to discuss at least a partial refund for my annual subscription.
  20. [R11] Readwise Reader 4/5 · US Great, but no Widget support?: I’m enjoying the app and the service. But it would be great to see a widget for the news feeder.
  21. [R20] Readwise Reader 5/5 · US The BEST media organization app: If you decide to use this app, prepare to expand your ideas of what is possible with a reader app. Wildly powerful and takes some time to get comfortable with, but for serious readers it’s 100% worth it. I wish there were TTS playlists but that’s not going to prevent me from happily giving 5 stars ✨
  22. [R22] Readwise Reader 1/5 · US Analytics/streaks?: As an avid reader, I optimistically switched over from my previous reader. However, I deeply miss being able to see my reading progress, streaks, goals, etc for the year at a glance
  23. [R1] Readwise Reader 1/5 · US Just downloaded but my trial is expired?: This app must be connected to to original in terms of subscription. I’ve never used this one before but I’ve used the Readwise app; just downloaded this, signed up and it told me to subscribe to continue as my trial is expired. I can’t move past that page to even see what the app entails. Thats a real bummer, really wanted to try it as I get back into read
  24. [R42] Readwise Reader 3/5 · US nice: but should be charge less 95$/yr for a reading app sounds crazy
  25. [R67] Matter 1/5 · US Beware Predatory Subscription Tactics: App is okay, however, upon opening it, I was confronted with a subscription offer that promised a trial. Unfortunately, I did not receive a trial, and $14.99 was deducted from my account. Within 5 minutes, I attempted to request a refund from Apple, I was informed that it was not eligible. I cannot endorse any application that conducts business in this manner
  26. [R87] Matter 3/5 · US There is no free plan: After the 7-day free trial the options are: $79.99/year $14.99/month It’s a pretty ok app, but I don’t like the lack of transparency or documentation.
  27. [R88] Matter 1/5 · US Description is a lie: “Matter offers a free service and a paid service.” No, only a paid service.
  28. [R91] Matter 1/5 · US False: The 7 day trial doesn’t let you do anything but watch the preloaded video, so you can’t truly see what the app really does. So don’t even offer the trial. Disappointed.
  29. [R62] Matter 5/5 · US Essential: I’m a longtime read-later app user, from Feedly to Reeder to Instapaper and beyond. I’ve been using matter since it launched a few years ago, and it’s surpassed them all. I love its ability to redirect newletters so my mailbox stays clean. It allows me to save, favorite, and highlight my favorite articles and newsletters. Its AI “readers” are the most natural and “listenable” I’ve exper
  30. [R16] Readwise Reader 1/5 · US Missing functionality: I got this to be a good place to read all my favorite publications in one app. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that I’m unable to read any of these publications, such as the Economist, New Yorker, or History Today, in the Reader App. Whenever I try to import them, I only get the first paragraph, presumably because when Reader goes to grab the article, it does not ha
  31. [R71] Matter 5/5 · US Best way to convert content to audio: Great product that allows me to save news articles from multiple sources, and provide text to voice playback from a saved queue. Saving works great with paywalled articles, but the caveat is that if you are on ios, the paywalled article must be brought up in Safari to allow the full article to have text to voice playback. For desktop systems, the Chrome exte
  32. [R99] Matter 3/5 · US WSJ links don't work: I have a WSJ subscription and links don't work on Matter, even after saving from within the paywall.
  33. [R114] Matter 3/5 · US how to save from WSJ?: Couldn’t figure out how to save full article behind WSJ paywall. I tried share articles from my wsj app but still asked to login wsj account in matter

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store