Highlight anything you read — and understand it deeper
Gloss is a calm, minimalist reader for EPUB books, PDFs, articles, and your own notes. Select any passage and a margin note explains it in context — annotations beside the text, never a chat window.
- Files stay on your device
- iPhone & iPad
- No tracking, no ads
/// The problem
Dense reading shouldn't send you to a chat window
You hit a passage you don't quite follow — and the answer means leaving the page, losing your place, and pasting text into a chatbot that forgets the book you're in.
Context switching
Copy a line, open another app, paste it, read the answer, come back. Every hard sentence breaks your flow.
Chatbots forget the text
A generic assistant doesn't know the chapter you're in. You end up re-explaining the source before you can even ask.
Everything lives somewhere else
Books in one app, PDFs in another, saved articles in a third. Your reading — and your notes — are scattered.
/// What it does
In the margins, never a chat window
Select any passage and choose what you want. The note streams in beside the text — a side column on iPad, an anchored card on iPhone — so it reads like a thoughtful annotation.
Read everything in one place
DRM-free EPUB books, PDFs, pasted web articles, and your own text or Markdown notes — one calm home for all of it.
Four ways to ask
Gloss, Go deeper, Define, or Ask. Get a plain explanation, more depth, a quick definition, or a specific follow-up — right where you're reading.
Notes that stay in context
Ask a follow-up and the answer stays beside the text, aware of the passage and a little of what surrounds it. No re-pasting the source.
Distraction-free by design
Light, sepia, and dark themes with adjustable font, size, spacing, and margins. The reading comes first; the notes wait quietly in the margin.
Highlights that travel
Your highlights and notes save on your device and stay with each document, so you can pick a book back up right where you left off.
Author-informed voices
Notes can be shaped by the author's style, or a thoughtful guide when there's no single author. It's an interpretation, and Gloss says so plainly.
/// A look inside
/// How it works
From highlight to insight in one tap
- 1
Open what you're reading
Add an EPUB, a PDF, or paste an article link or your own notes. Gloss pulls the readable text and lays it out for comfortable reading.
- 2
Select a passage
Highlight any sentence or paragraph, then choose Gloss, Go deeper, Define, or Ask.
- 3
Read the margin note
An explanation streams into the margin beside the text. Ask a follow-up and it answers, staying right where you are.
/// Pricing
Reading is free forever
Your first 10 glosses are free — no account gymnastics, no trial countdown. When you want unlimited margin notes, Gloss Unlimited is a simple subscription.
Or $49.99/year. Reading and your first 10 glosses are always free. Renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends; manage anytime in your Apple Account settings.
What's included
- Unlimited margin notes across all your documents
- Gloss, Go deeper, Define, and Ask on every passage
- EPUB, PDF, article, and note reading
- Light, sepia, and dark themes with full typography control
- Highlights and notes saved on your device
- iPhone and iPad, one subscription
- No tracking, no ads
Secure checkout by Gumroad. Instant download.
/// FAQ
Good questions.
Does my book leave my device?
No. Your files stay on your device. Only the passage you highlight — plus a small, bounded window of surrounding text — is sent to generate a note. The document itself never leaves your device.
What can I read in Gloss?
DRM-free EPUB books (your own files, Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks, author-direct), PDFs, web articles you paste in, and your own text or Markdown notes. Kindle and Apple Books DRM files aren't supported.
What are the free glosses?
Reading is free forever, and your first 10 glosses are free to try. After that, Gloss Unlimited unlocks unlimited margin notes for $5.99/month or $49.99/year.
Are the author voices really the author?
No — an author "voice" is an interpretation of a style, not the real author, and it can be inaccurate. Gloss says so plainly in a one-time in-app note.
Read closer. Understand more.
A calm reader for everything you read, with explanations that live in the margin. Coming soon to the App Store for iPhone and iPad.