FocusRead helps you read faster and stay focused on any webpage using a bionic reading technique that bolds the leading letters of every word. Customize bold intensity, reading fonts, whitelist websites, estimate reading time, track scroll progress, and enjoy a distraction-free reading experience—all while keeping your data private because everything runs locally in your browser.
👋 Hi Product Hunt!
I'm excited to introduce FocusRead, a Chrome extension I built as a solo developer to make reading on the web faster and more comfortable.
Like many people, I spend hours reading documentation, blogs, research papers, and articles every day. I wanted a simple tool that improves reading speed without changing the original content.
✨ FocusRead includes:
⚡ Bionic Reading style
🎯 Adjustable bold intensity
📖 Custom reading fonts
🧠 Per-site memory
📊 Reading time estimation
📈 Scroll progress indicator
🌙 Sepia reading mode
⌨️ Keyboard shortcut
🔒 Privacy-first — everything runs locally
This is only version one, and I already have many new features planned based on community feedback.
I'd love to know:
• What feature would make your reading experience even better?
• What would you improve?
Thank you for checking out FocusRead and supporting independent makers! 🚀
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The bionic reading approach is genuinely useful for skimming dense articles, and love that it stays local. One thing that would seal it for me is a keyboard shortcut to instantly toggle the bionic mode on and off mid-page, so I can switch back to normal text when I hit a tricky paragraph that needs full reading.
Report
Maker
@mehmetl26b Thanks for the great suggestion! I've just added this feature. The update is currently under review by the Chrome Web Store and should be available within 24–72 hours. Once it's live, simply update or reinstall the extension, and the new keyboard shortcut will be ready to use. Thanks again for the feedback—it helped make the extension even better!
Report
Bold idea, love that it's all local. One thing I'd love is a "focus mode" that auto-hides images and sidebars on long-form articles, maybe toggled per site in the whitelist settings. Would make bionic reading even more immersive on cluttered pages.
Report
Maker
@yamurobancsyyp Thanks for the awesome suggestion! A per-site Focus Mode that hides images and sidebars is an interesting idea, and we'll definitely consider adding something like that in a future update.
If you're enjoying the extension, we'd love it if you could also leave a review on the Chrome Web Store. Your feedback really helps us grow.
Report
Love how everything runs locally, that's a huge plus. One thing that would make it even better for me is a dark mode that inverts the bionic bolding properly, right now on some sites the bolded letters get a little hard to track against dark backgrounds. Could the team look into per site color overrides?
Report
Maker
@mcahithmua Thanks for the great feedback! That's a really good suggestion. We're looking into improving dark mode compatibility and adding per-site color overrides in a future update to make the bold text easier to read on all websites.
If you're enjoying the extension, we'd really appreciate it if you could leave the same feedback as a review on the Chrome Web Store. It helps us a lot! ❤️
Report
The bionic bolding actually helped me scan long articles faster without losing the flow. Nice that it all runs locally too, no sign-in nonsense.
Report
Maker
@melisnceda1tw6 Thank you! We're so glad to hear the bionic reading mode helped you stay focused while reading. Keeping everything local and privacy-friendly has always been one of our main goals.
If you have a moment, we'd be grateful if you could share your experience with a review on the Chrome Web Store as well. Your support means a lot!
Report
Scrolled through a long article with the bold letters cranked up and it genuinely felt easier to keep my place when I looked away. The local-only data thing is a nice touch too.
Report
Maker
@safiyealpak Thank you for the kind words! It's great to hear the bionic bolding made long articles easier to scan. We're happy the local-only approach is something you value too.
If possible, we'd really appreciate you leaving a review on the Chrome Web Store as well. It helps other users discover the extension.
Report
No reviews yetBe the first to leave a review for FocusRead
The bionic reading approach is genuinely useful for skimming dense articles, and love that it stays local. One thing that would seal it for me is a keyboard shortcut to instantly toggle the bionic mode on and off mid-page, so I can switch back to normal text when I hit a tricky paragraph that needs full reading.
@mehmetl26b Thanks for the great suggestion! I've just added this feature. The update is currently under review by the Chrome Web Store and should be available within 24–72 hours. Once it's live, simply update or reinstall the extension, and the new keyboard shortcut will be ready to use. Thanks again for the feedback—it helped make the extension even better!
Bold idea, love that it's all local. One thing I'd love is a "focus mode" that auto-hides images and sidebars on long-form articles, maybe toggled per site in the whitelist settings. Would make bionic reading even more immersive on cluttered pages.
@yamurobancsyyp Thanks for the awesome suggestion! A per-site Focus Mode that hides images and sidebars is an interesting idea, and we'll definitely consider adding something like that in a future update.
If you're enjoying the extension, we'd love it if you could also leave a review on the Chrome Web Store. Your feedback really helps us grow.
Love how everything runs locally, that's a huge plus. One thing that would make it even better for me is a dark mode that inverts the bionic bolding properly, right now on some sites the bolded letters get a little hard to track against dark backgrounds. Could the team look into per site color overrides?
@mcahithmua Thanks for the great feedback! That's a really good suggestion. We're looking into improving dark mode compatibility and adding per-site color overrides in a future update to make the bold text easier to read on all websites.
If you're enjoying the extension, we'd really appreciate it if you could leave the same feedback as a review on the Chrome Web Store. It helps us a lot! ❤️
The bionic bolding actually helped me scan long articles faster without losing the flow. Nice that it all runs locally too, no sign-in nonsense.
@melisnceda1tw6 Thank you! We're so glad to hear the bionic reading mode helped you stay focused while reading. Keeping everything local and privacy-friendly has always been one of our main goals.
If you have a moment, we'd be grateful if you could share your experience with a review on the Chrome Web Store as well. Your support means a lot!
Scrolled through a long article with the bold letters cranked up and it genuinely felt easier to keep my place when I looked away. The local-only data thing is a nice touch too.
@safiyealpak Thank you for the kind words! It's great to hear the bionic bolding made long articles easier to scan. We're happy the local-only approach is something you value too.
If possible, we'd really appreciate you leaving a review on the Chrome Web Store as well. It helps other users discover the extension.