--- description: Could smartphones actually help our reading skills? title: Spritz Samsung Smartphone App Turns You into a Speed Reader image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt241a509f559db3fd/698683d9cd684803610936cd/books.png?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This App Can Help You Read Up to 1,000 Words a Minute by [Kyle Chayka](/author/kyle-chayka/) ## Kyle Chayka Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 4, 2014 6:31 PM CUT  Abhi Sharma—Flickr by [Kyle Chayka](/author/kyle-chayka/) ## Kyle Chayka Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 4, 2014 6:31 PM CUT Who says the Internet is making us less effective readers? [Spritz](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/27/spritz-reading%5Fn%5F4865756.html?utm%5Fcontent=buffer5bf3e&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer "undefined"), a new app that’s being released on Samsung devices, is devoted to turning you into a super-powered book devourer, conquering novels in a single bound (or subway ride). Spritz works by showing you a sentence one word at a time, displaying the words in quick succession. Then, the words speed up, and you’re forced to grasp their meaning much faster. 250 words per minute is easy, but 500 is like looking at a page through a strobe light. The highest setting of 1,000 words per minute would let you read _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone_ in just [77 minutes](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/27/spritz-reading%5Fn%5F4865756.html?utm%5Fcontent=buffer5bf3e&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer "undefined"). The Bible would still take 13 hours, however. Spritz’s technology does much more than just run through words. It positions the different words around their central letters, aligning them so they’re easier for the eye to digest. It’s subtle, but it makes a big difference. Maybe now we can finally digest more than 140 characters? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/12392/this-app-can-help-you-read-up-to-1000-words-a-minute/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/12392/this-app-can-help-you-read-up-to-1000-words-a-minute/"},"headline":"This App Can Help You Read Up to 1,000 Words a Minute","datePublished":"2014-03-04T18:31:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:27.506Z","description":"Could smartphones actually help our reading skills?","url":"https://time.com/12392/this-app-can-help-you-read-up-to-1000-words-a-minute/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Technology","apps","Books","reading"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt241a509f559db3fd/698683d9cd684803610936cd/books.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kyle Chayka","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt241a509f559db3fd/698683d9cd684803610936cd/books.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"books","caption":"","creditText":"Abhi Sharma—Flickr","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/12392/this-app-can-help-you-read-up-to-1000-words-a-minute/","name":"This App Can Help You Read Up to 1,000 Words a Minute"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Top 5 Domestic Grossing Young Adult Novel Film Adaptations","description":"Top 5 Domestic Grossing Young Adult Novel Film Adaptations","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/GOoxcojn/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-21T18:14:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GOoxcojn.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/12392/this-app-can-help-you-read-up-to-1000-words-a-minute/","duration":"PT2M12S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/12392/this-app-can-help-you-read-up-to-1000-words-a-minute/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```