Common questions

Reading

How do I read?

Tap. Each tap brings the next line; everything you haven't reached yet waits under the warm bars below. What you've read stays on the page — scroll back any time. Tapping an earlier line walks the reading back to it.

What are the bars under the text?

Lines you haven't reached yet. Each bar is sized to its real line, so you can see the rhythm and the remaining shape of a piece before you read a word of it. Tap and hold a bar to peek at it — it reseals on its own.

What happens when I finish a piece?

The wrap-up arrives at the end of the piece — your minutes, your highlights gathered, on an iPhone with Apple Intelligence two lines on what it said, and the line the piece was building toward. From there you can share a line as a card or a short looping video, or open the original where it was published. Finished pieces get a cover on your shelf. Nothing on the stack expires, and nothing nags.

I left mid-article. Where was I?

Your place is always kept. On an iPhone with Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro or later on iOS 26), coming back to a long piece also brings a short written catch-up — "So far" in the reader's header, headed "Where you left off".

Listening

How do I have Kura read to me?

Press play on an article's row, or tap the waveform in the reader. The voice is made on your iPhone as it reads, and each word lights up as it's spoken. The first press after launch can take a few seconds while the voice warms up; the play button shows a spinner while it does.

Does it keep reading when I lock the phone?

Not yet. The voice is made on your iPhone by a model that can only run while Kura is on screen, so when you lock the phone or switch apps the reading pauses on the last line and keeps its place. Open Kura and it says "Paused while Kura was away"; press play and it carries on from there. Play and pause work from your earphones while Kura is open. The screen stays awake on its own while the voice is reading.

Can I change the reading speed?

Yes — the speed control lives on the transport. The voice is pitch-corrected, so faster never means chipmunks.

What languages does the voice speak?

Kura's own voice reads English (so does Harbor, the second voice on Pro). Pieces in other languages are read by the voices built into iPhone, where one is installed for that language — or use Auto-translate on import to bring a piece into English first.

Adding things to read

What can I import?

Four ways: drop a link and Kura fetches the page on your iPhone and lifts the article out of it; share a page from Safari — Kura lives in the share sheet; paste the text itself, out of a PDF, an email, anywhere; or photograph a printed page with the camera button and the text is recognized on your iPhone. Kura doesn't open PDF files directly — paste their text.

A link import came out wrong.

Some pages fight extraction. When a site keeps its story behind a paywall, a sign-in wall or a bot check, Kura says so and sends you to Safari, where your subscription applies. Otherwise, open the original, select the article text, copy, and paste it into Kura instead — pasted text always typesets cleanly. Every imported piece keeps a link to where it was published — in the article's details and again at the end of the reading — which opens the original in Safari. For paper that scanned messily, good light and a flat page help; on supported iPhones, scan repair tidies the result automatically.

Can Kura translate what I import?

Yes — pick a language in Settings under Auto-translate (or per-import from the globe button) and pieces are translated on your device as they arrive, using Apple's translation. The first use of a language pair downloads Apple's language pack.

Kura Pro & purchases

What's free, and what's Pro?

Reading is free, all of it — every import method, every article, no limits, and export as text is free too. Listening is free on your first three articles, and on the first two minutes (about 380 words) of every article after that. Kura Pro unlocks the voice on every article, plus notes on highlights, plainer lines (with Apple Intelligence), a second voice, larger widgets, and Markdown export. It is one purchase — no subscription, nothing expires. Everything in Pro is yours for good. The paywall in the app states exactly what's included and what it costs.

How do I restore a purchase?

On the Pro screen, use Restore purchases. Purchases are handled by the App Store and follow your Apple Account — a new phone gets your Pro back with a restore, nothing to sign into on our side. Because Kura Pro is bought once, there is no subscription to manage or cancel.

Refunds?

Purchases go through Apple, so refunds do too: reportaproblem.apple.com. Apple decides refund requests, not us — but if something's wrong, email us as well and we'll help however we can.

Intelligence features

Which features need Apple Intelligence?

The "So far" catch-up, plainer lines (Pro), the two-line gist when you finish, titles for pastes and scans, and scan repair are written on your iPhone by Apple Intelligence. They need an iPhone 15 Pro or later on iOS 26 with Apple Intelligence turned on, in a supported language. On other iPhones these features simply don't appear — everything else works identically.

It says Apple Intelligence isn't available.

Check Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri on your iPhone: it may still be downloading, or switched off. Kura's own Settings shows the specific reason and, where there is one, an Open Settings button.

Troubleshooting

Play doesn't start.

The first listen after launch loads the voice — give the spinner a few seconds. If a piece is in a language the voice doesn't speak and no system voice is installed for it, download one in iOS Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices.

Audio stopped when I locked the phone or switched apps.

That is how Kura works for now: it reads while it's open (see Listening, above). Nothing is lost — open Kura, press play, and the reading carries on from the same line.

Something else is wrong.

Email us — a screenshot and one line about what you expected is plenty. Kura sends no diagnostics of its own, so your report genuinely is how we find out.

Your data

Your library lives on this iPhone — see the privacy page for the full picture. Deleting an article deletes it. Offloading the app (Settings → General → iPhone Storage) keeps your library; deleting the app does not, and there is no iCloud sync. To move it, use Export Everything in Kura's Settings → Archives and Restore from an Archive on the new iPhone, or set the new iPhone up from a backup of the old one. Delete All Data (Settings → Library) wipes everything and returns Kura to first launch; your Pro purchase stays with your Apple Account. There is no account and nothing of yours on a server, which also means we cannot recover a deleted library — it was never anywhere but with you.