About Reader View
Reader View brings a Firefox-style reading mode to every browser. Click its button and the page is stripped down to the article, using Mozilla's open-source Readability library, with the buttons, backgrounds and ads removed. It is free, its code is on GitHub, and the listing says it collects no data.
What sets it apart from the browser's own reading mode is the amount you can adjust. A side panel changes colour, background, font size, font family and width; the page can show several columns; and there is a Bionic Reading option. It also includes a text-to-speech engine, a highlighter and sticky notes, keyboard shortcuts, and options to print, save as HTML or email the page.
It is not a dedicated dyslexia product, but it covers the same ground for many readers: simpler pages, larger text, calmer colours. It works best on pages with a lot of text and can fail on app-like or heavily scripted sites. The Chrome listing shows about 300,000 users, an update on 25 October 2026 and Manifest V3. One oddity to know: the stores list different developer names for the same project. If you want a customisable reading mode rather than a full accessibility suite, it is the best fit.
Pros and cons
- Free and open source, with no data collection declared
- Built on Mozilla's Readability, the engine behind Firefox's reader
- Adjustable font, colour, width and columns, plus built-in text to speech
- Updated recently and runs on Manifest V3
- Works best on article-style pages
- Interface is utilitarian
- Developer name differs between stores, which may confuse
Permissions
It uses the active tab, scripting and context-menu permissions to rebuild the page you choose. Access to all websites is optional, and it also lists a network-rule permission.
