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Readwise

COLLAB
Velocity5.0

Highlight capture, spaced review and a read-later app for saved articles

Readwise ships library-wide Ghostreader with tool-calling: tag, annotate, save across your full archive

ai-readingghostreaderknowledge-managementhighlightsreadermobile
Current state
Readwise is in an aggressive capability expansion phase centered on its Ghostreader AI layer. The August 7 release shipped Global Ghostreader — AI that searches, tags, annotates, and manages the full user library with granular per-tool permission controls. This followed Readwise 2.0, a complete mobile app rebuild. The team ships meaningful changes at a weekly cadence while simultaneously expanding integration depth across Kindle, Kobo, Twitter, and the MCP server.
Where it's heading
Readwise is converting its reading archive into an AI-native knowledge management platform. The move from per-document AI to library-wide AI with tool-calling puts it in direct competition with Notion AI and Mem — but with a moat in years of accumulated highlights and reading history those tools can't replicate. Subsequent releases have been tightening integration quality (Kindle, OpenAI keys, Ghostreader targeting) and expanding mobile parity rather than adding new AI surface.
Prediction
Mobile-native Global Ghostreader tools are the likely next move — library-wide AI tools currently require web or desktop, while mobile chat only recently launched. Completion of that convergence would unify the platform's AI story across every surface.

Recent moves

  1. 5d ago

    Readwise: YouTube chapters, scan loupe, continuous TTS slider, Ghostreader model memory

    YouTube videos saved to Reader now expose the video's own chapter markers in the Contents panel. The scan tool gains a magnifying loupe for precise text selection. TTS speed becomes a continuous slider from 0.5x–3x. Ghostreader's model preference is now sticky across chats — a batch of visible quality-of-life improvements typical of Readwise's weekly release cadence.

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  2. 12d ago

    Readwise: Focus Mode fixed across all doc types, OpenAI key validation relaxed

    Focus Mode now dims correctly on every document type — it was silently broken on emails, EPUBs, and YouTube transcripts. The OpenAI key validation check no longer requires access to one specific model, unblocking custom keys that can run Ghostreader but don't have the previously required endpoint. Both are reliability fixes for core features rather than new capabilities.

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  3. 19d ago

    Readwise: Datawrapper/Flourish chart embeds, Apple Books EPUB format support

    Interactive charts from Datawrapper and Flourish now render as images linked to the live version instead of error notices, expanding the range of content Reader handles faithfully. Apple Books' zip-folder EPUB format is now recognized and auto-converted in the browser — removing a common friction point for book imports from the most popular iOS reading app.

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  4. 26d ago

    Readwise: real Kindle disconnect button, Japanese notebook import, bulk tag sync fixed

    Kindle's Remove Connection is now an actual disconnect button (previously it told you to uninstall the extension while the card stayed connected), and the notebook importer gains Japanese support with proper per-highlight note attachment. Bulk tag operations now sync to Readwise, fixing a gap that silently broke exports to Notion and Obsidian for multi-selected documents.

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  5. 1mo ago

    Readwise: manual highlights redesigned, scan remembers your mode

    The manual highlight flow is redesigned: book search is in the header, and tapping 'Add another' preserves the selected book and input method so each subsequent highlight requires no setup. Scan mode now remembers your preferred highlighting method — the kind of session-level friction reduction that compounds across thousands of capture interactions.

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  6. 1mo ago

    Readwise ships Global Ghostreader: library-wide AI with tool-calling and permission controls

    ⚡ SPARK

    Global Ghostreader is the move Readwise has been building toward since Ghostreader launched — AI that searches and acts across the entire library, not just the current document, with reusable skills and explicit per-tool permission controls. It ships alongside mobile Ghostreader chat and a full mobile toolbar redesign in the same release.

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