Every Recitare feature explained: the complete guide

Drag and drop a file onto the upload area, or click to browse. Recitare accepts PDF, DOCX, PPTX, TXT, JPG, PNG, and TIFF files. PDFs are parsed directly in your browser, no upload to a server required for text extraction. Images are processed with Tesseract.js OCR, also in-browser.

You can also paste a URL (any webpage or arXiv paper link) and Recitare will extract the article text automatically. Or browse the built-in library of 60,000+ free books from Project Gutenberg and academic papers from arXiv and PubMed.

How it works: After parsing, non-PDF documents are sent through an AI text revalidation step that reorders text into the correct human reading sequence, fixing issues like cross-column merging in PowerPoint slides or incorrect text flow. You see the text immediately; the revalidated version silently replaces it within seconds.

When you press Play, each sentence highlights in real time as Max reads it aloud. The currently active sentence is emphasized with a coral highlight, while completed sentences fade to a lighter color. The reading area auto-scrolls to keep the active sentence centered.

This dual-channel approach, hearing and seeing the text simultaneously, is backed by multimedia learning theory (Mayer, 2009). Your brain processes auditory and visual information through separate channels, so combining them improves retention compared to reading or listening alone.

Tip: Use the “Reader” view toggle (left toolbar) for a clean, distraction-free reading experience with larger text and wider line spacing, ideal for long study sessions.

The speed selector is in the playback controls bar, next to the voice picker. Choose from preset speeds: 0.5x, 0.75x, 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x, 2.5x, and 3x. The speed applies to whichever TTS engine you're using (Free, Basic, or Premium).

When to slow down: Dense methodology sections, statistical results, or unfamiliar terminology. Dropping to 0.75x gives your brain more processing time for complex material.

When to speed up: Literature reviews, background sections, or papers you're triaging. At 2x, a 30-minute paper becomes 15 minutes. Use it to decide which papers deserve a deep read.

Sprint Mode (Pro): A 10-minute focused sprint with a timer and progress bar. Max's voice gets slightly more energetic and pacing increases. Great for overcoming procrastination. Commit to just 10 minutes.

Pick from 6 voice personas across 3 accents: American (male/female), British (male/female), and Australian (male/female). Each voice is powered by either Inworld TTS-1.5 Mini (Basic tier) or Inworld TTS-1.5 Max (Pro tier). Both sound natural, not robotic.

On the Pro tier, voices gain expressive audio capabilities: they can sound enthusiastic, thoughtful, whispered, or analytical depending on the content. The voice adapts based on your chosen “vibe”: hyped for energy, focused for concentration, or analysis for deep reading.

Language support: Max speaks 14+ languages natively via Inworld TTS-1.5. If your document is in French, German, Spanish, Japanese, or another supported language, Max detects it automatically and reads in that language.

Stuck on a passage? Click the Quick Insight sparkle icon that appears next to paragraphs, or select any text and choose “Explain.” Max breaks it down in plain language, citing the specific page so you can verify the interpretation.

How it works: Your selected text is sent to Gemini 2.5 Flash with the full document as context (up to 1 million tokens). This means Max doesn't just paraphrase. He understands how the passage fits into the paper's argument.

Free tier: 3 Quick Insights per day. Reader and Pro: Unlimited (fair use).

Open the chat panel and ask Max anything about your document: “What's the main argument in Section 3?”, “Summarize the methodology in two sentences”, or “Does Figure 2 support or contradict the hypothesis?”

Every answer includes page citations (e.g., [Page 4]) so you can verify claims against the source. Max uses context caching. After the first query, follow-up questions are faster and cheaper because the document is already in memory.

Ask While Listening (Reader/Pro): A floating “raise your hand” button appears during TTS playback. Tap it to pause audio and ask a question about what you just heard, then resume where you left off.

Free tier: 5 messages per day. Reader and Pro: Unlimited (fair use, soft cap at 1,000/month).

Click the Snap-to-Explain icon, then drag a selection rectangle over any figure, chart, table, or diagram in your PDF. Recitare captures it at 300 DPI (4x higher than screen resolution) for accurate AI analysis.

A scanning animation plays while Max analyzes the image. Within seconds, the Tutor Sidebar opens with Max's explanation: what the axes represent, the key trends, and what it means for the paper's argument. Max narrates the explanation aloud automatically.

Persistent insights: Snip locations are saved. When you revisit the document, amber lightbulb icons appear over previously-snipped areas. Click them to replay the explanation without re-analyzing.

Add to Notes: Click “Add to Notes” in the Tutor Sidebar to copy the screenshot + explanation to your clipboard as rich HTML. Paste directly into Goodnotes, Notion, or any note-taking app.

In Study mode, Max pauses after each section and asks a comprehension question about what you just read. These aren't generic trivia. They're Socratic probes designed to test whether you understood the argument, not just the facts.

Why it works: Active recall (retrieving information from memory) produces 3x better retention than re-reading the same passage. By testing you during reading rather than after, Recitare catches misunderstandings before they compound.

Available on Pro tier.

Generate a full document summary with one click. Max produces a structured summary that preserves the paper's logical flow and includes [Page X] citations for every claim.

Summaries can be exported as Markdown, copied to clipboard (rich HTML), or downloaded as PDF.

Free tier: 3 summaries per day. Reader and Pro: Unlimited (fair use).

Choose from 5 study guide formats:

• Key Concepts: Core ideas distilled into bullet points
• Q&A Pairs: Question-and-answer format for self-testing
• Cornell Notes: Cues, notes, and summary in the classic layout
• Outline: Hierarchical structure of the document's argument
• Flashcards: Front/back cards for spaced repetition

All formats support export (Markdown download, clipboard copy, PDF).

Free tier: Key Concepts only. Reader and Pro: All 5 formats.

Converts your document into a two-voice podcast dialogue: two AI hosts discuss the paper's key findings, methods, and implications in a conversational format. Think NotebookLM-style podcasts, but built into your reading workflow.

Includes a full transcript you can follow along with. Great for getting an overview before diving into the full text, or for reviewing material during a commute.

Available on Pro tier (50 per month).

A client-side text analysis toolkit inspired by Voyant Tools. No API calls. Everything runs in your browser on the parsed text. Four tabs:

• Word Cloud: TF-IDF weighted terms, click to explore
• Term Heatmap: Per-page term frequency, click segments to jump to that page
• Concordance (KWIC): Every occurrence of a term with surrounding context
• Collocates: Words that statistically co-occur with your selected term

Designed for grad students doing literature reviews. Use it to triage papers and decide which ones deserve a deep read.

Available on all tiers (runs entirely in-browser).

Toggle between two reading layouts:

• Original: Paper-like card, serif font, adjustable zoom. Good for preserving the document's visual structure.
• Reader: Edge-to-edge, sans-serif, generous line spacing (2.0), 52rem max width. Inspired by Adobe Liquid Mode, distraction-free reading for long sessions.