What are the best reading apps for dyslexia and low vision?

Reading difficulties are not one thing, and the right tool depends on where reading breaks down for you. This page describes what each tool does according to its maker. It is not medical or educational advice, and a specialist can help you decide what to try first.

• Letters swim or crowd together: a font built for readability, such as OpenDyslexic in Kindle and Libby, plus wider spacing and margins.
• Text is too small or low contrast: a bigger text size and a background color that suits you, through Accessibility Reader, the Kindle app's themes, Libby's Text scale or cloudLibrary's font, margin and background settings.
• Decoding words is slow or tiring: read aloud with highlighting, so you hear and see each word at once: Kindle Assistive Reader, Speechify, or Speak Screen.
• Reading print is not practical at all: audiobooks from your library, or talking books from the National Library Service if you are eligible.

The table lists only features each maker describes on its own listing or help pages.

• iPhone Speak Screen: open Settings, then Accessibility, then Read & Speak, and turn on Speak Screen. Then swipe down with two fingers from the top of any page. See our step-by-step guide on the read-aloud page.
• Kindle OpenDyslexic: in a book, tap the center of the screen, tap the Aa (display settings) button and choose OpenDyslexic as the font. Amazon says most Kindle books offer it.
• Kindle Assistive Reader: Amazon's help page for the Kindle apps explains how to turn it on; it reads the book aloud and highlights the words as it goes.
• Libby dyslexic font: in a book, tap the center of the screen, then the reading settings icon, and tap OpenDyslexic under Book Design. The Text scale slider is on the same screen.

Try one change at a time for a week. A font that helps one reader can slow down another, and it is easier to tell what works if you do not change everything at once.

Yes, in the US. The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) at the Library of Congress is a free braille and talking book library. It lists common eligibilities as low vision, blindness or other visual impairments; dyslexia and other reading disabilities; and physical disabilities, such as arthritis, that prevent you from using a book. Only US residents or US citizens living abroad can qualify.

A qualified person must certify eligibility: the NLS names doctors, nurses, teachers, reading specialists, librarians and social workers among others, and in many cases your network librarian can certify you over the phone. Once enrolled, you can download books through the free BARD Mobile app for iPhone, Android or Fire, or borrow a free talking-book player on long-term loan.

Students have another route. Bookshare says it is free for US students with a qualifying disability, including dyslexia, blindness, visual impairment or cerebral palsy.

For many readers with dyslexia or low vision, a narrated audiobook is the most comfortable way to read a whole book. Libby and Hoopla lend them free with a library card, and Audible, Libro.fm and Spotify sell or include them. Reading and listening together, with the text highlighted as the narrator reads, can help too: Amazon's Immersion Reading does this with a Kindle ebook and its Audible narration. See the best audiobook apps and how to read and listen at the same time.

If you lose track of a long story between sessions, Magic Bookmark can recap a supported book up to your place: for an audiobook, you enter the last phrase you heard. It runs on iPhone and charges per book after a free first credit.

For school reading, ask the school first. Sora, the school version of OverDrive's library app, lends ebooks and audiobooks through the school's library and shows assigned titles. Bookshare says it is free for US students with a qualifying disability, and a teacher or specialist can usually help with sign-up.

For younger children, read-alongs that pair narration with the text help them follow the words. Libby lists interactive read-alongs, and Epic includes Read-To-Me books in its kids' library. Our page on reading apps for kids covers age ratings and privacy for each.