FAQ

What is Readability?

Readability is a free web and mobile app with a simple purpose: to deliver a great reading experience. It turns virtually any web page into a clean, comfortable reading view. You can also sync articles for reading later as you surf around the web. Readability works on your web browser, iPhone, iPad and Android smartphone, giving you the flexibility to read anytime, anywhere.

Readability is designed to support writers and publishers by earmarking the great majority of Subscriber fees (70%) based upon reading activity. Whether you've instantly converted a web page for reading or queued one up for reading later, Readability keeps track of the web sites you visit and earmarks money for them.

Is Readability free?

Yes, Readability is a free service. You can get started by downloading the add-on here. Readability also gives you the option to subscribe and earmarks 70% of your subscriber fees for the writers and publishers you enjoy on Readability.

Does Readability mobile work with my iPhone and iPad?

Yes, the Readability app is available for free on iTunes. It works with both your iPhone or iPad. You can download Readability for iOS by clicking here.

Will Readability work with my Android phone?

Yes, there is a rich mobile web version of Readability that works on modern Android smartphones and tablets. Simply visit Readability.com on your mobile device.

Will Readability work with my Blackberry phone?

You can access Readability.com on your Blackberry phone, but we do not offer support for Blackberry devices at this time.

Do you send my personal information to anyone?

No, Readability does not share your personal information with any third party.

Can I share my reading list with others?

Yes, by default your Reading List (including your Favorites) is available on the web for others to discover and view. You can turn sharing on or off at any time by visiting your Account Settings page.

Can I share my contributions?

Yes, the domains you're visiting through Readability and the distribution of your fees can be made public and shared on the web. You can turn sharing on or off at any time by visiting your Account Settings page.

I found a page that doesn't work with Readability. What now?

We're always looking to improve Readability. If you find a page that looks a little funny or doesn't load at all, send us the URL of the page through our contact form.

What if I don’t want to contribute to the publisher of a particular page or article?

If you delete a page from your Reading List before the end of the calendar month, it will be removed from the calculations of your contribution as well. To do so, first archive the article, then delete it from your archive.

How do I install Readability on my web browser?

You can install Readability on your favorite browser by visiting the downloads page.

Can I share articles in the clean Readability view by default?

When you share a Readability link or rdd.me link, other contributing Readability subscribers will see the page in Readability view, but free subscribers (and anonymous users) will see the original page with a link to the Readability view.

How do I change my "Send to Kindle" settings?

You can change your Kindle settings in your account settings and anonymous users of the free add-on can do so from this Kindle settings page.

How do I register my account as a publisher?

At this time, the publisher and reader systems are separate and require different usernames and email addresses. Please register for a publisher account with a second username.

How do I delete my account?

Readability subscribers can delete their account from within account settings.

What is Readability?

Readability delivers a premium reading experience around just about any article on the web. Our service is unique in that it allows Readability Subscribers to earmark contributions to sites they read using Readability.

How can I earn money with Readability?

As a web publisher or writer, you can register with Readability and start collecting contributions. Any time a Readability Subscriber uses Readability on a page of yours, a portion of that Subscriber's monthly contribution is allocated to you. Here's an example:

Joe Subscriber pays $10.00 a month for the Readability service. Of the $10.00, $7.00 (70%) is allocated for publishers. If Joe reads 14 articles with Readability on 14 different domains in the month of February, each domain will receive $.50 ($7.00 divided by 14 pages) from Joe's contribution pool.

Why are you doing this?

We believe that the web is capable of a great reading experience. We also wanted to explore a model that provides a mechanism for supporting writers and publishers without slowing down or encumbering the web experience. Our goal is pretty straightforward: deliver a great reading experience while supporting writing on the web.

Can I promote Readability on my own site?

Absolutely. We encourage writers, bloggers and publishers big and small to promote the service. Visit our Publishers Tools page to learn about the various tools available to help you promote Readability and earn money through the service.

Does Readability have an API?

Yes, all of the functionality of Readability is available through the Readability API. If you're interested in using the Readability API, contact us for an API key.

How can I get a Readability API key?

Simply request one by filling out our contact form.

Are there limits or restrictions on using the Readability API?

There are no limits to the use of the Readability API. Note however, there are restrictions that are outlined in the API Terms of Service.

Can I charge money for tools or applications built on Readability?

Yes, you can charge money for tools or applications built on the Readability API, so long as it complies with our API Terms of Service.

I just discovered Readability. Can I claim money from previous visits to my site(s)?

Yes, Readability keeps track of the last twelve months of pages visited even before a publisher registers with us to view their statistics. If your site has garnered traffic to Readability, we're already earmarking money for you.

How do I claim ownership of a site or domain?

You can claim ownership of a domain on the web by visiting the Publisher Registration page and signing up as a publisher. You will then have to validate the domain to demonstrate ownership.

Can I claim ownership of more than one domain under a single publisher account?

Yes, a registered publisher can claim any number of domains.

How do I install the embedded Read Now and Read Later buttons on my site?

We provide a simple script for installing the embeddable Read Now and Read Later links on your articles. You can find the script and installation instructions on the Publisher Tools page.

When will I be paid for articles that have been read using the Readability platform?

At this time, Readability pays content creators for their articles that have been read using the Readability Platform twice a year.

Do you hold funds for domains that have not yet been registered?

Yes, we track funds even for domains that have not been registered with us. Note however, that Readability only holds the last 12 months of funds for unregistered domains.

Can I keep track of traffic flowing into Readability from my domains?

Yes, Readability provides all registered publishers with a console view of all articles read through the service and the dollar allocations based on that activity.

Do you share my usage statistics or dollars earned with anyone?

No, we do not share your reader usage statistics with anyone without your consent.

I'm a publisher or writer and I would like to prohibit my content from being processed and stored by Readability. How can I do that?

You can exclude your content from being processed by Readability by contacting us.

My pages don't display correctly in Readability. Is there anything I can do to improve the Readability view?

Yes, we provide Article Publishing Guidelines on how best to mark up your pages for the Readability view.

How do I include author attribution, copyright information, and other article metadata in the Readability view?

We encourage publishers and writers to enrich their web content with additional information about their pages. You can find detailed instructions on how to do so by visiting our Article Publishing Guidelines page.

How do I make certain an image is displayed in the Readability reading view?

There are two ways to ensure that your images or figures make it to the reading view in Readability:

1. Add the following CSS class to any element (e.g. <img> or container <div>):
   • entry-content-asset
2. Wrap your image captions in a <figure> tag. You can see a specific example of this in the hNews guidelines for Readability.