Phloem: Paper Reader

Phloem is a calm, local-first reading desk for research papers on iPad and iPhone.

Import PDF and Word documents, read without distractions, and keep your thinking beside the source. Search a paper, highlight passages, write notes, track your place, use the movable reading guide, and switch between focused reading layouts. Clean note lettering is the default, and the Handwritten switch brings back a more personal notebook feel whenever you want it.

On iPhone, Phloem keeps it simple for reading on the go: listen to a paper with the voices on your phone, look up any word, find a passage, and highlight what matters.

For handwritten PDF notes, turn on Write and use Apple Pencil directly on the page. Add ideas in the margins, circle figures, or sketch on scanned and blank pages without OCR. Choose from eight ink colors and three pen widths. Hold Pencil still for about 0.6 seconds after a long open stroke to straighten it, adjust the endpoint before lifting, or keep writing naturally with pressure-sensitive strokes. Your handwriting stays anchored to its PDF page as you zoom and change layouts; fingers remain available for navigation.

For text highlighting, Mark opens its bottom toolbar and keeps colors available as you highlight and change colors. Pencil strokes include complete endpoint words. The toolbar offers Define for the selected passage or the latest selected highlight still on the current page.

On PDFs, Write's Eraser and Mark's Erase both remove touched handwriting strokes and text highlights. One Undo restores the whole sweep; the Zen dock also includes Undo without leaving focused reading. The text Reader's highlight eraser is unchanged. Handwriting is saved with the library and in JSON backups. Export original PDF and the PDF in a NotebookLM package remain the unannotated original file; they do not embed Phloem handwriting or highlights.

For review work, Phloem keeps imported comments, linked passages, replies, and revision notes together. You stay in control of every link and every edit.

Private by design

• No Phloem account
• No advertising or Phloem analytics
• Local reading works offline after a document is imported
• Portable JSON backups include editable handwriting, typed notes, and highlights, but exclude original documents and private credentials
• Online features run only when you choose them

Online definitions, PDF URL imports, external links, and cloud file providers require an internet connection. Keep original document files separately.