---
title: "Omphalis: make sense of what you read, watch and listen to"
description: "Omphalis brings articles, PDFs, videos and podcasts into one workspace. Get explanations beside difficult passages, ask questions across your sources, and keep your own notes connected to the original material, ready to build on later."
canonical: "https://omphalis.ai/"
source: "https://omphalis.ai/"
---

Articles, PDFs, videos, podcasts

# Make sense of what you read, watch and listen to.

Omphalis brings articles, PDFs, videos and podcasts into one workspace. Get explanations beside difficult passages, ask questions across your sources, and keep your own notes connected to the original material, ready to build on later.

[Start free →](https://app.omphalis.ai/signup?entry_site=omphalis-marketing&entry_intent=readlater) · [Try the demo →](https://omphalis.ai/demo)

![The Omphalis reader with “schlep blindness” underlined in the text and a card beside it explaining the term](https://omphalis.ai/videos/hero-loop-poster.webp)

An explanation of “schlep blindness” opens beside the sentence in Paul Graham’s essay. The essay stays on the page.

Watch the two-minute tour

Read on [the web](https://app.omphalis.ai/signup?entry_site=omphalis-marketing&entry_intent=readlater) · [iPhone](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/omphalis/id6788093850) · [Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.omphalis.app) · [Chrome](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/omphalis/dlmpmfkeapcpkcahpdapmkkciiogkmdb) · [Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/omphalis/)

Where to start

## Start with a source you want to understand.

A PDF or paper you have not opened, a passage you do not follow, a question you are researching, or notes you are developing across more than one source.

- [### PDFs The 60-page report you keep not opening. Open →](https://omphalis.ai/read/pdf)
- [### Research papers The paper you have to read closely. Open →](https://omphalis.ai/research-papers)
- [### Podcasts The two-hour episode you saved on a walk. Open →](https://omphalis.ai/read/podcasts)
- [### Talks and videos The conference talk still open in a tab. Open →](https://omphalis.ai/read/youtube)

## One way to use Omphalis

Two short pieces, Keeping a Useful Research Note and Returning to an Unfinished Question, in one session: an explanation opens beside a difficult phrase, one question is answered from both pieces, and a note stays with the words it came from.

Sample material created for this demonstration.

1. 01
### Open an explanation
Select a phrase you don’t follow. Here, “source anchor” gets an explanation written for this passage, and the passage stays in view, so you read the two together.
[![An explanation of source anchor opened from the passage in Keeping a Useful Research Note, with Keep, Note, and Add to notebook controls](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/demo-explain.webp)](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/demo-explain.webp)
Keeping a Useful Research Note, with the explanation of “source anchor” open above its passage.
Select your own phrase with Learn more
In a different article, Chelsea Rosenthal’s Mattering That It’s You, we selected “judgment calls or personal styles” and chose a deeper explanation. It looks at why having room to use your own judgment matters to the author’s argument.
Learn more starts from a passage you select. Highlight the part you don’t follow and the explanation opens beside it, so you don’t leave the piece to go and look it up.
[![A deeper explanation of judgment calls or personal styles, with Add, Re-tune, and Discard controls](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/walkthrough-learn.webp)](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/walkthrough-learn.webp)
2. 02
### Ask across your sources
Put both pieces in a notebook and ask one question. The answer says what each source contributes, and its numbered markers open the source they cite.
[![A notebook holding Keeping a Useful Research Note and Returning to an Unfinished Question, with an answer that cites both and a source chip naming each title](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/demo-ask-two-sources.webp)](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/demo-ask-two-sources.webp)
Markers 1 and 2 cite Keeping a Useful Research Note; marker 3 cites Returning to an Unfinished Question. This is a screenshot: in the app, each marker opens its source.
3. 03
### Keep a note with the passage
Highlight the line you want to come back to and write what you mean to do next. The note stays with the highlight, and Marks opens the piece at that passage.
[![The highlighted line Read your earlier note, then reopen the passage behind it, with the note Next time I return, check the original passage before comparing a second source, and Kept, Edit Note, and Add to notebook controls](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/demo-note.webp)](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/demo-note.webp)
A note kept with a highlighted line in Returning to an Unfinished Question.

Captured in Omphalis. Select an image to see the detail.

[Try the reader →](https://omphalis.ai/demo)

See it in motion

## Short clips from the real app.

![The Omphalis save dialog with a pasted link and a destination Space chosen](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/strip-save-own-item.webp)

Pasting in a link and getting back something you can read.

## Questions and notes stay attached to the source

Further examples from the app. A question cites the passages it used, an episode keeps the transcript beside the explanation, and a notebook can hold your own notes with more than one source.

### Ask the question you are stuck on

Why can work be useful without feeling meaningful? The answer points at Rosenthal’s paragraphs. Open a citation or ask a follow-up.

Ask starts from a question you type, or say out loud in the web app. You choose what it draws on, either just this piece or everything in your library, and the answer links back to the passages it used.

Select the image to see the detail.

[![The question Why can work be useful without feeling meaningful, its answer with numbered citations, and the beginning of the source passage list](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/usecase-ask.webp)](https://omphalis.ai/screenshots/usecase-ask.webp)

A question about Mattering That It’s You, with citations to the article.

Why build around the source? Read [the case for comprehension](https://omphalis.ai/the-case-for-comprehension).

## It helps most on the hard ones.

Short and easy things do not need much help. Long and dense ones do.

Article

### One you would skim and forget

Sections in order. Hard paragraphs explained where you hit them.

See example →

Podcast

### A two-hour interview

You get the moments that matter, instead of scrubbing around for the bit you half remember.

See example →

Video

### A talk full of terms you do not have yet

Open explanations of selected terms alongside the transcript.

See example →

Paper

### A dense paper in two columns

Columns, footnotes, and figures pulled into one reading order. The methods get explained as you reach them.

See example →

Articles, PDFs, EPUBs, Word docs, podcasts, YouTube, newsletters and your own voice notes all run through the same pipeline. Subscribe to Substack or any publication with a feed right in your Inbox, alongside your podcasts.

Start with one thing you saved.

Drop in the piece you keep postponing. Give it a few minutes.

The free plan is real and stays free. Paid plans start at $9 USD/month. [See pricing](https://omphalis.ai/pricing)

[Start free](https://app.omphalis.ai/signup?entry_site=omphalis-marketing&entry_intent=readlater)

30-day trial, no card required. Includes 200 voice minutes, 200 PDF pages and 15 assistant answers a day. After that, Free stays free. [See plan allowances.](https://omphalis.ai/pricing)

Then take it with you

[![Download on the App Store](https://omphalis.ai/badges/appstore-black.svg)](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/omphalis/id6788093850) · [![Get it on Google Play](https://omphalis.ai/badges/googleplay.png)](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.omphalis.app) · [![Available in the Chrome Web Store](https://omphalis.ai/chrome-webstore.png)](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/omphalis/dlmpmfkeapcpkcahpdapmkkciiogkmdb) · [![Get the add-on for Firefox](https://omphalis.ai/firefox-addons.svg)](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/omphalis/)

## Common questions

### What is Omphalis?

Omphalis brings articles, PDFs, videos and podcasts into one workspace so you can understand them. An explanation can open beside a difficult passage, you can ask a question across your sources and check where it came from, and your own notes stay connected to the original material.

### What can I save to Omphalis?

Web articles and newsletters, PDFs, EPUBs and Word documents, podcast episodes and YouTube videos, plus your own notes and voice notes. Save a link from the browser extension or your phone's share sheet, upload a file, or subscribe to a feed, and what you keep sits together in one Library. On Free, a PDF is stored with its name and page count but not turned into a readable page; that takes the trial or a paid plan.

### Where can I use Omphalis?

In any modern browser at app.omphalis.ai, and in the iPhone and Android apps, all sharing one Library. The Chrome and Firefox extensions bring the clean reading view and section map to the page you are on, and the Omphalis app in ChatGPT lets you read from your Library in a conversation. The web app is the most complete, and the phone apps let you download any item to read or listen offline.

### Does Omphalis summarize what I save?

Pieces open with a short summary, there to help you decide where to begin, not to stand in for the source. The full text is still what you read, with explanations where it gets difficult and your own highlights on the passages that matter.

### How do explanations work in the reader?

Some passages carry a dotted underline as you read: a term defined, a claim traced to its source, an idea expanded. Each explanation is written for its passage from the text around it, and many link to the paper, reference entry or saved item behind them. Open one and it appears beside the passage, so you stay in the piece. If something else stops you, select it and choose Learn more.

### Can I ask questions about what I save?

Yes. Ask about the piece you are reading, a notebook of sources you have gathered, or your whole Library, then follow up. Every answer cites the passages it used, so you can follow any point back to the words it came from.

### Do I need a credit card?

No. 30-day trial, no card required. Includes 200 voice minutes, 200 PDF pages and 15 assistant answers a day. You can stay on the free plan afterwards without ever entering a card. You add one only if you choose a paid plan.

### Is there a free plan?

Yes, and it is not a trial: it stays free. Each month it includes an allowance for bringing in new sources and listening to them, and the pricing page shows the allowance for each plan. Reading what is already in your Library, writing notes and exporting everything never draw on it.

### What happens when the trial ends?

Nothing is charged and nothing you saved is lost. After 30 days the account moves to the free plan, with your whole Library still readable and exportable. Features beyond Free, such as turning new PDFs into readable pages, come back whenever you choose a paid plan.

[More questions and answers](https://omphalis.ai/faq)

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