What can I bring into the web app?

Articles, podcasts, YouTube videos, PDFs, EPUBs, Word documents, newsletters, your own notes and voice notes. Add a link, upload a supported file, or subscribe to a feed. PDFs become readable pages during the trial or on a paid plan; on Free a PDF is kept with its name and page count.

Can I ask questions about the source I am reading?

Yes. Use Ask while a source is open to ask a question and follow-up questions about it. Each answer cites the passages it draws on, so you can follow any point back to the source. You can also press Talk and ask out loud; Ask answers aloud and shows its sources on screen. Voice is included in the trial and on paid plans.

Does the web app work offline?

No, the web app needs a connection. The iPhone and Android apps share the same Library, and on those any item can be downloaded to read or listen offline.

The web app

Read a source. Work out what you think.

Bring an article, PDF, podcast, or video into Omphalis. Open the text, get help with a difficult passage, and keep your own notes. The web app holds that reading and the work you build around it.

Try the reader →

Updated September 30, 2026

How do you get help while the passage is still in front of you?

In Chelsea Rosenthal’s Mattering That It’s You, an explanation opens over the phrase “little usually hinges”. Read it, compare it with the surrounding paragraph, and continue. You can highlight a passage, add a note, or choose Listen for natural-voice narration.

A selected phrase in the Omphalis reader with a definition answered beside it, citing its source — An explanation opens inside Rosenthal’s article, with actions to keep it, add a note, or put it in a notebook.

How do you keep your sources beside your own thinking?

Make a notebook for a question you are working on. Add the relevant sources and write your own notes between them. You can keep an Ask answer there too, with citations to check when you return.

Start from a template when you want a shape to work in: a reading response, a comparison of sources, or an argument draft. When a notebook is worth showing someone, share a read-only link and they can read it without an account. Earlier versions stay in the notebook menu, so an edit you regret is recoverable, and a deleted notebook can be restored.

Finding our first users notebook with two Paul Graham essays, a note, and a question answered from the startup ideas essay — Finding our first users contains two Paul Graham essays, a working note, and an Ask answer. The answer cites How to Get Startup Ideas.

Select the image to see the detail.

How do you find your way back to what you read?

Library holds the pieces you save. Inbox brings in the sources you follow. Today gives you a place to return to your reading, and Connections helps you explore related material in your Library. Set your voice and reading preferences in Settings.

What else should you know about the web app?

What can I bring into the web app?: Articles, podcasts, YouTube videos, PDFs, EPUBs, Word documents, newsletters, your own notes and voice notes. Add a link, upload a supported file, or subscribe to a feed. PDFs become readable pages during the trial or on a paid plan; on Free a PDF is kept with its name and page count.
Can I ask questions about the source I am reading?: Yes. Use Ask while a source is open to ask a question and follow-up questions about it. Each answer cites the passages it draws on, so you can follow any point back to the source. You can also press Talk and ask out loud; Ask answers aloud and shows its sources on screen. Voice is included in the trial and on paid plans.
Does the web app work offline?: No, the web app needs a connection. The iPhone and Android apps share the same Library, and on those any item can be downloaded to read or listen offline.

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. See pricing

Start free

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.

Written by Omphalis teamLast updated September 30, 2026