CritPages features
Everything here is built and in the beta. Nothing on this page is a roadmap.
The reading page
Manuscript format
Double-spaced, a clean serif, and reader-controlled text size that follows the phone’s own setting until you pick one. No spellcheck or grammar underlines.
Drawn, not editable
The page is painted, not a text field, so there are no selection handles, no autocorrect, and no way to copy the text. It is a marking tool, not an editor.
Chapters from your .docx
A manuscript imports as one document per chapter, through a review screen where you can merge, split, or leave out a section. Front matter is set aside on its own, and any section holding contact details is kept out of readers’ hands.
Navigation that keeps the thread
Next and previous chapter at the foot of every page, a note stepper that walks the marks in order, and a saved place on this phone.
Two vocabularies, one page.
The kind of workspace decides which marks a reviewer gets. Payment never does. Every mark is one tap away, and marks outside the current scope grey in place, so nothing moves under your thumb.
Workshop marks
For circles and one-on-ones. A close-read row for what you see on the page and a live-read row for what you hear: copyedit flags, a strike to suggest a cut, a praise heart, a comment, and four craft tags set by the group’s Lead, the person who runs it.
- Inconsistent tense
- Spelling
- Letter casing
- Punctuation
- Something’s missing
- Break up paragraph
- Strike (suggest a cut)
- Wrong word
- Tighten
- Point-of-view slip
- Show, don’t tell
- Unnecessary repetition
- Awkward construction
- Add a comment
- Praise
Reactions
For beta rounds. Readers react as they read and leave the copyediting alone. Three worded chips mark where the story lost them, phrased from the reader’s side. Three glyphs mark what landed. A comment covers anything else.
- I drifted here
- I got lost here
- I didn’t buy this
- Add a comment
- That caught me off guard
- That made me laugh
- Love this
Marking that keeps your place
The gesture
Press and hold a line, slide to the scope you mean, and release. Then tap a chip, and the mark lands. You are back in the read. There is no save button anywhere in the app.
A quiet undo
Every mark is followed by a short countdown bar with Undo. It fades on its own. Correcting a mark is undo, then mark again.
Scope on the page
In a circle, pick a word, a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph on a radial picker. A tap alone takes the sentence. Reactions in a beta round land on sentences and paragraphs.
Three ways to work.
Set once when the workspace is created. The kind decides who can see whom, which marks are offered, and what is paid.
One-on-one
Swap critique with a partner, or get feedback from a single reader. Two people, whenever suits you both.
Free, always.
Group
A critique circle, workshop, or class of three or more. The Lead, the person who runs the group, invites members and starts the live sessions.
Free for members. The Lead’s seat is paid, and free during the beta.
Beta readers
Send a manuscript to readers who react as they read. Readers never see each other, or each other’s notes.
Priced per round, and free during the beta.
Built to be readable
Text size that follows you
The reading page follows your phone’s accessibility text size until you choose a size of your own, and remembers the choice. Controls stay within a size that keeps them tappable at any setting.
Targets and announcements
Every control meets a 44 pixel target. The note stepper, the reviewer filter, and the prompts announce themselves to screen readers, so a read works by ear as well as by eye.
Help on every chip
Press and hold a chip to see what it means. A greyed chip says where it can be used instead of doing nothing.
Who sees what
Your marks are yours
Each reviewer sees only their own marks while they work, and so does the author by default. The author opts in to see everyone’s, then narrows to one reviewer at a time. No one’s opinion anchors anyone else’s.
Beta readers are invisible to each other
In a round, readers get no roster, no count, and no names. Only the author submits pages. Independent readers do not contaminate each other’s reactions, and a reader’s notes stay between them and the author.
Two modes for a group
Read together is a live read-aloud session with a soft pages-per-reader guideline. On your own time has no session and no clock. One-on-ones and beta rounds are always on your own time.
Passwordless, roster-based
Sign in with a six-digit email code. A Lead invites by email, and the invite binds when that address signs in. No passwords, no links to manage.
Mark in two taps
Tap the line, then the tag. Rejoin the read.
Only your marks
A clean copy each. No anchoring bias.
Your IP, protected
Readers can’t copy the page. Only invited readers get in.
Not on the page, on purpose
No AI reads or summarizes anything. No editing of the manuscript inside the app. No web reader. Writers’ eyes only, on the phone your readers already carry.
Free for writers and circle members. Paid parts are free during the beta.