We make apps for readers and language learners.

A small studio making apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. The first one is Weaver, a book reader that can explain the passage you’re stuck on.

See Weaver About the studio

glós·sa

γλῶσσα · /ˈɣlo.sa/

noun

1.The tongue; a language.

2.A note explaining a word or passage, written in the margin of a text.

Glossa is the note in the margin.

A gloss is a short note written beside a difficult word to explain it. Readers have been leaving them in the margins of books for centuries, and we liked the idea enough to name the company after it.

Most reading apps send you somewhere else to understand what you’re reading: a dictionary, a search, a chat in another window. We’d rather keep the help in the margin, next to the text it’s about.

StatusIn development for iOS and Android. The apps run today; they just aren’t in the stores yet.

Our first app

Weaver

Stay with the book.

Weaver reads EPUB and PDF files on iPhone, iPad and Android devices, including e-ink readers. You bring your own books; it keeps them on your device, sets the type properly, and stays out of the way while you read.

The interesting part is what happens when you get stuck. Select a word, a phrase or a passage, and Weaver explains it right there on the page, using the text around it for context. You can ask for a definition, a plain explanation or a translation.

That context matters. “Out of the way” means one thing in a traffic report and another in Alice in Wonderland. A dictionary lists every meaning. Weaver tells you which one you’re looking at.

9:41
Down the Rabbit-Hole

daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!”

(when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet.

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Fig. 01 The EPUB reader. Selecting a phrase adds Weaver’s actions to the system edit menu.
  1. 01

    Explains in context

    Weaver reads the passage around your selection, so the answer fits the book in front of you. Idioms, phrasal verbs and unfamiliar names are exactly what it’s for.

  2. 02

    EPUB and PDF, done properly

    EPUB pages are typeset like a book, with your choice of typeface, size and spacing. PDFs stay exactly as their authors laid them out.

  3. 03

    A recap that won’t spoil

    Ask for the story so far and it stops at the page you’re on. Nothing past that point is sent to the model, so there’s nothing to give away.

  4. 04

    A dictionary on your device

    Optional Wiktionary packs answer quick lookups instantly and offline, with real entries shown under the explanation.

  5. 05

    Your library, your files

    Import books from any app on your phone or tablet. Highlights, notes and bookmarks stay on your device, and you can export them all as Markdown.

  6. 06

    No account, no tracking

    There’s nothing to sign up for, no ads, and no analytics. The only thing Weaver ever sends is the question you ask.

9:41
Down the Rabbit-Hole

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh dear!”

Meaning

out of the way

Here it means unusual or strange, nothing to do with blocking a path. Alice is saying it did not strike her as odd to hear the Rabbit talk. The three words behave as one expression: out, of and the way do not add up to this on their own.

Dictionary

out of the way adjective
  1. 1.Unusual; remarkable.
  2. 2.Remote; secluded.

Definitions from Wiktionary
English · CC BY-SA 4.0 & GFDLCredits and licenses

Fig. 02 The explanation sheet. The answer arrives in a sheet over the page; close it and you’re back in the book.
EPUB & PDF iOS & Android Reads offline No account

Language learning comes next.

Weaver already leans this way. Turn on its learning mode, tell it what language you speak and how far along you are, and every explanation adjusts to your level.

We’d like to go a lot further. The tools we want to build teach from real sentences in real books, where language actually lives, instead of from flashcards. That’s where the next products are headed.

More in development

ContactOne email address, read by a person.

Glossa Apps

Glossa Apps is an independent software studio. We build for iOS and Android, and we’d rather do a few things carefully than many things fast.

Contact

[email protected]

For product, business or press inquiries.

Weaver hasn’t shipped yet. If you’d like to hear when it does, write to us and we’ll let you know.