Questions & Answers

Helperbird is a browser extension that makes reading and writing on the web easier. It adds text to speech, dyslexia-friendly fonts, color overlays, reading rulers, Immersive Reader, a PDF reader, voice typing and more to any website, PDF or Google Doc. It is built for dyslexia, ADHD, low vision, and anyone who finds the web hard to read.

Helperbird works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari as a browser extension. There is also an iPad and iPhone app, and on Android it runs inside Firefox and Edge. Because it is a Chrome extension, it works on Chromebooks and ChromeOS too.

Open your browser's extension store, search for Helperbird, and choose Add to Browser. The Helperbird icon then appears in your toolbar, and clicking it opens the panel. Nothing else needs setting up, and the free features work straight away without an account.

Yes. Helperbird has a free version that stays free, covering fonts and spacing, color overlays, dark mode, high contrast, text to speech, Immersive Reader, Reading Mode, the dyslexia ruler, reading guide, magnifier, translate, dictionary and the PDF reader. Pro adds natural voices, writing tools and the AI features.

No. The free features work as soon as you install it, with no sign-up. You only log in if you buy Pro or your school gives you a license, and then you sign in with your browser's email account or enter your subscription key in Settings.

Yes. Install the Helperbird add-on for Google Docs and Slides from the Google Workspace Marketplace, which brings text to speech, Immersive Reader and the reading tools into the document itself. Helperbird also supports Google Classroom and Google Forms.

Yes. There is a Helperbird app for iPad and iPhone, and a Safari extension so the tools work while you browse. Your settings sync across the devices you are signed in on, so the fonts and colors you set on a laptop follow you to the tablet.

Yes. Helperbird is a Chrome extension, so it installs on ChromeOS the same way it does on desktop Chrome. Schools can also push it to managed Chromebooks through the Google Admin Console, so students get it without installing anything themselves.

Helperbird is translated into more than 65 languages and follows whatever language your computer or browser is set to, so there is nothing to change in the extension. If a student's Chromebook is set to Spanish, Helperbird appears in Spanish automatically.

Click the Helperbird icon in your browser toolbar to open the panel, then pick the tool you want. You can also turn features on with keyboard shortcuts, and there is a search box in the panel for finding a feature by name rather than hunting through the sections.

Yes. Select any text, right-click and choose Play from the Helperbird menu, or use the play button in the Helperbird panel. Words are highlighted as they are read so you can follow along. Text to speech is free; Pro adds natural voices that sound closer to a human reader.

Yes. The PDF reader is free, including opening files, text to speech with your device's voices, text boxes and downloads. Pro adds drawing, highlighting, voice typing, grammar and the advanced reading and AI tools.

Yes, that is what it was built for. It includes dyslexia-friendly fonts such as OpenDyslexic and Lexend, adjustable letter, word and line spacing, a dyslexia ruler, a reading guide, line focus, color overlays to reduce visual stress, and text to speech with word highlighting. All of these are in the free version.

Helperbird includes dyslexia-friendly fonts such as OpenDyslexic and Lexend, and lets you apply any custom font you prefer. You can also change font size, letter spacing, word spacing, line spacing, text alignment and line width, since spacing often helps reading more than the typeface itself does.

Immersive Reader is Microsoft's reading view, built into Helperbird. It strips a page back to just the text, reads it aloud, breaks words into syllables, highlights parts of speech such as nouns and verbs, and translates content. Select text, right-click and choose it from the Helperbird menu. It is free.

Reading Mode clears a page of ads, sidebars and clutter so you can read it in place with your own fonts and colors. Immersive Reader opens a separate Microsoft reading view with syllable breaks, parts of speech and translation. Both are free, and which you want depends on whether you need a cleaner page or extra reading support.

Yes. Open Helperbird, find Color overlay in the dyslexia support section, turn it on and choose a color. It tints the page to reduce visual stress and glare, which many people with visual stress or Irlen-type symptoms find helps. You can also set highlight, text, background and link colors separately.

The dyslexia ruler is a horizontal bar that follows your reading position so you do not lose your line. Turn it on in the dyslexia support section, and adjust its height, color and whether it tracks your cursor. Helperbird also has a reading guide and a line focus mode that dims everything except the line you are on.

Yes, with Pro. Voice typing lets you dictate into text fields on the web instead of typing. Pro also adds word prediction, spell check and grammar support, sticky notes and a document editor, which together cover most of the writing side rather than just reading.

Yes, with Pro. Word prediction suggests the next word as you type, which cuts down effort and helps with spelling. It sits alongside the other Pro writing tools: voice typing, spell check, grammar support, sticky notes and the document editor.

Yes, with Pro. Summarize condenses a long page into its main points, and Simplify text rewrites dense wording into plainer language. Only the text you select is sent for processing, personal details are stripped on the device first, and the AI subprocessor operates under Zero Data Retention.

Yes, with Pro. Screenshot Reader captures part of the screen and pulls the text out of it, so you can read scanned documents, images and locked PDFs. It handles maths as well as text. Where your browser supports on-device recognition, that step stays entirely local.

Yes, with Pro. The maths reader reads equations aloud, and Screenshot Reader can pull maths out of an image. There is also an equation editor for writing maths yourself, which helps when a worksheet or exam paper is not accessible to a normal screen reader.

Yes, and it is free. Helperbird includes translation and a dictionary, so you can translate selected text or look up a word without leaving the page. Immersive Reader also has translation built in if you prefer reading in that view.

Yes, both, and both are free. Helperbird can apply dark mode, high contrast, greyscale and saturation control to any site, hide images and GIFs, reduce motion, enlarge the cursor and highlight links. These work on sites that have no dark mode of their own.

Yes. Helperbird has color blindness support that adjusts how a page renders, plus saturation and contrast controls. It can also show image alt text and link descriptions on the page, which helps when a site relies on color alone to make a distinction.

Yes, and it is free. The page magnifier enlarges part of the screen as you move around it, and you can increase cursor size and font size separately. Pro adds word spotlight, which dims the page around the word being read.

Yes, more than 35 of them. On Mac they use Option plus a key, and on Windows and Linux Alt plus Shift plus a key. They are turned off by default so they do not clash with a website's own shortcuts. Examples include Option and full stop to toggle Helperbird, Option and R for Reading Mode, and Option and S for a sticky note.

Yes. Settings sync when you are signed in, so the fonts, colors and spacing you set on one machine carry over to another. You can also pause Helperbird on a site without losing your setup, and use quick actions to switch between the tools you use most.

Yes, and both are free. Helperbird can change video playback speed and boost volume beyond a site's own maximum, which helps when a lecture recording is quiet or is being spoken too quickly to follow.

Helperbird Pro is $35 USD a year with our standing offer, or you can pay monthly. Prices are shown in your own currency on the pricing page, and every plan starts with a 3-day free trial.

Pro adds natural voices for text to speech, the writing tools (voice typing, word prediction, spell check, grammar, sticky notes and the document editor), the AI tools (summarize, simplify, text highlighter and text statistics), Screenshot Reader, the maths reader and equation editor, advanced PDF annotation tools such as drawing and highlighting, a reading list, a notes manager, word spotlight and priority support.

The free version keeps all the fonts and spacing controls, color overlays and page colors, dark mode, high contrast, greyscale and other display settings, text to speech with word highlighting, Immersive Reader, Reading Mode, the dyslexia ruler, reading guide, line focus, auto-scroll, magnifier, translate, dictionary, screenshot and the PDF reader.

Yes, every paid plan starts with a 3-day free trial, so you can use the Pro features before you are charged. The free version has no time limit at all, so you can also just keep using that if the free tools cover what you need.

The Unlimited plan is 1,500 US dollars a year and covers everyone in the school or organization, with license management, deployment through Google Admin Console or Microsoft Intune, forced installation, JSON policy configuration, control over which features are enabled, usage analytics and onboarding. Prices show in your own currency on the pricing page.

Yes. Schools, universities and organizations can buy Helperbird on a purchase order and be invoiced rather than paying by card. The purchase order page walks through what is needed and how to send it, and quotes can be provided in advance for budgeting.

Yes. If Helperbird is not right for you, contact support within 30 days of purchase for a full refund. Because there is also a 3-day free trial, most people find out before any money is taken at all.

Contact support and your subscription will be cancelled, or manage it through the billing portal linked from your purchase receipt. Cancelling stops any future renewal, and you keep the Pro features until the period you have already paid for runs out, then drop back to the free version.

A Pro license follows you rather than a single machine, so you can sign in on the browsers and devices you use, including the iPad and iPhone app. Your settings sync between them. Organizations on the Unlimited plan manage licenses centrally instead.

Browsers block extensions from running on a few protected pages, including the extension store, the browser's own settings pages and new tab pages, so Helperbird cannot load there. Try the same tool on an ordinary website first. If it fails there too, refresh the page, since Helperbird needs to load with the page.

Check your system volume and that the tab is not muted, since browsers mute tabs individually. Make sure you have selected text before pressing play. If natural voices are silent but the standard voices work, confirm you are signed in, because natural voices are a Pro feature and need an active subscription.

Browsers often hide extension icons behind a puzzle-piece or extensions button in the toolbar. Open that menu, find Helperbird and pin it so it stays visible. If it is not listed at all, the extension may have been removed or disabled, and reinstalling it from your browser's store will bring it back.

Settings sync when you are signed in on both devices, so check you are logged in with the same account in each browser. Settings are stored in the browser's own storage, so clearing browsing data or using a private window can also reset them.

The visual tools work offline. Fonts, color overlays, spacing, reading rulers, screen masking and highlighting are applied locally with no network request at all. Features that rely on a service, such as natural voices, translation and the AI summarise and simplify tools, need a connection.

Shortcuts are turned off by default so they do not clash with the shortcuts a website already uses. Turn them on in Helperbird's settings first. Remember the modifier differs by platform: Option plus a key on Mac, and Alt plus Shift plus a key on Windows and Linux.

Pause Helperbird on that site rather than uninstalling it, which leaves your settings intact and lets it keep working everywhere else. If a specific tool is the problem, turn just that feature off. Reading Mode and Immersive Reader in particular can conflict with other reader extensions applying their own layout.

Email support with the browser you are using, the page it happened on and what you expected to happen, which is usually enough to reproduce it. Every plan includes email support, and Pro and Unlimited add priority support, with phone support, one-to-one onboarding and training workshops for organizations.

Your settings, notes and highlights are stored locally in your browser rather than on a server. The extension uses no cookies, no analytics and no third-party tracking scripts. The visual features never make a network request at all, and for the AI tools only the text or image you selected is sent, with personal details stripped on the device first.

Helperbird is aligned and compliant with FERPA, COPPA and GDPR, the major US state student-privacy laws including New York Education Law 2-d, California SOPIPA, Texas, Utah, Illinois SOPPA and Connecticut, and the HIPAA Business Associate model for its subprocessor chain. A standard Data Privacy Agreement is published, and the compliance pages set out the detail.

Helperbird is built against WCAG 2.1 AA and WCAG 2.2, and its accessibility statement sets out where it stands and how to report a barrier. It is designed to work with the assistive technology people already use rather than replacing it, so it sits alongside a screen reader rather than fighting it.

Yes, on the Unlimited plan. Helperbird can be pushed through the Google Admin Console or Microsoft Intune, force-installed so students do not have to add it themselves, and configured with JSON policy. Administrators can manage licenses, control which features are available and see usage analytics.