Learn German or English by reading
Most language apps feel like homework. Halm gives you one short, genuinely good story a day — at exactly your level — and the language slips in as you read. Tap any word to understand it; the ones worth keeping come back on their own.
Free — no subscription, no catch
No account · No servers · No tracking
iPhone · iOS 26 · German & English
The heart of Halm
Other apps recycle the same canned lessons until you’re bored. Halm writes you something new every single day — a short story made just for you, or today’s real news retold so you can actually read it. You never run out, and you never outgrow it.
Written on your iPhone
Pick what you’re into, and Halm writes you a fresh short story at your level — right on your phone. No two days the same, no cloud, no waiting. It even paints each one its own cover.
Themes you choose
From work and travel to science and culture — it writes to what you actually like.
Always at your level
Pitched to stretch you just a little, never to lose you.
Beautifully illustrated
Every story gets its own artwork, created right on your device.
Today’s real news
Halm retells today’s actual headlines at a level you can follow — real German and English about the world right now, not a textbook dialogue from 2009. Read what’s actually happening.
The news of the day
Real, current stories — retold for your level, never dumbed down.
Real sources, per language
German news for German, native English for English — not one feed translated.
Your topics
Science, culture, sport, lifestyle, tech and health.
Your daily habit
Open Halm and today is already set up for you — a story to read, a few words to review, one small goal to hit. No streak guilt, no flashing badges, no dark patterns. Just a habit that’s genuinely easy to keep.
A fresh story, at your level
Read along as it’s spoken, each word lighting up in time.
A gentle goal & streak
Encouragement, never pressure — and no manipulative gamification.
Words ready to review
The right words resurface at the right moment, so nothing slips away.
Pick up where you left off
A story waits for you mid-read — no pressure, no lost place.
Active reading
In Halm, reading is something you do — not something you stare at.
Tap to understand any word
Instant translation of any word or sentence, right where you’re reading.
Listen as you read
Hear the story and fill in the gaps — understanding built into the reading.
Little grammar nudges
Short, in-context notes that explain the tricky bits as they come up.
Spot a mistake? One tap.
Nothing’s perfect, so flagging anything that looks off takes a single tap.
Vocabulary that lasts
Every word you look up is saved for you — learned in the story you met it in, never as a random list to grind through.
Straight from your reading
The words you meet today are the words you review tomorrow.
Reviewed right before you forget
Smart spaced repetition brings each word back at just the right moment — fewer reviews, better memory.
Quick daily reviews
A couple of minutes, at your own pace, on your own device.
Read aloud
Every story can be read aloud, each word highlighting in time. Download a voice once and it works forever — entirely on your device.
Natural, word-synced narration
Warm, lifelike speech that follows the text as it plays.
Premium or standard voices
The most natural accessibility voices, or the built-in ones — your call.
Your pace
From slow and clear to full speed — turtle to hare.
Privacy by design
Most AI apps send everything you read and type to a server. Halm doesn’t — because it has no servers. The whole experience runs on your iPhone, so there’s simply nothing to collect, sell or leak.
No accounts, no servers, no tracking
Nothing about what you read or learn is ever sent away.
Everything runs on-device
Stories, pictures and translation all happen on your iPhone.
Your data stays yours
Progress syncs through your own iCloud, which Halm itself can’t read.
App Privacy
Data Not Collected
No account
Nothing to sign up for, ever.
No servers
The whole experience runs on your iPhone.
No tracking
No third-party analytics hiding in the app.
Your iCloud only
Progress syncs through iCloud — Halm can’t read it.
Accessibility-first
For a lot of people, VoiceOver or the largest text size is what decides whether an app is usable at all. So in Halm, accessibility came first — designed in from the start, not bolted on at the end.
Full VoiceOver, word by word
Each word is spoken in its own language; the whole lesson is navigable by voice.
Type as large as you need
Text scales to the largest accessibility sizes without ever clipping.
Light & dark, fully adaptive
Every surface adapts, and stays legible under Reduce Transparency and Increase Contrast.
Never meaning by colour alone
Every colour cue is paired with a shape or icon and a spoken value.
Accessibility
Supported, end to end
Languages
Halm teaches German and US/UK English today, with more on the way — and the app itself speaks your language.
Free to download. No subscription, no ads.
Most language apps charge a monthly fee. Halm runs entirely on your iPhone, so there’s no server bill to pass on — it’s simply free.
Halm vs the rest
Most language apps are cloud services with a monthly bill. Halm is a native iPhone app that keeps everything on your device.
| Halm | Most apps | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Subscription |
| Where it runs | On your iPhone | In the cloud |
| Works offline | Yes | Needs internet |
| Account | None needed | Sign-up required |
| Your data | Stays on device | Sent to servers |
| Accessibility | Designed in first | Often added later |
| Built for iOS | Natively | Cross-platform |
FAQ
Yes. Halm is free to download from the App Store, with no subscription. Because everything runs on your iPhone, there are no servers to pay for — and nothing to upsell you.
No — there’s nothing to sign up for. Open Halm and start reading. Your progress lives on your device and syncs through your own iCloud.
Yes. The whole experience — stories, pictures and translation — runs on your iPhone. There are no servers and no tracking, so there’s simply nothing about what you read or learn to collect.
German and English (US and UK) today, with more on the way. And Halm itself speaks seven languages, so you can use the app comfortably in your own.
Most are written for you on the spot, right on your iPhone, using Apple’s on-device intelligence. The rest are today’s real news, retold at your level. Either way: no cloud, no waiting.
Reading and reviewing work offline. You’ll only need a connection to download a voice the first time, and to pull in the latest news.
You read one short story a day at your level and hear it read aloud. Tap any word to understand it, and the words worth keeping come back for a quick review right before you’d forget them. The language sinks in as you go.
Accessibility came first, not last: full VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, Voice Control, captions, Dark Mode, and cues that never rely on colour alone.
An iPhone on iOS 26. Halm is built natively for the latest iOS.
Tap to flag it — every item has a one-tap report. Your flags help make the next story a little better.
Download Halm free, choose German or English, and read your first story in the next two minutes. No subscription, no catch.
Free · iPhone · iOS 26 · German & English