SerialectLanguage-learning stories for iPhone
Learn a language from stories written at your level.
Pick Spanish, French, German, Italian or Portuguese. A two-minute test finds the words you know, then your iPhone writes each episode of an ongoing story so about 96 in every 100 words are ones you know. The new ones are underlined, with their meanings a tap away.
One new episode a week for free, in one language. Plus is £3.49 a month or £24.99 a year.
Pick a language and a kind of story.
Spanish, French, German, Italian or Portuguese, and one of eight kinds of story, from a small-town mystery to a space station.
About two minutes to find your words.
One word at a time: Know it, or Don't know it. A few are made up, so guessing doesn't help, and you end with about how many words you know.
Or bring your own words.
Import a flashcard deck (.apkg) with its review history, or a CSV or TSV list. From a deck it keeps each word and whether you know it, and nothing else.
Every word is tested against your list.
Your iPhone's own language model writes a draft. Serialect tests each word, then rewrites the sentences that contain words you haven't met, aiming for about 96% of the words to be ones you know.
Slippers became shoes: a small detail lost, and you keep reading. It doesn't always reach the target, and when it stops short, the figure says so.
Only new words get a pencil line.
Words you're learning get a lighter one, and nothing else in the text is marked. The line at the top gives the share of words you should know.
Tap any word.
Its meaning comes up from the foot of the page, through Apple's Translation. Hear it, translate the sentence, or mark it as known.
Listen as you read.
A voice on your iPhone reads the episode with the pencil line moving under each word. Press and hold a sentence to hear it again.
- 1The Bench
- 2The Gate
- 3The Lamp on the Bridge
- 4More Sugar
- 5The Long Night
- 6Why Only Five?
- 7Lessons on a Door
- 8The Oven Door
- 9The Line on the Map
- 10The Spare Key
- 11The Clock Tower
- 12Ten Out of Ten
One story, and it carries on.
Alguien está escribiendo. Someone is writing. That's the last thing said in Episode 1, and it pulls you into the next.
Each season keeps the same people through 12 episodes, each with an ending that leads to the next. There are 20 seasons across eight kinds of story.
Read it aloud.
Read a whole episode for shadowing practice, and the iPhone follows along. Your iPhone listens, and never saves your voice.
See what the phone didn't hear.
A pencil line under each word it missed; tap one to hear it. It can miss words and it can guess, so it's a guide, with no percentage and no grade.
Your stories are written on your iPhone.
No account, and no server of ours. Your iPhone's own model writes the stories and your iPhone hears you read, so nothing reaches us unless you send it.
Choose how easy it reads, keep words out, take your words with you.
Your words come with you.
Export your words as CSV and your stories as JSON at any time, on either plan.
abrir,known,0,0,placement,,
puerto,learning,1,0,story,2026-11-03T08:12:00Z,2026-11-03T08:12:00Z
sonrisa,learning,0,1,tap,2026-11-02T08:20:00Z,2026-11-02T08:20:00Z
Eight kinds of story.
Pick the one you'd read anyway.
Easier or harder.
Set a target for each language, and the writer works towards it. A lower one leaves more new words.
Keep words out.
Never see a word again, switch off a theme's words, or tell us about a story.
Three sample stories.
Any iPhone on iOS 27 can build a word list and read them, with no Apple Intelligence.
A real free plan, and no trial to cancel.
Free
A new episode every week
- Episode 1 straight away, then one new episode every 7 days
- One language, for as long as you like
- Listen, meanings, Read back, import and export
Serialect Plus
£3.49 a month or £24.99 a year
- The next episode as soon as you finish the last
- All five languages
- Everything in Free
Plus renews automatically until you cancel it in your Apple Account. If it ends, your words and episodes stay, and a new episode comes each week.
Questions.
Which iPhone do I need?
Writing stories needs an iPhone 15 Pro or later with Apple Intelligence turned on, and iOS 27. Any iPhone on iOS 27 can build a word list and read three sample stories.
Will the story really be words I know?
The default target is about 96%, and you can set it higher or lower. Serialect tests every word, rewrites towards your target and shows the figure it reached. Some episodes fall short, and the figures are estimates.
Is it free?
The free plan gives you a new episode every week in one language, with Listen, meanings and Read back, for as long as you like. There's no trial to cancel. Plus is £3.49 a month or £24.99 a year, for the next episode as soon as you finish the last, in all five languages.
Who writes the stories?
Apple's language model, on your iPhone. They're practice stories written by AI, so they can contain mistakes, and each episode says so at its foot. They aren't a substitute for a teacher, a translator or a dictionary.
Does anything leave my phone?
Serialect has no account, no server and no analytics, so we never see your words, stories or voice. A mail you choose to send, such as Report this story, comes to us. Apple handles purchases and downloads, and your iPhone's backup follows your own settings. The privacy policy has the detail.
Can I bring my flashcard deck?
Yes, an .apkg file with its review history, or a CSV, TSV or text list. A word counts as known when a card has reached an interval of 21 days, and you can change that to 7 or 90.
Which languages does it cover?
Spanish (Spain or Latin America), French, German, Italian and Portuguese (Brazil or Portugal). The app itself and the meanings are in English.
SerialectLanguage-learning stories for iPhone