AI gives answers.
ilmVault builds thinkers.
Turn every book into a structured thinking workout. Understand deeply, question everything, and leave with ideas that actually change what you do.
Free forever · No credit card needed · EPUB & PDF supported
Our Position
AI is making it dangerously
easy to consume information
without ever thinking about it.
of employees who use AI tools report no improvement in their thinking or creativity.
Gallup survey, cited in Harvard Business Review (Jan 2026). Research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology identifies the missing factor: metacognition — the habit of questioning, reflecting, and refining, rather than accepting AI's first answer.
Most platforms optimise for speed — faster summaries, faster answers, faster consumption. But understanding does not come from consuming more information. It comes from questioning it, analysing it, reflecting on it, and applying it.
That is why ilmVault turns every book into a structured thinking workout. You do not just read. You understand the author's ideas, analyse arguments and assumptions, reflect on what they mean for you personally, challenge viewpoints you disagree with, and leave with concrete actions.
The future belongs not to the people who consume the most information — but to the people who think most deeply about it.
The Transformation
Books that change how you think — not just what you know.
Most people finish a book and struggle to explain what they got from it. ilmVault readers finish books differently.
You become more articulate
You can explain ideas — not just recall them. The Analyse and Understand lenses force you to put complex arguments into your own words, building the kind of fluency that shows in conversations and writing.
What this looks like
Finishing a chapter with a clear summary in your own words — not just highlighted text you'll forget by tomorrow.
You make better decisions
The Challenge lens stress-tests ideas before you act on them. The Apply lens forces a concrete commitment. Together they close the gap between knowing and doing — the gap where most reading dies.
What this looks like
Leaving each session with one named action — not a vague intention to "apply this somehow."
You develop intellectual confidence
The Reflect lens connects ideas to your own experience. Over time you stop deferring to authors and start building positions of your own — grounded, defensible, genuinely yours.
What this looks like
Having a considered opinion on an author's argument — not just nodding along because they wrote a book.
This is what structured thinking practice produces — not in theory, but book by book, highlight by highlight, lens by lens.
Start your first thinking workoutFeatures
Everything your reading needs
Personal BookVaults
Upload your EPUB and PDF library. Organize books into curated, private collections. Your entire reading life — beautifully organized, always yours.
5-Lens AI Reading Coach
Five distinct coaching modes — from simple explanation to critical challenge. Highlight any passage and activate the lens that takes you deeper.
Highlights & Notes
Five built-in highlight colours — or pick any colour you like. Add inline notes, tags, and connect highlights to your AI coach. Export to CSV or Markdown.
Research Hub
Ask questions across your entire library. The AI surfaces highlights, notes, and passages — like a personal research assistant who has read every book you own.
Synced Everywhere
Pick up where you left off. Reading progress and highlights sync instantly across phone, tablet, and desktop — always in step.
Upload Anything
Drag in your collection. Up to 10 books free — unlimited with Plus. Cloud storage from 1 GB to 50 GB depending on your plan.
Bookstore
Discover books from independent creators and authors. Buy once, read forever — straight into your library.
Reading Circles
Form a reading circle with friends or colleagues. Share highlights, discuss ideas, and let the AI coach facilitate conversations across your group.
Your Reading Library
Your entire library,
beautifully organised
Upload your EPUB and PDF books. Organize them into personal BookVaults. Track reading time, streaks, and progress — all in one place.
AI Reading Coach
Five lenses. One book.
Deeper understanding.
Highlight any passage and choose a lens. The AI responds in a format built to train that specific thinking skill — not just answer your question.
Understand
Logical ThinkingEvaluate whether you actually grasp what's being claimed.
Analyse
Analytical ThinkingBreak apart arguments, uncover assumptions, find gaps.
Reflect
Reflective ThinkingConsider bias, ethics, and personal implications first.
Challenge
Divergent ThinkingExplore counterarguments before settling on a view.
Apply
Practical ThinkingTurn insight into concrete action — the step most readers skip.
Five lenses. Five thinking skills. Every book you own.
How Reflect & Challenge Work
In an age of instant AI answers, thinking for yourself is the skill worth protecting.
Every AI tool answers immediately. That's the problem. When the answer arrives before you've thought, nothing sticks and nothing changes.
ilmVault's Reflect and Challenge lenses work differently — they ask you to articulate your own thinking before the AI responds.
Research-Backed
A 2025 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (covered by Harvard Business Review) found that AI only enhances thinking for people who actively monitor, evaluate, and refine their own reasoning — rather than accepting AI's first answer.
The Reflect and Challenge lenses are built on exactly this mechanism. Before the AI responds, you think. That single habit is what separates people who grow from AI from people who become dependent on it.
Lu et al. (2026) — MIT Sloan, Rice University, Tulane University, Nanyang Technological University
“The best teachers don't give you the answer. They ask you the question that makes you discover it yourself.”
✕ Every other AI tool
You ask. AI answers instantly. You feel informed. Nothing changes.
✓ ilmVault Reflect & Challenge
You think first. AI responds to your thinking. You own it permanently.
Highlights & Research
Every highlight.
Always findable.
Five built-in highlight colours — or choose any colour you want. Each colour can represent a different reading purpose: questions, key insights, disagreements, action items, quotes.
Filter by tag or colour. Search across every highlight in a book. Export to CSV or Markdown (Plus) or PDF (Pro).
Comparison
Most AI tools help you consume information. ilmVault helps you think about it.
Kindle is a great reader with no AI. NotebookLM is a great AI tool with no library. Neither trains the analytical, reflective, and critical thinking skills that matter most when AI does everything else.
Your library stays yours
Your books, highlights, notes, and reflections are private. ilmVault is built for serious reading — not data harvesting.
No AI training on your data
Your manuscripts, highlights, and reflections are never used to train AI models. What you read and think stays between you and your books.
Encrypted cloud storage
Your uploaded books are stored securely. Delete your account and your data is gone — no retention, no archives.
Pricing
Simple, honest pricing
Start free. Upgrade when you're ready.
Launch offer — prices will increase. Lock in today's rate. Early members keep it forever.
Grandfathered pricing for early members
14-day money-back guarantee · Cancel anytime · No hidden fees
Launch pricing locked in for early members — prices will increase
Ran out mid-month? Add extra AI queries instantly — they never expire and don't reset with your monthly quota. No subscription, no commitment. Available on Plus and Pro.
For Creators & Publishers
Publish your books on ilmVault.
Reach readers who take books seriously. Every book includes the AI reading coach for your readers.
FAQ
Everything you need to know.
Getting Started
No catch. The free plan is free permanently — no trial period, no credit card required, no bait-and-switch. You get 10 books, highlights in any colour, the Understand lens, General Coach, and 1 GB of storage.
We don't put essential features behind a paywall to force upgrades. If you never upgrade, that's a valid choice we've designed for.
EPUB and PDF. Most modern ebooks from publishers come in one of these formats. If you have Kindle books (.azw3), Calibre is a free open-source tool that converts them without any technical know-how. We don't support DRM-locked formats — but most books you actually own can be brought in.
Yes. The reader, highlights, notes, and AI coach all work on phone, tablet, and desktop. Reading progress and highlights sync in real time across every device — pick up exactly where you left off, on whatever screen is in front of you.
The AI Coach
Each lens trains a specific thinking skill when you highlight any passage. Understand and General Coach are free. All five are in Reader Plus.
- Understand — Simplifies and defines terms — trains logical thinking
- Analyse — Breaks down argument and evidence — trains analytical thinking
- Reflect — Asks you questions before responding — trains reflective thinking
- Challenge — Counterarguments and blind spots — trains divergent thinking
- Apply — Concrete actions and habits — trains practical thinking
Two things. First, ilmVault holds your entire reading library — your books, highlights, and notes are context the AI already has. You don't paste in passages; you just highlight.
Second, and more importantly: ChatGPT just answers. The Reflect and Challenge lenses don't answer immediately — they ask you a question first. That single design choice is what makes the AI coach improve your thinking rather than replace it.
In the Reflect and Challenge lenses, the AI doesn't answer first. It asks you something — “Before I respond, where do you stand on this?” You write your answer, then the AI responds to that.
A 2025 study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found this is the exact mechanism by which AI enhances thinking rather than atrophies it. Most tools skip it entirely.
Free: 15 queries/month. Reader Plus: 100/month. Reader Pro: 500/month. If you run out mid-month, you can add 200 extra queries for $2.99 — one-time, no subscription, no commitment. Available on Plus and Pro.
Privacy
No. Your books, highlights, notes, and reflections are private and are never used to train any AI model — ours or anyone else's. What you read and what you think stays between you and your books.
You can export everything before cancelling — CSV and Markdown on Plus, PDF on Pro. Every highlight, note, colour, and tag you've made is yours. We don't hold your reading data hostage or make it difficult to leave.
Billing
ilmVault is in its launch phase. Current prices — $4.99/month for Plus, $9.99 for Pro — will increase as the platform grows. Subscribers who join now lock in today's rate permanently, even when prices go up for new members. It's a thank-you to the people who bet on us early.
Yes. No lock-in, no cancellation fee, no dark patterns. You keep access until the end of your current billing period. There's also a 14-day money-back guarantee — sign up, change your mind within 14 days, and we'll refund you in full.
Annual billing saves 20%. Reader Plus goes from $4.99/month to $3.99/month ($47.88/year, saving $12). Reader Pro goes from $9.99 to $7.99/month ($95.88/year, saving $24). Both plans have the same 14-day money-back guarantee.
Still have a question?
Email us at [email protected]Get started
AI gives answers.ilmVault builds thinkers.
Start with 10 books, highlights, and AI coaching — free, forever. No credit card required.