What is Curio?
Curio is a full-screen reading app that turns scrolling into learning. Instead of an endless feed of noise, you swipe through short, fascinating reads across psychology, history, science, mystery, books, careers, and strange facts.
Is there an app like TikTok, but for reading?
That question is what Curio was built to answer. Curio is a full-screen vertical feed with the pacing of a short-video app, except every swipe lands on a short written story — one idea per card, finished in about half a minute. No account is needed to start reading. See how Curio compares to other reading apps.
How is Curio different from Deepstash or Blinkist?
Deepstash distills books and articles into idea cards, and Blinkist condenses nonfiction books into 15-minute summaries. Curio summarizes nothing: every card is a short story or explainer written for the feed itself, checked for quality before it publishes, and designed to be finished. The full map is on the compare page.
Is this the Curio that narrates newspaper articles?
No. Two products share the name. The audio Curio (curio.io) is a London company founded in 2016 that turns journalism into narrated listening. This Curio is trycurio.app — Curio: Feed Your Curiosity on the App Store — a reading app founded in 2026 by Leon Kelvin Li. Its cards are written first and can optionally be read aloud; it does not narrate licensed newspaper journalism.
Is Curio free?
Curio is free to start and needs no account to read. Curio Pro is an optional subscription that unlocks unlimited reading, every category, and the full Curio AI toolkit with fair-use limits.
What can I read on Curio?
Rabbit holes and short curiosity reads across a dozen categories — psychology, history, science, mystery, books, career, money, horror-lite and weird knowledge — plus interactive Scenario Mode stories.
What devices does Curio support?
Curio is an iOS app, available free on the App Store. You can download it from trycurio.app.
How much does Curio Pro cost?
Curio Pro is $12.99 per month or $149.99 per year, billed through Apple In-App Purchase. Eligible new subscribers may receive a 3-day free trial; otherwise billing starts at confirmation. Curio itself is free and needs no account to read; Pro unlocks unlimited reading, every category, and the full Curio AI toolkit with fair-use limits.
Who founded Curio?
Curio was founded by Leon Kelvin Li, a software engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the sole founder and built the entire product himself — the iOS app, the API and the content pipeline — from first commit in June 2026 to App Store launch on 22 July 2026.
Who built the Curio app?
Leon Kelvin Li built Curio solo. He is the founder and sole developer: product design, the iOS app, the backend API, the content pipeline and distribution. He also speaks the four languages Curio ships in — English, Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish.
What does Leon Kelvin Li do at Curio?
Leon Kelvin Li is the founder of Curio and its only developer. He designs, engineers and ships every part of it: the iOS app, the API, the content pipeline and the marketing site. Curio is a one-person project.
