Read a story.Tell it back.Hear yourself improve.
Practice storytelling out loud. Retell a short story from memory and get a detailed report on pace, fillers, pauses, voice and story accuracy in about a minute.
Science & discovery
78out of 100
- Pace
- 142 WPM
- Fillers
- 2.1 / min
- Pauses
- 12 of 18
- Accuracy
- 6 of 7
Ease off near the ending, then let the story breathe.
How it works
Step 1: Read
Choose a curated story at your level, or paste in your own, and read it through.
Step 2: Retell
Tell it back from memory, in your own words, while your browser records.
Step 3: Review
About a minute later, read what you covered, how you sounded, and one thing to practice next.
Preparing for the Speaking test? The Part 2 Sprint gives you 30 days of Pro for one payment, no renewal.
Not affiliated with IELTS. No band scores.
What you get after every retelling
Every recording is transcribed word by word and measured on the same six dimensions, with a coach's summary and a suggested next exercise. Because the app knows the story, it checks what you said as well as how you said it. How the score is built.
- Delivery
- Your pace on a words-per-minute timeline, filler words and repetitions, strategic pauses versus hesitations, and pitch and volume variation.
- Story accuracy
- Which key points you covered, missed or changed, where you invented details, and a look at your vocabulary.
- Coaching notes
- Strengths, things to improve and moments to replay, quoted from your own words, in a warm or a direct tone.
- Focused drills
- Short exercises for pace, pitch and fillers, so you can work on one skill at a time.
- Progress over time
- Your scores across sessions, compared only with your own past attempts.
78 out of 100
Example reportClear and well paced, with room for more vocal colour.
- Pace
- 142 WPM
- Inside the 130–170 target band, with a rush near the ending
- Fillers
- 2.1 / min
- “um” ×4, “like” ×3, and one repeated “the the”
- Pauses
- 12 of 18
- Strategic pauses at sentence breaks; 6 hesitations mid-thought
- Pitch
- 7.4 st
- Healthy range; a flat stretch while recalling the middle
- Accuracy
- 6 of 7
- Key story points covered, in order; the lighthouse scene was missed
- Vocabulary
- B2
- Varied word choice; “suddenly” used five times
True stories, told three ways
Lesser-known events from history, science and beyond, written from cited sources and checked for facts. Pick your interests and the library is yours: every story starts at beginner, and telling it well opens the next level.
Not ready to sign up? Read the story library or try a free tool.
- Beginner
Turning points in history
True story
- Intermediate
Science & discovery
True story - Advanced
Courage & kindness
True story
Questions
The weights, the facts check and the story verification are written out on the methodology page.
- What is SoulfulStories?
- It is a storytelling practice app. You read a short true story at your level, retell it aloud from memory while your browser records, and about a minute later read a report on your pace, fillers, pauses, pitch, volume and story accuracy. You can also talk the story through with a live voice partner.
- Is SoulfulStories free?
- Yes. The Free plan includes 3 retelling analyses every 7 days and 1 story request a month; live voice is not included. Every new account also starts with 7 days of Pro, no card. Pro is $12 a month or $96 a year ($8 a month billed yearly) and adds 300 retellings and 120 live voice minutes a month. Lifetime is a single $199 payment with 300 retellings and 60 live voice minutes a month.
- How does the analysis work?
- Your browser records the retelling, which is then transcribed with word timestamps. Fillers, pace, pauses, pitch and volume are measured from the audio; the story's key facts and emotional beats are checked against the text you read. Every score is computed in code — delivery 35%, emotion 30%, impact 20%, craft 10%, vocabulary 5% — and a facts check caps the overall score at 59 when coverage is under 70% or a critical fact is contradicted.
- Who is it for?
- English learners who want to speak more fluently (A2–C2, with plain-English feedback and a learner pace band) and native speakers preparing a talk, an interview answer, a toast or a story for friends. You pick a speaker profile at signup, which sets the pace target and tunes the coaching.
- Does it work on my phone, and in Safari?
- Yes. SoulfulStories runs in the browser, so there is nothing to install. On an iPhone or iPad, open it in Safari and allow microphone access when asked; if you blocked it, Safari's Settings for This Website › Microphone switches it back on. On a computer, Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari all record, and a built-in or USB microphone is enough.