Aloud

How to listen to articles, PDFs and EPUB books on iPhone

Aloud reads anything you can read: a web article, a PDF, an EPUB book or text you paste. The voice is made on your iPhone, so it works offline and nothing you read is uploaded. The steps below cover each kind of text.

What Aloud reads

Articles
Share from Safari or any app
PDFs and EPUBs
Open from Files
Any text
Paste it in

  1. Install Aloud

    Download Aloud from the App Store. It runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later. The first time you press play, the voice downloads once. After that it works offline.

  2. Share an article

    Open the article in Safari or another app, tap Share, then Aloud. The article goes on your shelf without menus, ads or comments. From Safari, Aloud reads the page as you see it, so articles you are signed in to work.

  3. Open a PDF or an EPUB

    In Aloud, tap + › Import a file and pick the file, or share it to Aloud from the Files app. Scanned PDFs are recognised on the device. EPUB books keep their cover and chapters.

  4. Paste any text

    Tap + › Paste text for notes, emails or anything you copied. Paste a link takes a web address.

  5. Press play

    Open a piece and press play. The sentence being read is lit, and the rest stays dim. Hold the rail in the margin to move through the whole piece. In a book, tap Chapters in the ••• menu to start from any chapter.

  6. Set the speed

    Tap the speed button and choose anything from 0.5× to 3×. Turn on Shorten pauses to trim the silence between sentences.

  7. Lock your iPhone

    Aloud keeps reading with the screen locked. Use the lock-screen or AirPods controls, and set the Sleep timer if you listen in bed: the voice fades out at the end.

  8. Translate it, if you like

    On iOS 18 or later, tap the translate button and pick a language under Translate into. Each sentence appears with its translation, and Read the translation aloud switches the voice to the other language.

Good to know

Your place is kept

Every piece remembers where you stopped, so you can switch between an article and a book and come back to the same sentence.

Reader mode

Tap the glasses button to hide the player and read the page yourself, with your choice of font, size and paper under Appearance.

Your reading list

Saves from Pocket, Instapaper, Raindrop or browser bookmarks come in through Settings › Import from a file.

Free to try

The free shelf holds three pieces. One purchase removes the limit, and there is no subscription.

Written for Aloud 3.2, October 2026.