Text to speech on iPad
Text to speech (TTS) is an assistive technology that can read any text on your iPad aloud. This tool is available for tablet users through built-in and third-party apps whether or not the VoiceOver is on.
Here’s everything you need to know about manipulating TTS on your favorite tablet to get the most out of its features.
Multiple ways for TTS on iPad
Your iPad can read selected text or content across the screen out loud.
You can also get feedback from your iPad and have it say the text suggestions and corrections as you type. This is a great way to get additional style- and spelling-related assistance while working.
The best part about text to speech is that it takes a few tweaks in the Accessibility settings to activate the feature. Here’s how you can set it up on your iOS device:
Change speech settings
The first step is to change your device’s default settings for speech.
- Navigate to your tablet’s Settings from the home screen.
- Go to “Accessibility,” then move to “Spoken Content.”
Below is an overview of the settings you can change related to spoken content:
Speak selection
Speak selection will allow you to hear the text you select. To activate it, click on the “Speak” button.
Speak Screen
If you wish to hear your entire screen, swipe down using two fingers, from the top of the screen to the bottom. You can use the Speak Screen feature to read a large text anytime.
Speech Controller
You can have easy access to the speech control features. The controller can show on your home screen so you can have the “Speak on Touch” and “Speak Screen” functionality at hand.
Highlight Content
Have your iPad highlight words or sentences as it reads them. Having your iPad highlight text as it reads allows you to follow along and locate the section in question faster if you have to look away from the screen.
The iPad lets you change the style and color of the highlight for a more personalized experience.
Typing Feedback
There are plenty of helpful typing feedback options as well. You can tweak this setting for the external keyboards and onscreen feedback for every character, word, sentence, auto-correction, or auto-capitalization. You can also enable typing predictions.
Allow the typing predictions by going to “Settings,” then “General,” then “Keyboards,” and turning on the “Predictive” toggle.
Voices
You can choose from various voices and dialects for a more customized experience.
Speaking Rate
Drag the slider to adjust the speaking rate. You can change the speed according to your needs or preferences to achieve maximum productivity.
Pronunciations
The pronunciations feature allows you to spell out or use dictation to tell the iPad how to pronounce specific phrases.
Hear iPad Speak
You have multiple options to hear your iPad speak. For example, if you use Siri, you can say “Speak screen” to your speaker.
If you don’t use Siri, you can do any of the following:
Hear a piece of text
Manually select a piece of text and press the “Speak” option that appears in the onscreen options menu.
Hear the entire screen
To hear the entire screen, use two fingers to swipe down from the top of the screen. You can use the controls to adjust the speaking rate further or pause speaking.
Hear typing feedback
If you have the typing predictions feature turned on, you can use it by touching and holding each word as you start typing.
Alternative: Speechify
The text to speech feature on the iPad is excellent, but it still has numerous limitations. This is especially true for iOS and macOS (iPhone, iPad, Mac) users. Luckily, there is an alternative called Speechify.
Speechify is among the best text to speech apps on the market and is available for free. You can try it out if you love reading articles or could use help reading written content out loud.
Download the app from App Store
Speechify is available on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. The Apple Watch version is still not available, but there are other alternatives you can try for TTS. One such example is Voice Dream Reader.
You can download the Speechify app from App Store. Install it on your device, allow the necessary permissions, and you can start to use text as a tool for creating narrations or audio files.
Use Speechify to read Safari
Speechify can read aloud any web page on Safari. The simple accessibility feature lets you adjust the reading speed, choose different voices, and more.
You can use Speechify as an extension on your Safari browser or download the app to your iPhone or iPad and read Safari from there. Give the app permission to read your web pages and you’ll be good to go.
Use Speechify to read e-mails, pdfs, and more
Speechify is a text to speech software that can read any text (web pages, e-books, e-mails, etc.) in different voices and languages. Have a document on your iCloud you never have time to read? You can have Speechify read it to you while commuting to work.
How to get started with Speechify
Speechify is a free app anyone can use. Download the software on your iPad or install it as an extension on Safari to enjoy its features.
Find more information about the service or download the app by visiting the official website.
FAQ
What is the name of the app that is used to have the iPad read out loud to you?
Speechify is a third-party app that lets your iPad read out loud. You can also use VoiceOver and tweak the Accessibility settings on your iPad to activate text to speech functionality.
What is the cost of text to speech on iPad?
Text to speech is a free feature. Some third-party apps offer premium versions for advanced features, but you are not required to purchase them.
What is a free app to read aloud text?
Speechify and Voice Dream Reader are two examples of free apps that can read texts aloud.
What is the process of converting text to speech?
Text to speech is an assistive technology tool that uses artificial intelligence. It allows you to read any text from the screen out loud. Voices in TTS are actually computer voices. Sometimes, they can read text from the images as well.
