There are three ways to make an iPhone read text out loud: Speak Selection (read highlighted text), Speak Screen (read the whole screen with a two-finger swipe), and a read-aloud app such as Readwalk for long articles, PDFs and pages. The first two are built into iOS and free. Here's how to set each up and when each one is the right choice.
1. Speak Selection: read the text you highlight
Best for: a sentence or paragraph.
- Open Settings › Accessibility › Spoken Content.
- Turn on Speak Selection.
- In any app, select text and tap Speak in the menu that appears.
2. Speak Screen: read everything on the screen
Best for: a short web page or email you're looking at right now.
- Open Settings › Accessibility › Spoken Content.
- Turn on Speak Screen.
- Swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers. A small controller appears with play, pause, skip and speed.
You can also say "Hey Siri, speak screen". Under Voices, you can download higher-quality "Enhanced" and "Premium" versions of Apple's voices, which sound noticeably better than the defaults.
Limits: Speak Screen reads what's on screen, including menus and buttons. It's built for quick reads, so it isn't the best fit for an hour-long listen with your phone locked in your pocket.
3. A read-aloud app: for long listening
Best for: articles, newsletters, PDFs, book pages, and anything you want to listen to on a walk or commute.
A dedicated app like Readwalk adds what the built-in tools don't:
- Natural, human-sounding voices that are comfortable for long sessions.
- A library of everything you've saved, with your place remembered.
- Clean text: articles without navigation, PDFs without pinch-and-zoom.
- Pocket playback: lock your phone, keep listening, and move on to the next item automatically.
- Camera scanning for printed pages.
To use it: tap Share › Readwalk in Safari, Mail or Files, or paste a link, then press play.
Getting the most out of any of them
- Pick a better voice. Whichever method you use, the voice decides whether you keep listening. Try a few before you settle.
- Find your speed. Start at normal speed and nudge it up after a few sessions. Most people are comfortable between 1.25× and 1.5× within a week.
- Use headphones for long sessions. You'll hear more clearly outdoors, and the controls on your earbuds let you pause without taking out your phone.
- Clean up before you listen. Copying just the article text, rather than a whole page, avoids hearing menus, cookie notices and captions.
Which should you use?
| You want to... | Use |
|---|---|
| Hear one paragraph | Speak Selection |
| Hear the page in front of you | Speak Screen |
| Get through articles and PDFs on a walk | A read-aloud app |
Frequently asked questions
Can Siri read a web page to me?
Yes. With Speak Screen turned on, say "Hey Siri, speak screen" on the page you want read.
Why does my iPhone's voice sound robotic?
The default voices are compact. In Spoken Content › Voices, download an Enhanced or Premium voice, or use an app with neural voices.
Can my iPhone read a PDF aloud?
Speak Screen can read the visible page of a PDF. For a whole document, a reader app like Readwalk reads straight through. See reading PDFs aloud.
