What are the best text-to-speech apps for Android devices? Read the full list, and discover which app may be the best choice for you.
The best text-to-speech apps for Android in 2022
At its core, a text-to-speech app (also referred to as TTS) is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an application that takes the words in a document, web pages, PDF files, or from some other file type and then read aloud the words in a synthetic voice. Text-to-speech apps are different from dictation software, in that they only turn written text into speech—you cannot speak and turn your spoken words into text.
Users employ text-to-speech apps for a wide range of reasons. Some users have visual impairments or visual disabilities and have a hard time seeing their computer screens. Others may use a TTS app to improve reading comprehension—whether they have dyslexia or are learning a new language. Others just want to improve their multitasking. Text-to-speech apps are among many new applications like Google Talkback that work to improve accessibility.
Have you been trying to Google text apps, text-to-speech apps, and apps that will talk? As an Android user, you can take advantage of many text-to-speech apps in the Google Play store!
Best text-to-speech apps for Android
Most text-to-speech software designed for the Android operating system will share several basic features, and there are many TTS Android apps. You’ll be able to translate the text on your device’s screen into voice, for example. You’ll also likely get to choose the voice you want to hear and even get to adjust the playback speed. Having said that, there are a number of important differences to be aware of between each app.
Some of the best text-to-speech apps for Android include those like the following.
1. Pocket
Pocket is a text-to-speech tool that is mainly used to read articles out loud from your Android device’s web browser. All you have to do is share an article with the Pocket app, and you’ll be able to listen to it wherever you go. It is very straightforward to use. It also acts as an aggregate for a variety of news sources including National Geographic, Harvard Business Review, and others.
2. Talk Free
Talk Free is another text-to-speech app for Android that is designed to be as simple as possible. The graphical user interface is sleek and sophisticated. The app itself can also read the content from not just websites and articles but also PDF documents and other types of content. It even has a “Speak” button that stays with you wherever you go on your Android phone, allowing you to convert text into speech with a tap of your finger. The only downside is that there is no pause button available when text is being read out loud.
3. T2S
T2S is an application that comes with a wide range of advanced features, including its own built-in web browser. For some users this may be ideal to use. Instead of loading the app and then loading a separate browser, you can convert text into speech right from the same window. T2S also highlights words as they are read aloud, which can be a great way to improve both your reading comprehension and your overall speed. T2S is available in both free and premium versions for you to choose from depending on your needs.
4. Voice Aloud Reader
Voice Aloud Reader is an application that can read nearly any text on your Android device’s screen out loud. This includes websites, emails, social media posts, PDF files and more. You can even share specific blocks of text with Voice Aloud Reader to have it converted into speech if you don’t want to deal with the entire document. You can even share WhatsApp chats for reading out loud, making it unique among the apps on this list. A playlist feature is also included so that you can have all of your text-to-speech notes read out loud at your convenience, too.
5. Narrator’s Voice
Narrator’s Voice is another popular text-to-speech app on the Android platform. This is because of the many helpful features that it offers to users, including support for multiple languages. There are also many different types of narrator voices that people can choose from depending on their preferences. Many will enjoy the fact that they can take just about any text on screen and convert it into an MP3 or MP4 file to take with them while on-the-go. The only real downside is that there are ads that break up the experience in the free version, and you have to pay to get rid of them.
6. TTS Reader
TTS Reader is one of the more advanced options on this list. It has the ability to read text out loud with all the appropriate emphasis, stresses and pauses. This creates a very natural and lifelike experience for listeners. You can also set a custom time to decrease the volume of the text-to-speech app. This is helpful if you want to listen to something while falling asleep at night, for example. TTS Reader is also one of those apps that has intrusive ads in the free version, however.
7. Speechify
Finally, we have Speechify. Speechify is by far one of the best text-to-speech apps for Android today. You can read almost any file format—including web pages, articles, PDF files, .docx files, ePub files, emails, text messages, HTML files, txt files, Google Docs, and even Dropbox files. You can then choose to export the audio as either a MP3 or .WAV file. The audio is clear and easy to understand, whether you are using a Bluetooth speaker or a headset to listen.
You can listen to content at any speed you like. Speechify even lets you read literally any book on your shelf out loud. All you have to do is use the camera on your Android device to snap a picture of a page in any book. Speechify will then read it out loud in one of its dozens of natural voices that are powered by artificial intelligence. Text highlighting also helps with reading comprehension and improving the speed you can read at, too. You can even bookmark text to come back to later.
Speechify comes with many customizable, different voices that sound like natural speech. Not only can Speechify translate text in many languages into English, the app also comes with many supported languages. It can translate from English text into dozens of languages read aloud. Gone are the days of using robotic-sounding Google translate to hear text translated. With Speechify, you can hear text from any language read out loud in a natural voice.
In addition to being compatible with Android devices, Speechify is also available for Microsoft and Apple devices, both MacOS and iOS. Whether you have a Samsung, iPad, iPhone, or a desktop computer—Speechify will work for you! The program also has Google Chrome and Safari extensions to work in your web browser. You can even use Speechify’s text-to-speech features offline.
Speechify has a completely free app, as well as a premium version that you can test out with a free trial. There are no surprise in-app purchases, and you do not have to download any other third-party apps to use it!
Other text to speech apps in the Google Play store are:
- Text to Speech TTS
- Tell Me
- TK Solution
- My Voice
- Voice Aloud Reader
- Speech Services by Google
- Neural Reader
- Speech Lab
- Natural Reader
FAQ
What is the best text to voice app for Android?
Many consider Speechify to be the number one text to voice app available for the Android operating system today. It works with a wide range of different types of content. This includes but is not limited to not just documents but also articles, PDFs, emails and more. With it, users can maximize their time and do more at once than ever before.
Which text-to-speech app is the best?
Again, Speechify is considered to be the best thanks to the wide range of advanced features it brings with it. High quality AI-powered voices can be used to listen to content up to 9x faster than the average reading speed. The voices also sound natural and human-like thanks to the power of that very same artificial intelligence.
What is the best free text-to-speech?
Speechify is the best free text-to-speech app. The premium version is also certainly worth the money due to the many advanced features for Android as outlined above. Having said that, the best free text-to-speech software makes it simple and easy to convert text files to audio files that you can listen to anywhere.
Just a few other high quality free text-to-speech options include but are not limited to ones like:
- Balabolka—A powerful, free text-to-speech software with customizable voices.
- Natural Reader—This text-to-speech reader comes complete with its own web browser.
- Panopreter Basic—This text-to-speech app lets you export in both WAV and MP3 formats.
- WordTalk—This tool can be used to add text-to-speech to your existing word processor.
- Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader—Easily convert the text from websites into speech.
Is there any free text-to-speech app?
There are many free text-to-speech apps including those from ReadLoud.net, Intelligent Speaker and Listen, to name a few. However, the best app by far is Speechify.
What is the best free text-to-speech voice?
Speechify offers the best free text-to-speech voices, which are very natural and customizable. The app comes in both a free version and also with a free trial that can be redeemed at any time. Users can try out over 30 natural, human-like voices in 15 different languages. They can also save content across devices, too.
Is there any app that can read text messages out loud?
The Android operating system actually has a native text-to-speech feature that can be used to read text messages out loud. It can be enabled by navigating to the “Settings” application and then selecting the “Accessibility” window. Then, the feature can be toggled on using the option labeled “text-to-speech output.”
Of course, this is very basic text-to-speech functionality, and it lacks a lot of the more advanced features that an app like Speechify brings with it.
Is text-to-speech app different than text-to-speech voice?
A text-to-speech app is the actual application used to read text out loud. A text-to-speech voice is the voice used by the app to play back the words on a page or in a document.
Who is the best voice for text-to-speech?
The best voice for text-to-speech will vary depending on your preferences. Speechify offers dozens of high quality voices that are high quality and natural sounding. There are also celebrity voices available like Gwyneth Paltrow.
Is there any app that can read to me?
Speechify is a text app that can read virtually any type of content you’d like on desktops, laptops and mobile devices like Android. You can change the voice, the language, the speed at which content is being read back and more.
Speechify Text to Speech Features
Snoop Dogg & Gwyneth Paltrow official and exclusive voices with more celebrity voices to come. | |
✅ Listen at any speed | Our high-quality AI voices can read up to 9x faster than the average reading speed, so you can learn even more in less time. While it isn’t easy to listen to 900 words per minute, but who are we to limit what you are capable of? Most other text to speech readers do go that fast. Try us out today. Ease into 380 words per minute and train your ears to listen faster and slowly increase the speed to as fast as you need it to be. |
🚀 Listen on desktop or mobile devices | Anything you’ve saved to your Speechify library instantly syncs across devices so you can listen to anything, anywhere, anytime. |
✅ Natural-sounding human voices | Our reading voices sound more fluid and human-like than any other AI reader so you can understand and remember more. |
🚀 Multi lingual and high quality natural sounding voices | Enjoy high-fidelity speech in 30+ languages with multiple voices. Some of the languages available are Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, & Ukrainian. |
✅ Free audio file download | With our free text to speech online converter you can type, paste, or even upload a file and convert it to speech. You can then download it as an audio file to use as a voice over or for any other applications. The premium subscritption to Speechify offers HD voices and even official celebrity voices such as Snoop Dog & Gwyneth Paltrow. |
🚀 Document upload | Have a large document you need converted to speech? No problem. Just upload it to our online text to speech app and get it converted to text within seconds. Try it in the demo, now! |
Pick Your Speechify Tribe
I have been flailing due to an eye injury on top of Lyme disease on top of long-covid and a herniated disc with neuropathy. Sitting hurts and propping a book while lying down is stressful. Anxiety over not keeping up, ADD with medication fluctuation and nystagmus of one eye, stigmatism with the other eye both before the retina injured has caused duress as an exam approaches in 35 days. I just need to get through these 500 pages and at least try the assignments. I believe this app will be the key.. thank you ever so much! It’s never too late to find a key and unlock the door to a new world!
“I have ADHD and I love to read but have piles of book that I have never touched. I downloaded this app and it has helped me read more and obtain information better for school! Love this app , I recommend it to everyone!” - JENEMARIE
“Love this app, I have eye problems and this app helps me read headache free. Plus it’s great for traders to listen to news and multitasks.” - JJJJJJMMMMMMM”
“I like Reading books but I don’t like to read at the same time this is so nice and very much correct. Totally recommend!” - Amazing use this now!!! - HALL LACKS SI USA
“I am a student who had dyslexia so is very very very helpful for me. A reading assignment that would normally take me 30+ minutes took 10! I will be using this very often.” - CHAMA NORLAND
“I’m an audible learner. Speechify helps me to comprehend readings better than I am capable of reading the text silently.” - CANDI CL
“This is probably top 5 of greatest apps ever, you can literally read alone an entire book in a day. Easily worth the cost of the app.” - TJV 34
“Excellent for comprehending medical textbooks more quickly and thoroughly!! This is awesome for keeping up with latest surgical techniques and technology. Dr. K” - IMPLANTOPERATOR
“I was dreading reading this long story but Speechify got it done now I can go ahead and take my college quiz.” - SUNCOP
“I teach visually impaired students AND students with dyslexia. This app is a huge help to all of them. Thank you for helping those who need it most!!” - ETTETWO
“I use this app to proofread before I publish chapters of my books and it works so good! 10/10 recommended.” - LOUIELEIUOL