# Listening: Text to Speech — user reviews > 236 indexed App Store user reviews of Listening by The Listening App Inc., rated 4.40/5 from 1,310 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/listening-text-to-speech/id1635430768/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/listening-text-to-speech/id1635430768.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 978 · 4★ 115 · 3★ 81 · 2★ 47 · 1★ 89 ## What do users think of Listening? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🚀 Easy to use - 👍 Clear and natural-sounding voice - 📚 Helpful for academic papers and articles - 🚶‍♀️ Convenient for listening on-the-go - 🔖 Skips citations and formatting - 🧠 Game-changer for students and researchers **Cons** - 🐛 Buggy PDF conversion - 🔀 Jumbles paragraphs and sentences - 🔢 Struggles with technical terms and numbers - 💰 Expensive subscription - 🔒 Difficult to cancel subscription - 📂 Lacks organizational features like folders **Commonly reported bugs** - Frequent app crashes - Inconsistent performance across PDFs - Login and password reset issues - Unexpected charges after cancellation - Inability to delete or manage uploaded files **Most requested features** - Multiple voice options - Ability to edit and annotate text - Improved section detection and navigation - Offline mode for downloading content - Better integration with cloud storage - More affordable pricing options ## Newest reviews (17 of 236) ### 3/5 — Log in issues *2026-07-14, version 5.3.1* Speech is great and affordable! However it logs you out too often, which is especially a pain on desktop ### 2/5 — It worked Great Until it didn’t work at all! *2026-03-15, version 4.0.19* Going to school and having to read 3-4 professional article a week this was great. And then nothing blank screen, won’t open, or when it did couldn’t access my drive to upload a new article. And now nothing nothing. Year subscription and can’t do anything about it! And boy do I feel silly cause I must have referred 20 people to this app before it went bad! ### 2/5 — Barely usable *2026-03-04, version 4.0.14* App does not perform properly with basic functions. Hit or miss with actually converting to audio. Then the obstacle course to actually go through with subscription cancellation is just scam tactics. I always think of my grandparents with things like this - hoping they never sign up for these manipulative platforms 😔 ### 4/5 — A very disappointing experience for a paid product *2026-02-18, version 4.0.14* I was auto-renewed, and my account clearly showed an active paid subscription on the website. However, when I tried to use a basic premium feature—1.5× playback speed—the app claimed I was not on a premium plan. Customer service was unavailable during the advertised support hours. After some time, I was told that a support ticket had been opened. After I submitted my review, customer service contacted me and informed me that my subscription had actually expired. I was mistaken in assuming my plan was active because the website still shows my subscription as active. Based on this update, I am revising my review. ### 2/5 — It crashes whenever I try to log in *2026-01-29, version 4.0.14* The technology itself is great, the app glitching is infuriating. So far I’m tied to my laptop because it has yet to work on my phone. As soon as I log in, it starts to load my account (I can usually see it for a half second) and the flashes back to the front page with the message “subscription required.” Since I have a subscription and it’s clearly even starting to load, this is very annoying. ### 2/5 — Glitchy and no support *2026-01-29, version 4.0.14* This ap is incredibly glitchy, periodically does not open at all and frequently has errors in uploading simple documents. Not worth the money. ### 2/5 — Very Upsetting *2026-01-05, version 3.2.47* I payed for a year to help me learn with my schooling. It currently skips and doesn't register many lines and words. I tried to put in a help request online and it didn't even give a button to send it once you were done filling it out. ### 1/5 — Recurring subscription charges despite cancellation *2025-12-17, version 3.2.43* My experience with listening has been horrible. I downloaded this app to be able to listen to papers but the interface is so horrible to use it was not practical for me. So I cancelled it. But I was charged a yearly subscription. I contacted them and they said it’s canceled but the charge can’t be refunded. But this year again I have been charged. Save all ur communications with them. This app is predatory. ### 1/5 — Scam - Billed for 2 subscriptions *2025-11-30, version 3.2.43* I was charged for an annual AND monthly subscription, and was not given a full refund, so ended up having to pay nearly $200 for 6 months ### 1/5 — I don’t know why this app is rated so highly. *2025-11-11, version 3.2.43* The app is mediocre. They say there is a free trial but it is not true. I feel like I got bamboozled into paying for a very mediocre product. The app is extremely slow to convert text to audio. In-line citations are always skipped, which is a problem when the citation is part of the sentence. It takes multiple steps to save scanned pages and convert to audio, each step takes a long time, and if you accidentally click away during any of those steps, you have to start over and re-scan the pages. This is, of course, very frustrating. Some text in the pages I scanned were entirely skipped. The stuff that was skipped was entirely legible and sandwiched by text that were converted to audio with no problem. ### 1/5 — Pretty useless *2025-11-07, version 3.2.43* The phone app doesn’t actually play anything. It just spins and spins and spins forever. The desktop app will actually play sometimes, but I could just use the free built in reader in Edge for that. I bought this app so I could listen on the go. What a scam. ### 1/5 — always bug *2025-11-05* After I have purchased, only once worked, after that always return to purchase page!!! **Developer response:** Hello, Brazildoc. That definitely shouldn’t happen, especially after you’ve already purchased. We’ve released fixes since then to improve purchase recognition and prevent this loop. If you try the latest version and still see this, please contact support@listening.com so we can check your account and help right away. ### 1/5 — ? *2025-10-23, version 3.2.37* Useless app considering it won’t upload PDFs. Starts uploading ever so slowly and then hangs at 90%. Website works though. ### 4/5 — Good App *2025-10-12, version 3.2.37* Great, but it’s only missing input by copied text. Similar to what Natural Reader and Notebook LM has. ### 1/5 — Worked for about a day *2025-09-24, version 3.2.32* I liked this app at first, but after a while it became so so glitchy and unusable. I could only access the website, which also stopped working after a while. Documents wouldn't load, it would shut down and lose my place, and the app especially wouldn't use the voice I selected. Even through all of this, it still prompts me to pay more ### 1/5 — Don’t Buy App! *2025-09-04, version 3.2.32* This application is VERY buggy. I can’t import any files or books for reading. No response from customer service and no refund after getting a 1 year subscription. DON’T BUY!!! ### 4/5 — I like it! *2025-09-04* The voices sound natural and gladly I dont find myself adjusting the margins of the documents every so often, cause the app selects automatically the actual text, not adidtional things around the page. Something that does bug me though is that every now and then it just stops the audio with no apparent reason. But other than that works great. **Developer response:** Thanks so much, Isabela E — we’re really glad you’re enjoying the voices and the text detection, that means a lot to hear. Sorry about the audio stopping issue you ran into; we’ve made improvements since then to make playback more reliable. If you notice it again, feel free to contact us at support@listening.com and we’ll gladly help. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Update Cancelled my Subscription *2026-03-23, version 4.1.3* I paid for a year-long membership but after updating the app, it says I no longer have a subscription and it’s asking me to pay again. Scam ### 1/5 — iOS app is useless. Only the web app works *2026-03-20* I upload a file from the iOS app. The uploader just keeps spinning. And nothing shows up on the iOS app. Then I check the web app and only there I see the audio. When I come back to iOS app, nothing is synced between web app and iOS app. Pretty much a useless app. Need to get my money back. **Developer response:** Hi Thyag Sundaramoorthy! We’re really sorry for the frustration, that’s definitely not the experience we want you to have. We’ve recently released an update that fixes syncing and upload issues. Please try uninstalling and reinstalling the app, everything should be working now. If not, reach out to us at support@listening.com and we’ll help right away. ### 1/5 — Not worth the money, only white voices?? *2026-02-28, version 4.0.14* I was deciding between this and speechify, and I did end up going with listening because of the lower price. Speechify was appealing because of its celebrity voices, which would be familiar and more theatrical readers, but I figured that was something I could give up. Listening has many voices to choose from- but turns out I’m not a huge fan of any of them. Exclusively white profiles, all American accents plus a few British. Thought that was pretty weird, and disappointed I didn’t notice that before I bought my subscription. The voices are alright but honestly still a bit too robotic for my liking. Horrible pronunciation of any non English words, I was mostly using the app for my readings in my Modern Art in Mexico class, and the pronunciation of Spanish words was just awful. Not to mention it would always read the words at the header of every page, usually the title and author of the article, which was annoying. Besides that, the app is alright, easy to import PDFs and quick to upload. I do regret the purchase though, wish I spent a little bit more on speechify instead. ### 1/5 — Fake issue* off line *2026-02-24, version 4.0.14* Several months the app started crashing and started working weird. It said that it is an “off line, please reconnect and try again”, that files taken forever to upload and get stock at 90%. Don’t waste your time and money ### 1/5 — Do NOT purchase!!!!!! *2026-02-19, version 4.0.14* One of the buggiest apps I’ve ever used. Somehow worked fine until I got the subscription. It crashes constantly so I’ve repeatedly had to delete and redownload. Randomly pauses as it’s reading, even if you download the document, but it keeps going as soon as you click the next word so clearly it’s not a buffering issue, just a bug. It takes forever to upload documents (if it works at all, which it doesn’t always). No way to stop it from reading the header of each page so you hear the title of the book or article every page. No way to fix mispronunciation, you can flag it but nothing happens so you’ll hear the same word or name mispronounced over and over. Just avoid at all costs. ### 1/5 — A very disappointing experience for a paid product *2026-02-11, version 4.0.14* I was auto-renewed and my account clearly shows an active paid subscription on their website. Yet when I try to use a basic premium feature — 1.5x playback speed— the app claims I’m not on a premium plan. Their customer service is offline during advertised hours. Eventually I was told that a ticket had been opened. ### 1/5 — This app is a headache now! *2025-12-21, version 3.2.45* This app recently became a headache. It doesn’t work at all. This is my fourth time deleting it and reinstalling back so that I can fix the problem and to get use it. But after each time, it stopped working as you open it. There is nothing but a white screen. I have annual subscription and has been using it for years. But currently it’s so frustrating… ### 1/5 — App regularly breaks *2025-12-21, version 3.2.45* Don’t get bamboozled. I need a screen reader for my dyslexia and had hoped AI would make things easier with more life like voices. I got sucked into their 12 month plan only to discover the app regularly had to be deleted and reloaded because it’ll just stop working. Major aspects of the UI don’t work, specifically when trying to upload documents. Why does it keep failing to upload after 30%? Not a clue. Why does it work on my iPhone but not my iPad when it’s the same app? Smh ### 1/5 — Blank Screen *2025-12-19, version 3.2.45* I love this app, but lately it has been giving only a blank screen. It’s as if it’s irreversibly crashed. I have to go to an internet app to go to the Listening website to listen to my materials. I recently paid for the year subscription, and honestly, that’s where the app started being inoperable for me. I submitted a help ticket but haven’t received a response yet. ### 1/5 — FIX THE UPDATE *2025-12-18, version 3.2.45* I just did the latest update and now the app doesn’t even work? I open it and it’s just a black screen??? i’ve uninstalled in and reinstalled it and restarted my phone ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Cool *2026-03-31, version 4.1.6* Cool ### 5/5 — Are you listening? *2026-03-27, version 4.1.6* If not, then you should be. I have tried several similar apps, but always come back to this one. It’s super intuitive and is a joy to use. The people behind it are great and so is the apps future, it’s only going to get better! The developer is constantly honing and improving what by any standard is already a killer app! Their customer service is second to none also! ### 5/5 — Great for listening to research papers *2025-12-22, version 3.2.45* Love this app been super convenient to listen to papers I’ve been interested in. Been having to this past week delete and redownload it because of some losding issue. Send me to a blank screen. Could be I need to update my phone. But the app itself has veen a blessing for what I’m able to do with it. ### 5/5 — UPDATE: CEO answered me on LinkedIn! *2025-07-18, version 3.2.14* Still working on sorting out the issue, but messaging the CEO got real action on the problem in 15 minutes. I'm satisfied. Original review: I used the "download" feature of the app while in a poor coverage area. It got stuck at "waiting to download," which persists even after deleting all data and reinstalling the app. I contacted support twice and got no response. I'm hoping a one-star review gets the devs' attention. This is ultimately a niche product, catering to a cohort of people prepared to listen to dense academic text. You can't afford to alienate us by ignoring our issues. ### 5/5 — Good App. Good Price. Feature requests… *2025-05-19, version 3.2.14* I like to listen to nonfiction articles and sometimes academic papers with a strong humanities and social sciences bent. So far it is serving it’s purpose well with a fair yearly price point. The price point compared to competitors was one of the deciding factors for me. Some features I would recommend to enhance user experience: on conversions of online articles keep the source url accessible after conversion. Also, enhance search capabilities. Can the content in addition to titles be searchable? For notes as well? thank you ### 5/5 — Good *2025-04-13, version 3.1.9* Good ### 5/5 — Monthly subscription. *2025-02-05, version 3.0.71* I love this app, but it will be nice to have a monthly subscription instead. Sometimes I could be away for few months snd wouldn’t need to use the app. Please look into this. Thanks ### 5/5 — The best TTS app right now *2025-02-05, version 3.0.71* I tried a lot of text-to-speech apps before finding listening. From the purpose of reading academic books or papers it takes the top spot. It reliable skips footnotes and other content I do not want read out, and this cannot be said for other apps. I’m impressed. ### 5/5 — Reads better than Speechify *2025-01-08, version 3.0.54* I test drove both Speechify and Listening, and while I loved some of the ease of use features Speechfiy has, ultimately the narration is so terrible, even the voice of Snoop Dogg couldn’t win me over. Listening.io does a fantastic job of reading aloud well, with fewer errors or confusion points than Speechify. Soeechify struggles with words with like reality, and Listening does not. I also love Listening’s note taking feature. It does a great job of mirroring sections so you can navigate between them, which is perfect. That said, there are many usability features that would make the app even better: things like connection with other apps like GoogleDrive, OneDrive, iCloud, PaperPile, Scribd (which has lots of PDFs), etc. I would also love a better interface between web and app, so I can rename items I upload via web without having to jump into the app to try to figure out what has happened. Edited early 2025 to add: still love this app, and much prefer it to Speechify. ### 5/5 — Solo conseguí cargar uno arquivo *2024-11-24* Vean la aplicación, solo cargué uno arquivo, ahora não carga más ninguno! **Developer response:** Hi Leandro, We’re sorry to hear about the trouble you’ve had loading files. We’ve recently improved our file upload system, so please ensure you’re using the latest version of the app. If the issue persists, don’t hesitate to contact our team at support@listening.com. We’ll do our best to get this resolved quickly so you can make the most of the app! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-04.*