# Sandbook: Natural Voice Reader — Text to Speech, Read Aloud TTS

> On-device text-to-speech reader for documents and text with natural voices. (iPhone/iPad app by SmashMelon LLC.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sandbook-natural-voice-reader/id6745732885 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [SmashMelon LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1895995887)
- Category: Productivity, Utilities
- Price: Free (on sale, was $0.99)
- Rating: 4.70/5 from 47 App Store ratings · 20 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 429 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2025-05-18
- Data updated: 2026-08-28
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sandbook-natural-voice-reader/id6745732885/reviews.md

## What is Sandbook?

Sandbook is a realistic on-device text-to-speech (TTS) model that converts your input text into emotionally natural speech. You can use it to read ePub books, PDF, or TXT files. You can also use it to generate short speech samples and export them for further use.

Import EPUBs, PDFs, or TXT files and listen with your choice of dozens of natural-sounding voices, including British and American accents in both male and female options. Type or paste any text directly, read webpages aloud, and download audio files for on-the-go listening.

No cloud processing, unlimited usage, user-friendly interface, and complete privacy protection - everything happens right on your device.

■ FAQ

1. Why doesn't it support background/screen-off reading?
   Because it runs a large model on your device, Apple forbids apps that use high GPU/VRAM from running in the background.

2. Is it normal for my phone to heat up or sometimes even crash during use?
   Heating up is normal because the app is utilizing your device's GPU. If it crashes, this indicates that your device has low memory (3GB or less), which may happen on iPhone SE or older models.

3. What languages does Sandbook support?
   Sandbook currently supports English (US/UK) voices with both male and female options, delivering exceptionally natural pronunciation and intonation.  

4. About privacy
   All your data stays on your phone and never leaves your device.

■ Support
https://sandbook.app
support@sandbook.app

## Key features

- On-device text-to-speech
- Reads ePub, PDF, TXT files
- Type or paste text
- Read webpages aloud
- Export audio files
- Privacy protection

## Recent user reviews (10 of 20)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sandbook-natural-voice-reader/id6745732885/reviews.md

### 3/5 — Great voice, struggles with prosody

*2026-06-14*

The voice itself is great. It sounds very human. But it struggles with pronouncing certain things and where to pause in sentences and phrases.  The PDF I fed it had the word  clothing split between two lines with a between CLOTH on first line and ING on second line. It pronounced it as two words instead of one. Another example is the words great apes. It pronounced it “gray-it ai-ips.” The word laid was pronounced “lay-id.” It also pauses at the end of every line for as long as at the end of every song entrance, making the reading choppy. The funniest was when humans was split between lines as hu-mans and it pronounced it “who” pause “mans.”

Would love using the voice, if the reading flowed and pronunciation improved!

### 5/5 — Feedback

*2026-06-05*

Phenomenal, wish there was a built in dictionary too.

### 5/5 — 무료라서 좋아요..

*2026-05-17*

정말 잘 쓰고 있습니다

### 3/5 — Strange/Foreign Pronunciations 🙅‍♂️, but Human-Sounding 👍

*2026-04-23*

The speech started off sounding so surprisingly *normal*/acceptable (which is above par for local iOS TTS). And then it reached the many words in the source text that include -eight (eight, weight) instantly revealed that all voice/region variants apparently come from one distinctively unusual/foreign source.
It would be great if we could train/adopt new voices based on voice recordings (voice cloning).
Continuing to avoid using this for now.

### 5/5 — Incredible piece of software

*2026-04-13*

As per the title I’m staggered that text to speech with Kokoro to now run on an iPhone and this piece of software coming out free is a brilliant GUI wrapper, really grateful for the developers work

### 5/5 — Simply incredible

*2026-04-12*

Thank you so much for building this

### 5/5 — Not perfect but good

*2026-02-20*

The voice of tts is very good but it canot the end of sentence corrctly and stop in end of the line that read not bu . Also it doesn’t detect words that splited by - please fix this items thank you alot .

### 5/5 — It’s free

*2026-02-16*

Good alternative to paid TTS

### 5/5 — Gute app

*2025-12-14*

Mir fehlt dass man das ganze Buch vorbereiten kann also denn Audio und somit auch mit ausgeschalteten Handy es hören kann

### 5/5 — Very Promising!

*2025-10-28*

The ability to upload a document is incredibly useful. But, like another commenter said, there are awkward pauses. Once that’s resolved, this is likely be my favorite app for reading PDFs

## Frequently asked questions about Sandbook

### Why doesn't Sandbook support background/screen-off reading?

Sandbook utilizes a large on-device model that requires significant GPU/VRAM. Apple's policies prohibit apps using high GPU/VRAM from running in the background.

### Is it normal for my phone to heat up or crash when using Sandbook?

Heating up is normal due to the app's GPU utilization. Crashing may occur on devices with low memory (3GB or less), such as older iPhone models.

### What languages does Sandbook support?

Sandbook currently supports English (US/UK) voices, offering both male and female options with natural pronunciation and intonation.

### How does Sandbook protect my privacy?

All your data remains on your device and is never sent to the cloud or shared externally, ensuring complete privacy protection.

### What file formats can Sandbook read?

Sandbook can read ePub, PDF, and TXT files, allowing you to listen to your documents with natural-sounding voices.

### Can I export audio from Sandbook?

Yes, you can generate short speech samples and export them for further use, making it convenient for creating audio content.

### What is the update frequency for Sandbook?

The app was last updated on 2025-12-27, indicating active development and support.

### What devices is Sandbook compatible with?

Sandbook is available for iPhone and iPad, running on iOS.

## Version history (last 3 releases)

### 1.0.2 — 2025-12-27

New Features
- Text Mode: Type or paste text directly to have it read aloud.

Bug Fixes
- Improved web page content extraction accuracy
- Fixed character encoding for special characters
- Fixed audio skipping at chapter end
- Fixed play/pause button state sync
- Resolved audio gaps between paragraphs

### 1.0.1 — 2025-05-20

Minor issues fixed.

### 1.0 — 2025-05-18

No release notes.

## Apps similar to Sandbook

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| [OpenL Translator-AI Translator](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/openl-translator-ai-translator/id6745223048) | 4.3 (3) | Free | Productivity |
| [AI Reader: Read Aloud Pdf Book](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ai-reader-read-aloud-pdf-book/id6754524209) | 4.7 (143) | Free | Productivity |
| [Scrap Paper](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/scrap-paper/id1448441317) | 4.8 (35) | $1.99 | Productivity |
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## More apps by SmashMelon LLC

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- [Whisper Notes - Speech to Text](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/whisper-notes-speech-to-text/id6447090616)
- [Do Not Type - Speak and Polish](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/do-not-type-speak-and-polish/id6449760006)

All apps by SmashMelon LLC: https://appshunter.io/developer/1895995887

## Related topics

[kokoro tts](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/kokoro-tts) · [natural reader](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/natural-reader) · [natural reader app](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/natural-reader-app)

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*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 2026-08-28.*