Reader vs Voice Aloud Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Reader
This app provides a distraction-free reading and annotation experience for PDF documents on iOS. Seamlessly sync your annotated files with your Mac for further editing and workflow integration via iCloud.
- Distraction-free reading
- PDF annotation
- iCloud sync with Mac
- Companion to macOS app
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The iOS companion to the macOS Reader PDF viewer. Here you can read with no distractions and annotated, then work further with your documents back on your Mac using iCloud.
Voice Aloud Reader
This application transforms written text into spoken words, making it ideal for those who are busy or have difficulty reading. It supports a wide range of document types and languages, offering a customizable listening experience.
- Reads text aloud
- Supports various document formats
- Over 40 languages supported
- Customizable reading speed, pitch, and volume
- Customizable interface and read modes
- File sharing via iCloud/iTunes
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Listen to anything, anywhere. The app reads aloud text documents, e-books, websites, and printed books—perfect for commuting, multitasking, relaxing, or making written content easier to access. Designed for all users, including blind and low-vision users, with support for VoiceOver, Larger Text, sufficient contrast, and Reduced Motion. Use iCloud or iTunes to share files between your computer and the app. VOICES SUPPORT Choose from 40 languages, listen in different voices BOOKS SUPPORT Supports the most popular text formats CUSTOM INTERFACE Customize the font and the read mode at your own discretion CUSTOM SETTINGS Change pitch, volume, and speed of reading Supports text-to-speech in the following languages: English, Chinese, French, Polish, Korean, Japanese, Catalan, Afrikaans, Danish, German, Russian, Finnish, Haitian Creole, Dutch, Czech, Latvian, Romanian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Slovak, Swahili, Turkish, Welsh, Spanish, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Hindi, Indonesian, and Vietnamese. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Reader at none against Voice Aloud Reader's shown. Reader also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Voice Aloud Reader's advantage is ratings volume (19K vs 3). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Reader sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Voice Aloud Reader sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Reader holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Voice Aloud Reader has 19K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 56% of Reader's written reviews are positive against 59% of Voice Aloud Reader's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Reader ships an update weekly, Voice Aloud Reader every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 14, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Reader | Voice Aloud Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.6 (19K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 55.6% of reviews | 58.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 19K — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 74 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | The Augmented Text Company LTD | Marcin Olawski |
Customer experience
Reader
Voice Aloud Reader
Bugs and requests
Reader
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Voice Aloud Reader
Reported bugs
3 issues- Randomly jumps to different sections of text
- Struggles with formatting of multi-column documents
- Occasional crashes when switching between apps
Requested features
5 requests- Add bookmarking/resume functionality
- Improve voice quality and pronunciation
- Allow custom voice speed increments
- Implement a way to delete documents from library
- Add support for iBooks library integration
In-app purchases
Reader
- Ask AI Subscription$1.99
Voice Aloud Reader
- Pro + Premium Voices 1m3 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Premium OCR 100$0.99
- Premium OCR 800$1.99
- Pro version$8.99
Questions
Is Reader free?
Is Voice Aloud Reader free?
Which has better reviews, Reader or Voice Aloud Reader?
Do Reader or Voice Aloud Reader have ads?
Which is updated more often, Reader or Voice Aloud Reader?
Other comparisons
