Comparison

Sandbook vs OpenVox Reader

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Sandbook

This app converts text into natural-sounding speech using an on-device model. Read ePub, PDF, and TXT files, type or paste text, or even read webpages aloud. Export audio files for offline listening with complete privacy.

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

Sandbook reads books, documents and articles aloud in natural voices, entirely on your iPhone or iPad. Nothing you read is uploaded, and there is no account, no subscription and no ads. NATURAL VOICES, OFFLINE - 41 voices in American and British English, Spanish, French, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and Hindi - A book in Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese or Hindi opens with a voice in its language - Powered by the open-source Kokoro model, running locally; no internet connection needed - Follow along as each spoken word is highlighted - Speed from 0.5x to 2.5x; each book remembers its voice and speed READ ALMOST ANYTHING - Import EPUB, PDF, Word (.docx), TXT, RTF, Markdown and HTML files - Add a web page by pasting a link, or share it from Safari - Scan printed pages with the camera, or pick a photo, and listen - Send files or selected text from any app with the share sheet, or type and paste your own - Open a document straight from the Files app with Open With, or set Sandbook as its default app LISTEN THE WAY YOU READ - Opens at the paragraph where you stopped - Keep listening when you leave the book, with a mini player at the bottom of the screen - Bookmarks, and search inside a book - Sleep timer: stop after a set time or at the end of the chapter - Passages you've already heard play back instantly - In a PDF, the sentence being read is highlighted on the page; tap any sentence to read from there - Reading options: light, sepia and dark themes, fonts, text size and line spacing - Appearance: light, dark or matching your system - See each book's length, listening time and the time left in the chapter - Prepare a chapter's audio ahead of time, then keep listening with the screen locked; prepared chapters replay instantly - Continue Reading with Siri or the Shortcuts app - Export any text as an M4A audio file ACCESSIBILITY - VoiceOver, Voice Control, Switch Control, larger text and contrast improvements - The app is available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil) and Hindi PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your books, text and voices stay on your device. Sandbook never sends what you read to a server. GOOD TO KNOW - Voices require iPhone 12 or later, or an iPad with an A14 or M1 chip or later. Sandbook also needs iOS 18.2 or later. - Real-time reading pauses when the screen locks. To listen with the screen off, prepare the chapter first. Questions or ideas: support@sandbook.app

About

OpenVox Reader

Transform any text into natural-sounding audio for offline listening. Import books, PDFs, documents, and web links. Choose from hundreds of voices, adjust playback speed, and save important sentences. Keep your documents private with local processing.

Highlights
  • Text to audio conversion
  • Offline listening
  • Import ebooks, PDFs, documents, web links
  • Hundreds of natural voices
  • Custom voice creation
  • Adjustable playback speed
  • Save important sentences
  • In-document search
Features
Read full description

Turn Reading Time into Listening Time OpenVox Reader transforms books, PDFs, documents, web links and text into natural-sounding audio, so you can keep reading while commuting, walking, exercising, resting or working. Import your content, choose from hundreds of voices, create your own custom voice, and listen at your preferred speed without sending your private documents to an online speech service. Listen to Almost Anything Bring all your reading into one simple library: • Import ebooks and PDFs • Add documents and text files • Save web links for listening • Scan printed pages • Paste or type text directly • Organize everything in one place OpenVox Reader can generate and play speech locally on your device, so once the required voices are downloaded, you can listen without an internet connection. Natural Voices You’ll Enjoy Choose from more than 200 voices across 30+ languages and find the voice that best suits your book, article or document. You can also create custom voices for English, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish from a short voice sample using Pocket TTS and listen to your content in a voice you choose. Listen at Your Own Pace Adjust playback from 0.5x all the way to 2.5x with smooth, pitch-preserving audio. Choose convenient presets including: • 0.5x • 1.0x • 1.5x • 2.0x • 2.5x Faster playback is supported with optimized buffering and accurate elapsed and remaining-time calculations. Save Important Sentences Found something worth coming back to? Bookmark the sentence you are currently reading and access it anytime from Saved Sentences. You can: • Save or remove sentences instantly • Browse all saved passages • Filter your saved sentences • Jump directly back to the original location • Delete bookmarks you no longer need Search Inside Your Documents Quickly find words, phrases or sections without scrolling through an entire book or document. Search in Document provides result previews and lets you jump directly to each matching location. EPUB search is optimized chapter by chapter to keep memory usage efficient even with larger books. Listen Without an Internet Connection Keep listening on flights, trains, commutes or anywhere without reliable internet access. Speech generation happens locally, allowing downloaded voices and imported content to remain available when you need them. Private by Design Your documents are processed locally for speech generation rather than being uploaded to a cloud TTS service. OpenVox Reader is built for people who want convenient AI-powered reading while keeping control of their content. Track Your Reading Journey See how much you have actually listened and keep your reading momentum going with: • Listening time • Daily and weekly progress • Reading streaks • Recently opened content • Personal listening statistics Reading time is calculated from audio that was actually spoken, giving you a accurate picture of your listening activity. Made for iPhone and iPad Use OpenVox Reader across iPhone and iPad with iCloud sync for your library. Your content stays organized across your Apple devices, and one purchase unlocks the app on both iPhone and iPad. Read More, Even When You’re Offline Whether you’re travelling, exercising, relaxing, commuting or getting work done, OpenVox Reader helps turn spare moments into meaningful reading time. Download OpenVox Reader and start listening to your reading today.

Screenshots

Sandbook4 screens
OpenVox Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sandbook at none against OpenVox Reader's 1. Sandbook also leads on ratings volume (92 vs 3). OpenVox Reader's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 78%). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. OpenVox Reader sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Sandbook asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Sandbook against 4.7 for OpenVox Reader. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sandbook has 92 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 78% of Sandbook's written reviews are positive against 100% of OpenVox Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sandbook ships an update weekly, OpenVox Reader every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Sandbook versus OpenVox Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSandbookOpenVox Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (92 ratings)4.7 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings92 — better3
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.217.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size270 MB200 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSmashMelon LLCNitesh Kumar Sharma

Customer experience

Sandbook

All ratings92 ratings
Positive87.0%
Neutral8.7%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews27 reviews
Positive77.8%
Neutral14.8%
Negative7.4%

OpenVox Reader

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Sandbook

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

OpenVox Reader

One-time1
  • OpenVox Reader Pro Lifetime$14.99

Questions

Is Sandbook free?
Sandbook is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is OpenVox Reader free?
OpenVox Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Sandbook or OpenVox Reader?
OpenVox Reader is rated higher. Sandbook averages 4.6 out of 5 from 92 ratings, while OpenVox Reader averages 4.7 from 3 ratings.
Do Sandbook or OpenVox Reader have ads?
Neither Sandbook nor OpenVox Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sandbook or OpenVox Reader?
Sandbook ships an update weekly, and OpenVox Reader every 6 days. Most recently, Sandbook was updated on October 16, 2026 and OpenVox Reader on October 6, 2026.

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