KO Reader vs Audia
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
KO Reader
This app transforms web articles, ebooks, and PDFs into natural-sounding speech using on-device AI. Enjoy private, offline listening with customizable voices and playback speeds. Export audio for later or read anywhere without an internet connection.
- On-device text-to-speech
- Supports web articles, EPUB, PDF, and plain text
- 53 neural voices in 9 languages
- Customizable playback speed
- Audio export to m4a/m4b
- Offline functionality
- Privacy-focused, no tracking
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KO Reader turns web articles, ebooks, and PDFs into natural-sounding speech — entirely on your device. No cloud, no tracking, no subscriptions. Paste a URL or open an EPUB or PDF, and KO Reader reads it aloud with a neural AI voice. Everything runs locally, so your reading stays private and works anywhere — on the train, on a plane, or off-grid. Export your favorite articles or books to m4a or m4b files. WHAT YOU CAN READ • Web articles — Wikipedia, news sites, blogs, and Substack • Fanfiction — Archive of Our Own, Royal Road, and Wattpad, with chapter detection • EPUB ebooks with full chapter navigation • PDF documents • Plain text — paste or type any content • Safari Share Extension — send articles to KO Reader with one tap NATURAL AI VOICES • 53 neural voices across 9 languages: American and British English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, and Hindi • Preview any voice before selecting it • Mark favorites for quick access • Playback speed from 0.5x to 2.0x • Smart heteronym resolution — the voice knows the difference between "lead" (the metal) and "lead" (to guide), "wound" (injury) and "wound" (past of wind) • Custom pronunciation dictionary — teach the reader how to say names, jargon, or anything you like READ YOUR WAY • Reading queue — line up multiple articles and auto-advance • Bookmarks — save passages to come back to • Reading history — pick up where you left off, across books and articles • Chapter pre-generation — book chapters start instantly, no waiting between them • Audio export — save generated audio for offline listening • Adjustable article font (system, serif, monospaced, rounded) and Dynamic Type support BUILT FOR ACCESSIBILITY • Full VoiceOver support with labeled controls throughout • Haptic feedback on transport controls and sleep timer • Background audio — listen while you use other apps or with the screen off • Sleep timer — stops playback when you drift off • Works with AirPods, Bluetooth speakers, and CarPlay RUNS EVERYWHERE • Universal app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac • macOS keyboard shortcuts (Space to play/pause, Cmd+← and Cmd+→ to skip) • Optimized for Apple Silicon with optional CoreML acceleration • Adjustable CPU thread count for performance tuning PRIVACY FIRST • 100% on-device TTS — your content never leaves your phone • No accounts, no analytics, no tracking, no ads • No internet required after the one-time model download • Reading progress stored locally only KO Reader downloads a ~350 MB neural voice model on first launch. After that, everything works fully offline. Powered by the open-source Kokoro TTS model (Apache 2.0).
Audia
Listen to your documents, books, and articles with natural-sounding voices. Customize reading speed, pronunciation, and use a sleep timer. Import various file formats and read offline.
- Natural neural voices
- Adjustable reading speed
- Customizable pronunciation
- Sleep timer
- Offline reading
- Import various file formats
- Library organization
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Listen to your books, PDFs and articles while you walk, commute or rest your eyes. Audia reads your text aloud on your iPhone or iPad, with natural voices and no subscription. READ WITH YOUR EYES OR YOUR EARS Choose from 15 built-in neural voices across 31 reading languages. Adjust the speed, follow the highlighted words, set a sleep timer and customize pronunciation. Organize your library in folders and transfer documents from your computer over local Wi-Fi. YOUR TEXT, NARRATED ON YOUR DEVICE Imported content can be read aloud offline, without uploading it to a speech service. Internet is needed to fetch web articles and download books from Audia Library. START FREE. UPGRADE ONCE. The free plan has a daily limit on premium-voice listening. Audia Plus is a one-time in-app purchase for unlimited premium listening, CarPlay, bookmarks, full-book search and M4A audio export. BRING YOUR BOOKS OR FIND A NEW READ Import DRM-free EPUB, PDF with selectable text, MOBI/AZW/PRC, TXT, RTF, DOCX, ODT and FB2, or paste text and web articles. Protected ebooks and image-only PDFs are not supported. Explore classics and Audia Originals in Audia Library. The library gradually grows with new titles. Books have no additional charge; your plan's listening limits still apply. Tap + to explore and start listening.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Audia at Free against KO Reader's $3.99. Audia also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.7) and review sentiment (100% vs 67%). KO Reader's advantage is chart position (#7 vs unranked) and ratings volume (3 vs 1). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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
Audia is free to download; KO Reader costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Audia holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of KO Reader's written reviews are positive against 100% of Audia's.
| Parameter | KO Reader | Audia |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.7 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | — | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #7 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 246 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | James Carrell II | Leopoldo Manuel Romacho |
Customer experience
KO Reader
Audia
In-app purchases
KO Reader
No in-app purchases
Audia
No in-app purchases









