Comparison

聽閱 ReadAloud vs Novel Manager

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

Head to head
About

聽閱 ReadAloud

Transform any text into a hands-free audiobook. Supports EPUB, PDF, and TXT files, offering multiple reading modes and multilingual voices. Customize your reading experience with adjustable fonts, themes, and playback speeds.

Highlights
  • Text-to-speech conversion
  • EPUB, PDF, TXT support
  • Multiple reading modes
  • Multilingual voices (Cantonese, Mandarin, English)
  • Traditional/Simplified Chinese conversion
  • Customizable reading experience
  • Background audio playback
Features
Read full description

Turn any text into a hands-free audiobook. ReadAloud reads EPUB, PDF, and TXT files in Cantonese, Mandarin, or English using Apple's high-quality on-device voices — perfect for commuting, exercising, or resting your eyes. READING + LISTENING, TOGETHER Two reading modes that adapt to how you want to consume content: • Voice + Reading — see the full text with the current sentence highlighted as it's being read. • Listen-Only — distraction-free karaoke view showing the previous, current, and next sentences in large text. Ideal for closing your eyes and just listening. SUPPORTED FORMATS • EPUB (2 & 3) — automatic chapter detection • PDF — text extraction with chapter inference • TXT — plain text with smart chapter splitting • Clipboard — paste any article instantly • Printed pages — photograph a book or document and ReadAloud recognises the text on your device, then reads it aloud. Scanned PDFs with no text layer can be recognised the same way. Nothing is uploaded. MULTILINGUAL VOICES Switch between three voice languages — each remembers its own speed: • Cantonese (zh-HK) — 阿成, 善怡, and more • Mandarin (zh-CN / zh-TW) — 冬梅 (Liaoning), 浩浩 (Shaanxi), 盼盼 (Sichuan), 美嘉 (Taiwan), and others • English (en-US / en-GB / en-AU / en-IN) — Samantha, Daniel, Karen, and any installed English voice TRADITIONAL — SIMPLIFIED Built-in OpenCC engine converts between scripts at the word level — much more accurate than character-by-character mapping. Switch instantly without re-importing your book. SMART READING EXPERIENCE • Sentence-level highlighting that follows the voice • Optional auto-scroll follows the spoken position; off by default and enabled in Settings • "Return to reading position" floating button when you scroll away • Tap-and-hold any text: read from here, look it up in the dictionary, translate it, highlight it, or fix how a word is pronounced • Highlights in four colours, with notes, exportable as Markdown • Edit a chapter's text when an import needs proofreading • Search within books with jump-to-result • Auto-detected chapters with table of contents • Background audio: keep listening with the screen locked • Built-in sleep timer (15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 90 min) with soft fade-out CUSTOMISE EVERYTHING • Font size, line spacing, font family (serif, rounded, monospaced) • Three themes: dark, light, sepia • Orientation lock (auto / portrait / landscape) • Per-language playback speed • Voice gender preference (auto, male, female) 100% PRIVATE ReadAloud was built around a simple principle: your reading is none of our business. • No accounts, no sign-up, no login. • No analytics, no tracking, no ads. • Nothing you import, read, or listen to is ever sent anywhere. • All books and progress stay on your device. Delete the app and everything is gone. • The app only uses the network when you open the optional free book library and choose a book to download. BUILT FOR CHINESE READERS Many TTS apps cater only to Mandarin. ReadAloud is built by a Hong Kong developer with Cantonese readers in mind. Optimised tokenisation for traditional Chinese, comma-level phrase highlighting that keeps up with natural Cantonese rhythm, and a dedicated voice picker that surfaces "粵語 (香港)" voices first if your default is Cantonese. FREE, NO ADS, NO CATCH No ads. No subscription. No analytics, no tracking, no account. There is no "pro" tier — every reading and listening feature described above is free for everyone, permanently. That also means the app earns nothing on its own, while hosting the free book library and its downloads costs real money. If ReadAloud is useful to you, Settings has a completely optional "Support the developer" section. Supporters get an exclusive app icon and a thank-you mark — that is all it unlocks. Nothing else is ever locked, and the app will never interrupt you to ask. Developed and maintained by Heion Technologies — feedback welcome at terence@heiontech.com. Privacy Policy & Support: https://heiontech.com/readaloud

About

Novel Manager

Organize, import, and read your personal novels with a private, distraction-free reader. Features smart chapter detection, customizable reading settings, and seamless iCloud sync across devices. Edit and format text with ease, and manage your library with collections and series grouping.

Highlights
  • TXT and EPUB import
  • Smart chapter detection
  • Customizable reading themes
  • In-book search and bookmarks
  • Collections and series grouping
  • Built-in chapter editor
  • Private iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

No Ads, No Account, No Tracking, Collects no data. Novel Manager is a fast, private reader and library for your own novels — built for web novels and classics. IMPORT • TXT and EPUB import with automatic encoding detection (UTF-8, GB18030, Big5 and more) • Smart chapter detection tuned for Chinese novels — 第X章 / 卷 / 节 and other patterns, with a full preview before anything is saved • Re-split, merge, rename, and reorder chapters any time READ • Clean, distraction-free reading in scroll or page-turn mode • Adjustable font, text size, line spacing, and reading themes, including dark mode • Your reading position is remembered per book — and follows you across devices • Fast in-book search and bookmarks with surrounding context ORGANIZE • A shelf with covers, in grid or list • Collections and series grouping with volumes • Image gallery for illustrated books — browse images, set one as the cover, or jump straight to its passage EDIT & FORMAT • Built-in chapter editor • Smart text formatting: punctuation normalization, paragraph spacing, and indentation in one tap SYNC & BACK UP • Private iCloud sync across your iPhones — automatic, no extra account • One-tap full backup to a portable .novelpack file; restore on any device • Export chapters or whole books as TXT PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Local-first: your books live on your device and in your personal iCloud • No ads, no tracking, and no third-party server ever sees your library

Screenshots

聽閱 ReadAloud4 screens
Novel Manager4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Novel Manager at none against 聽閱 ReadAloud's 3. 聽閱 ReadAloud's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, monetization model and device support 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. 聽閱 ReadAloud sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Novel Manager asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

聽閱 ReadAloud ships an update every 3 weeks, Novel Manager every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
聽閱 ReadAloud versus Novel Manager: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter聽閱 ReadAloudNovel Manager
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKa Hei MAKLin Xiang

Customer experience

聽閱 ReadAloud

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Novel Manager

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

聽閱 ReadAloud

One-time3
  • Coffee Supporter$0.99
  • Generous Supporter$1.99
  • Big Supporter$4.99
None

Novel Manager

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is 聽閱 ReadAloud free?
聽閱 ReadAloud is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Novel Manager free?
Novel Manager is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do 聽閱 ReadAloud or Novel Manager have ads?
Neither 聽閱 ReadAloud nor Novel Manager shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 聽閱 ReadAloud or Novel Manager?
聽閱 ReadAloud ships an update every 3 weeks, and Novel Manager every 2 months. Most recently, 聽閱 ReadAloud was updated on October 25, 2026 and Novel Manager on October 24, 2026.

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