聽閱 ReadAloud vs Novel Manager
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
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.
- 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
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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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. 聽閱 ReadAloud sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Novel Manager asks for nothing beyond the download.
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.
| Parameter | 聽閱 ReadAloud | Novel Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ka Hei MAK | Lin Xiang |
Customer experience
聽閱 ReadAloud
Novel Manager
In-app purchases
聽閱 ReadAloud
- Coffee Supporter$0.99
- Generous Supporter$1.99
- Big Supporter$4.99
Novel Manager
No in-app purchases









