Sidekey vs Simple Voice Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sidekey
Transform your iPhone into a wireless keyboard and custom shortcut pad for your Mac or Windows PC. Design your ideal layout with custom keys, shortcuts, and multiple layers. Control your computer seamlessly over Wi-Fi without any extra hardware.
- Customizable wireless keyboard
- Create custom shortcuts and combos
- Multiple layers and modes
- Trackpad functionality
- Voice typing to computer
- Quick QR code pairing
- Works with Mac and Windows
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Sidekey turns your iPhone into a customizable wireless keyboard and shortcut pad for your own computer. Tap keys on your phone and they type on your Mac or Windows PC over your local Wi‑Fi — no extra hardware, no cables. Design the keyboard you actually want: add keys, build shortcuts (including combos like Cmd/Ctrl, and left/right modifiers), arrange them on a grid, and switch between layers and modes. Keep your most-used shortcuts one tap away. HOW IT WORKS Sidekey works together with a small, free desktop helper you run on the computer you want to control. Put both devices on the same Wi‑Fi, scan a QR code once to pair, and you're connected. Pairing is secured with a token, and your keystrokes travel directly to your own computer — never through us. FEATURES • Custom key designer — make your own keys, shortcuts, and layouts • Shortcuts & combos — Cmd/Ctrl/Alt/Shift, function keys, media keys, and left/right‑specific modifiers • Multiple layers & modes — flip between a full keyboard, a shortcut deck, a trackpad, and more • Trackpad mode — use your phone as a touchpad with left/right buttons • Voice typing — dictate with the system keyboard and send the text to your computer • Quick pairing — scan a QR code; reconnects automatically afterward • Works with Mac and Windows • Private by design — no account, no tracking, nothing sent to the developer REQUIRES THE FREE DESKTOP HELPER Sidekey needs the free Sidekey helper running on your Mac or Windows computer. Download it from the link on our support page. Questions or ideas? We'd love to hear from you.
Simple Voice Reader
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Simple Voice Reader is a free text-to-speech app for iPhone and iPad that reads pasted or typed text, TXT files, RTF files, and PDFs aloud. Open supported documents from Files, use the import button, or drag text and files directly into the reader on iPad. American English Apple system voices work immediately. For the best Apple voice quality, download Apple's free Enhanced and Premium voices in Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content > Voices > English. On compatible iOS 26 devices, you can also download an optional American English Kokoro voice pack with Heart and 19 other natural voices. The pack is about 170 MB, downloads once from Apple, and can be removed at any time. Use Simple Voice Reader when you want to listen instead of read: long articles, notes, drafts, manuals, study material, book chapters, accessibility material, or anything else you can paste or import. Choose a voice, adjust speed, change the reading font and size, start from the cursor, pause and resume, and follow the highlighted words as the reader moves through the text. Apple speech continues when the app moves to the background or the screen locks, with pause, resume, and stop controls on the Lock Screen and in Control Center. If Kokoro cannot continue because the device needs more memory or the app moves to the background, reading continues with the selected Apple voice. Privacy: text-to-speech conversion with Apple and Kokoro voices is performed on the user's device. Simple Voice Reader does not send text, documents, or spoken audio to Walter Claw Software or to a cloud text-to-speech service. iOS may contact Apple only to download system voice assets and the optional Apple-hosted Kokoro voice pack selected by the user. Simple Voice Reader is free. No account, purchase, or subscription is required.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is device support: Simple Voice Reader at 3 against Sidekey's 1. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Sidekey | Simple Voice Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | — | Every 9 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kaihong Chen | Walter Claw Software LLC |
In-app purchases
Sidekey
No in-app purchases
Simple Voice Reader
No in-app purchases









