Comparison

LightReadr vs VoiceReader | Text to Speech

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

Head to head
About

LightReadr

Convert EPUB ebooks into audiobooks with natural-sounding narration. Read normally or switch to listening mid-page. All processing happens locally on your device, ensuring privacy. Import your own books or enjoy preloaded classics.

Highlights
  • Natural voice narration
  • Local device processing
  • EPUB import
  • Customizable reading settings
  • iCloud sync for progress
  • On-device recap feature
Features
Read full description

LightReadr turns your ebooks into audiobooks; with narration you actually want to listen to. Import the books you already have and either read normally or switch to natural-sounding narration mid-page. No robotic text-to-speech voice, no monthly subscription, no account required. NATURAL VOICE NARRATION Choose from several natural-sounding voices. Every word highlights as it's spoken, so you can follow along on the page. Tap any sentence to start narration right there; no need to scrub back to the beginning of the chapter. ENTIRELY ON YOUR DEVICE Narration is generated locally on your iPhone. Your books and the audio LightReadr creates from them never leave your device; there's no server involved in reading to you. BRING YOUR OWN BOOKS Import EPUB files from the Files app. LightReadr comes with five free public-domain classics already in your library, so you've got something to read the moment you install it. MAKE THE PAGE YOURS Adjust font, size, theme, margins, and line height; per book, so one title can look different from the next. Chapter navigation, when the book includes it, gets you around fast. RECAP SO FAR On supported Apple Intelligence devices, LightReadr can generate a short reminder of what's happened in your book so far, based on what you've actually read. YOUR PLACE, EVERYWHERE Reading progress, bookmarks, and highlights sync across your devices through your own iCloud account; never through a LightReadr server. Free. No account. No ads.

About

VoiceReader | Text to Speech

Features
Read full description

Turn your EPUBs, PDFs, DOCX, and TXT files into audiobooks for free. You can upload files or any web link and VoiceReader will turn it into an audiobook. This app is completely free and you can use it to create unlimited audiobooks! 30+ languages are supported with natural, human-sounding voices. Supported file types: - EPUB (.epub) - PDF (.pdf) - Plain Text (.txt) - Word (.docx) - Rich Text (.rtf, .rtfd) - HTML (.html, .htm) - Markdown (.md, .markdown) - OpenDocument Text (.odt) Take pictures of physical books and turn them into audiobooks. You can even browse free books from Gutenberg Project to start listening to classics right away. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

LightReadr4 screens
VoiceReader | Text to Speech3 screens

Verdict

The call

LightReadr and VoiceReader | Text to Speech are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
LightReadr versus VoiceReader | Text to Speech: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLightReadrVoiceReader | Text to Speech
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings4 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size291 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCory BorgPrism App Labs

In-app purchases

None

LightReadr

No in-app purchases

None

VoiceReader | Text to Speech

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is LightReadr free?
LightReadr is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is VoiceReader | Text to Speech free?
VoiceReader | Text to Speech is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do LightReadr or VoiceReader | Text to Speech have ads?
Neither LightReadr nor VoiceReader | Text to Speech shows ads.

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