BookAloud vs Lectern

Latest update: The monthly plan now purchases reliably. Plus stability improvements. BookAloud is a text to speech reader that turns PDFs, EPUBs, Word documents, and even printed pages into audiobooks you can listen to anywhere — no internet required. Think of it as an app that reads to me: pick a voice, import a document, and BookAloud starts reading aloud immediately, using powerful on-device speech technology so you can learn, study, and get things done hands-free. Whether you call it a read aloud app, a voice reader, or simply a book reader, BookAloud does one thing very well: it turns text into natural-sounding speech so you can listen to books, articles, reports, and scanned pages instead of straining your eyes to read them. It's built for commuters, students, multitaskers, people who find long reading sessions tiring, and anyone who'd rather listen to books than stare at a screen. --- FREE FEATURES --- • Convert up to 3 documents per day (up to 20 pages each) — no account needed • PDF and EPUB import • All voices in 50+ languages, no restrictions on which ones you can use • Read Along view — text highlights word by word as the voice reader speaks • Lock screen and background audio playback • Smart PDF cleaning — strips headers, footers, and repeated page numbers • Sleep timer, so BookAloud stops reading aloud after a set time • Bookmarks to save your place and pick up where you left off • Adjustable playback speed • Document queue, to line up several books and listen back to back • Camera scan for printed books, recognized on-device — nothing uploaded --- BOOKALOUD PRO --- Upgrade to BookAloud Pro to unlock the full audiobook experience: • Unlimited daily conversions — turn as many documents into audiobooks as you want, any day • No page limits — listen to entire books cover to cover, not just the first 20 pages • Word document (.docx) import, on top of PDF and EPUB • Variable playback speed up to 2.5x, for listening faster without losing clarity • Export as an audio file (.m4a) so you can keep or share the finished audiobook --- HOW IT WORKS --- 1. Choose a voice and language from BookAloud's built-in voice reader 2. Import a PDF, EPUB, or Word document, or scan a printed page with your camera 3. BookAloud converts the text and starts reading aloud right away 4. Keep listening anywhere — background audio and lock screen controls mean the reading never has to stop --- SMART PDF CLEANING --- PDFs are full of clutter a document was never meant to be read aloud with — running headers, footers, and page numbers repeating on every page. BookAloud's smart cleaning removes that clutter automatically, so the text to speech engine reads only the content that matters. --- READ ALONG VIEW --- While BookAloud reads aloud, the Read Along view highlights and auto-scrolls to the exact word being spoken — useful for language learning, proofreading, or simply staying focused. You can scroll ahead or back at any time without losing your place. --- WHO USES BOOKALOUD --- People use BookAloud as a book reader for their commute, to get through work documents hands-free, to listen to books while exercising, to have a chapter read to me before sleep with the sleep timer, and as a study tool for reading textbooks aloud while following along. --- SUBSCRIPTION PRICING --- • Monthly: $5.99/month (3-day free trial) • Annual: $39.99/year (save 44%, 3-day free trial) Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions in your Account Settings on the App Store. Privacy Policy: https://bookaloud.blogspot.com/p/privacy-policy.html Terms of Service: https://bookaloud.blogspot.com/p/terms-of-service.html

Listen to anything. Lectern turns the things you already read into something you can listen to. Import a PDF, an EPUB book, a Word document, notes, an article, or a photo of a printed page, press play, and hear it in a natural voice, generated entirely on your iPhone. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your documents never leave your phone. Text extraction, page scanning and speech generation all run on the device. No account, no upload, no server. WORKS OFFLINE. NO CREDITS. The voices are built in. Listen for as long as you like, on a plane or in a tunnel, with nothing metered. MADE FOR LONG LISTENING Whole books, textbooks, reports. Playback keeps going with the screen locked, the lock screen and Control Center show what's playing, and Lectern remembers exactly where you stopped, to the sentence, even after the app is closed. FOLLOW ALONG The sentence being read is highlighted and the page scrolls with it. Tap any sentence to start there. Skip by chapter, by 15 seconds, or scrub the whole document. YOUR PACE Half speed to three times speed, and it still sounds like a person. WHAT IT READS • PDF, including scanned PDFs (on-device text recognition) • EPUB books with chapters and covers • Word documents (.docx), text, Markdown, RTF • Pasted text from anywhere • Photos of pages, from the camera or your library LECTERN PRO Lectern Pro unlocks whole books and long documents, an unlimited library, all ten studio voices, and audio export. The free version lets you listen to real documents first, so you can hear the voices before you decide. Lectern Pro is available as a monthly or annual subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Manage or cancel in Settings › Apple Account › Subscriptions. Privacy policy: https://luke-fairbanks.github.io/privacy-policy/lectern/ Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/