Comparison

Voice vs PDF Voice Reader

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

Head to head
About

Voice

This app uses advanced OCR technology to read text aloud from documents, photos, and even handwritten notes. It offers real-time scanning, voice control, and batch processing for efficient document reading. Supports numerous languages and voices for a personalized experience.

Highlights
  • Advanced OCR for text recognition
  • Real-time and standard photo scanning
  • Voice control for hands-free operation
  • Batch mode for multiple page scanning
  • Scan Tone for document corner detection
  • Supports 47 languages and 180 reading voices
  • Offline mode for privacy and accessibility
Features
Read full description

Hi! This is Shalin Shah — creator of Voice. I’m a senior studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. Voice has been a project of mine since I was in high school, and I’ve been working hard to make it better over the last 6 years. Voice was hand-crafted for people like you. It can help you quickly read items like product labels and magazine pages in your day-to-day. But you can also use it for more advanced reading like mail or books. My goal with Voice was to create the most simple and intuitive interface to help you read things. Here are some features that I hope are helpful. OCR: Voice’s OCR engine is perhaps one of the best in the world. You no longer need to worry about low lighting and bad focus, Voice corrects it automatically and gives you pixel-perfect accuracy every time. Voice can even read scribbles and handwritten text with incredible accuracy. Standard Photo Capture: The most basic way to use Voice is by simply tapping the button labeled by VoiceOver as “Camera. Button” This will take a picture. Then simply tap the button labeled “Next. Button” and Voice will perform OCR on your image and read it aloud. Voice Control: Alternatively, you can control the app using your voice if you find that tapping buttons shake your camera. Simply say “capture” to snap a picture, and “read” to start processing the image. Batch Mode: Batch mode is enabled by default. To read more than one page, just keep taking photos using the “Camera. Button” or by saying the word “capture” many times. Voice will read all the documents one after another. Scan Tone: Good OCR detection does not depend on the corners of a document to be visible. But if corner detection is important to you, Scan Tone plays a tone when it sees all 4 corners visible. The tone gets louder or softer depending on the placement, tilt, and orientation of your phone relative to your document. A louder scan tone means better visibility of your document. Real-Time Mode: Voice also supports real-time scanning. Toggle this on, then simply hold your phone in front of any document with text and Voice will read it out loud in real-time. Voice also automatically turns on flash when it detects sub-par lighting and turns it off for objects that would glare. Reading Voices & Languages: Voice supports 47 languages and offers 180 reading voices. 52 voices are the standard iOS voices, and 128 of them are premium AI-generated voices with extremely fluent intonations. You can adjust your language, reading voice, and speaking rate in Settings. Photo Library: The photo library picker lets you pick multiple images at a time from any of your albums. Offline Mode: Voice now fully works without wifi. If privacy is a concern or you don’t care for that extra bit of OCR quality, then feel free to use Voice in offline mode. You can turn it on in settings. Saving & Exporting: Once your document has been scanned, it takes one tap to copy your detected OCR text to your clipboard, export it as an accessible PDF, export it as a Plain Text file, or simply export all the images you captured. Importing: Voice allows you to import both images and PDFs from other apps. It automatically detects the document format and performs OCR. VoiceOver" The entire app was crafted with VoiceOver in mind, so everything is fully accessible. App Size: Voice has only a 6.9-megabyte app size. Pricing: You get 20 free scans per month. You can use those scans in either Short Text Mode or Standard Capture Mode. Once those 20 scans are up, you must purchase the Elite plan for $9.99 per month or the Believer plan for $99.99 per year. You save $20 a year, or 17%, by upgrading to the Believer plan. We are committed to keeping Voice OCR open for scholars and others lacking financial stability. Fill out this short form to tell us about your situation at http://bit.ly/VoiceOCR. Further Help: Feel free to reach out to my personal email, shalinvs@gmail.com, for any feedback.

About

PDF Voice Reader

Convert documents like PDFs and Word files into natural-sounding audio. Listen on the go with background playback, customize your listening experience with adjustable speed and voices, and visually track spoken text with color highlighting. Supports cloud sync, translation, and scanning of paper documents.

Highlights
  • Background audio playback
  • Adjustable speech speed and voice
  • Color highlighting of spoken text
  • Cloud storage integration
  • Text translation
  • Document scanning to audio
  • Web content to speech
Features
Read full description

Give Your Eyes a Rest – Let Your Documents Speak! Tired of screen fatigue? PDF Voice Reader – Docs Aloud turns your PDFs, Word files, and more into natural-sounding audio, so you can listen anytime, anywhere. Perfect for studying, commuting, or simply giving your eyes a well-deserved break. Key Features: • Listen on the go – Supports background playback for multitasking • Customizable experience – Adjust speed, voice, and skip headers/footers • Color Highlighting – Visually track spoken text with customizable colors! Perfect for following along, studying, or improving comprehension as words light up in sync with the audio. • Seamless cloud sync – Works with iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive & more • Smart tools – Bookmarking, text translation, and multiple voice options • Accessibility-friendly – Ideal for students, professionals, and visually impaired users • Scan & Listen – Turn paper documents and books into audio with built-in scanning • Web-to-Speech – Listen to articles, blogs, and online content directly from websites! Just paste the URL, and the app will read it aloud. Following formats are supported: • PDF. • Microsoft Documents. • Rich Text Format. • Plain Text. Transform reading into listening—download PDF Voice Reader today! https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Voice4 screens
PDF Voice Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: PDF Voice Reader at 4.1 against Voice's 3.5. PDF Voice Reader also leads on ratings volume (955 vs 15) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). Voice's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (48% vs 22%). On price, in-app purchases, 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. Voice sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and PDF Voice Reader sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PDF Voice Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Voice Reader has 955 ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 48% of Voice's written reviews are positive against 22% of PDF Voice Reader's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Voice ships an update every 2 months, PDF Voice Reader every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on June 10, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Voice versus PDF Voice Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVoicePDF Voice Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.5 (15 ratings)4.1 (955 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.4% of reviews — better22.0% of reviews
Number of ratings15955 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better26
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB41 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShalin ShahStorch

Customer experience

Voice

All ratings15 ratings
Positive53.3%
Neutral20.0%
Negative26.7%
Written reviews159 reviews
Positive48.4%
Neutral5.7%
Negative45.9%

PDF Voice Reader

All ratings944 ratings
Positive76.2%
Neutral5.3%
Negative18.5%
Written reviews328 reviews
Positive22.0%
Neutral9.8%
Negative68.3%

User reviews

Voice

From 15 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👁️ Highly accurate OCR recognition
  • 🎤 Voice-activated hands-free operation
  • ♿ Excellent accessibility for blind/visually impaired users
  • 🆓 Generous free tier with 100 scans/month
  • 🌍 Multilingual support

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes during image processing
  • 🌐 Requires internet connection (no offline mode)
  • 💸 Expensive subscription pricing
  • 🔧 Inconsistent performance across devices
  • ⚠️ Settings don't persist between sessions

PDF Voice Reader

From 955 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Efficient reading
  • 📚 Useful for studying and multitasking

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and bugs
  • 💰 Paid version still has ads
  • 🔇 Poor voice quality
  • 🤖 Robotic reading
  • 🔍 Difficult to navigate and select reading position

Bugs and requests

Voice

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • App crashes after taking picture
  • App crashes during image processing
  • App crashes when selecting photos from library
  • App crashes when granting camera/microphone permissions
  • App freezes on intro screen
Show 12 more
  • VoiceOver compatibility broken on iPhone 7+
  • Spanish voice stopped working after update
  • App stuck on single page
  • Flash setting reverts to incorrect state
  • Premature photo capture in low light
  • No audio tones despite app info claiming them
  • Text not reading in sequence/skipping content
  • Incorrect text recognition (reads wrong content)
  • App force closes after processing
  • Settings reset after each use
  • Auto mode detects non-existent corners
  • Poor image quality from camera

Requested features

15 requests
  • Turkish language support
  • French language interface
  • German language support
  • Offline processing capability
  • Multi-page document scanning and saving
Show 10 more
  • PDF file support
  • Instant/real-time text reading
  • Manual button controls alongside voice commands
  • Adjustable reading speed options
  • Text highlighting and editing features
  • Share and export functionality improvements
  • Continuous reading without retaking photos
  • Bluetooth support
  • Clickable links in scanned documents
  • Better contrast on action buttons

PDF Voice Reader

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes frequently
  • Paid version not working as expected
  • Issues with syncing across devices
  • Reading position not saved properly

Requested features

4 requests
  • Allow selecting reading start position
  • Add more voice options and customization
  • Improve page navigation and bookmarking
  • Provide better customer support

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Voice

Subscriptions2
  • Elite$9.991 Month
  • Believer$99.991 Year
16 purchases

PDF Voice Reader

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Yearly$24.991 Year
One-time14
  • English US$4.99
  • English UK$4.99
  • English Irish$4.99
Show 11 more
  • Czech$4.99
  • Portuguese Br$4.99
  • Russian$4.99
  • Spanish Mex$4.99
  • Spanish$4.99
  • English AU$4.99
  • French$4.99
  • Chinese$4.99
  • Italian$4.99
  • Portuguese$4.99
  • PDF Voice Reader Pro$49.99

Questions

Is Voice free?
Voice is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDF Voice Reader free?
PDF Voice Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Voice or PDF Voice Reader?
PDF Voice Reader is rated higher. Voice averages 3.5 out of 5 from 15 ratings, while PDF Voice Reader averages 4.1 from 955 ratings.
Do Voice or PDF Voice Reader have ads?
PDF Voice Reader shows ads; Voice does not.
Which is updated more often, Voice or PDF Voice Reader?
Voice ships an update every 2 months, and PDF Voice Reader every 3 weeks. Most recently, Voice was updated on June 10, 2026 and PDF Voice Reader on September 23, 2026.

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