Comparison

Speaking Email vs PTO Minder

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

Head to head
About

Speaking Email

This app reads your emails aloud and allows you to manage them using voice commands. It's ideal for hands-free and eyes-free email access, benefiting drivers and individuals with visual impairments or motor difficulties.

Highlights
  • Reads emails aloud
  • Voice commands for replies and management
  • Hands-free and eyes-free operation
  • Smart content detection
  • Multilingual email support
  • Secure connection to various email servers
Features
Read full description

Reads your email out loud, lets you reply and manage mail by voice commands. Ideal for visually impaired users, driving, or anytime you'd like to check email hands free & eyes free. Premium Edition is free for 7 days. Then you are automatically switched to Basic Edition. (Note for CarPlay users: see our other app 'Speaking Email CP') — WHY DO I WANT IT? — FOR DRIVERS Get more time in your day when you check your email on the move. Most people spend 1-2 hours in their inbox. With the help of Speaking Email during your daily drive to work, you can easily cut this time in half. Get more done, stay on top and keep a clean inbox. Voice commands and simple gestures designed to be safe to use while driving give you the ability to archive, flag or even reply on the move. (Note for CarPlay users: see also our other app "Speaking Email CP") FOR ACCESSIBILITY Makes email easy to use for those with visual impairment, blindness, dyslexia, stroke, motor dysfunction. Designed to be used without needing to see or touch the screen, Speaking Email works as a fully voice operated email app. Note: a sighted assistant or VoiceOver is required to sign into your email account and configure the many preferences to your liking. The rest is all voice controlled! — HOW DOES IT WORK? — Speaking Email reads your latest emails out loud from your inbox, one by one. Swipe left and right to play your inbox like a jukebox. Whip through your inbox, clear clutter, flag important items and make inbox zero a reality - all while on the go. You can interact with your email using full screen taps, swipes and voice commands. Voice recognition needs a trigger. You choose when to pause for a command - on full screen tap, every 30 seconds, at the start/end of emails. — FEATURES — - Smart content detection skips over disclaimers, reply headers, and email signatures to speak only the content without the clutter - Multilingual mode automatically detects the email language and switches voices to match, using Apple text-to-speech voices - Makes use of the latest Apple speech recognition technology lets you dictate your reply, which is read back to you before sending - Our simple Ignore Sender command puts you in control, allowing you to avoid hearing emails from the sender in future - Connects securely to all email servers, including Gmail (using Google Sign In), Microsoft 365 (aka Office 365 - using Microsoft Sign In supporting Intune, MFA and OAUTH), Exchange (via ActiveSync), IMAP, POP, iCloud (using app password), Outlook/Hotmail (using Microsoft Sign In), Yahoo (using Yahoo Sign In), AOL (using AOL Sign In) - Voice commands and buttons include: Next Back Archive/Done Flag Trash Reply Forward Ignore (thumbs down) Important (thumbs up) Block Sender Rewind Fast Forward Compose Search Voice Slower Faster People When - Many preferences to set up your experience how you like — QUESTIONS — Reach us at feedback@speaking.email See our FAQ: http://www.speaking.email/faq Feature tour: http://www.speaking.email — RECOGNITION — - Gizmodo - "Highly Recommended" by Marc Saltzman in USA Today - TV3 News (NZ), Sky News - The Australian, Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph - NZ Herald, National Business Review - Featured by Apple in Best New Apps - Voted Most Fundable App by Context.IO - Finalist in NZ Hi Tech Awards — QUOTES — “This is a nifty app, and one that will make driving a little safer for inbox addicts”—NBR “My eyesight isn’t as it was years ago, and your Speaking Email makes it so much easier for me to keep in touch with folks” — Willis Hargrave “I absolutely love the app and being an outside sales rep in the car 4-6 hours a day find it incredibly helpful. It is literally freeing up and hour or 2 of time for me every day I am on the road by having a lot less time at the desk doing email. THANKS!!!” — Scott Middleton https://speaking.email/page/privacy https://speaking.email/page/terms-of-use

About

PTO Minder

Features
Read full description

Stop guessing how much PTO is actually safe to use. PTO Minder helps you forecast your future paid time off balance based on your accrual schedule, booked time off, holidays, and upcoming pay periods. Instead of only showing what you have today, it helps answer two practical questions: “Will I have enough PTO for this trip?” and “How much can I safely use now without jeopardizing plans I already booked?” Use PTO Minder to plan vacations, long weekends, sick days, personal days, and holidays with a clearer view of what your future balance will look like. Plan trips with clear readiness labels: • On Track: your projected balance covers the time off • At Risk: the plan is tight and worth watching • Short: you are projected to come up short Know your Safe to Use amount: • See how much PTO is available after protecting upcoming planned time off • Decide whether a random 3-day weekend fits your plan • Avoid accidentally spending PTO you were counting on later • Model new time off before requesting it through work PTO Minder is built for real-world time off planning: • Add, move, and model trips before making an official request • Track PTO balances by employer and bank • Forecast balances across future pay periods • Add vacations, sick days, personal days, holidays, and unpaid leave • View trips and holidays together on a calendar • Review a pay-period ledger with accrual, usage, and running balances • Reconcile against the numbers from your employer or HR portal • Export and import your data with JSON backup PTO Minder is a planning tool, not an HR system. It does not log in to payroll, HR, calendar, or employer systems. You enter your own PTO rules and plans, then officially request time off through your employer’s normal process. The free version is fully useful for simple PTO planning, including one employer, one balance-bearing PTO bank, forecasting, calendar planning, holidays, reconciliation, and backup. PTO Minder Plus adds more power when you need it: • Unlimited additional PTO banks • Multiple active employers • iCloud sync across iPhone and iPad • Accrual caps and proactive alerts • Carryover and use-by expiration tracking • Scheduled future accrual changes • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets • Apple Watch app and complication No account required. No ads. No third-party tracking. PTO Minder is for anyone who wants to use time off confidently without accidentally undermining future plans.

Screenshots

Speaking Email4 screens
PTO Minder4 screens

Verdict

The call

Speaking Email and PTO Minder are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Speaking Email sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and PTO Minder sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Speaking Email ships an update every 3 weeks, PTO Minder fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Speaking Email versus PTO Minder: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpeaking EmailPTO Minder
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (206 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews67.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings206 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB45 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBEWEB LTDBrown's Tech Co. LLC

Bugs and requests

Speaking Email

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • Keeps crashing
  • Doesn't work reliably
  • Granting Gmail access is buggy
  • App crashes after an update
  • Doesn't save place in emails
Show 13 more
  • Cannot skip forward in emails
  • Cannot connect to emails
  • Times out from mail setup screen
  • Frozen in settings page
  • Emails disappear after reading
  • Unstable with Exchange
  • Archived emails disappear
  • Doesn't recognize passwords
  • Cannot delete the app
  • Hidden icon floating around screen
  • Browser cookies disabled error for Gmail
  • Too loud with AirPods
  • Emails don't load properly

Requested features

13 requests
  • Ability to search using voice command
  • CarPlay support
  • Apple Watch App for interaction
  • Support for Exchange using Active Sync or Outlook Web Access
  • Dark mode option
Show 8 more
  • Better voice quality
  • Option to turn off voice command prompts
  • Ability to set to only pull 'primary' for Gmail
  • Improve editing of responses
  • Better battery optimization
  • Clearer understanding of settings
  • Ability to save place in emails
  • Search functionality

PTO Minder

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Speaking Email

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Subscription$4.991 Month
  • Premium Subscription Annual$34.991 Year
One-time3
  • Premium Plan$4.99
  • Premium Plan 3 Months$14.99
  • Premium Plan 12 Months$49.99
1 purchases

PTO Minder

One-time1
  • PTO Minder Plus$24.99

Questions

Is Speaking Email free?
Speaking Email is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PTO Minder free?
PTO Minder is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Speaking Email or PTO Minder have ads?
Neither Speaking Email nor PTO Minder shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Speaking Email or PTO Minder?
Speaking Email ships an update every 3 weeks, and PTO Minder fortnightly. Most recently, Speaking Email was updated on October 24, 2026 and PTO Minder on October 16, 2026.

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