SpeakCoveMost people want to read more but can't find the time. Between work, commuting, exercise and chores, there aren't many quiet hours for sitting with a book. There are plenty of hours, though, when your hands and eyes are busy and your ears are free.
Commuting, exercising, cooking, cleaning and walking can easily add up to an hour or more a day. A typical 300-page book is about 8 hours of listening at 1.25x, so an hour and a half a day finishes one roughly every 5 to 7 days. Text-to-speech makes this possible without buying audiobooks. This guide shows how to build a book-listening habit with SpeakCove.
Prerequisites
- An iPhone or iPad running iOS 26 or later
- SpeakCove installed from the App Store (free)
- Books in EPUB, PDF, MOBI or another supported format, or the free Project Gutenberg catalog in the app
How to Listen with SpeakCove
1Find your daily listening windows
List the times your ears are free: the commute in both directions, exercise, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, walking the dog. Add them up. Many people find an hour or two they weren't using.
2Build a reading queue in SpeakCove
Import the books you want to read. Tap the bag icon to open Explore and import free classics from Project Gutenberg, or tap + > Import File for your own DRM-free EPUB, PDF and MOBI files. Having 3 to 5 books ready means you never have to hunt for the next one.
3Start at a comfortable speed and work up
Begin at 1x. As you get used to listening, move to 1.25x, then 1.5x, and up to 1.75x if it stays comfortable. At 1.5x you get through 50% more text in the same time.
4Tie listening to existing habits
Attach listening to things you already do every day: start SpeakCove when you start your commute, lace up for a run or start cooking. The existing habit becomes the cue.
5Use the sleep timer for bedtime reading
Set a 15- or 30-minute sleep timer and listen in bed. It is a wind-down routine that adds another chunk of reading to your day.
6Track your progress
SpeakCove saves your place in every book and shows your progress in the library, so you can see how far along each book is and watch finished books add up.
Alternative Methods
Audible audiobooks
Audible offers professionally narrated audiobooks with a polished app, bookmarks and a large catalog.
Library audiobooks via Libby
Borrow audiobooks from your public library through the Libby app, free with a library card.
Print books and e-readers
Reading physical books or using an e-reader like a Kindle.
Free Text to Speech, Right in Your Browser
Paste text or open any file (PDF, EPUB, Word, scans and more) and press Play. SpeakCove reads it aloud with natural voices in 31 languages. It's free, with no sign-up and no length limit, and your text never leaves your browser.
Open the reader →Try SpeakCove Free. Turn idle time into books. SpeakCove reads books and documents aloud with natural neural voices and includes the free Project Gutenberg catalog. No subscription, no account, works offline. Download SpeakCove from the App Store.
One-time purchase, no subscription
Free to start with 2 voices and every format. $14.99 once unlocks all 10 voices, background playback and CarPlay. No subscription, ever.
Listen in the car with CarPlay
Your documents on your car's screen and speakers, with CarPlay in Premium.
Works offline, fully on-device
Your documents never leave your device. The app has no analytics and no ads, and reading and voices work in airplane mode.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does listening to books count as reading?
- For following a story or an argument, listening works well for many people, and it lets you get through books you would otherwise never start. Material with figures, tables or formulas is easier on the page; SpeakCove's sentence highlighting lets you combine both.
- How many books can I finish in a year with TTS?
- A 300-page book is roughly 8 hours at 1.25x. With 1.5 hours of listening a day, that is about one book a week, or around 50 a year. Thirty minutes a day gets you roughly 15 to 20.
- Is the voice quality good enough for hours of listening?
- SpeakCove's neural voices are designed for long listening. Most people settle in within a few chapters. Try both free voices, Serena and Max, to see which you prefer.
- Where do I get books to listen to?
- SpeakCove's Explore screen includes Project Gutenberg's catalog of over 75,000 free books. You can also import your own DRM-free EPUB, PDF, MOBI, DOCX and other files from any source.
- What's the best speed for book listening?
- Start at 1x and go up gradually. Many regular listeners settle between 1.25x and 1.5x. SpeakCove offers 0.75x to 1.75x. The right speed is the one where you don't miss anything.
- Do I need Premium to listen to books?
- No. The free version includes all 10 formats, the Gutenberg catalog, 2 neural voices, all 31 languages, speed control, the sleep timer, iCloud sync and sentence highlighting. Premium ($14.99 one-time) adds 8 voices, background and lock-screen playback, and CarPlay.