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Unlock Your iPhone's Many Hidden Text-to-Speech Features to Make It Read Virtually Any On-Screen Content

Mar 9, 2024 12:11 AM
Apr 24, 2025 03:26 AM
Close-up of an iPhone showing Safari’s ‘Listen to Page’ icon active in the address bar while reading an article on ios.gadgethacks.com about Focus profile settings.

Speech-to-text technology can be seen on your iPhone in various places, from the Dictation tool to Apple's new behind-the-scenes, auto-created transcripts for podcast episodes. Your iPhone also has some pretty impressive text-to-speech capabilities. With them, your iPhone can read webpages, documents, or whatever text is on the screen out loud to you — only some of these tools aren't easy to find.

Sure, you can listen to free audio stories in Apple News or subscribe to hear audio versions of select News+ stories. And there are plenty of audiobooks available in the Books app. And you can use third-party apps to read pretty much anything that you need, likely at a price. Some apps even work in Messages, so you can dictate in your own language and spit text out in a different one. There's a shortcut that can even help you with that. You can also use the Translate app to speak entered or translated text.

But there are some free hidden tools built into iOS that can make Siri read aloud webpages, any text on the screen, or just a selection of text, so all you have to do is listen. The trick is finding them. They're great for multitasking, for those with visual impairments, or for anyone who prefers auditory learning.

Make Safari read webpages to you

With iOS 17 or later installed, open Safari to a webpage you want to have narrated to you. Then, tap the Page Settings button on the left side of the address bar. Next, tap Listen to Page, and your iPhone will begin reading the page from the start. For a more hands-free experience, you can tell Siri to "Read this page" to you.

You can also access the Listen to Page button when Reader is active. Just tap the Reader icon in the address bar to find it.

For additional options, open Page Settings again (the button will now look like a speaker icon during narration). From here, you can adjust the speaking rate, pause, continue, skip back, or skip forward. On iOS 17, you can also end listening, an option missing from iOS 18 for some reason. On iOS 17, tap More Controls from the listening menu to reveal the rest of the Page Settings menu (it's already visible on iOS 18).

Four-step walkthrough showing Safari’s ‘Listen to Page’ feature on iOS 18, from tapping the address bar icon to playback controls over a Gadget Hacks article.

Make your iPhone read selected text only

To have your iPhone read whatever text you select in almost any app, you'll utilize the hidden Speak Selection tool. First, ensure it's activated by going to Settings » Accessibility » Spoken Content and toggling on Speak Selection.

Another option, Highlight Content, will appear, where you can have Speak Selection highlight words, sentences, or both with a background color or underline. You can also change the voice, default language, speaking rate, and more from the Spoken Content menu.

For narration, simply highlight the text you wish to hear in an app like Notes, Mail, Books, or Safari, and then find and tap Speak from the options menu. This feature works seamlessly in almost any app, whether an Apple or third-party app. Speak Selection is also great at telling you the names of emoji.

Three iPhone screenshots showing ‘Speak Selection’ in Safari on iOS 18, with highlighted iMessage effects text and Speak button active in Settings » Accessibility » Spoken Content.

Make your iPhone speak everything on the screen

If you want your iPhone to read a webpage in Safari where the Listen to Page feature doesn't work, entire news articles in the Apple News app, or anything else in almost any app, you'll utilize the hidden Speak Screen tool. First, ensure it's activated by going to Settings » Accessibility » Spoken Content and toggling on Speak Screen.

Highlight Content will also appear if it's not visible in Spoken Content already. As with Speak Selection, you can have Speak Screen highlight words, sentences, or both with a background color or underline. You can also change the voice, default language, speaking rate, and more from the Spoken Content menu.

After you turn on Speak Screen, another option called Speech Controller appears underneath. Tap it and toggle on Show Controller if you want the controller on your screen at all times for easier access (there's a shortcut to unhide it if you don't want it visible all the time, as you'll soon see). You can also set up shortcuts for long pressing and double tapping, as well as adjust the opacity of the button while idle.

For screen narration in nearly any app, simply tap the Speech Controller icon and hit the play button. If you don't have Speech Controller always on, swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen. You can then use Speech Controller to customize the playback in the moment. Check out our full guide for more information.

Three iPhone screenshots showing how to enable and use the Speech Controller for ‘Speak Screen’ in Settings » Accessibility » Spoken Content.

If reading a webpage on Safari, long-press or touch and hold the Page Settings button to activate Reader View, then use Speak Screen. This can eliminate distractions that Speak Screen may otherwise read without.

Make your iPhone speak elements you tap

If you ever need to make your iPhone tell you what a button says, a menu item, specific web content, and other on-screen elements, you can use the Speech Controller. Follow the directions above to show the Speech Controller, then tap the finger icon in the controller's menu. Next, tap a button, section of text, or other element to hear Apple narrate or explain it.

Three iPhone screenshots showing the ‘Speak Screen’ feature in action from Settings » Accessibility » Spoken Content, including playback controls and finger swipe gesture activation.

Make your iPhone speak what you type

If you want your iPhone to tell you aloud everything you type, go to Settings » Accessibility » Spoken Content » Typing Feedback, then toggle on the features that you'd like to use. Speak Words will only read words you type, Characters will speak out letters, numbers, and other characters, Character Hints will speak letters phonetically, Speak Auto-Text automatically speaks anything autocorrected, and Hold to Speak Predictions does precisely what it sounds like — reads you whatever you press and hold in the suggestions bar.

The selected voice, default language, speaking rate, and other settings in the Spoken Content menu also apply to these more intricate text-to-speech options.

typing-feedback-in-messages-ios.png

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Cover photo and screenshots by adget Hacks.

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