The accessible and flexible text-to-speech app Voice Dream Reader turns all of your reading material into audiobook form – then lets you do so much more.
What we love: How much this improves our productivity! Whether you’re walking, driving or otherwise engaged, Voice Dream Reader will read any PDF, book, article or website in a voice of your choosing – there are more than 200 to pick from! The app can translate over 30 languages and includes several customisation options: organise and sort your library, change the font and text appearance and use simple tap and swipe gestures to control the reading speed. You can even add notes to annotate what the app is reading to you, which is especially handy when studying.
Quick tip: If you need visual support while listening, try the synchronised highlighter and auto-scroll features. Easily distracted? A simple pinch gesture activates the Focused Reading mode, which eliminates everything on the screen except for the current few lines of text.
Meet the creator: Founder Winston Chen wrote the first version of Voice Dream Reader in 2012 while he and his family were on sabbatical on a small island in Norway just north of the Arctic Circle. Since then, he has continued to improve and revamp it to turn it into a full-featured, desktop-class app that just so happens to run on a device in your pocket.