Reading something on the screen isn’t always as convenient as having it read out for you. Be it ebooks, text messages, lengthy documents, or tutorials on YouTube, it’s usually much easier to understand content when it’s spoken out, and that’s where an Android text-to-speech app can come in quite handy.
Whether you’re a content creator or a content enjoyer, a good TTS app can completely transform how you interact with text-based material.
However, not all text-to-speech apps on Android are of the same caliber, so you’ll need to choose your go-to app wisely.
In this article
What Are Android Text-to-Speech Apps?
As the name suggests, a text-to-speech app on Android, whether free or paid, converts textual content into spoken words. In a nutshell, these apps use speech synthesis to produce human speech artificially.
Now, depending on the quality of the app in question, the produced speech could sound somewhat fake and robotic. Though it doesn’t deliver the most pleasant-sounding experience, such an app could still be useful for those with visual impairments, for instance, who need assistance reading text on their screen.
More advanced apps produce much higher sound quality, making synthesized speech sound human-like and natural. Many can even have customized pitch and emotional tone behind the words, making the produced audio sound like nothing less than a voice recording.
Usually, these apps are better reserved for professional purposes. They can assist with video content production, such as product demonstrations or tutorials. They can even help with social media content creation, as you can use them to save time and effort on video narration.
Best Text-to-Speech Apps for Android
The best text-to-speech app for Android will have powerful capabilities and enable you to use it with the utmost ease. It will produce high-quality audio output and give you complete flexibility to use it however you see fit.
The following options are some of the top apps you’ll definitely want to have on your device.
Wondershare Virbo
Wondershare Virbo is an all-around AI video generation app. Available on desktop, browser, and app-based versions for Android and iPhone, it has a wide range of features and capabilities that make it the ideal choice for content creation – whether for educational, business, or entertainment purposes.
It offers full-fledged text-to-speech (and speech-to-text!) capabilities in over 40 different languages. What’s more, it gives you access to over 200 human-sounding AI voices, allowing you to truly personalize your content.
Easy to use, convenient, and powerful, it’s the top choice for video narration.
Here’s how to use Wondershare Virbo’s TTS capabilities:
Step 1: Visit the Wondershare Virbo website or Google Play Store to download and install the app;
Step 2: From the app’s homepage, select Text to speech and go over the available voice categories;
Step 3: Select your preferred Gender, Country, Language, and Emotion, then tap Convert Now;
Step 4: Type in the script you want to synthesize speech for and select the language that matches it;
Step 5: Tap Create Video and select your preferred video orientation (portrait or landscape);
Step 6: Tap Create now.
How quickly Virbo synthesizes speech for you depends on your script’s length. When the process is complete, you can tap Preview to hear a sample, then Export to save your video.
Key features:
- AI script generator – you don’t have to create your script for video narration; just let Virbo’s AI handle it;
- Audio upload – upload your own narration, then create an AI avatar to include in your video with perfect lip sync to your audio;
- Video translation – translate your video to any language you choose, then create AI narration for your translated script.
Pricing:
If you’re interested in Wondershare Virbo, you can get it with one of the following subscription plans:
- Free – $0.00
- Monthly plan – $19.9 a month
- Yearly plan Essential – $44.9 a year
- Yearly plan Pro – $19.year
The Essential and Pro plans have essentially the same set of features, the main difference being in the number of available credits and the price of buying additional ones.
Select to Speak
Android phones have an excellent selection of accessibility features that can help users get the most out of their devices, even if they have physical or mental impairments. Select to Speak is one such feature.
Built-in with all newer Androids, this feature enables you to have any text in any compatible app read out to you.
However, you do first need to enable this capability if you want to use it:
Step 1: Go to your Android’s Settings and tap on Accessibility;
Step 2: Tap Select to Speak and turn it on;
If your phone doesn’t have this option, you can download the latest version of Android Accessibility Suite from the Google Play Store. Then, you can turn it on following the same steps as above.
Key features:
- Hear selected text – in any compatible app, highlight the selected text and have it read out to you;
- Experimental image reading – still in the experimental phase, Select to Speak could read text from images out loud;
- Personal data protection – the app can collect and read out any text, except for passwords and personal data such as credit card numbers.
Pricing:
You don’t have to spend a dime to use Select to Speak as it comes built-in with most newer Androids. Even if you don’t have it on your device, you can easily download it for free directly from the Google Play Store.
NaturalReader
NaturalReader can be a great choice if you prefer all the text you come across on your phone to be read out to you. Whether you want to turn your downloaded books into audiobooks, have important documents spelled out for you, or anything in between, this app could help you.
It even comes with powerful OCR (Optical Character Recognition), enabling you to identify text in images and PDFs seamlessly and have it read out to you.
It has some excellent customization options that can make the app all the more usable for your diverse needs.
Key features:
- OCR – identify text in images and have it read out to you;
- Downloadable MP3 – use NaturalReader’s AI to narrate text, then download the audio file in MP3;
- Smart text filtering – filter out unwanted or inappropriate words from your text files.
Pricing:
While you can download and use the basic features for free, you’ll need to upgrade to the premium version to get the most out of this app.
- Premium Plan Monthly – $9.99
- Plus Plan Monthly – $18.99
- Premium Plan Yearly – $59.99
- Plus Plan Yearly – $109.99
You can also purchase group plans for five or more users, with pricing depending on your group size.
Speechify
Speechify is among the best text-to-speech apps for Android that you could use for free. Primarily aimed for personal use and incredibly beneficial to students who want to go over their course material quickly, it offers an excellent selection of features you don’t have to pay for.
Of course, its premium version is much more versatile, but that doesn’t negate that the free one still has plenty to offer.
What’s really interesting about it is that it allows you to use celebrity voices to sound out your text files. So, if you believe that someone like Snoop Dogg could help you memorize your study materials better, you’ll certainly benefit from this app.
Key features:
- Celebrity voices – use voices from celebrities like Snoop Dogg or Gwyneth Paltrow to sound out your text;
- Printed text scanning – scan printed text, then use text-to-speech to turn it into an audible narration;
- Listen up to 5x faster – adjust the speed of narration by up to 5 times.
Pricing:
Speechify offers only two convenient plans:
- Speechify Limited – $0.00
- Speechify Premium –$139.0.year
While the free version is fully functional, the word limit makes it inadequate for those who need to use text-to-speech daily.
Voice Aloud Reader
If you find reading online articles on your phone’s screen uncomfortable, Voice Aloud Reader is the app for you. You can use it to easily sound out content from websites, ebooks, emails, PDFs, and more.
All you have to do is use the Android share menu to send the text directly to Voice Aloud Reader. Alternatively, you can also simply copy and paste the website URL and have the app start narrating its content.
It will automatically skip through the menu and navigation tools and start reading the relevant content immediately.
Key features:
- Full-screen mode – switch to the full-screen mode to have more visible text and still navigate the app with ease;
- Playlist – organize your voice narration files with playlists and access them with ease at any time;
- Speech editing – change the pronunciation of words, skip over sentence fragments, and customize the speech as you see fit.
Pricing:
If you’re interested in giving Voice Aloud Reader a try, you can get it with one of the following plans:
- Free – $0.00
- Premium – $9.99
While the premium version offers minor additional capabilities, its biggest selling point is removing unwanted ads from your screen, allowing you to enjoy TTS functionality without annoying distractions.
VoxBox
Developed by iMyFone, VoxBox is a capable little tool that can convert text into an audio narration in just a few clicks. Available in no less than 216 languages and accents and offering over 3,500 different AI voices, it gives you complete flexibility to play around with TTS and find a voice that’s just right for you.
Among the thousands of AI voices it offers are a handful of celebrity and character voice impersonations. So, you can have a Donald Trump-inspired text narration, for instance, or even a SpongeBob-inspired one.
Key features:
- AI voice fine-tuning – adjust voice narration elements such as speed, exaggeration, pitch, and more;
- Emotional voice styles – have your text files read out happily, angrily, fearfully, and more with your preferred emotional voice style;
- Multi-person narration – include up to 100 unique voices in a single text.
Pricing:
You can get Vox Box by choosing one of six available plans:
- Essential Monthly – $15.9.month
- Essential Yearly – $44.9.year
- Essential LifeTime – $89.95 one-time purchase
- Premium Basic – $16.9.month
- Premium Pro – $25.9.month
- Custom Plan – custom pricing
The LifeTime plan is generally deemed the best value, especially if you frequently need TTS features.
Speech Recognition & Synthesis
If you’re looking for the best free text-to-speech app for Android, Google’s own Speech Recognition & Synthesis is just what you need. It’s the default TTS app for Android and likely the exact sound that comes to mind when you think of “text-to-speech”.
It’s essentially a utility app designed to make your device more accessible (just like the Select to Speak app). It perfectly integrates with the broader Android system and offers an excellent range of languages, making it suitable for all users.
Key features:
- Speed adjustment – adjust the speech rate for the ultimate listening comfort;
- Speech recognition – with powerful speech recognition, you can use this app for dictation;
- Voice variety – the app offers a wide selection of different voices.
Pricing:
Speech Recognition & Synthesis is entirely free to download and use, so you won’t have to spend a dime on it.
Narrator's Voice
Last among the top free text-to-speech apps for Android is Narrator’s Voice. It’s a more whimsical app with quite the humorous side. You can use it to add voice effects to your audio or select one of several different humorous AI voices to narrate your text.
While it’s mainly used for personal applications, such as sending humorous voice messages to friends and family, it could also be useful for content creation on platforms like YouTube.
Key features:
- Voice effects – add unique (and funny) voice effects to your own audio;
- MP3 file export – save your audio file directly on your phone in the MP3 format;
- Effects adjustment – use sliders to adjust the compressor, distortion, and more.
Pricing:
Narrator’s Voice offers two versions:
- Free – $0.00
- Premium – $4.9.month
Considering the incessant ads that come with the free version, you’ll likely want to upgrade to the premium one to avoid them.
Use Cases for Text-to-Speech Android Apps
Text-to-speech apps come in all shapes and sizes, and most are highly beneficial for personal and professional uses. Here’s a brief overview of their primary use cases:
- Accessibility – these apps enable those with visual impairments or other physical/mental disabilities to get the most out of their devices and interact with text-based content with ease;
- Content creation – adding professional-sounding voiceovers to video content on social media platforms increases audience engagement and makes your content more accessible;
- Marketing – companies often use TTS to create voiceovers for professional-sounding marketing videos;
- Business and education – TTS apps make it easier to add voiceovers to tutorials, onboarding presentations, product demos, and more;
- Overcoming language barriers – content creators who have a heavy accent or speech impairments use TTS to publish high-quality content that’s easy for their audience to understand;
- Language learning – TTS apps can help improve learners’ listening skills and pronunciation.
These are just a few of the many examples of how TTS apps are used. Still, regardless of why you might be interested in such an app, you’ll want it to be reliable and offer high-quality speech synthesis.
How to Pick the Right Text-To-Speech App for Android
The text-to-speech apps for Android devices mentioned above are just some of the hundreds of available apps. So, choosing the right one for you may be difficult. Here’s what you should keep in mind when making your choice:
- Ease of use – avoid apps that are difficult to navigate or take you through hoops to provide speech synthesis;
- Price – although you have access to some free apps, investing in a paid one might be worth it. Most commonly, paid solutions offer more advanced features and are more usable;
- Voice quality – regardless of what you’ll use the app for, you’ll want the voice to be of high quality and sound as natural as possible;
- Reviews – always look into app reviews before downloading a tex-to-speech app for Android. Reviews can help you identify whether the app is worth downloading and whether it has any common issues that many users complain about;
- Privacy and security – most TTS apps can access your messages, emails, and private data. Always double-check the privacy and security measures the app has in place to protect your sensitive information.
You’ll generally want to test and try a few different apps to find the one that works for you. Most of these apps have a free trial just for this purpose, so don’t be afraid to download them and see what they offer before investing in them.
Conclusion
Whether you want to improve the accessibility of your phone, create immersive content, or go over your studying material as quickly as possible, text-to-speech apps on Android phones can prove to be most useful.
From Wondershare Virbo to Select to Speak, Narrator’s Voice, and more, you can access countless high-quality TTS apps that can enhance your experience with all text-based content.