How to Use the iPhone Text-to-Speech Feature

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Do you have trouble seeing or reading the text on your iPhone screen? Maybe the text is too tiny. Maybe you have trouble with your vision. Whatever the issue, there is a solution. You can have your iPhone speak your screen out loud.

By tapping into the Speech setting on your iPhone, you can hear the entire screen read aloud from top to bottom or just selected text. You can listen to text as you type it, word by word or each character. You can even hear predicted text. Further, you can choose the language and type of voice you hear as well as the rate of speech. This trick works on an iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Speech Settings

To access the Speech setting on your iPhone, open Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech.

Speech Options

You can first enable the Speech feature to read your entire screen from top to bottom. Turn on the button to Speak Screen. You can also enable the option to highlight content as it's spoken. Turn on the switch for Highlight Content.

Highlight Content

At the Highlight Content screen, you can set the option to highlight words, sentences, or both words and sentences. You can opt to see highlighted text as underlined or filled in with your background color. And you can choose the color to highlight words and sentences.

Speak Screen

Now, move to a screen that you want to hear read aloud. Swipe two fingers down from the top of the screen to trigger the reading. A small speech control panel pops up while the text is read aloud. The control panel will condense into a small right arrow button on the left side of the screen. If you do nothing, the arrow button will also fade in color.

Control Screen Reading

Tap on the arrow to bring back the full control panel. Now, you can control the reading. You can play, pause, speed up the reading, and slow it down. Tap the Forward button to skip ahead to the next word or line. Tap the Rewind button to skip back. Tap the X to stop the reading. If you stop the speech and then want to pick up where you left off, swipe two fingers down on the screen. The reading resumes from the top of your current screen.

Speak Selection

Return to Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech. You can hear selected text read aloud. Turn on the switch for Speak Selection. Select some text. From the pop-up menu, tap on Speak, and your selected text is read to you.

Typing Feedback

You can also hear text spoken aloud as you type it. Go back to the Speech screen in Settings. Tap on the entry for Typing Feedback. You can enable options to hear individual characters, words, and auto-text spoken aloud. And you can hold down each predicted word to hear it spoken aloud. Open an app in which you type text, such as Notes, Reminders, Messages, or Email. Start typing. As you type each word or character, you'll hear it spoken aloud.

Changing Voices

Return to the Speech settings. Tap on the entry for Voices. You can now change the voices for English as well as many other languages. Tap on a language. You can download a voice you want to hear by tapping on the cloud icon. To test the voice, tap on it and press Play to hear a short clip. If you like it and want to set it as the new default, tap on it. A checkmark appears in front of the voice.

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