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Text Reader Narrator

How to have your iPhone read a web page or article aloud

Copy the article text in your browser, open Text Reader Narrator's three-dot menu, tap Paste from Clipboard and press Play — the quickest route for a quick listen. Or use Import from URL to save the whole page as a document instead. Both cost nothing.

2 min read · Updated 2026-10-06

Download on the App Store ★ 4.1 (31)

Safari can already read a page to you, sort of

Safari has its own listening option on plenty of article pages, and iOS Speak Screen reads whatever's currently on screen. Both are fine for a one-off. This app earns its keep when you want word highlighting, your own choice of voice and speed, or to keep the article and come back to it later.

Way 1: copy and paste (recommended)

  1. Open the article in Safari or another browser. Reader view helps strip the clutter first.
  2. Select the article text and tap Copy.
  3. Open the Reader tab, tap the three-dot menu, choose Paste from Clipboard.
  4. Pick a voice and speed, then press Play. Each word highlights as it's read.
  5. Want it later? Save as Document from the same menu.

You decide exactly what gets read, so menus, cookie banners and comments stay out of it. For free users, pasted text counts toward the 5,000-character daily allowance each time you press Play — same as anything else in the Reader.

Way 2: hand it the address instead

  1. Copy the page's address from the browser.
  2. In the app, tap the + button and choose Import from URL.
  3. Paste the address and tap Import. The page downloads and saves into Documents, titled with the site's name.
  4. Go to Documents, tap the new document, tap Start Reading.

This saves the page for later without having to select anything. It needs a connection while it imports; after that, the document lives entirely on your device.

When importing a page goes wrong

The import grabs the text out of the page's HTML and throws the code away. That has a couple of side effects worth knowing before you rely on it:

  • Menus, footers, related-links boxes and other page text can get read right alongside the article.
  • Pages that build their content with JavaScript sometimes come back empty or half-finished.
  • Anything behind a login or paywall usually imports only the teaser, or the sign-in screen itself.
  • Import comes out messy? Fall back to copying the text by hand instead.
Which way to use
SituationUse
You want word highlightingPaste into the Reader
Long article to finish laterImport from URL, then Continue Reading
Page is cluttered or needs a loginPaste into the Reader
You want an audio file of the articlePaste, then Export (Premium)

Questions and answers

Is reading web pages aloud free?
Yes. Pasting text and Import from URL are both free. Pasted text played in the Reader counts toward the free daily character allowance like everything else.
Why did the imported page read the menu too?
The import keeps all the text on the page, not just the article itself. Copy only the article text and paste it into the Reader instead for a cleaner result.
Does it work with paywalled articles?
Import from URL can't log in anywhere, so it usually only gets the public part. If your browser can show you the article, copy its text and paste that in instead.
Does it work with Chrome too?
Yes. It copies the text or address from whichever browser you're using — the app doesn't care which one that is.

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