AI Read — Text to Speech for Every Screen
Built for dyslexia, low vision, and ADHD. One tap reads any screen aloud — articles, PDFs, emails — in natural voices, 100+ languages auto-detected. No copy-paste, no uploads.
Live on Google Play · 10K+ downloads · 4.5★

One action, any screen, speech starts immediately.
Most TTS apps start with logistics: select, copy, switch apps, paste, press play. AI Read skips all of it. Invoke Arc (Ctrl + Space then AI Read on desktop; a tap from the Arc menu on Android), the menu dismisses, no window opens, and Arc reads the frontmost screen aloud — browser, email, PDF reader or chat. Invoke it again to stop. It reads on demand only; nothing monitors your screen in the background.
It reads content, not interface. Article text, email bodies, message threads and document text are kept; navigation bars, buttons, ads, headers and footers are dropped before the voice starts. Want the gist instead? Run AI Summary and tap Listen on the result: a 30-second listen in place of an eight-minute read.
🌍 100+ languages, auto-detected
Arc detects the language on screen and picks the best installed voice for it. No language or voice to choose first.
🎚️ Speed and pitch, your way
Settings → Speech has Speed (0.5x to 2x) and Pitch sliders and a Test Speech button. Tune it once; every read follows it.
⏸️ Real pauses between list points
Numbered and bulleted items are spoken as separate utterances with a pause between them, while prose sentences stay whole.
🎧 Background playback
Listen while you walk, cook or commute — switch apps or lock the screen and narration continues. On Android, play/pause sits in the media notification and on the lock screen, headset buttons work like a music player, and a saved queue auto-advances ("playing 2 of 5").
Built for people who read differently.
- Dyslexia: every copy-paste step is a place to lose momentum. AI Read collapses it to one action on the screen you're already on, and you can hear a summary of a long document before committing to it.
- Low vision: no zooming, panning or tracking a magnifier — the content comes to you as speech, at a speed well past comfortable reading pace once you're used to it.
- ADHD: audio is easier to start and stick with than a wall of text, and a summary first tells you what you're getting into.
- Students: coursework lives in the LMS, the PDF reader and the browser — Arc reads whichever app is in front of you, so readings become audio for the commute.
Arc targets WCAG 2.1 AA, works with TalkBack on Android and VoiceOver on Mac (every control labeled), keeps touch targets at least 48dp, respects system font size and contrast, and binds every desktop action to a keyboard shortcut.
The voice matters as much as the reading.
A robotic voice is why many people try text-to-speech once and never again. Arc picks voices in strict order — highest-quality tiers first, then any installed voice for the exact language, then the closest voice in the same language family — so a Japanese article in an English interface still gets the best Japanese voice you have.
The gap between robotic and natural is usually just which voice the OS has installed. Modern systems ship excellent neural voices as free downloads — Premium/Enhanced voices on macOS, Natural/Neural voices on Windows — but most people never install them. If only the basic voice is present, Arc shows a Voice Quality card with a Get Voices button that opens the OS voice-download settings directly. Download a voice and Arc uses it immediately, no restart.

Every saved item has a play button.
The same speech engine, with the same speed and pitch settings, powers play buttons across Arc: on every AI Summary panel, on each row in Saved Items (no need to open it), in the library detail view, and on chat responses. Save articles in the morning and your saved list becomes a podcast for the walk home.
How it compares to other text-to-speech apps.
| Arc | Typical TTS apps | |
|---|---|---|
| Copy-paste needed | ❌ Reads the screen directly | ✅ You paste text in |
| Works inside any app | ✅ Floating menu / hotkey | ❌ Own app only |
| Language auto-detect | ✅ 100+ languages | Often manual |
| Reads PDFs on screen | ✅ | Often needs upload |
| List-aware pauses | ✅ Built in | ❌ Usually run-on |
| Also summarizes & extracts | ✅ Full assistant | ❌ TTS only |
| Price | ✅ Free tier | Often $8–15/mo |
Android's own options solve different problems. TalkBack announces every button and label so you can operate the phone without seeing it — use it if you can't see the screen, and keep it alongside Arc if you do, since Arc's controls are labeled for it. Select to Speak is free and built in, but you drag a box over the text each time, ads and menus included, and nothing is kept afterward. Fine for an occasional paragraph; tiresome as a daily reader.
Dedicated TTS apps can't see your screen, which is why they need the paste. If all you want is a paste box with a voice, plenty of apps do that; Arc also summarizes what it reads, extracts dates and contacts, and quizzes you on it later.
Common questions
Is this text-to-speech app free?
Yes — AI Read is included in the free tier (7 requests per week) with no per-minute charges. Optional premium removes limits.
Is Arc good for dyslexia?
Yes — Arc is accessibility-first (WCAG 2.1 AA, TalkBack support): one tap reads any screen aloud without copying text into another app.
Can it read PDFs aloud?
Yes — open the PDF on screen, invoke AI Read, and Arc reads it with natural voices in 100+ auto-detected languages.
How do I get better-sounding voices?
Natural voices are free OS downloads — Arc's Get Voices button opens the OS voice settings directly, with Premium/Enhanced voices on macOS and Natural/Neural voices on Windows.
What's the difference between TalkBack and Arc?
TalkBack announces every interface element and replaces taps with gestures — it's for operating the phone eyes-free. Arc reads the content on screen with menus and ads filtered out, for people who can see the screen but would rather listen. Many people run both.
Is there a text-to-speech app for iPhone?
The iOS version is coming soon. Arc for Android, macOS and Windows are available today.