Yes, you can. Open Outloud Reader, photograph a page of a book, and a natural voice reads it to you while each phrase is highlighted on the screen. The app finds the page in the photo, recognises the words and turns them into audio that stays in your library. Printed pages work best; a few kinds of photo do not work at all, and they are listed below.
What works
- Printed book pages. A paper novel, a textbook, a magazine or a handout. If you can read the words in the photo yourself, the app usually can too.
- Worksheets and letters. A sheet laid flat and photographed straight on, such as an exercise, a form or a letter.
- Screenshots. A screenshot of an article, a chat or a slide. Choose Gallery and pick it.
- Neat handwriting. Clear handwriting often reads well, so notes written carefully are worth a try.
What doesn’t work well
- Messy handwriting. If you struggle to read it yourself, the app may not recognise it either.
- Pictures with no words. The app reads words. It does not describe a photo of a street, a person or a painting.
- Very glossy pages. A bright reflection across the text hides the letters. Tilt the book until the glare moves away.
- Tiny, blurred or steeply slanted text. It may not be recognised. A two-page spread of small print may also be too much for one photo.
The steps
- Start a new book. Choose Camera to photograph a page now, or Gallery to pick photos you already took.
- Photograph the page. The app finds the page in each photo and crops it; you can adjust the frame or use the photo as it is. Each photo becomes one page. Take the next page, and the next: up to 50 pages go into one import.
- Choose the language and the voice. Choose the page’s own language to hear it as printed, or another language to have it translated first. Then pick a woman’s or a man’s voice.
- Tap Create and press play. The text is read aloud and the phrase being spoken is highlighted, so you can follow along or just listen.
Photo tips
- Lay the book flat, so the lines of text are straight.
- Use good light, without your own shadow or the book’s falling across the page.
- Keep the whole page inside the frame and let the camera settle before you take the photo.
- Photograph one page at a time rather than a whole spread.
- If a page will not read, paste its text into the app yourself instead.
Another language, and who it helps
The photo does not have to be in your language. Choose the page’s own language and you hear it as printed, which is useful when you are learning that language and want to hear how the words sound. Choose your own language instead and the page is translated into natural sentences before it is read. The voices cover 14 languages.
People use this for textbooks they would rather revise by ear, for a paper book that has no audiobook, for a letter or a form that is tiring to read, and for small print on a handout. Following the highlighted phrase also makes it easier to keep your place while you listen.
Listening afterwards
Making the book needs an internet connection, because the photo is read and voiced online. When it is ready it is saved in your library with its audio, and it plays offline, in the background and with the screen off. Playing it again costs nothing.
You choose how to listen: any speed from 0.5× to 1.25×, a sentence repeated up to five times, or the text hidden so that you only hear it. If you photograph the pages of a whole book, the guide to turning a book into an audiobook explains how the pages are put together. The app has no books of its own and is not an audiobook store: it reads what you photograph.
What it costs
The app is free to download and a few pages are free to start. Each photo uses one page. After the free pages, pages come in packs that do not expire, or with a Premium subscription. Prices are shown in the app. For the same steps with more detail, see the guide to photo to speech.