Support

Write to support@outloudreader.app and a person will answer. Below are the things that come up most, with what to do about each.

Your account

I have a new phone, or reinstalled the app

Nothing to do — your page balance comes back by itself. On iPhone and iPad it is recognised by your App Store account (or, if you use iCloud sync, your iCloud); books are kept on the device they were made on, and where your version of the app offers iCloud sync, turning it on brings them to your other devices too. On Android it is recognised by an account key in your Google backup; if Android’s backup is on, your books’ text comes back from it too, without the audio and the original photos.

What is the support code?

A code that identifies your account, in Account → Support code. Send it to us when you write about your pages or purchases. It is not a password: by itself, it does not let anyone reach your account, and support does not delete, transfer or restore anything using only the code. To delete your data, use the button in the app; to restore a purchase, use Restore purchases on your own Apple Account or Google account.

How do I delete my data?

In Account → Delete my data. This deletes your page balance and the pages left on it, paid ones included, from our server, and your imports. It cannot be undone, and it doesn’t cancel Premium — cancel that in your Apple Account settings, or on Android in Google Play → Subscriptions. Your books are not deleted — they stay in your library. If you no longer have the app, see Delete your data. What is kept afterwards is on the privacy page.

Pages and packs

What is a page?

A page is one photo or one page of a PDF, up to 5,000 characters — a denser PDF page counts as more than one — or up to 2,500 characters of text you type, paste or have the AI write. It covers everything done with it: reading the photo, translating it and reading it aloud. Playing a book again costs nothing — that page is already paid for.

Free pages

The first 5 pages are free, once per account. They are added automatically, and they don’t come back when they are used up.

Premium

A subscription, weekly or monthly, that adds a set number of pages at the start of each period, in all 14 languages; the app shows how many before you subscribe. Pages you don’t use by the end of the period expire. Premium pages are used first, pack pages after them. It renews automatically until you cancel it.

How do I cancel Premium?

On your iPhone or iPad, open Settings → your name → Subscriptions and choose Outloud Reader. On Android, open Google Play → your profile picture → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions and choose Outloud Reader. Cancel at least 24 hours before the period ends to avoid the next charge. Premium and its pages stay until the end of the period you have paid for, and pages from packs stay on your account.

Page packs

Packs of pages, bought once in the app at your country’s App Store or Google Play price. A pack doesn’t renew, and its pages never expire — they wait on your account until you use them, after your Premium pages.

It says packs are “waiting to be added”

The App Store or Google Play took the payment, but the pages have not reached your account yet — usually because the connection dropped or our server could not confirm the purchase at that moment. Nothing is lost: the app keeps the purchase and sends it again by itself when you open it. If it is still waiting later, tap Restore purchases on the purchase screen; if that doesn’t help, write to us with your support code and the date of the purchase.

What does “Restore purchases” do?

It looks for packs paid for on this Apple Account — on Android, on the Google account Google Play uses on this phone — that have not been added yet, and adds them. On Android it also brings back a Premium subscription bought on that account. The pages you already have are already on your account and don’t need restoring.

A pack “could not be added to this account”

It was already added to another account. If you bought it on a different Apple Account or Google account, restore purchases there; otherwise write to us with the date of the purchase.

Refunds

How do I ask for a refund?

Refunds are the store’s to grant, not ours: for the App Store, use reportaproblem.apple.com; for Google Play, follow Google’s Request a refund on Google Play. If something about the app was wrong, we would rather hear it first — write to us.

After a refund the app stopped working

When Apple or Google Play gives the money for a pack back, its pages are removed. If the pack was bought on this account, the service stops for it — new books and speech. Buying a pack switches it back on, and its pages are added as usual.

My refund was reversed

Then the pack counts again, and it arrives on its own the next time you open the app while online.

Making a book

“No text found on this page”

Usually the page is at an angle, in its own shadow, or the phone focused on the edge of the book rather than the text. Lay the book flat, let the camera settle and keep the whole text inside the frame — or paste the text yourself.

“This page is longer than 5,000 characters”

One page of a book holds up to 5,000 characters — a page of a paperback is well under that, a two-page spread of small print may not be. Photograph one page at a time, or a smaller part of it. A book can have up to 50 pages.

Some pages didn’t import

Tap Retry failed pages on the book’s import, or Try again on the page in the book. You don’t need to keep the app open while pages upload — you can lock your phone.

Listening

A book has no audio

Swipe the book in the library and choose Add audio. The audio stays on your phone until you delete the book; the system doesn’t clear it to free up space.

“This page will be read aloud later”

The book’s voice was not available when the page was made. The page waits and is read aloud in the same voice as soon as it is back — you don’t need to do anything.

The voice changed on one page

If a voice service was unavailable when a single page was made, a backup voice read it. The app replaces it later, at our expense, not yours.

The audio stops in the middle

Playback pauses for calls, alarms and other apps that take over the sound, and resumes when they are done. If it does not resume, press play again — your place is kept.

iCloud and Android backup

Where your version of the app offers it, turn on Account → iCloud sync: your books and their audio are kept in your iCloud and on every device signed into it. Delete data from iCloud removes them from iCloud only — nothing is deleted from your devices, and sync turns off on all of them.

On Android, there is no iCloud sync: the library stays on your phone. If Android’s backup is on, Google backs up your books’ text with the rest of the phone (Auto Backup), encrypted so that neither Google nor we can read it, and a new phone or a reinstall gets it back; the audio and the original photos are not in the backup. You can turn the backup off in your phone’s settings.

AI texts

What AI texts will and won’t be written about, and their daily limits, are in the content rules.

What is an AI text?

A text written for you by AI — a story, a dialogue, an article, a letter. In a new book, choose AI Text, describe what you want to read or tap Surprise me to let us pick the topic, choose the level and length, and tap Write text. Then tap Create to make a book of it, or choose Edit as text to change it first.

Does an AI text use pages?

Writing it is free. Pages are used when you make a book of it, as with any text. To write one, you need enough pages on your balance for a book of the length you chose.

How many AI texts can I write?

Up to 20 a day. Every text you receive counts, including Surprise me texts and texts you don’t make a book of; a request refused before writing doesn’t. After 6 refused requests in a day, writing is paused until the day ends. A day ends at midnight UTC; the app shows that moment in your own time zone.

My request was refused

Every request, and every text before you see it, is checked automatically against the content rules. Rephrase the request or pick another topic, and leave out phone numbers, emails, addresses and links — the text doesn’t need them. The checks are automated and now and then refuse something harmless; if you think that happened, write to us.

Something is wrong with an AI text

Choose Report in the text’s menu before you make a book of it, or swipe the book in the library and choose Report text. This opens an email to us with the details filled in; you see everything before you send it.

Privacy and data

Before your first book, the app asks you to agree to how your pages are processed; you can read it again in Account → How your pages are processed. What is sent, who processes it and how long it is kept is on the privacy page.

Still stuck