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Voice Dream Reader

Submitted by Tangela , 20 December, 2012
Last updated on 25 June, 2022
Category
Education

Description of App

2021 Apple Design Award Winner! Voice Dream Reader lets you listen to any document and ebook using text-to-speech. Featured by Apple as Best New App and App of the Day in 81 countries and part of App Store Permanent Collections in Education.

“Both experts recommend Voice Dream Reader as the best app in the text-to-speech space.” - Wired

“This app is one of the best educational finds of my entire career.” - Forbes

“As a user myself and as a mother of a child with dyslexia, I am blown away by the features of Voice Dream.” - Quartz

“Voice Dream Reader is hailed by many as the best mobile text-to-speech (TTS) app.” - Examiner

Text-to-Speech

- One premium Acapela voice of your choice free with the purchase of the app.

- 36 built-in iOS voices in 27 languages are also available for free.

- 200+ additional premium voices in 30 languages from Acapela, NeoSpeech and Ivona available through in-app purchases.

- Correct pronunciation with your own pronunciation dictionary.

- All voices work offline and play in the background even with the screen locked.

Supported Document Formats

- PDF, Plain text, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, RTF, and Google Docs.

- Web articles.

- Bookshare Books.

- EPUB eBooks. (DRM-free books only. Kindle, iBooks and most commercial eBook platforms are not supported.)

- DAISY text-based books and audiobook.

- Audiobooks in MP3, MP4 or zipped MP3 format.

- Rich text and image support for all documents.

Built-in Scanner

- Scan paper documents with the camera for text-to-speech.

- State-of-the-art A.I. is fast and accurate, even in poor lighting conditions.

- Works entirely on device: No need for internet and your data stays private.

- Only languages using Latin alphabets are currently supported.

Reading Styles

- Tee-up a list of articles and play while you drive, walk or run.

- Spoken word is highlighted to improve comprehension and retention.

- Auto-scrolling and full screen, distraction-free mode to help reader focus.

- Finger reading. For beginners to read by at running a finger under each word.

- Pac-Man. Harvard and MIT developed speed-reading method for everyone to read at 2x speed with no loss of comprehension.

- High contrast and large font size for low vision readers.

- Optimized for VoiceOver, Braille and switch control.

Tools

- Recognize text for scanned PDF documents.

- Bookmarking, text highlighting and annotation. Highlights and notes can be exported.

- Full-text search.

- Built-in dictionary.

- Automicatically skip text in PDF header and footer.

Content Sources

- Native support for Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, Pocket, Instapaper and Evernote.

- Native access to Bookshare.

- Safari extension to save Web pages and Web addresses.

- Support for Box and OneDrive via iOS Document Picker.

Library Synchronization

- Your entire library, including folders, reading locations, bookmarks and annotations are synchronized across all your devices using iCloud Drive

Version

4.14.10

Free or Paid

Paid

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

15.6

Accessibility Comments

This is a very accessible app, and the developers seem truly committed to improving it. Organizing content is somewhat difficult and may require sighted assistance, but downloading and reading content works very well. As of the latest release, 2.7.2, the developer has fixed the issues noted below with regards to the inaccessibility of the text box. It is now possible to read by words, characters and lines through the text with voiceOver.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

Other Comments

The samples for peter (happy) and peter (sad) which previously did not play are now working properly.

App Store Link

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voice-dream-reader-text-to/id496177674

Developer's Website

http://www.voicedream.com/

Developer's Twitter Username

@voicedreamapp

Related Podcast

http://www.applevis.com/podcast/episodes/voice-dream-reader-powerful-and-award-…

Recommendations

37 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Michael Hansen 4 months 2 weeks ago

Options

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Comments

Extra voices

By sockhopsinger

7 years 7 months ago

Extra voices bought through Voice Dream Reader are only available for Voice Dream Reader.

iTunes Books

By DPinWI

7 years 7 months ago

I have books I purchased from iTunes on my iPhone 6. I want to read them with Voice Dream.

I can see them in iBooks.

In Voice Dream, I go to Add, and select iTunes.
The list of books for iTunes is blank. I hit Load, thinking it will then populate the list, but no such luck.

Can I read these books, and if so, how do I get them into Voice Dream?

itunes Books and Voice Dream

By Mike Freeman

7 years 7 months ago

I rather doubt you can read these books using voice Dream Reader as most are protected with Digital Rights Management (DRM).

I baught the 20 gig upgrade

By KE7ZUM

7 years 7 months ago

In reply to voice dream and iCloud by Usman

I baught the 20 gig upgrade for $1.99 a month which is worth it. Now all of my voice dream books are backed up to the cloud. so if I need to restore I can this way. I have 14 gigs up there already, most of it VD stuff.

Blessings and happy Thursday.

Some questions

By vulcansummer

7 years 7 months ago

First off, let me say how much I love this app. Thank you to the developer for making this app accessible to us, and so very nice to use.

I have a few questions, however. I'm using dropbox to load books into the app. Besides using iTunes, or any cloud service, can I download files directly from my computer to the app? Or must I use a cloud service?

Also, I have a ton of stuff I want to put on the app, and it's all arranged in folders. The way I'm doing it now is quite time consuming. I go into each folder with the books in it that I want to put on Voice Dream, then load each book manually. Is it possible to download entire folders on to the app without having to add each file manually? And if so, how would I go about doing it?

Thank you for any help, and a big thank you to the developer for creating and maintaining such a wonderful app!

Voice Dream Reader is shown

By Mike Freeman

7 years 7 months ago

Voice Dream Reader is shown under the apps you can load files on via iTunes.

adding books

By Usman

7 years 7 months ago

I would love to add folders and folders of books, but as another poster stated, doing this will consume your entire iCloud storage and I really don't feel like upgrading to a paid account just to be able to load books into voice dream reader.

Why not just do it thorugh

By KE7ZUM

7 years 7 months ago

Why not just do it thorugh itunes. Zip the books, then create folders on voice dream. You can o of corse turn voice dream off in icloud prefs thereby making it easier to not have it take up space on icloud.

Hth.

How to read audiobooks and DAISY books???

By Rafal

7 years 6 months ago

Hi guys,
Hope you can help me. I have a paid version of voice dream reader linked with my dropbox account. When I copy zip folders with daisy audiobooks and from the meni I sellect add icon and dropbox, nothing is found. When I unzip folders and put them on to my dropbox account each file is displayed separately. Have you got an Idea what to do to add an audiobook with numerous files so that then they are played as one book? I’d be grateful for instructions.

Version 3.5.0

By sockhopsinger

7 years 5 months ago

Make sure and read the warnings before you download. You will have to re-download any voices you have after installing this update.

What's New in Version 3.5.0

WARNING: 1). This release updates all voices. Previously downloaded voices will no longer work and will be deleted. You will need to go to "Manage My Voices" and download all your voices again. 2). PDF reading is also updated. If text highlighting for a PDF document is off, please re-import the file.

You'll see minor improvements in most of the voices. Also, because of the update, we're able to offer many new voices:

- US English: Ashley from NeoSpeech, and Karen and Rod from Acapela
- UK English: Hugh from NeoSpeech
- Scottish English: Rhona from Acapela
- Australian English: Lisa from Acapela
- Latin America Spanish: Violeta and Francisco from NeoSpeech and Rodrigo from Acapela
- French: Manon and Robot from Acapela
- Canadian French: Chloe from NeoSpeech
- Polish: Monika from Acapela
- Korean: Minji from Acapela

Hello. click load from

By KE7ZUM

7 years 5 months ago

In reply to How to read audiobooks and DAISY books??? by Rafal

Hello. click load from dropbox and find the zip file. then it will download then open VD then you can just load it. I also load zips from file browser, google drive and others.

Having trouble with Voice Dream

By vulcansummer

7 years 4 months ago

I am having trouble with Voice Dream.

I was using it last night with no trouble when all of a sudden it stopped working. It would load a file, but then wouldn't play. I have tried this on a number of files, some will play and some won't. I can advance the percentage, but even when doing that, the file still won't play.

I tried deleting the files that wouldn't play from Voice Dream, then reloading them from dropbox where they are stored originally, but even though voice dream told me the files had been loaded successfully, they now won't show up in any of my folders, or even on the main home screen of the ap where you can see all the files you have on Voice Dream.

I tried removing the ap from the ap switcher, and also resetting the iPhone, but nothing seems to fix the problem. Does anyone know what I might try?

I would reinstall Voice Dream, but I can't seem to get my iPhone to sync to my computer. Maybe I'm doing something wrong in trying to sync it.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

PDF?

By Scruffy Ted 🧸

7 years 4 months ago

In reply to Having trouble with Voice Dream by vulcansummer

vulcansummer, what format are the files? If they are PDF, that will most likely be the problem, as the developer has posted on Twitter that there are problems with PDF files after the latest iOS update. A VDR update is on the way with a fix, but will probably take a week to get through the Apple approval process.

Thank you!

By vulcansummer

7 years 4 months ago

In reply to PDF? by Scruffy Ted 🧸

Thank you, Scruffy Ted, I think you're right. The files I have been trying to play are indeed .pdf, and when I play other files that aren't it works just fine. Thank you so much for letting me know, since I wasn't aware of this problem. Now I know it's not something I did to the ap. I appreciate your help. I'll just be patient then and wait for the update.

Quick Fix, Convert the PDF's to TXT

By Tim Hornik

7 years 4 months ago

Appreciate the information about the PDF bug. Is there a Voice Dream list that the developer pushes information?

As a work around for this issue, just convert your PDF's into other doc or txt formats. Also let's hope that the iOS voices bug is eventually worked out.

Version 3.5.2

By sockhopsinger

7 years 4 months ago

IF I read the notes correctly, the PDF problem is fixed with this latest version of VDR.

What's New in Version 3.5.2

- Workaround for iOS voice issues introduced in iOS 8.2
- Minor improvements and bug fixes

Working As Intended Again

By Tim Hornik

7 years 4 months ago

In reply to Version 3.5.2 by sockhopsinger

Yuppers, the update solved the issue, so Voice Dream Reader is back to being my favorite app.

Sharon is Unavailable

By Niall Gallagher

7 years 2 months ago

Member of the AppleVis Blog Team

Hi All,

I have just updated Voice Dream Reader, and I was about to download the new voice, but it is showing up as unavailable.
Am I jumping the gun? Is the new voice not released yet?

Kind regards,

Niall

Version 3.7.0

By AnonyMouse

7 years 2 months ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

What's New in Version 3.7.0

- Amazing new voice: Sharon. This US English voice from Acapela is jaw-dropping in its realism. It's a massive download at almost 400 MB, so please make
sure you have enough space on your device before purchasing.
- A US English Voice Pack is now available as a separate app. It comes with Sharon and James. After installing and downloading the voice files, the voices
would become available for both the Reader and Writer. We created it for schools that used Volume Purchase to buy Voice Dream Reader and wish for more
voices. It's also for everyone to get 2 great voices at 25% discount.
- Minor bugs fixes and enhancements.

trouble with voice dream reader and bookshare search

By Lou Kolb

7 years 1 month ago

I'm using an iPhone 5 with ios 7. When I try to search for a book in bookshare, I get no results. I am able to log in successfully. then when I type in my search terms, I see no results, just the categories. If there is a search button I need to execute after typing in my search terms, I'm not seeing it. What am I doing wrong?

Are you clicking in the search field first?

By sockhopsinger

7 years 1 month ago

After you login with Bookshare, you go back to the home screen. On the bottom left of the home screen is a button that says add. Double tap. Go down and find Bookshare. Double tap. From that screen, you should find a search button fairly near the top right edge, I believe. Find it and double tap. Enter your search terms and hit search which is on the bottom right corner. That should work.

Still no joy

By Lou Kolb

7 years 1 month ago

In reply to Are you clicking in the search field first? by sockhopsinger

i'm doing everything you suggest and I'm able to enter my search terms. However, I'm seeing no search button. The most lower right-hand item I'm seeing is the history category, nor is there a search button anywhere else on the screen. All this after I am successfully authenticated. perhaps I should reinstall?

Probably couldn't hurt

By sockhopsinger

7 years 1 month ago

I don't know why you're not getting the search button. Only other thing I can think of is after you finish entering your terms, slide your finger along the keyboard, find the space bar, and then slide to the right and down. Maybe the keyboard is losing focus after you type on it.

just so we're all clear

By Toonhead

7 years 1 month ago

The Voices you use in Voice Dream reader are separate in-app purchases and can only be used in Voice Dream Reader itself. So you can't download a voice in Voice Dream reader and make it your default voice for VoiceOver. Cool idea, but not possible.

voice dream and bookshare

By Lou Kolb

7 years 1 month ago

In reply to Probably couldn't hurt by sockhopsinger

I've just discovered something that is probably significant. When I go to the bookshare search screen in voice dream reader, the keyboard is not visible on the screen, even after I double tap to edit. I hadn't noticed this before because I was using a bluetooth keyboard. Any suggestions on how to reveal the keyboard? As far as I know, it is there in other apps.

It is supposed to be there

By sockhopsinger

7 years 1 month ago

Try turning Voiceover on and off. If that doesn't work, restart the phone. If that doesn't work either, reinstall the app.

I've bought the app.

By riyu12345 (not verified)

7 years 1 month ago

I have a question. Where can I get books from? I'm from the UK if that helps.

I don't know if this app is for me.

By riyu12345 (not verified)

7 years 1 month ago

Hi.
I thought that if I bought this app I would be able to read articles and books and so on. So I set up my pocket account and another one that I can't remember, it's not dropbox, or google drive, anyway I set up these accounts thinking I'd be given a selection of articles or something and would be able to download them to my device. but if I have to download the pocket app, or go on the site to download the articles, the app really isn't ,for me. I thought apps like this would find the articles for you or something? Can someone tell me if I've got the right idea. if not, I'll be requesting a refund since the app does not seem to do what i thought it did.

Reason for needing pocket/instapaper/cloud service apps

By jrjolley (not verified)

7 years 1 month ago

In reply to I don't know if this app is for me. by riyu12345 (not verified)

Hi,

You do have the right idea with regards to needing any cloud read it later service app installed. It is necessary for you to authorise those services to work with VDR

I personally ditched all of my blindness player devices for that app, it's crashed like once in months. It's my exclusive reading app for Epub, DAISY and read it later services. I'll never buy a blindness player again. Once you set up something like Twitter to use pocket for the send to option, you're in business. Seriously, give the app a chance for a bit and see how it goes. The integration with dropbox just to ad the odd Epub/doc file or whatever to it makes it really good.

I know, gushing over VDR again but it really changed my perspective on how these IOS devices can improve what we do. VDR is even better once you start tying it directly in to editorial or drafts for text editing and stuff. Really, worth the money.

I've allowed pocket to work with vdr but...

By riyu12345 (not verified)

7 years 1 month ago

I don't understand how i download articles to the app?

I think i'm a little confused. Pocket doesn't seem to be an articles app it seems to be a saving things for reading later app... like the name said... Silly me.

This app is not my kind of thing.

By riyu12345 (not verified)

7 years 1 month ago

Hi.

I downloaded books from gootenberg and bought a voice, hugh, but found the voice to sound good in the clip but bad at reading. This app really isn't for me when I consider the fact I can do all this stuff with a laptop anyway. I asked for a refund. This refund site is very accessible. https://reportaproblem.apple.com/

sharing files from voicedream to other apps

By Samantha Wyatt

6 years 10 months ago

I've had this app for over a year now, and I absolutely love it. I use it every day. There is just one thing I wish I could do with it. I wish it had the open in feature that some other ios apps have, or a way to copy files to other apps. I might be missing something, and maybe just don't know how to find it, so does anybody know if voicedream has that functionality. I'm trying to get an mp3 uploaded to dropbox, and I did find a save to dropbox button in the share section, but it doesn't work as I expected. When I save the file to dropbox and go to find it, it shows up as a .txt file. If voicedream doesn't offer this feature, that's definitely something I would recommend to the developer. Otherwise, I think this is a great app.

It's not possible as far as I know

By jrjolley (not verified)

6 years 10 months ago

In reply to sharing files from voicedream to other apps by Samantha Wyatt

It's not possible to export files from within VDR to other apps, simply because VDR uses a database and probably parses the input files so that they can be read properly with the application. The only option is to export the VDR file as text but that's no good for what you want obviously.

That's too bad.

By Samantha Wyatt

6 years 10 months ago

Maybe I'll email the developer and ask if this is something that could be possible in a future version.

here''s how I do it

By Toonhead

6 years 10 months ago

Hi. to get an mp3 or group of mp3 files into Voice Dream reader, do the following...
1. Find the mp3 or folder of mp3 files you want in Voice Dream.
2. Zip them up using your favorite zip utility, mine is 7zip.
3. Now upload your zip file to dropbox, and wait for it to show up.

4. If you don't have the dropbox app on your phone, install it and log in via the dropbox app.
5. Find the zipped mp3 or folder of mp3s you uploaded previously, and double-tap on it. The files will then be extracted. Eventually, you may see what looks like an error message, saying this type of file can't be viewed. Ignore that, and then double tap on the share button that should be on that screen. In a few seconds, you'll see a few options, one of them will say open in... so double-tap on that. One of your choices on that screen *should* say open in voice dream. Double-tap that, and your zipped archive *should* then open in Voice Dream. That's how I do it and it works well.

Thanks for the tip

By Samantha Wyatt

6 years 10 months ago

Thanks for the tip toonhead. I was actually just starting to look for a zip utility, and glad to have a reccommendation. I have no trouble getting stuff into voicedream reader, but I can't seem to find a way to get mp3s out of it. I'm trying to upload them to dropbox, but it doesn't look like that's possible. I think it would be awesome if VDR had an open in feature, similar to dropbox, and I'm going to email the developer and ask if this could be possible in the future.

Version 4.0.0

By Michael Hansen

6 years 4 months ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Voice Dream Reader version 4.0 is now available:

What's New in Version 4.0.0 This is a massive update which improves just about every aspect of the app. We rewrote everything down to the very core to support these new features, which is why it's taken more than a year. Thanks for your patience.

All new features are free. We love our customers.

Your current library will be updated. We recommend that you backup your library using iTunes on a PC or Mac before installing this update. Detailed instructions can be found on our website under support.

Please write a 5-star review in the App Store. And buy an extra voice for fun. We'll be grateful.

A Beautiful New UI
- Grid view and cover images in the library.
- Improved library organization: filters, flags, and sort order.
- Visual appearance of the entire app uses the current color theme.
- Experimental rich text and image support for all documents.

New Reading Modes
- Finger reading. For beginners to read by at running a finger under each word.
- Pac-Man. Harvard and MIT developed speed-reading method for everyone to read at 2x speed with no loss of comprehension.
- Sentence mode which pauses at every sentence. Useful for beginning readers.
- Repeat document.
- Option to rewind to beginning of the last sentence when you pause.

New Voices
- Alex, free high quality voice in iOS 9.
- New premium child voices from Acapela in US, UK, and Australian English, US Spanish, and German.
- Acapela's new flagship German voice: Claudia.
- Emotive variations of Jeroen, Antoine, Margaux, Dimitris and Will.

Other New Features
- Set PDF margins to exclude text in header and footer.
- Up to 4X speed for recorded audio.
- Support for 3D Touch, split screen and Spotlight search.
- Safari extension to save Web pages and Web addresses.
- Evernote file attachments.
- Background download for files and voices.
- More accurate language detection.

Pro Features (requires in-app purchase for existing users)
- Your entire library, including folders, reading locations, bookmarks and annotations are synchronized across all your devices using iCloud Drive.

Backing Up Your Library in iTunes for Windows

By Kelly Sapergia

6 years 4 months ago

Does anyone know where to find the File Sharing options for Voice Dream Reader in iTunes for Windows 12.2? From what I read on the support page, this is where you go to back up the VDR library. I can find the app, but when I tab around, all I see is one of those read-only boxes with nothing in it, and the usual iTunes buttons for bringing up menus, volume, etc.

reading immages in bookshare books

By Darrell Bowles

6 years 4 months ago

Hello,
I am testing the ability to read bookshare books with images. Could someone download the biology book by Open stacks college, and see if it will read the images? Even though I have preferred images checked, VoiceDream reader is not picking it up when reading with the audio player.

Reading images

By sockhopsinger

6 years 4 months ago

I don't think the app can describe images.

version 4.0

By Darrell Bowles

6 years 4 months ago

Version 4.0 can read images from bookstore books. It says so in the what's new file, and the developer pointed it out as well.

It can red images, yes ...

By sockhopsinger

6 years 4 months ago

However, I don't think that it can describe images for you. It says image support because when you would open something in VDR, it would extract all the text. Now, it still reads the text, but it leaves the images in the files.

Restoring voices

By Vsevolod Popov

6 years 4 months ago

Hello. I can't restore voices that i've purchased before. I press on restore button and nothing happens.What can i do with it? Thanx

How To Restore Voices

By Kelly Sapergia

6 years 4 months ago

In reply to Restoring voices by Vsevolod Popov

To restore your voices, try going to Settings, then Manage My Voices. You should get a list of the voices you've already purchased. Just press the Download button that comes after the name of the voice you want when flicking right. You'll have to do this for each individual voice. So far, I've only downloaded the ones I use frequently.

Using zipped MP3 files no longer works

By Samantha Wyatt

6 years 4 months ago

Since updating to version 4.0, zipped MP3 files no longer work properly in voicedream. After loading one of these files into my library, it says not available, and then has a 0% button next to it. Is anybody else experiencing this? If so, do you know of a workaround that can make voicedream read these files?

Voices

By Vsevolod Popov

6 years 4 months ago

I noticed that there are all ios voices and they are often in wrong languages. I can't find ivona voice that i purchased and i always have to press all button to see russian voices. How can i view the list of voices only in 1 language? For example only russian or english voices

the biology book

By Darrell Bowles

6 years 4 months ago

In reply to It can red images, yes ... by sockhopsinger

Hello,
Why I chose the biology book, is because the biology book from open stacks college has excellent alt descriptions. I wanted to see if anyone could confirm that Voice Dream reader, since it can read images, would read the alt descriptions.

Voices

By Vsevolod Popov

6 years 4 months ago

Hi. I can't restore my purchased voices. In the list of voices voiceover can say voices with wrong languages. I can't find ivona voice there. And i also can't find other voices except of built in ios. What should i do to restore voices? Thanx

iCloud sync was a mess for me

By jrjolley (not verified)

6 years 4 months ago

When attempting to use icloud sync, I had a lot of problems. I had a library of over 30 GB of audio, DAISY and epub/other text formats. I ended up losing the entire library from VDR, having to just download things I needed again via Dropbox. I understand that the iCloud stuff is difficult, I just wanted to let other people know that it's risky for large libraries. I'll reevaluate my usage of VDR and keep it for textual content, either that or just not use iCloud sync at all. It's a good app overall though so don't let my observations put you off because i'm sure for libraries of text and such, iCloud sync works fine.

The enhanced voices are

By KE7ZUM

6 years 4 months ago

The enhanced voices are broken with ios. They cannot do anything to fix that. Also they know about the icloud mess and want to fix that as well, I hope lol! I love the app.

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