Seeking VoiceOver Feedback for a New Reading App (Readify)

Thanks for the heads up about Readify.

Without meaning to sound rude, what does this app offer that similar apps such as Speechify, Dream Reader, Eleven Labs Reader etc, don't?

Sell us the idea and we might give some feedback. :)

SInce this is compatible with iPadOS I think it can be easily imported to macs with M processors?

I would like some things useful when reading for school, for a course etc. so things like bookmarking, highlighting passages, writing and attaching notes...

Hi, I'm afraid my comments are these. Firstly, when trying to search for this, you've picked a name that dictation won't recognise. Secondly, I find two apps called Readify when I do type it in, and neither is yours. Sadly, the link is no help as I use Applevis on the PC, but I think a better name might be a big help to both us and yourself.
Thanks

I’ve got a couple of questions. They’re not strictly VoiceOver-related, so apologies in advance.

First, some feedback. Right now, it sounds like you’re using an FFT-based algorithm for audio speed adjustment, which works great on polyphonic audio, i.e. music, sound effects, all that good stuff, but not so great on monophonic audio: voices, a single instrument, etc. I’d highly recommend switching to a similarity-based algorithm. I’m not sure how easy it is to implement, or if you can even implement it with the stack you’re currently using, but if possible, it would be very much appreciated, as it would greatly improve the listening experience for those who choose to listen at higher speeds.

And now for the question. How are y’all making money? AI is not free. It’s anything but, in fact. I’ve seen no premium features, and the app costs nothing to download, so who’s paying for this? Or what’s paying for this?

Hi Jack
Thanks for creating this app and making us aware of it. It feels like the project is in its early stages, with some aspects to be thought through, e.g. mention of a premium feature, but no path to upgrade or mention of a trial. Its a priviledge though to be able to get involved at this early stage, to help to shape what could become a really good daily driver for many keen readers like myself.
Some VoiceOver refinements, like rota actions to perform options on books in the booklist, could be a nice touch, as well as to skip forward and backwards through the text.
Also, the webapp isn't accessible. Fixing this would be so helpful in providing a cross-platform solution for flexible reading.
I look forward to seeing how this app develops and to helping where I can.

Sounds like this could be a really useful app, particularly if you're building in accessibility from the beginning rather than trying to tack it on later.

One thing I do like about Voice Dream is that, in addition to supporting a variety of text formats as this app does, it also supports various audio formats. that way I can keep all of my reading material in one place.

I look forward to seeing how this develops. Good luck with it.

--Pete

the ios app can already be run on the mac and usable with voiceover, but it lacks file management function, so if you add a book, you can't rename or delete it like you can on an ios device, if you could improve on that, it would be perfect all around. i think the concept is to use the webapp to sync devices, well, since the app already works on the mac, we might as well make it fully functional on both sides.

I don't really know which of these features Readify already supports, but here's a list of some core features that would make the app my favorite choice:

1. The ability to set Readify as the default app when opening the file types that it supports (Settings>Apps>Default Apps). I would love to be able to do that for each individual extension.
2. OCR functionality
3. Automatic page number, header and footnote removal toggle that automatically shows or hides them, and the ability to share the document with the distracting content removed
4. Document translation and audio transcription once you add support for audio formats
5. Document and even audio/video summarization, including Youtube videos (Wait, I know this may be beyond the scope of the app.)
6. Support for more languages

I'm trying the app, and I think that the voices are lower quality of ElevenLabs voices. I say this because in Italian there are two voices that are also in ElevenLabs, namely Nicola Lorusso and Linda Fiore, but listening to the preview through this app and the text they sound much less expressive and natural with strange pauses that in the ElevenReader app don't do. Great though they support multilingual, I'm reading a text in English with the voice in Italian. But for a free app it's enough, I think.

Can you navigate this app e.g. the reading material and read with braille display as well as audio? I would love to see a reading app that works well with brow displays with full navigation as well as audio.

I use VoiceOver. Overall, the quality is decent enough, but there’s a strange audio quality issue that I keep noticing. It’s hard to describe, but there’s a slightly distorted or “processed” sound to the voice that becomes much more noticeable at higher speaking speeds. I’ve reported this multiple times to ElevenLabs, but it never seems to get fixed, and I’m not sure if no one else is hearing what I’m hearing or if it’s simply not being prioritized on their end. To give a comparison, I love the Alexa voice from Amazon. Even when I crank the voice up to the fastest speed, it remains clear, smooth, and intelligible. If you could get your voice quality anywhere near that level, I would be happy with it. I would also be willing to subscribe and pay monthly when I’m able to, because the product itself is solid and genuinely useful.
That said, there are a few specific accessibility issues that need attention. You have a slider bar at the bottom in the reading menu. When I touch the slider to move through the content, nothing happens. VoiceOver will announce that I’m, for example, 12% into a book, but when I try to swipe back down to return to the beginning, it doesn’t respond. This behavior is rather inconsistent and makes navigation frustrating. There’s also an issue when I jump to Chapter 1. VoiceOver will tell me that I’m on Chapter 1, but it doesn’t always start reading from the first sentence. Many times, the focus is misplaced, and I have to hunt around in order to get the content to start properly.
I can’t speak for everyone else, but I do think it’s extremely important to have more accessible applications on the market, especially from developers who are genuinely trying to make their products usable for blind users. Even if the quality isn’t the absolute best on the market yet, that’s okay. There’s always room for improvement, and having multiple options is a good thing. If nobody tried to build alternatives because something similar already existed, nothing new would ever be created. Right now, I’ve already run out of my allotted hours on ElevenLabs, so it would be helpful to have a backup option for reading. I’d love to have something reliable I can switch to when I hit that limit. Other options like Speechify are completely out of my budget. $140 per year is simply not realistic for me. The quality is good, yes, but it’s far too expensive. With better voice quality at high speeds and some fixes to navigation and focus issues, this could easily become a go-to option for me.