TTS Reader

How do you have Safari read a web page aloud on iPhone?

Open the page in Safari, tap the Page Menu button at the left end of the address bar and choose Listen to Page. If the option is missing, the page is not supported. Use Speak Screen instead: turn it on in Settings → Accessibility → Read & Speak, then swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen. To keep an article and hear it later with word highlighting, even offline, share it from Safari to TTS Reader.

Updated 2026-11-02

We make TTS Reader. The Safari and Speak Screen steps come from Apple’s iPhone User Guide for iOS 26 and AbilityNet’s iOS 26 guides. We checked them on 1 November 2026 and list them under Sources. Menu names can change between iOS versions.

Which way of hearing a web page should you use?

This guide covers three ways to hear a web page on an iPhone: two are built into iOS and one is an app. For a single article you want to hear right now, Safari’s Listen to Page is usually enough, and there is nothing to install.

Listen to Page (Safari)Speak Screen (iOS)TTS Reader (app)
Works onPages Safari supports (Apple calls them supported webpages)Anything on the screen, in any appArticles you share or paste a link to, plus selected or pasted text
SetupNoneTurn on once in SettingsInstall the app (iOS 26 or later)
Keeps the article for laterNoNoYes, in your library
Listen without internetThe page has to be loaded in SafariOnly text already on the screenYes, after the article is imported
Follow along on the textNot described by AppleApple lists highlighting options for text spoken in appsWord and sentence highlighting; tap a sentence to start there

How do you use Listen to Page in Safari?

Listen to Page is Safari’s built-in read-aloud feature. It has been available since iOS 17. Apple’s steps for iOS 26:

  1. Open the web page in Safari.
  2. Tap the Page Menu button. AbilityNet places this button in the left-hand corner of the address bar and calls it the Reader button.
  3. Tap Listen to Page. Safari starts reading the page aloud.
  4. To pause, tap the Page Menu button again, then tap Pause. To continue, tap the Page Menu button, then Play.

While Safari is reading, you can change how fast the text is read and skip forward and back with the listening controls, according to AbilityNet. In a 2023 post about iOS 17, web developer Dave Rupert wrote that reading continued after he switched away from Safari and locked the screen.

Why is Listen to Page missing or greyed out?

Listen to Page works only on pages Safari supports. Apple’s guide refers to supported webpages but does not list which pages count. AbilityNet puts it plainly: “If the Listen to Page option is not shown, the feature is not available for the page you are viewing.”

How do you use Speak Screen on a web page?

Speak Screen is the iPhone’s built-in screen reader for text, and it works in Safari on any page. Turn it on once:

  1. Open Settings → Accessibility → Read & Speak, and turn on Speak Screen. In earlier iOS versions this menu was called Spoken Content.
  2. For a cleaner reading, open the article in Safari’s Reader first. Tap the Page Menu button, then Show Reader. Reader shows the article in a simpler layout without distractions, so Speak Screen has less page clutter to read.
  3. Swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen.
  4. Use the controls that appear to pause, change the speed, and move forward or back. To keep the controls on screen, turn on Show Controller in the same settings.

To hear only part of a page, turn on Speak Selection in the same menu, select the text and tap Speak.

Speak Screen reads with Apple’s voices and is free. It does not save the page or remember where you stopped, so it suits one page at a time better than a reading list.

How do you save a web article to listen to later?

Safari’s Listen to Page and Speak Screen read the page you have open, but neither saves it to a list you can listen through later. A reader app does. In TTS Reader, which we make, a shared article becomes a document in your library:

  1. In Safari, open the article and tap Share, then choose TTS Reader. If it is not in the row of apps, tap More. You can also copy the link and add it as a web link in the app.
  2. TTS Reader downloads the article text. This step needs an internet connection.
  3. Press play. The current word and sentence are highlighted. Tap any sentence to start from there, and set the speed from 0.5× to 3×.
  4. Lock the iPhone if you like. Reading continues, with controls on the Lock Screen and in a Live Activity.

If a link does not open: some pages need a sign-in, block apps, or contain almost no text. Open the page in Safari, select the text and share it to TTS Reader, or copy and paste it.

TTS Reader is free, with no purchases, subscription, ads or account, and it reads 31 languages with voices that run on the iPhone. It needs iOS 26 or later and is not on Android, Mac or the web. Following highlighted text can make long articles easier to get through with dyslexia or ADHD. It is a reading aid, not a treatment.

Coming soon to the App Store

Can you listen to a web article offline on iPhone?

Yes, if the text is already on the iPhone. Each method handles a lost connection differently:

Sources