How to Listen to Articles on iPhone

The fastest way to listen to articles on iPhone is already built in: Safari's Listen to Page reads a web article aloud with one tap. For text in other apps there's Speak Screen, and if you want to save articles during the day and listen to them later, a dedicated listen-later app does that better. Here are all three, with the exact steps.

Way 1: Safari "Listen to Page" (best for one article right now)

If the article is open in Safari, you don't need anything else.

How to use it

1. Open the article in Safari.
2. Open the page menu: the aA button on iOS 17–18, or the ⋯ / page menu on newer iOS, depending on your iOS version.
3. Tap Listen to Page.

Safari starts reading the article text aloud. You can pause and resume from the same menu.

When it's enough

Listen to Page is great for "I'll hear this one piece while I make coffee." It's less handy when you have five articles open in tabs and want them to play one after another, or when you want to come back to the same article tomorrow on the subway without mobile data.

Way 2: Speak Screen (for articles in other apps)

Newsletters in Mail, posts in a news app or a long thread in a reading app aren't in Safari, so Listen to Page isn't there. Speak Screen covers these.

Turn it on

1. Open Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content.
2. Turn on Speak Screen.
3. Optional: turn on Highlight Content in the same menu to see words or sentences highlighted as they're spoken (in supported apps).

Use it

Open the article and swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen, or ask Siri "Speak screen". A small controller appears with play/pause and speed.

A few honest limits: Speak Screen reads whatever is on the screen, so it may also read headers, captions, buttons or ad text. It's built for short sessions and doesn't remember where you stopped in a text. If the voice sounds robotic, go to Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices and download a better system voice for your language (some are large downloads).

For a short paragraph, Speak Selection (same menu) is simpler: select the text and tap Speak. There's a full walkthrough in how to make your iPhone read text aloud.

Way 3: Aloudy, for listening with highlighting and listening later

The built-in tools are made for "read this now." If articles pile up faster than you can read them, it helps to have a place where they wait for you and play like a podcast. That's what Aloudy is built for.

Open a site in the built-in browser

Aloudy has its own browser. Open any site, go to the article and tap play. It reads the text with a natural AI voice and highlights the current sentence and word, so you can glance at the screen and know exactly where you are. Tap any sentence to jump to it or hear it again.

Share a link to save it for later

1. In Safari (or any app with a share button: a news app, Mail, a messenger), open the article.
2. Tap Share and choose Aloudy.
3. The article is saved into your library as text.

Opening a web page needs an internet connection, but once the article is saved, it plays offline: the voices run on your iPhone, so it works on the subway, on a plane or with mobile data off (after a one-time voice download). More on how that works in offline text to speech.

Aloudy also remembers where you stopped in each article, plays in the background with lock screen and Control Center controls, and keeps going after a phone call. There's no account and no ads, and your saved articles stay on your device.

One thing to know: the free plan reads up to 500 characters per note, which is a few paragraphs. For full-length articles you'll need Aloudy Pro (monthly or a one-time lifetime purchase).

A "read later → listen later" routine

Many people already have a read-later list that never shrinks. Turning it into a listen-later list is what finally gets it read.

1. Collect during the day. When you see an interesting article in Safari, a newsletter or a link a friend sent, don't try to read it now. Tap Share → Aloudy and move on. It takes two seconds.
2. Organize lightly. Put articles into a folder or tag them ("work", "long reads", "weekend") if you like. Not required.
3. Listen when your hands and eyes are busy. Commute, walk, gym, cooking, dishes. Open the library, start the first article, lock the phone.
4. Pick up where you left off. If you stop halfway, the article resumes from the same sentence next time.

The point is to separate finding articles from consuming them. Finding happens at your desk in a spare minute; listening fills time you couldn't use for reading anyway.

Tips for different kinds of articles

• Long reads. A 30-minute feature is ideal for a walk. Start at 1× to get used to the voice, then try a bit faster. Aloudy goes from 0.75× to 2×, and Speak Screen has its own speed control.
• Newsletters. Many arrive by email. Open the "view in browser" link and share it to Aloudy, or use Speak Screen right in Mail for a short one.
• Wikipedia. Encyclopedia pages have lots of reference numbers and tables. Listening works best for the narrative sections; skip tables by tapping the next paragraph.
• Paywalled pages. A listening app can only read what you can open yourself. If you subscribe to a site, open the article where you're signed in and share it from there or use Listen to Page in Safari.
• Speed. Try a little faster than normal for familiar topics and slower for dense material. There's no right number; if you catch yourself rewinding often, slow down.

Which option to pick

You want to…	Best option
Hear one article in Safari right now	Safari Listen to Page
Hear a short piece in Mail or another app	Speak Screen or Speak Selection
See the sentence highlighted while you listen	Aloudy's built-in browser
Save articles now, listen offline later	Share to Aloudy

FAQ

How do I get my iPhone to read an article out loud?

In Safari, open the page menu (aA or ⋯, depending on your iOS version) and tap Listen to Page. In other apps, turn on Speak Screen in Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content and swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen.

Is there an app to listen to articles later, offline?

Yes. In Aloudy, share an article link from Safari or any app and it's saved to your library. Saving needs the internet, but playback afterwards works offline because the voices run on the device.

Can I listen to paywalled articles?

Only ones you already have access to. Open the article where you're signed in, then use Listen to Page or share it to a listening app.

Does listening instead of reading actually work?

For many people, yes, especially for articles they'd otherwise never get to. Research on reading while listening suggests it can support comprehension, so following the highlighted text on screen when you can is a nice bonus.

Start with what you have

Try Safari's Listen to Page on the next article you open; for a single piece, it's all you need. If you find yourself with a growing pile of saved articles and time on the commute to hear them, Aloudy turns that pile into a listening queue: share a link, listen later with highlighting, offline once saved. Browse the other guides for PDFs, books and scanned pages.