Setup and Use Spoken Content on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Learn how to setup and use Spoken Content features such as speak selection and typing feedback on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Setup Spoken Content Features

Open Settings
Tap Accessibility
Tap Spoken Content
Turn on any of the following:
‣ Speak Selection: A Speak button will appear in the editor menu when you select text.
▷ Speech Controller: Always display the Speech Controller to quickly start Speak Screen or Speak on Touch.
▷ Highlight Content: Highlight the text spoken to follow along.
‣ Speak Screen: Hear all the text on the screen with a two finger swipe down from the top of the screen.
‣ Typing Feedback: Hear what you type aloud.

Speak Selection

Speak Selection allows you to select text and have your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch speak it aloud.

Select text in an email, text, or website, then tap Speak in the pop-up editor menu to hear the text spoken aloud.

Speech Controller

Always display the Speech Controller.

Setup gestures for when you press and hold the on-screen button or double-tap it. You can also set the opacity at which it is when not in use. Drag the controller to move to another edge of the screen at any time.

Highlight Content

Highlight Content displays a cursor around the selected text.

The first section allows you to choose what exactly is highlighted when text is spoken aloud. sentence Highlight allows you to choose if the selected sentence is underlined or highlighted in a background color. Set the highlight colors at the bottom of the page.

Speak Screen

Swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen to hear the content of the screen from top to bottom.

Typing Feedback

Hear what you type aloud. Below are a list of what feedback you can enable and what each toggle does.

Characters: Speak every character typed.
Character Hints: Speak the associated word for each character typed (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc.).
Speak Words: Speak entire words typed.
Speak Auto-text: Speak auto-corrections and auto-capitalizations.
Hold to Speak Predictions: Tap and hold on word predictions to hear it spoken if Predictions are enabled.

Adjust Spoken Content's Voice and Speech Rate

You can change the voice Spoken Content features use as well as speed up or slow down the rate at which it speaks text aloud.

Open Settings
Tap Accessibility
Tap Spoken Content
Adjust any of the following:
‣ Voices: Choose a voice for various dialects.
‣ Defualt Language: Set the defualt Language
‣ Detect Languages: Enable detect languages for Spoken Content features to automatically switch to the correct language and voice set for that language when reading text in different languages from the default language.
‣ Speaking Rate: Drag the slider to adjust the rate at which text is read aloud. It will automatically speak a preview of the speech at the rate set.

Support

Support Articles

Last updated: March 24, 2025

Reference the original support article by Apple here: Hear iPhone Speak the Screen, Selected Text, and Typing Feedback - Apple Support

All references to Apple Inc. and their products and services are trade-marked and are used in these articles for educational purposes.