With CarPlay, your SpeakCove library shows up on the car’s screen. Tap a book or a document and it reads aloud through the car’s speakers, from where you left off.
9:41
Libraryabc
Treasure IslandPaused
Continue Listening
All Documents
Treasure IslandI remember him as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow. He was a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man, his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulder of his soiled blue coat. I remember him looking round the cove and whistling to himself as he did so, and then breaking out in that old sea-song that he sang so often afterwards.
Fig. 1 · CarPlay
Your library on the car’s screen.
The library and Now Playing, as SpeakCove shows them in CarPlay. Tap a book in the list to play it.
How it works2
Add something to read.
In the app on your phone, import a PDF, an ebook or a Word file, scan a page, or pick a free book.
Connect to CarPlay.
Plug in, or connect wirelessly if your car supports it. SpeakCove appears on the car’s screen with your library.
Tap and listen.
Pick a book or a document. It reads aloud through the car’s speakers, starting where you left off.
Notes3
In the car
From your phone to the road.
Connect your phone to a car with CarPlay and SpeakCove appears on the car’s screen with your other audio apps. It opens on your library. In CarPlay, what you are listening to sits at the top, then the documents you have started under Continue Listening, then everything else under All Documents. Each row shows the cover, the title and the author, or the file type when a document has no author. Tap one and it reads aloud through the car’s speakers, from where you left off.
The screen then switches to Now Playing: the cover, the title, a line of the text as it is read, and three buttons. Play and pause do what you expect. The other two step one sentence back or forward, so a sentence you missed at a junction is one press away. The previous and next buttons on the steering wheel do the same, on cars that have them.
It suits the drives you make anyway: the commute, a long day on the motorway, the shop and back. The report you meant to read at your desk, a paper, the novel you keep putting off: SpeakCove reads them to you on the way.
Keep your eyes on the road. SpeakCove in the car is audio: you pick something to hear, then you listen. Choose before you pull out or while you are parked, and leave the rest to the voice and the buttons on the wheel. Nothing on the screen needs reading while you drive.
A few limits are worth knowing. The car plays what is already in your library; adding a file, scanning a page or picking a free book happens on the phone. Voice, language and speed are set in the app and carry over to the car. CarPlay lists up to 25 documents, the most recent first. The voices run on the phone itself, so a tunnel or a valley without signal does not stop the reading.
Premium Lifetime, the app’s one-time unlock, includes CarPlay. Without it, the car’s screen shows a single row that points you to your phone. Unlock it there and the car switches to your library on its own, without unplugging.
Details4
Screens
The library and Now Playing
Library
Now Playing on top, then Continue Listening (the 5 documents you started most recently), then All Documents
Order
Most recent first, or A to Z
Each row
Cover, title and author, or the file type (such as PDF or DOCX)
Documents listed
Up to 25
Now Playing
Cover, title, a line of the text as it is read, and progress through the document
Buttons
Play and pause, one sentence back, one sentence forward. The car’s own previous and next buttons skip by sentence too
Starts at
Where you left off
Voice, language, speed
As set in the app on your phone
What plays
Everything in your library: PDF, EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, DOCX, FB2, CBZ, RTF, TXT and HTML files, scanned pages and free books
Signal
Not needed. The voices run on the phone.
Needs
Premium Lifetime, and an iPhone with iOS 26 or later in a car with CarPlay
Questions5
Does SpeakCove work with CarPlay?
Yes. Connect your iPhone to a car with CarPlay and SpeakCove appears on the car’s screen with your library. Tap a document and it reads aloud through the car’s speakers.
Can I listen to PDFs and ebooks in the car?
Yes. Anything in your SpeakCove library plays in the car, from PDFs and EPUBs to Word files and scanned pages. Add them in the app on your phone first; the car’s screen only plays what is already there.
Can I change the voice or the speed from the car?
Not from the car’s screen. Set the voice, language and speed in the app on your phone and the car uses them. In the car you get play, pause, and one sentence back or forward.
Is CarPlay free in SpeakCove?
Premium Lifetime, the app’s one-time unlock, includes CarPlay, all ten voices and listening with the screen locked. You can hear the voices for free in your browser first.
Try it6
Take your library on the road.
Add a book or a document in the app on your phone, and it is on the car’s screen the next time you connect.
CarPlay won't show a PDF on the car's screen, but an app can read it aloud. How to set that up on your iPhone before you drive, and which other apps do it.
Let the iPhone read to you: start a document once, then pause, resume and skip sentence by sentence from your AirPods, by voice, from the lock screen or in the car.
Your commute does not have to be wasted time. SpeakCove reads your books, articles, and documents aloud while you ride the subway, drive, or walk. Reading works offline, which helps on underground trains and in spots with weak reception.
Swap the same old playlist for a book chapter. SpeakCove reads your books, articles, and study material aloud while you lift, run, or cycle. With Premium it keeps going with your phone locked in your pocket or armband, and reading works offline, even in gym basements with no signal.
SpeakCove
Treasure IslandPaused