The voices in the SpeakCove app run on your phone, not on a server. Turn on Airplane Mode and your books, PDFs and scans keep reading aloud.
SpeakCoveTreasure IslandI 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:
Focus
aAirplane Mode on
same moment
9:41
Treasure Island
his hands ragged and scarred, with black, broken nails, and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid white. 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:
“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest— Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”
in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned and broken at the capstan bars.Then he rapped on the door with a bit of stick like a handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared, called roughly for a glass of rum.This, when it was brought to him, he drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard.
“This is a handy cove,” says he at length; “and a pleasant sittyated grog-shop. Much company, mate?”
My father told him no, very little company, the more was the pity.
“Well, then,” said he, “this is the berth for me.”
0.75×1×1.2×1.5×2×31%
bStill reading
Fig. 1 · Offline
Airplane Mode on. Still reading.
Control Center with every radio off (a), and the SpeakCove reader at the same moment (b), speaking the highlighted sentence with a voice that runs on the phone itself.
How it works2
Add it while you’re online.
Import a file, scan a few pages, or pick a free book or paper in Explore. It lands in your library on the device.
Switch on Airplane Mode.
There is nothing to set up in SpeakCove and no voice pack to download first.
Press play.
Your phone speaks the text sentence by sentence and highlights the one it is reading.
Notes3
Why no signal is fine
The voice lives on your phone.
What keeps working at cruising altitude, and the few things that wait until you land.
SpeakCove’s voices are not a web service. The speech model ships inside the app, and when you press play your phone turns the text into speech itself, one sentence at a time, preparing the next sentence while you listen to this one. Nothing is sent anywhere, so it makes no difference whether you have Wi-Fi, one bar of signal or Airplane Mode switched on.1
That makes the app useful exactly where streaming gives up: a long flight, a train through tunnels, the underground, a cabin without reception, or a trip abroad where you would rather not pay for roaming. The book keeps its place, the current sentence stays highlighted, and the sleep timer, lock-screen controls and CarPlay work as they do at home.
Anything already in your library plays offline: files you imported, pages you scanned with the camera, and the books and papers you added from Explore. A scanned page is turned into text on the device before it is read.2
A few things do need the internet. Explore, where you search free books from Project Gutenberg and research papers from arXiv, Semantic Scholar and OpenAlex, works only online, and so does adding from it. So pick what you want to hear before you leave. iCloud sync between iPhone and iPad waits until you are back online, and buying or restoring the unlock needs the App Store.
The free reader on this website is different: it runs in your browser and needs a connection to load its voices. For the flight, use the app.
Details4
Where the voice runs
On your phone. No server is involved.
Comes with the app
The speech model and all 10 voices. Nothing to download later.
Voices offline
Serena
Max
Poppy
Claire
Vivian
Hazel
Victor
James
Sam
Ellis
Serena and Max are free. The other eight come with the unlock.
Languages offline
All 31.
Plays offline
Imported files in all 10 formats, camera scans, and books and papers you added from Explore.
Explore (searching and adding free books and papers), iCloud sync on iPhone and iPad, buying or restoring the unlock, and the web reader on this site.
Devices
iPhone and iPad with iOS 26 or later.
Questions5
Does SpeakCove work without internet?
Yes, the app does, on iPhone and iPad. Its voices run on the device, so everything in your library reads aloud in Airplane Mode or with no signal at all.
Do I need to download voices before a flight?
No. The speech model and all 10 voices are part of the app. Install it, add what you want to hear, and you are ready.
Can I get new books while I’m offline?
No. Explore needs the internet to search and add free books and papers. Add them before you go and they stay in your library.
Does the website reader work offline?
No. The free web reader runs in your browser and needs a connection to load its voices. To listen offline, use the app.
Try it6
Take it on your next flight.
Add a few books before you board, switch on Airplane Mode and press play. Listening offline is free with Serena and Max.
Audible plays in airplane mode only what you downloaded before the flight. Here is what works offline in Audible, Libby and the main text-to-speech apps, and how to listen to your own PDFs and ebooks on a plane.
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.
SpeakCove