The SpeakCove widget keeps the book you are listening to on your home screen, on iPhone and iPad, with its cover, title and how far you are. Tap it and SpeakCove opens the book in the reader.
9:41
DraculaBram Stoker
27%
SpeakCove
DraculaBram Stoker27%
SpeakCove
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Medium4 × 2
Small2 × 2
a
Cover.The book’s cover, or a page icon when it has none.
b
Title and author.A subtitle line too, when the book has one. Long titles end in an ellipsis.
c
Progress.A bar and the percent read on Medium, the percent on Small.
d
One tap.The whole widget is the button. It opens the book in the reader.
Fig. 1 · Widgets
Two sizes, one book.
Medium above, Small below, on an iPhone home screen. Both show the book you played last: no play button, no settings, just the book and how far you are.
How it works2
Play a book.
Open anything in SpeakCove and press play. The widget follows the book you played last.
Add the widget.
On iPhone, touch and hold the home screen, tap Edit, then Add Widget. Find SpeakCove.
Tap to carry on.
Tap the widget and SpeakCove opens that book in the reader. On iPhone and iPad it reads on from where you stopped.
Notes3
On the widget
A bookmark you can see.
The SpeakCove widget does one thing: it keeps your book in sight. Few books get finished in one sitting. You stop at a station, at the kitchen counter, at the end of a walk, and by the next day the phone has filled up with other things. The widget sits on the home screen like a bookmark left sticking out of the pages.
It comes in two sizes. The small one, two icons wide and two tall, shows the cover with the title, the author and the percent you have read beneath it. The medium one, four icons wide, sets the cover beside the title, the author and a progress bar, with the subtitle in between when the book has one. Both show the same book, the one you played last: a novel, a PDF from work or a page you scanned with the camera.1
Tap anywhere on it and SpeakCove opens the reader on that book. On iPhone and iPad it then reads on from the sentence where you stopped. There is no play or pause button on the widget itself. For that, the iPhone lock screen and Control Center have play and pause while it reads.
The widget changes as soon as you start another book. The percentage counts pages read, not sentences. On iPhone and iPad it follows a little behind, because the system refreshes it every few minutes.2
It works on iPhone and iPad, follows light and dark mode, and has nothing to set up. Put it where your thumb goes and leave it there.
Details4
In the gallery
SpeakCove, “Now Reading”
Sizes
Small (2 × 2) and Medium (4 × 2)
Small shows
Cover, title, subtitle, author, percent read
Medium shows
Cover, title, subtitle, author, progress bar, percent read
Tap
Opens the book in the reader · iPhone and iPad: reads on from where you stopped
Progress
Pages read out of the total
Updates
When you change books; progress about every 5 minutes
No cover
A page icon
Nothing played yet
“No Document”
Settings
None, it shows the book you played last
Devices
iPhone and iPad with iOS 26 or later
Not on the widget
Play button, current sentence, lock-screen sizes
Questions5
How do I add the SpeakCove widget?
On iPhone and iPad, touch and hold an empty spot on the home screen until the icons jiggle. Tap Edit, then Add Widget, search for SpeakCove and choose Now Reading.
Can I play or pause from the widget?
No, it has no buttons of its own. Tapping it opens SpeakCove, which reads on from where you stopped. To pause without opening the app, use the lock screen and Control Center on iPhone.
Why is the percentage behind?
On iPhone and iPad, iOS limits how often apps refresh their widgets. SpeakCove updates the widget as soon as you change books, and its progress about every five minutes. Progress counts pages, so it moves a page at a time.
Is there a lock-screen or large widget?
There is no lock-screen widget. On iPhone and iPad there are two sizes, Small and Medium. While SpeakCove reads, the lock screen shows its own play and pause controls instead.
Try it6
Keep your book in sight.
The widget comes with the SpeakCove app. Add it once and it follows whatever you listen to.
Stop choosing between reading and everything else. SpeakCove turns your documents into audio so you can get through articles, reports, and books during your commute, workout, or chores. Free to download, with an optional $14.99 one-time Premium upgrade.
Text-to-speech can help many ADHD readers stay with a text: in a 2026 eye-tracking study, junior high students with ADHD-related reading difficulties understood more when the text was read aloud to them. For autistic readers, the gain is often comfort: a calm voice you choose and a pace you set. Here is how to set it up, free in your browser or on iPhone.
SpeakCove