By Achilles Hill | Last Updated
The iPhone offers powerful accessibility features, including the ability to have text spoken aloud. Whether you're trying to make your device more accessible or just want to listen to text instead of reading it, setting up spoken content on your iPhone is easy. In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to enable and customize spoken content features, including turning on Speech Selection, Highlight Content, adjusting the speaking rate, enabling Speak Screen, and changing the voice used for spoken content.
Speech Selection allows you to highlight text on your screen and have it read aloud. Here’s how to enable this feature:
Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Step 2: Scroll down and tap on Accessibility.
Step 3: Under the "Vision" section, tap Spoken Content.
Step 4: Toggle on Speak Selection.
Now, when you select any text on your iPhone, an option to "Speak" will appear. Tap it, and your device will read the selected text aloud.
Highlight Content visually emphasizes the text as it’s being read, which can help you follow along more easily. To enable this feature:
Step 1: Tap Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content.
Step 2: Tap on Highlight Content. Then toggle on Highlight Content.
You can customize the highlight style by choosing from options like words, sentences, or both. This feature enhances readability and helps users track spoken text more effectively.
The Speaking Rate setting allows you to control the speed at which text is read aloud. To adjust the speaking rate:
Step 1: In the Spoken Content settings, locate the Speaking Rate slider..
Step 2: Then you can drag the slider to the proper location to slow down the speech or speed it up. Adjusting the speaking rate to your preference ensures that you can comfortably follow along with the spoken text.
The Speak Screen feature reads everything on the screen, which is useful when you want to listen to content without having to select specific text. Here’s how to turn it on:
Step 1: Head to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content.
Step 2: Toggle on Speak Screen.
After enabling this feature, simply swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen to hear all the content on the screen read aloud. You can control the playback using the on-screen controls that appear.
iPhones offer a variety of voices and accents to choose from for spoken content. To change the voice:
Step 1: Open Settings, then choose Accessibility> Spoken Content.
Step 2: Tap Voice to continue.
Step 3: There are a series of system voices in different language. You can tap the Language and then choose the voice from the given option.
You can download additional voices if needed, giving you a wide range of choices to personalize the spoken content experience.
Setting up spoken content on your iPhone enhances accessibility and convenience, whether you need it for reading support or simply prefer to listen to text. By following these steps, you can customize how your iPhone reads text aloud, ensuring it fits your preferences and needs. Take advantage of these features to make your iPhone experience more tailored and accessible.
