Papervoice
Finally get through the PDFs you keep meaning to read.
Turn the PDFs you already own into something you can listen to — with natural voices that work entirely on your phone.
Free. Android 7.0+. No account.
APK for phones without Google Play · 45.3 MB
Install
Listening in three steps.
- Install Papervoice from Google Play.
- Open it and pick a voice, or start with the one your phone already has.
- Add a PDF and press play.
Natural voices are downloaded separately, from inside the app, once each. After that they work offline. Your phone’s own voice works straight away, with nothing to download.
Installing the APK instead
The APK is the same app, for phones without Google Play. Download it here.
Apps from outside Google Play install only if you allow the app you downloaded with — usually your browser or file manager — to install them. Android asks the first time, and opens a setting called something like Install unknown apps. The wording and the steps vary between Android versions and phone makers.
That permission stays on for that app until you turn it off. Once Papervoice is installed you can switch it off again, in the same setting: Settings → Apps → your browser → Install unknown apps.
Android may also show a warning about installing an app from outside Google Play. Read what it says before continuing. If you would rather not install this way, get it from Google Play instead.
Version 1.1.1,
45.3 MB. Its SHA-256 checksum is
dd3b2ec1e9a6d1af68fc74825ec62c3dcb449dc3ebf2c707f8733f26bbbd4695
To check that the file you downloaded matches the published one, compute its checksum and compare it with the value above:
- Windows:
certutil -hashfile papervoice.apk SHA256 - macOS:
shasum -a 256 papervoice.apk - Linux:
sha256sum papervoice.apk
A match means your copy is the file published on the release page. It does not, on its own, show how that file was built.
See it
Papervoice in twenty-three seconds.
The honest version
Saved for later. And later never comes.
Books. Papers. Reports. Notes. PDFs you genuinely wanted to read — still sitting there.
You don't need more reading time.
You need another way to read.
What changes
Turn reading time into listening time.
Walk. Commute. Rest. Keep going. Papervoice lets the things you want to read come with you.
It picks up exactly where you stopped — to the sentence — in every book, however long you leave it.
Voices
Natural voices. On your device.
Choose from natural-sounding voices and download them once. After that, they work offline.
Lyra is the voice most people settle on. There are others — British and American, female and male — and your phone's own voice works too, with nothing to download.
Hear them before you download one. Each reads the same line: “She paused, then asked: how far is it? About three miles.”
All 15 voices
Offline
No internet required.
Once a voice is downloaded, listening happens entirely on your phone. Aeroplane mode, the underground, a dead signal — it carries on reading.
Privacy
No uploads. No account.
Your documents stay on your device. Papervoice does not need your books in the cloud just to read them aloud.
That isn't a promise about intentions — it's how the app is built, and the source is public so anyone can check. Read the privacy policy
Everything else it does
Made to be lived in.
Follow along
The spoken sentence is highlighted as it reads.
Tap to jump
Touch any sentence to start from there.
Resume exactly
Your place is kept to the sentence, per book.
Contents
Chapter navigation, read out of the PDF itself.
Speed
From 0.5× to 3×, with presets.
Themes
Paper, light and dark.
Groups
Shelves, for keeping a library in order.
Sleep timer
Stop after a set time, or at the end of the chapter.
A voice for the book
Suggests voices that suit what you are reading.
Trust
Built in the open.
Papervoice is free and open source. You can inspect the code, see how your documents are handled, and contribute improvements.
Licensed under the GPL, because the component that turns letters into sounds is. Licence · Voice credits
Questions
Before you start.
Is Papervoice free?
Yes. It is currently free and open source.
Does it work offline?
Yes, after downloading a voice once. Your phone's own voice needs no download at all.
Are my PDFs uploaded anywhere?
No. Reading happens on-device, and your documents never leave it. The app goes online only to download a voice you choose, and to send a questionnaire or feedback when you press Send — never with anything from your documents. The privacy policy lists exactly what each one sends.
Is it on Google Play?
Yes. Get it on Google Play. The same app is also available as an APK, for phones without Play.
How do I install it?
From Google Play, like any other app. To install the APK instead, Installing the APK instead covers the permission Android asks for and how to check the download.
Which phones does it run on?
Android 7.0 and newer.
Your PDFs.
Now listenable.
Free. Android 7.0+. No account.
APK for phones without Google Play · 45.3 MB