Rest your eyes: have your Mac read text to you

Short answerTurn on Speak Selection and press Option-Esc on any selection. For longer reading, Aloud (ours, $19 once) reads PDFs, articles and screenshots in a reading window or a small floating player, and keeps going while you look away. Aloud is not a screen reader; if you rely on VoiceOver, use VoiceOver.

Start with what your Mac already has

1. Turn on Speak Selection. Open System Settings → Accessibility → Read & Speak (called Spoken Content on macOS 14 and 15) and switch on Speak selection.
2. Download a better voice. Choose System voice → Manage Voices and download an Enhanced or Premium voice in your language.
3. Read any selection. Select text and press Option-Esc. Press it again to stop.
4. Set a comfortable speed. Use the Speaking rate slider in the same settings.

A screen-break routine

• Save long reads for listening sessions.
• Look at something distant while the text plays.
• Use the floating player so you do not need the window open.

See also listen instead of reading.

Make it easier with Aloud

Aloud (ours, $19 once per Mac, macOS 14 or later) is built for listening every day:

• Select text in any app and press Control-Option-S (or right-click → Services → Read with Aloud).
• A reading window with a word highlight and click-to-seek, so you can jump to any sentence.
• Speed from 0.75x to 2x, changed mid-sentence, and resume from the last sentence.
• Natural voices: your Mac's Enhanced and Premium voices, the on-device Kokoro neural voice (Apple silicon, macOS 15+), or ElevenLabs/Cartesia with your own API key.
• Private by default: with Apple or Kokoro voices nothing leaves your Mac; no account, no analytics in the app.

Buy Aloud, $19 once   No subscription, no account.