Listen to Any Apple Books Title
Text-to-speech for Apple Books on Mac — natural AI voices, paragraph highlighting, auto page-turn. Free.
Download for Mac — FreeFor Apple Books on macOS 13+
How Do You Read Apple Books?
CastReader works with the Mac app — pick your setup
Apple Books on Mac
macOS native Books app
✓ Download CastReader for Mac
Apple Books on iPhone / iPad
iOS / iPadOS Books app
Use iOS Speak Screen (Settings → Accessibility)
ePub in Browser
Upload ePub to read in Chrome/Edge
✓ Use CastReader Chrome extension + Upload
Why VoiceOver Isn't Good Enough
macOS has built-in text-to-speech, but it wasn't designed for comfortable book reading.
✗ VoiceOver experience
Robotic voice. No paragraph tracking. No speed control. Constant manual scrolling. Disrupts your reading flow.
✓ CastReader experience
Natural AI voices. Each paragraph highlights as it's read. Auto page-turn. Floating player with 0.5x–3x speed. Click any paragraph to jump.
CastReader uses macOS Accessibility APIs to precisely locate every paragraph in Apple Books, then overlays transparent highlighting on the native app.
Start Listening in 60 Seconds
Download CastReader for Mac
Free download. Grant Accessibility permission when prompted.
Open a Book in Apple Books
Any book — free ePub, purchased title, or book sample.
Click Read
The floating Read button appears. Click it — your book reads aloud with paragraph highlighting and auto page-turn.
Chapter 1
In my younger and more vulnerable years
my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,"
he told me, "just remember that all the
people in this world haven't had the
What You Get
Paragraph Highlighting
Each paragraph lights up as it's read. Transparent overlay on the native Apple Books app — your book looks exactly the same, plus a highlight.
Auto Page-Turn
Automatically turns pages when the current page is finished. Continuous listening across chapters with no manual intervention.
40+ Languages
Natural AI voices. Auto-detects book language. English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Spanish, and many more.
Speed Control
0.5x to 3x playback speed. Commute, exercise, cook — adjust to your pace.
Works With 7 More Mac Apps
CastReader for Mac isn't just for Apple Books — it reads any native Mac app that browser extensions can't reach.
- ✓Kindle for Mac — OCR reads what you see
- ✓Preview (PDF) — papers, reports, manuals
- ✓Microsoft Word — essays, contracts, drafts
- ✓Apple Notes — meeting notes, research
- ✓Apple Pages — long documents with auto-scroll
- ✓WeChat Articles — desktop WeChat public accounts
- ✓Lark Docs — Feishu document reading
★★★★★
4.7 on Chrome Web Store
From the makers of the #1 web page TTS extension
Common Questions
Does Apple Books have text to speech?
Apple Books itself has no built-in TTS button. macOS has VoiceOver and Speak Selection (System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content), but these use robotic system voices with no paragraph tracking. CastReader for Mac adds natural AI voices with paragraph highlighting and auto page-turn to Apple Books.
How do I use text to speech on Apple Books?
Download CastReader for Mac (free), open any book in Apple Books, and click the floating Read button. CastReader reads aloud with natural voices and highlights each paragraph as it goes. For iPhone/iPad, use iOS Speak Screen (swipe down with two fingers from the top).
Does CastReader work with purchased Apple Books?
Yes. CastReader reads the text displayed on your screen via macOS Accessibility APIs. It works with free ePubs, purchased books, book samples, and PDFs opened in Apple Books.
Is CastReader free?
Yes, 100% free. No limits, no signup, no subscription. Every book in Apple Books becomes listenable at no cost.
Can I listen to Apple Books without buying Audible audiobooks?
Yes. CastReader converts any Apple Books text into spoken audio with natural AI voices. No need to buy the audiobook version separately. Your entire Apple Books library becomes free audiobooks.
What voices does CastReader use?
CastReader uses Kokoro AI voices — 40+ natural voices across multiple languages. They sound human, not robotic. CastReader auto-detects the book language and selects the appropriate voice.
Does it work with Apple Books on iPhone?
CastReader for Mac works with Apple Books on macOS only. On iPhone/iPad, you can use iOS Speak Screen (Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Speak Screen, then swipe down with two fingers).
How is this different from macOS Speak Selection?
macOS Speak Selection reads selected text with system voices — you must manually select text each time. CastReader reads the entire book automatically, highlights each paragraph, turns pages, and uses natural AI voices. No manual selection needed.
Also Works On
CastReader supports all major reading platforms
Apple Books Text to Speech in 2026: Your Complete Guide
Apple Books is the default ebook reader on every Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It has a clean interface, syncs across devices, and offers a massive library of free and paid books. But Apple never gave it a proper text-to-speech feature. There's no 'Read Aloud' button anywhere in the app. If you want to listen to a book in Apple Books, Apple's answer is: buy the audiobook version (if it exists) or use VoiceOver.
VoiceOver is Apple's screen reader, designed primarily for users with visual impairments to navigate macOS. It can technically read Apple Books content aloud, but the experience is painful for casual reading: the default voice sounds robotic, there's no visual tracking of which paragraph is being read, you can't click a paragraph to jump there, and VoiceOver often reads UI elements (page numbers, toolbar buttons) mixed in with book content. macOS also has Speak Selection (System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content), but it requires manually selecting text each time and uses the same system voices.
CastReader for Mac takes a different approach. Instead of fighting VoiceOver's accessibility-first design, it uses macOS Accessibility APIs purely to extract text and character positions from Apple Books. It then generates natural AI audio (Kokoro voices, 40+ languages) and overlays a transparent paragraph highlight on the native app window. The result is a seamless reading experience: you see your book exactly as Apple designed it, plus a gentle highlight that moves with the narration. Auto page-turn means you can listen to an entire book hands-free. Speed control from 0.5x to 3x lets you match your pace. Click any paragraph to jump there instantly.
CastReader works with every book in Apple Books — free ePubs from Project Gutenberg, purchased titles from the Book Store, book samples, and even PDFs you've added to your library. It doesn't modify the book file or bypass any DRM. It reads the same text your eyes see on screen, and it's completely free.