How-to · Android

How to listen to an EPUB on Android

Book2Speech works on Android in the browser today (a native app is in closed testing). Google’s built-in options are covered below as well.

With Book2Speech in Chrome (natural narrators, chapters)

Playback continues while you switch apps in most versions of Chrome; a native Android app with full background playback is in closed testing.

Open book2speech.com in Chrome and sign in (or try the sample without an account).

Tap the drop area and choose the EPUB from Files or Drive.

Choose a narrator and press play. Add the site to your home screen from Chrome’s menu for an app-like shortcut.

Uses Google’s text-to-speech voice; chapters follow the book but the audio is not an audiobook.

Upload the EPUB at play.google.com/books/uploads or open it with Play Books on the phone.

Open the book, tap the page, then the menu, and choose Read aloud.

Settings → Accessibility → Select to Speak → turn it on.

Open the EPUB in any reader app, tap the accessibility button and select the text.

•

A book-length listen with a natural voice, chapters and a synced position: Book2Speech.

•

A quick read-aloud with no account: Play Books or Select to Speak.

•

DRM-protected purchases open only in the store’s own app.

It is in closed testing. Until it ships, the web app in Chrome is the way to use Book2Speech on Android.

In the browser this depends on Chrome and the phone’s battery settings; the native app will play in the background.