How to make an iPad read selected text aloud

By Saadat Rafiq · 2 min read · 5 steps · Updated 4 October 2026

Device

iPad

Shown on

iPadOS 26.5 (iPad A16)

App

Settings

Path

Settings › Accessibility › Spoken Content › Speak Selection

Real screenshots

4 of 5 steps

Checked

October 2026

Sources

1 official, linked below

Speak Selection is useful for long articles, for checking your own writing by ear and for anyone who reads slowly on a screen. VoiceOver stays off; only the text you mark is read.

In iPadOS 26.5, shown in the pictures, the entry is called Spoken Content. Apple's guide for the newest iPadOS calls the same place Read & Speak.

The screenshots show iPadOS 26.5 on an iPad (A16), held upright. In landscape the same rows sit in the same order.

Step by step

1. 

   Open Settings

   Tap the grey gear icon on the Home Screen. In the picture it is in the second row; it also sits in the Dock at the bottom.

   Done

2. 

   Tap Accessibility, then Spoken Content

   Accessibility is the second entry in the list on the left. Spoken Content is the last row of the Vision group on the right.

   Done

3. 

   Switch on Speak Selection

   The line below the switch says what happens: a Speak button will appear when you select text.

   Done

4. Select text and tap Speak

   In any app, touch and hold a word, drag the handles over the text you want to hear, then tap Speak in the menu.

   Done

5. 

   Teach it a word it says wrong

   Tap Pronunciations on the same page, add the phrase and dictate or spell how it should sound.

   Done

Good to know

On a real iPad the same page also offers Speak Screen, which reads everything on the screen after you swipe down with two fingers from the top, plus voices and a speaking rate slider. The simulator used for the pictures shows only the two rows above.

In short: Settings, Accessibility, Spoken Content, Speak Selection, then select text and tap Speak.