How to listen to an EPUB book on iPhone
EPUB is the format of many ebooks. Your iPhone opens an EPUB and reads it aloud with what comes built in. Here is how, and how to listen to the whole book while following each word.
Open and listen with your iPhone alone
- In the Files app, tap the EPUB, then Share › Books. The book joins your Books library.
- In Settings › Accessibility › Spoken Content, turn on «Speak Screen» and, under «Voices», download a Premium voice in the book's language.
- Open the book in Books, on the page where you want to start.
- Swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen. The device reads the page and moves on to the next ones.
Copy-protected books
An EPUB bought with copy protection (DRM) opens only in the app of the store where you bought it, and cannot be sent to another app. Books without DRM, such as public domain titles and many from independent publishers, open in any EPUB reader.
To listen in comfort
- Use headphones or a nearby speaker: a Premium voice gains a lot.
- Adjust the speed in the Speak Screen panel. A little slower helps with dense text.
- Follow the text with your eyes while you listen: it keeps your attention on the page.
In Lareia
In Lareia, you send the EPUB from Share or from the app itself, and the book goes to the Shelf, sorted into five themes. It reads aloud with your device's voice, Premium voices included, and lights up each word as it is spoken, so your eyes follow the voice. You can keep listening with the screen locked.
Highlights in colors and notes in the margin stay right where you marked them. In books, Lareia shows who is who and a «Where we stopped», to return to a book after days away.
Converting documents and book notes are among the things that have a cost in Lareia, through the Leitura plan, which has a 7-day trial, or with lumes. Reading, highlighting and listening with your device's voice need no subscription.
Written in November 2026.