Android text to speech: Select to Speak and Read aloud
Android phones can read the screen aloud with Select to Speak, part of Google’s Android Accessibility Suite, and many apps can read selected text with a Read aloud option. Neither needs a separate app.
This guide, based on Google’s help pages, shows how to turn Select to Speak on and use it, and what to do when you want the speech as an audio file to send or use in a video.
Turn on Select to Speak
Open Settings, then Accessibility, then Select to Speak, and turn on the Select to Speak shortcut. If the option is missing, update Android Accessibility Suite from Google Play. The shortcut is a two-finger swipe up, or a three-finger swipe if TalkBack is on, or the Accessibility button; you can change it on the same page.
Use it
Start Select to Speak with the shortcut, then tap a piece of text or an image to hear it, or drag your finger over several items. Tap Play to hear the whole screen; the player pauses, skips and changes the speed. In its settings, Read in background lets you scroll or switch apps while it reads. Without Select to Speak, you can also select text, tap More and choose Read aloud where the app offers it.
When you need an audio file
Select to Speak only plays the speech. For a clip you can send, post or use in a video, open a voice in the SuperClonica catalog in Chrome, type a line of 30 to 100 characters, press the voice button and download the recording, free and without an account. For long texts, the free SuperClonica engine runs on a computer and saves whole texts as MP3, and the speech API serves apps.