Reviews of Narrly: Read Aloud PDF & Text

By: Beaver Dynamics Inc. App

List of user reviews and ratings for Narrly: Read Aloud PDF & Text

Total ratings

4.80 (Rating count: 203)

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Review summary

Users repeatedly praise Narrly for offline use, broad file support, and a slick, user-friendly UI with synchronized text highlighting and in-app search. The free, ad-free experience and ability to export audio are strong positives. Common downsides center on voice quality and limited options, along with stability issues (crashes/repeats) and free-tier limits that encourage upgrading. Some users also report glitches with premium voices switching back to defaults. Overall, strong core features are balanced by voice and stability caveats.

Pros

Offline operation and broad document support (PDFs/EPUBs), including handling large books
Free to use with no ads or required subscription; easy access and even lifetime option for some users
Intuitive design and strong UX: simple interface, smooth navigation, and helpful text highlighting synced with speech (two-layer highlighting) plus built-in search
Adjustable reading speed and multiple voice accents/options for TTS
Export to audio file capability for offline use and review

Cons

Voice quality can be robotic and voice options are limited or changed over time (e.g., removal of certain voice options and male voices)
Stability issues: app crashes or repeats content, especially after pauses or during extended use
Free version imposes limits (document cap and upgrade prompts) that push users toward paid features
Occasional bugs with premium voice switching, where the reader reverts to a default voice unexpectedly

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User Reviews

Recent rating average: 4.60

All time rating average: 4.80

Upgrade to see all 33 reviews

3% (1)

Date	Author	Comment
2026-06-16	Pi*****	Escaping Natural Readers abusive app update to this was a breath of fresh air. It’s like all the best parts of all the paywalled apps combined into this one for FREE! (Cherry on top is having the default voice my favorite voice) Please don’t change, please no overbearing ai updates. Thank you for existing! (App found from a Reddit recommendation)
Escaping Natural Readers abusive app update to this was a breath of fresh air. It’s like all the best parts of all the paywalled apps combined into this one for FREE! (Cherry on top is having the default voice my favorite voice) Please don’t change, please no overbearing ai updates. Thank you for existing! (App found from a Reddit recommendation)
2026-06-13	Ke*****	It’s so cool you didn’t even have to sign in. I think it’s off-line. I’m not sure if it’s off-line or not but I don’t think it is but other than that you didn’t have to sign in so maybe it’s on my laptop.
It’s so cool you didn’t even have to sign in. I think it’s off-line. I’m not sure if it’s off-line or not but I don’t think it is but other than that you didn’t have to sign in so maybe it’s on my laptop.
2026-05-05	Ke*****	Works well but is completely robotic. I enjoy the voice options, just wish it was a smoother read.
Works well but is completely robotic. I enjoy the voice options, just wish it was a smoother read.
2026-04-14	ku*****	This is the first time I’m writing a review for an app, because I felt like it deserved the recognition. And I’ve used many apps! As a developer myself, I can tell that a lot of thought and consideration was put into the design of this app. The things that make or break good design, user experience, ease of use, etc. are 1) a solid understanding of your user and their needs and 2) attention to detail to the small things that would otherwise be invisible if done right but painfully noticeable if not addressed. The developer placed earnest effort into both areas and it shows. I like how the developer allows for the user to navigate to other areas of the text mid-session but be able to “snap” back to auto-scrolling / following the text as its spoken, I like how the text is highlighted and how there are two layers of highlighting (listening to and following a visual cue of spoken text is quite effective for me in absorbing a book and staying focused), I like how this is offline so that I can use it anywhere without internet and leverages native TTS using enhanced/premium voices, I like the custom animations the developer built and the thorough instructional video for enabling enhanced/premium voices, I like that you can export as an audio file and that you can search within the document which helps me to easily navigate to other sections based off of memory. I mainly use this for epubs, but I thought it was smart that the developer allowed for the user to set reading area which solves for the difficultly of doing OCR for non-standard formats typically in PDFs, anything that is not in “book” form. Rarely do I ever feel that the developer has anticipated what I wanted or known what I wanted in a system before I was aware of what I wanted. It’s great that I could freely use this app without paying for it, like there is a 5 document at a time max but I suppose one could game it by deleting one and adding more. There is definitely a lack of appreciation from people that aren’t even paying for this. Ultimately, I paid for the lifetime access because I think this app deserves it. Some features that would nice to have are just some coloring and text size options, small black text against stark white background could be straining over time, and if there could be grayscale or sepia plus larger text sizes that would be appreciated.
This is the first time I’m writing a review for an app, because I felt like it deserved the recognition. And I’ve used many apps! As a developer myself, I can tell that a lot of thought and consideration was put into the design of this app. The things that make or break good design, user experience, ease of use, etc. are 1) a solid understanding of your user and their needs and 2) attention to detail to the small things that would otherwise be invisible if done right but painfully noticeable if not addressed. The developer placed earnest effort into both areas and it shows. I like how the developer allows for the user to navigate to other areas of the text mid-session but be able to “snap” back to auto-scrolling / following the text as its spoken, I like how the text is highlighted and how there are two layers of highlighting (listening to and following a visual cue of spoken text is quite effective for me in absorbing a book and staying focused), I like how this is offline so that I can use it anywhere without internet and leverages native TTS using enhanced/premium voices, I like the custom animations the developer built and the thorough instructional video for enabling enhanced/premium voices, I like that you can export as an audio file and that you can search within the document which helps me to easily navigate to other sections based off of memory. I mainly use this for epubs, but I thought it was smart that the developer allowed for the user to set reading area which solves for the difficultly of doing OCR for non-standard formats typically in PDFs, anything that is not in “book” form. Rarely do I ever feel that the developer has anticipated what I wanted or known what I wanted in a system before I was aware of what I wanted. It’s great that I could freely use this app without paying for it, like there is a 5 document at a time max but I suppose one could game it by deleting one and adding more. There is definitely a lack of appreciation from people that aren’t even paying for this. Ultimately, I paid for the lifetime access because I think this app deserves it. Some features that would nice to have are just some coloring and text size options, small black text against stark white background could be straining over time, and if there could be grayscale or sepia plus larger text sizes that would be appreciated.
2026-04-11	Gr*****	This Text-to-Speech app is remarkable. I’ve tried many and Narrly is without competition or peer.
This Text-to-Speech app is remarkable. I’ve tried many and Narrly is without competition or peer.
2026-02-15	Bi*****	The best reading app. Thanks.
The best reading app. Thanks.
2026-01-22	Th*****	You have a very powerful and beautiful tool. If you could add Kindle access (to login into one’s kindle account on amazon) that would be great. Also, the app could be faster on the iPhone. One more, please provide the option to export the pdf or at least to show the path by right-clicking the icon, which can also be made to dynamically increase a bit more. Could you also integrate the dictionary — take a look at how it is down on Kindle for the Desktop on Mac. Thanks
You have a very powerful and beautiful tool. If you could add Kindle access (to login into one’s kindle account on amazon) that would be great. Also, the app could be faster on the iPhone. One more, please provide the option to export the pdf or at least to show the path by right-clicking the icon, which can also be made to dynamically increase a bit more. Could you also integrate the dictionary — take a look at how it is down on Kindle for the Desktop on Mac. Thanks
2026-01-20	Sa*****	I love it works great and goes with many files only problem is the ai voice sounding robotic
I love it works great and goes with many files only problem is the ai voice sounding robotic
2026-01-19	Be*****	It works perfectly for reading texts, but it used to have different tone of vice options and choices of male and female. Now all the options are gone. Now there’s only one voice per language and female voice only. I don’t mind taking away the different tone of vices, but taking away the choice of male voice? Hope they would give each language a male voice reading.
It works perfectly for reading texts, but it used to have different tone of vice options and choices of male and female. Now all the options are gone. Now there’s only one voice per language and female voice only. I don’t mind taking away the different tone of vices, but taking away the choice of male voice? Hope they would give each language a male voice reading.
2025-11-13	Fr*****	숏츠에 붙이는 더빙 음성이 아니라 긴 줄글을 귀로 듣고 싶었는데 다른 무료 어플은 길이제한이 워낙 짧게 잡혀있어서 곤란했거든요. Narrly 덕분에 소원을 풀었습니다. 아주 간단하고 심플하고 기본에 충실한 TTS 음성 프로그램을 찾으신다면 이 어플을 추천해요.
숏츠에 붙이는 더빙 음성이 아니라 긴 줄글을 귀로 듣고 싶었는데 다른 무료 어플은 길이제한이 워낙 짧게 잡혀있어서 곤란했거든요. Narrly 덕분에 소원을 풀었습니다. 아주 간단하고 심플하고 기본에 충실한 TTS 음성 프로그램을 찾으신다면 이 어플을 추천해요.