A local-first iOS reader · built by a teacher
Timber reads any article, book, PDF, or pasted text aloud, in natural voices that live on your iPhone. A teacher built it after watching a student struggle to read a page. No account, nothing to buy to start — and not one word sent to a server.
† For iOS 18 and later
A note from the classroom
“A young child asked me about the news — then struggled to read the article we pulled up. With friends, we built the app we always wanted: the best free vocal reader for iOS.”
† A teacher · California
What we promised ourselves
The reader
Press play and Timber reads to you — lighting up each word as it speaks, so your eyes and ears stay in step. Switch voices whenever you like, dim the page for night reading, and let it run hands-free. It all happens on the device, so it keeps reading with no connection at all.
Fig. 01 · The reading surface
When we look to the individuals of the same variety or sub-variety of our older cultivated plants and animals, one of the first points which strikes us is, that they generally differ more from each other than do the individuals of any one species.
The libraries
For each language, every neural library gives you one free male voice and one free female voice — no charge, no account. Apple's own voices and any voice you record yourself are always free. The wider catalogue is there if you ever want it.
Every engine runs on the device — no cloud.
Paste a link, share from Safari or Files, open a PDF, or browse free books from Project Gutenberg. Timber pulls the whole article — clean text, not half a page of clutter.
Start with the 300+ free voices across 71 languages. Hear any of them first, then download the one that fits — it lives on your phone and keeps working offline.
Words light up as they are spoken. Switch the voice, dim the screen, and turn on dyslexia-friendly type. The reader is built for the long haul — and it keeps your place when you put it down.
Speech-out, for dictating and reading in turn, is on the way. When it ships, it follows the same rule as everything else: it stays on your device.
Privacy
Your reading content and your clipboard are processed on the phone and never transmitted — not for ads, not for analytics, not ever. Here is what we promise, in plain words.
Accessibility
Timber began as an accessibility tool, so reading-first features are not an add-on. A full dyslexia mode, VoiceOver labelling throughout, Dynamic Type, reduced-motion and high-contrast support — built in, and free.
The deal
The core reader is complete on its own. Pro is for people who want to support the project and unlock the extras — never a wall in front of reading.