# Timber — read aloud, for free, kept on your phone

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 of it
sent to us.

- **Get Timber (iPhone & iPad)** — <https://apps.apple.com/app/id6779086700> — free, iOS 18+
- **Get Timber Tabs (Mac)** — <https://apps.apple.com/app/id6786080053> — free

| | |
|---|---|
| 324+ | free voices, before you pay a cent |
| 3,801 | voices in all, across every library |
| 71 | languages & dialects |

## 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:

- **Private** — what you read stays yours.
- **Complete** — reads the whole page, not half.
- **Generous** — free features everywhere. Extras if you want.

## 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.

## 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.

Engines, all on-device: Apple (free system voices in every tier), Piper (the
widest language reach), and the other neural libraries listed on the site.

## Timber Tabs — the Mac companion

Timber Tabs gathers the pile of tabs you keep meaning to read — across Safari,
Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Arc and more — groups them by site, and
pre-selects the ones that actually read like articles. Keep what you want, then
send the list straight to Timber or save a portable `.timberlist` file.

Timber Tabs reads only titles and addresses — never page contents — and only
when you click. It never contacts a Timber server; Quick Send travels through
your own private iCloud, and site icons are fetched the same way your browser
already did. See the privacy page for the exact wording.

- Chrome extension: <https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/olmoifkldhimcacjekiamjajlpcpckdm>
- Firefox add-on: <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/timber-tabs/>

## The deal

Everything you've seen is free. Pro is the tip jar — with benefits. The core
reader is complete on its own; Pro is for people who want to support the project
and unlock the extras. It is never a wall in front of reading.

**Free, always — no account:** the whole reader and every way in (paste, PDF,
share sheet, web links, Project Gutenberg, RSS, Hacker News); hundreds of free
voices; word-by-word highlighting on every voice; the full dyslexia mode and
accessibility settings; on-device summaries and translation; record your own
voice, and Apple Personal Voice is always free; reading comfort settings;
iCloud sync in your own private iCloud; lock-screen and headphone controls;
export to text, Markdown, PDF or audio — all offline.

**Pro, optional:** the entire voice catalogue; variable reading speed across the
full 0.3×–3× range (free reads at a natural 1×); unlimited voices for dialogue;
every theme; CarPlay; keeping cloned voices past their free 24-hour trial; no
upgrade nudges.

## More

- Privacy: <https://timberreader.com/privacy>
- Accessibility: <https://timberreader.com/accessibility>
- Support: <https://timberreader.com/support>

Made by Truth In The Machine LLC.