How to listen to novels offline
TXT / EPUB / MOBI (PDF needs converting first)

No internet, no account: import your book into iRead and let it read aloud in the background. Three steps.

Step 1: get the book onto your phone

iRead opens TXT, EPUB, MOBI and PDF (DRM-free). The file can come from a cloud drive, a browser download, or your computer — as long as it lands in your phone's Files.

Step 2: import it into iRead

1. From local files: tap Import in the library and pick the file.
2. From a computer: enable Computer Import in settings, open the address shown on the phone in your computer's browser, type the 4-character code, and drop the book in — no cable, no cloud.

Step 3: start narration

Open the book and tap narrate. Playback continues with the screen locked or the app in the background, chapters advance automatically, and lock-screen/headphone controls work. The system voice is free; the more natural offline neural voices are a one-time iRead Pro unlock, and once a voice model is downloaded it works in airplane mode.

What “offline” actually means here

The word is worth pinning down, because different apps mean different things by it:

• Your books are never uploaded. Imported files stay on the device. There is no account and no cloud library.
• The system voice uses your phone's built-in TTS, which does not need a connection in the first place.
• Neural voices need one connection to download the model file, after which inference runs entirely on the device. Once the model is downloaded, narration works in airplane mode.

So the only moment a network is required is that first model download. If you want to verify it, download a voice and then switch on airplane mode.

What is free and what is paid

There is exactly one thing behind the paywall: offline neural voices. They are a one-time purchase (iRead Pro), not a subscription.

Everything else is free with no time limit — importing, reading, narration with the system voice, background playback, automatic chapter advance, and backup export. There are no ads and no account to create.

How background playback behaves

Narration is driven by a separate playback service, so it keeps going when you leave the reader, lock the screen, or switch to another app. Chapters chain automatically, progress is saved continuously so you can resume after an interruption, and lock-screen and headphone controls pause and resume it.

Want to listen to a PDF? Convert it first

PDFs render as fixed pages in iRead and cannot be narrated. The reason is that a PDF stores layout rather than flowing text, so reading one aloud jumbles column order and mixes headers, footers and footnotes into the body. Run the free in-browser PDF → EPUB converter (files never leave your computer), then import the EPUB and narrate it.

The real format boundaries

• TXT — encoding is sniffed automatically, with a fallback to GB18030 that Chinese files commonly need.
• EPUB — supported directly.
• MOBI — DRM-free PalmDOC is supported. Encrypted files and HUFF/CDIC compression will fail, and KF8/.azw3 is out of scope.
• PDF — viewing only, no narration, and no OCR, so a book scanned as images has no text layer to work with.

Notes for Chinese novels

TXT files auto-detect Chinese encodings such as GB18030, and 第X章-style headings become chapters automatically. Mixed-language books switch voices per chapter, so an English-only voice never mangles hanzi — that guard is unconditional and applies even with smart routing turned off.

Moving to a new phone

iRead has no accounts, so migration means exporting a backup file and importing it on the new device. It works both directions — an Android export imports on iPhone and vice versa. The trade-off is that it is manual; you have to actually do it.