How to make Chrome read a page aloud

On a computer: reading mode

Reading mode shows a page's text in a clean side panel, and it has a Play button. It's built into Chrome on Windows, Mac, Linux and ChromeOS.

1. Right-click anywhere on the page and choose Open in reading mode. You can also press Alt+Shift+R (Cmd+Option+R on a Mac), or open the Chrome menu, then More tools, then Reading mode.
2. Press Play at the top of the panel. The buttons beside it go back or forward a sentence.
3. Change the speed with the speed button. Under the settings, Voice selection lets you preview and pick a voice, and Voice highlight highlights each word or sentence as it's read, or nothing.

Chrome downloads Google's natural voices for your language on its own. If the download fails, it uses your computer's built-in voice, which sounds flatter. To keep reading mode a click away, open its menu and choose Pin reading mode.

Where it falls short. Google says reading mode isn't available on every site. In Google Docs, people report it getting stuck on "Getting ready". If reading mode picks the wrong part of a page, select the text you want first, then open it again. Source: Chrome Help: reading mode.

On Android: Listen to this page

1. Open the page in Chrome, tap the three-dot menu and choose Listen to this page.
2. A player appears at the bottom with play, pause, rewind and fast forward. Tap 1.0x to change the speed.
3. Open the player to pick a voice, or to turn on Highlight text & auto scroll.

Unlike reading mode on a computer, it keeps playing while you switch tabs and with the screen locked. In English, Chrome may start in AI playback, a two-voice, podcast-style version of the page rather than the page itself. Switch to standard playback in the player to hear the actual text. Both modes need Chrome's Make searches and browsing better setting turned on.

Standard playback reads 25 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Hindi and Japanese. As with reading mode, the option doesn't appear on every page. Source: Chrome Help: listen to web pages.

On iPhone and iPad

Chrome for iPhone has reading mode, but no way to read it aloud. Google's help says the listening features are for Chrome on a computer and on Android. Use one of these instead:

• Speak Screen works in any app, Chrome included. Turn it on in Settings, then Accessibility, then Read & Speak, and swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers. See our Speak Screen guide.
• Safari has its own Listen to Page option in the page menu next to the address.

On a Chromebook

Reading mode works as on any computer. Chromebooks also have Select-to-speak, which reads any text on the screen, in Chrome or elsewhere. Turn it on in Settings, then Accessibility, under Text-to-Speech. Then hold Search and drag over the text, or select it and press Search + S. Source: Chromebook Help.

Read-aloud extensions for Chrome

An extension adds a read-aloud button that works on more pages than reading mode, including PDFs and Google Docs. Figures are from the Chrome Web Store in October 2026.

For most people, Read Aloud is the place to start. It costs nothing, reads almost any page and has keyboard shortcuts. Pick Speechify or NaturalReader if you want their more natural paid voices across a phone and a computer.

Save pages to hear later

Reading mode and the extensions read the page in front of you, while the tab stays open. If you find long articles at your desk but have time to listen on a walk or in the car, save them for later instead.

In Spokeninbox, choose Add, paste the article's link and check the text it pulls in. Save a few and add them to the queue in the web app, and they play one after another. On iPhone they keep playing with the screen locked, and each article remembers where you stopped. It works with public pages, not paywalls. Here's how article to audio works.

Hear a saved article

The start of a NASA Earth Observatory article, saved from its link and read by Spokeninbox. No sign-in needed.

Listen: Hunting Red Leaves with Satellites

English voice, 1 minute. Imported from the article link on October 29, 2026. Download MP3.

Open Spokeninbox in your browser. No download needed. You get 1 hour free each month; paid plans start at $9.99 a month.

Save an article in your browser →

Questions

Still stuck? The support page has more help.