iRead

iRead is a local-first e-book reader with on-device narration. It opens TXT, EPUB, MOBI and PDF files from local storage and can read books aloud with neural text-to-speech voices that run entirely on the device — after a one-time voice download, narration works in airplane mode. Narration keeps playing in the background with lock-screen controls and automatic chapter advance.

There is no account, no ads and no cloud: books and reading progress stay on the device. A single backup file moves the whole library, progress and settings between Android and iPhone.

Chinese books are a core focus: automatic GB18030 encoding detection, chapter recognition for ?X?-style headings, and per-chapter voice selection for mixed-language books. Books can be imported from local files, sent from a computer's browser over Wi-Fi, or converted with the free in-browser PDF-to-EPUB tool on the website.

Reading and system-voice narration are free; the offline neural voices are a one-time purchase (no subscription). PDFs render as fixed pages and cannot be narrated; DRM-protected books are not supported.