This underrated app makes my textbook readings a breeze

As much as I love reading for pleasure, reading academic literature for school might be one of the most mind-numbing things I engage in on a daily basis. The language is dense, the pages are endless, and the only imagery to accompany most of it is graphs or maps. This can create a backlog of reading between textbooks and PDFs piling up on any student's desk, especially if they're a slower reader or, like me, can lose focus halfway through any given chapter.

A few years ago, I finally had enough of reading my textbooks the old-fashioned way. That's when I found Speechify, and even then, before all the wonderful upgrades and features it packs in now, it completely changed my study habits. Initially, the voices were a bit robotic, and even though I didn't mind it, the developers have made leaps and bounds in that regard. Now, Speechify is my go-to study buddy, and I haven't regretted it a bit.

Let your textbooks talk back to you

It will completely change how you study

Speechify works by taking PDFs, textbooks, articles, class notes, and any other text a user uploads to the platform and turning it into what is essentially an audiobook. The handwriting detection is, as one would expect, not the best, but if you're like me and take your notes on a laptop or any other device with a keyboard, you shouldn't run into any problems. When paired with a transcription app like Otter.ai, Speechify can even take the transcribed text that Otter spits out and create a short audio description of that day's lecture.

This means that you don't have to be seated at a desk or dining room table to read your assigned texts anymore. I listen to readings at the gym, on my commute, or even while cleaning around the house. This is thanks in part to how fast the translation speed has gotten on the platform. At one point, a massive document would take some time to process. Now, it's almost instantaneous.

Turn study time into listening hour

Why sit at a desk when you can learn from anywhere

I'm not the biggest fan of multitasking. Research actually shows that we can't truly multitask efficiently, after all. What we're actually doing is rapid task switching. However, some studies have also shown that, if the task is menial enough, you can pay closer attention to the audiobook you're listening to. What's a routine enough task, you might ask? Think about your walk to class or your daily commute. The odds are you could do it with your eyes closed. That's the perfect time to fire up an audiobook.

That huge back-to-school reading list you've got piled up? What if you could knock out 20 minutes of it at a time on 1.5x speed throughout your day? I'd bet that you'd have it all knocked out by the end of the week. Speechify gives users the kind of flexibility that every developer is looking to provide, and has been doing it for quite some time.

A more accessible pathway to literature

Speechify lowers the barrier for entry to better education

Arguably the best part about Speechify is its beginnings. The company's founder, Cliff Weitzman, was diagnosed with Dyslexia at an early age. Like other differently abled children with similar diagnoses, Weitzman struggled to sit down and read. For those with dyslexia, the brainpower it takes to read a paragraph is about the same as what it takes for someone without it to work out a four-digit long division equation in their head.

Speechify bridges that gap for students who may also struggle with assigned readings, and with audiobooks continuing to gain popularity, it only makes sense that Speechify itself has added a library of audiobooks through which users can listen to their favorite stories in distinct voices (including Gwyneth Paltrow and Snoop Dogg, not kidding).

Pricing and Important Features

Is Speechify right for you

By far the biggest drawback to Speechify's premium plan is the price, but when it comes to the absolute best text-to-speech app out there, you get what you pay for. The monthly plan is $30 a month, and the yearly plan is $140. That's a pretty solid deal on the yearly option, but if you're still not convinced, there are some other interesting features that stand out.

Outside the adjustable reading speed, which has saved me a total of 65 hours at the time of writing this story, students can ask Speechify's AI agent about the material to create an important second learning touchpoint. You also don't have to upload a file for Speechify to read, either. You can snap photos of hard-copy books, and if the text is even close to normal, Speechify can handle it with ease.

If you're serious about getting your study habits in line this school year, I cannot recommend Speechify enough. After getting my entire PhD cohort on board, we've put it through its paces and then some, and it still keeps churning out great material.