How to Get Siri to Read Text on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Siri is the default digital assistant for Apple devices that allows many hands-free functions. For example, you can ask Siri to hang up calls on your iPhone. You can also make Siri read text messages, emails, webpages, or other text on the screen. This helps while you multitask or struggle while reading small text on the screen.

We will share the steps to get Siri to read text on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This will also help your elder family members who find it reading text on the screen difficult. You can also use this functionality when you are back home from work and tired to continue reading your favorite web article.

How to Enable Speak Screen on iPhone and iPad

When you have to make Siri read text on your iPhone or iPad, you need to enable Speak Screen first. This accessibility feature allows you to get Siri to read text. That is different from the text-to-speech feature on your iPhone and iPad. Here’s how to enable Speak Screen.

On iPhone

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap on Accessibility.

Step 2: Tap on Spoken Content and enable the feature of Speak Screen.

After you enable Speak Screen, you will see the option of Speech Controller.

Tap on it to see the Speech Controller on your screen while Siri reads the text. It will appear as a floating icon on your iPhone screen.

You can customize the Speech Controller icon by changing its actions and opacity on the screen.

On iPad

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPad.

Step 2: Select Accessibility from the left menu.

Step 3: Tap on Spoken Content.

Step 4: Tap the toggle next to Speak Screen to enable the feature.

Just like on iPhone, you get the option of Speech Controller on iPad. You can enable the same to control Siri audio playback.

Make Siri Read Text on iPhone and iPad

After you enable the feature on your iPhone or iPad, swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers and Siri will read the text. You can also use the voice command “Hey Siri, speak screen.”

After you hear Siri read the text, you can tap the Speech Controller icon and control the audio playback, increase speed, or skip the sentence by tapping the hand icon.

Make Siri Read Web Articles on iPhone

With the release of iOS 17, you can make Siri read web articles in Safari on your iPhone. Here’s how.

Step 1: Open Safari on your iPhone and go to a web article.

Step 2: Tap the ‘aA’ icon at the left corner of the address bar and select Listen to Page.

Siri will read the web article for you.

You can pause the audio by swiping down from the top-left corner and tapping on Pause.

How to Enable Speak Screen on Mac

Like on iPhone and iPad, you can make Siri read text on your Mac screen as well. Here’s how to enable the Speak Screen functionality on your Mac.

Step 1: Press Command + Spacebar keyboard shortcut to open Spotlight Search, type Accessibility, and press Return.

Step 2: Click on Spoken Content.

Step 3: Click the toggle next to Speak Selection. This will trigger Siri to read the selected text on your Mac screen.

You can change the speaking volume, system voice, speaking rate, and more for Siri.

Make Siri Read Text on Mac

After you enable Speak Screen, here’s how to make Siri speak your selected text on Mac.

Step 1: Open the web browser on your Mac and go to the webpage with text.

Step 2: Select the text or paragraph that you want to be read by Siri.

Step 3: Right-click on the selected text, select Speech, and click on Start Speaking.

You will notice the Speech Controller on your Mac screen which allows you to pause, play, and increase or decrease the reading speed.

Use Siri to Read Text

You can get Siri to read text on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac whenever you feel like listening to web articles or an audiobook. But for those days when you do end up reading, excessive blue light exposure from your device screen can harm your vision in the long run. Therefore, you can enable Night Shift on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac whenever you read for longer hours.