Help. I don't know anything about ipads.

A relative, a very old lady, has eye problems.
She loves her ipad and iphone.
She loves to read books but now can barely see them.

Currently she's doing too much work (imo) selecting pdf text manually and
then having the iPad read selections aloud in those selected-text snippets.

I can convert any book format to any other book format so the format isn't
the issue (epub, mobi, azw, azw3, docx, pdf, fb2, opf, txt, rtf, whatever).

Please just tell me one free app I can have her install from the app store
that she can "file > open" an ebook that will then read it out loud to her.

Mickey D <mickeydavis078XX@ptd.net> wrote:
> Help. I don't know anything about ipads.
>
> A relative, a very old lady, has eye problems.
> She loves her ipad and iphone.
> She loves to read books but now can barely see them.
>
> Currently she's doing too much work (imo) selecting pdf text manually and
> then having the iPad read selections aloud in those selected-text snippets.
>
> I can convert any book format to any other book format so the format isn't
> the issue (epub, mobi, azw, azw3, docx, pdf, fb2, opf, txt, rtf, whatever).
>
> Please just tell me one free app I can have her install from the app store
> that she can "file > open" an ebook that will then read it out loud to her.
>

Turning the screen reader on might give you what you want. Just go to
Settings -> Accessibility -> Spoken Content. Toggle the “speak screen” on.
Then open the IBook and swipe down with two fingers from the top of the
screen and it will start reading the text. If the speech is too fast, you
can adjust the speed down using a control that appears on the screen at the
start of the audio.

—
Paul Goodman

On Thu, 20 Jul 2023 19:12:35 +0000, Paul Goodman wrote:

>> Please just tell me one free app I can have her install from the app store
>> that she can "file > open" an ebook that will then read it out loud to her.
>>
>
> Turning the screen reader on might give you what you want. Just go to
> Settings -> Accessibility -> Spoken Content. Toggle the "speak screen" on.

Thanks for the help as I don't know how the ipad works & neither does she.

I think that's what she's doing, but I'm not sure, as she said she has to
_select_ the text before it will speak whatever she selected.

Does that method require "selecting the text" or just "opening the book?"

> Then open the IBook and swipe down with two fingers from the top of the
> screen and it will start reading the text. If the speech is too fast, you
> can adjust the speed down using a control that appears on the screen at the
> start of the audio.

I'm probably not fully understanding what you're trying to help me know.
When you say "open the IBook", what application is she using to do that?

Say I email her an epub file named "book.epub" (or book.azw3 or book.mobi).
It's just an attachment in her mail at first.
Then she can save it to her book folders.
So now it's a file.

What ipad application does she use to "open" that "book.epub" file?

Mickey D <mickeydavis078XX@ptd.net> wrote:
> On Thu, 20 Jul 2023 19:12:35 +0000, Paul Goodman wrote:
>
>>> Please just tell me one free app I can have her install from the app store
>>> that she can "file > open" an ebook that will then read it out loud to her.
>>>
>>
>> Turning the screen reader on might give you what you want. Just go to
>> Settings -> Accessibility -> Spoken Content. Toggle the "speak screen" on.
>
> Thanks for the help as I don't know how the ipad works & neither does she.
>
> I think that's what she's doing, but I'm not sure, as she said she has to
> _select_ the text before it will speak whatever she selected.

Using the screen reader does not require you to select any text. It will
read whatever is on the screen.
> Does that method require "selecting the text" or just "opening the book?"

All you need to do is open the book and use a 2 finger swipe down from the
top of the screen.
>> Then open the IBook and swipe down with two fingers from the top of the
>> screen and it will start reading the text. If the speech is too fast, you
>> can adjust the speed down using a control that appears on the screen at the
>> start of the audio.
>
> I'm probably not fully understanding what you're trying to help me know.
> When you say "open the IBook", what application is she using to do that?

IPad’s have a native application to read books called “Books”. I said
IBooks in my original reply, but Apple shortened that to Books. My error.
There are other book readers for IOS, Amazon Kindle is one example. I was
assuming she was using Apple’s book app.
> Say I email her an epub file named "book.epub" (or book.azw3 or book.mobi).
> It's just an attachment in her mail at first.
> Then she can save it to her book folders.
> So now it's a file.
>
> What ipad application does she use to "open" that "book.epub" file?

Probably Books. But whatever she is using, the screen reader will read what
is on the screen without having to select text. If she is using Books to
read, it will even go on to the next page without any effort from her and
will keep going until she shuts down the book she is reading.

—
Paul Goodman