Amazon Kindle has a Text-to-Speech(TTS) which is a pretty awesome and useful feature in Kindle devices.
However, the Text-to-Speech feature is missing in Some Kindle devices. Amazon discontinued it on some Kindle devices.
For Android Kindle readers, the Kindle Android app does not have any such feature for some Kindle books.
But, Android provides us built-in accessibility features like Select to Speak, and Talkback to read text from almost any screen and convert it into speech.
Alternatively, you can also download 3rd party apps from the Google Play Store and use them for the TTS feature.
Because of this, People are shifting towards a Kindle mobile app just to use the read-aloud feature.
So, in this article, we'll see each of these methods to enable the text-to-speech feature for Amazon Kindle books to read aloud on Android & Samsung devices.
How to enable Amazon Kindle Text to Speech(TTS) on Android?
Method I. Using a Select to Speak Android utility
Select to Speak is also Google's built-in feature for Android devices, but it is available in the latest Android versions only.
I personally use this method more than Talkback, because it's easy to use than any other method.
We're using Android 13(Stock Android) for this tutorial which is widely used by almost all major Android OEMs like Google Pixel, Motorola, Nokia, etc.
For Samsung users, there are a few different steps than stock Android. Because some Samsung devices don't have native Select-to-Speak feature support by default.
We've written another method down below for Samsung users. Scroll down and you'll find those steps.
A Select-to-speak method involves the following steps to enable TTS on Stock Android:
Step 1: Navigate to the Select to Speak utility page
Open Android's settings, then look for Accessibilities or Utilities and open it. It will show the accessibilities page.
Step 2: Toggle the Select to Speak option
Toggle the Select to Speak shortcut option. Then tap the Allow. It will allow the Select to Speak feature to access your device.
Step 3: Open the Kindle app to read books aloud
Now, Open the Amazon Kindle app and choose the book that you want to convert from Text to Speech.
Step 4: Select text in the Kindle book to enable Speech
Tap the Select to Speak accessibilities button present at the top right (as shown in the picture).
Now, long press and drag the section to select or highlight words.
Google's speech recognition engine will automatically read the text and convert it to speech.
Step 5(Optional): Adjust the Select to Speak(TTS) settings
If you feel the reader is not reading appropriately, you can adjust its Pitch and Speech reading rate.
Use this path - Settings > Accessibilities > Select to Speak > Settings > Text to speech settings
Now, adjust the Speech rate and Pitch according to your convenience.
We can also change the Default reading language, optimize its sound, Change the tone of language, and lots of other functions.
Also read - 5 Techniques to Enable Text to Speech on Android Web Browser!
Method II. Using Talkback
Talkback is Google Android's built-in feature for smart devices like Mobile, Tablets, and smart TVs.
Talkback uses Artificial intelligence to read the text from the device screen and convert it into speech recording.
We've tested the TalkBack feature on Android 11 & 13 devices. Almost all Android devices support Talkback accessibility features.
We just need to enable it from Android settings. So, let's see how we can enable it to be used for Kindle books.
Step 1: Navigate to Android Accessibilities settings
First of all, Go to settings. Then search accessibilities and it will show the accessibilities page.
Step 2: Enable TalkBack from Accessibilities
Under Accessibilities, you'll find TalkBack. Tap the Talkback option.
Before enabling Talkback, learn how to use Talkback, otherwise, it will create a mess for you if you're a newbie in Android.
It's one of the worst apps in terms of usability for general people like Old people who are not used to with a smart devices or newbies.
How to use Talkback?
- Single-tap to select the item
- Double-tap the item to activate the TalkBack reading
- Use 2 fingers at the same time to scroll between App UI pages
How to close Talkback?
Press and hold both volume keys for a few seconds or you'll need to navigate to the Talback settings page and turn it off manually
Now, Turn on Talkback and tap on Allow. It will grant access to your device for Talkback.
NOTE: Use 2 fingers instead of 1 to navigate from one app to another & to the home screen.
Step 3: Open the Kindle app
Now, Open Amazon Kindle and open a book that you want to convert from text to speech
You will see the Green outline (as shown in the picture) which means it's reading text and converting it to speech.
Didn't get you steps on how to activate Text-to-speech on the Kindle Android app? Watch the following video on our Official YouTube channel. So, you'll get an idea about it...
Method III. Using 3rd party Apps that will read Kindle books
Their plenty of text-to-speech Android apps for Kindle available on the Play Store that convert text to speech and will read Kindle books for you.
You can use online tools too. Apps and online tools both work fine! They can be used to convert a Kindle book's text into speech with highlighted words.
1. TTS Reader - reads aloud books, all books!
- It is one of the Best 3rd party text to speech apps for Kindle that you can use to read Kindle books by using its Text-to-Speech functionality on your Android and iOS devices.
- It supports all Ebook formats and has lots of customization and ebook settings
- You can play, pause, and resume your Kindle ebook
- Control ebook-reading speed, volume, and from a single app
- You can record and save your Ebook into .wav format, so you can play it later
2. @Voice Aloud Reader (TTS Reader)
- It is the best alternative to the previous app which has the same functionality
- It offers Text-to-Speech functionality not only for Kindle ebooks but also for other document formats like txt, docx, pdf, EPUB, MOBI, PRC, AZW, FB2, etc.
- Even you can play text-sound with your Speaker and headset by using the share feature.
But I will suggest the previous 2 techniques over this one. Because previous methods are built-in functionalities of Android. Always use tools from trusted sources like Google!
Also, those tools and apps are paid! or with limited functionalities. You can choose according to your needs.
How to enable Text-to-speech for Kindle apps on Samsung Android devices?
If you want to enable the Kindle text-to-speech feature for your Kindle app on Samsung phones like
Samsung devices are built differently. Most Samsung devices use their own Android OS Skin called "OneUI".
OneUI doesn't have some Stock Android apps & features like Select to Speak which is needed to read the Kindle books on Samsung Android devices.
1. Search "Android Accessibility Suite" and Install it from the Play Store
2. Now, go to Samsung settings and look for Accessibilities
3. Under Accessibilities, you'll find Installed apps, open that
4. There you'll get the Select to Speak option
Now, use that option to turn it on. You'll need to set up the accessibilities shortcut of that feature.
You can either set the Accessibilities button(a Man who opened his hands towards the sky) in the Navigation bar or the Combination of Volume up + down button.
Use the respective button to access it when you want to Kindle Books.
How to enable Kindle text-to-speech with the Android & iOS Alexa app?
You've seen various ways to enable Text-to-speech on Kindle using Android's built-in features and apps.
You will be amazed if I tell you that your Smartphone's Alexa app can also read aloud Kindle Books for you.
You can either connect it with Alexa compatible Echo Dot or directly listen through your Android or iOS smartphone.
1. First, open the Alexa app on your smartphone device.
2. Then navigate to the Play tab.
3. Now, scroll down till you find the Kindle library section.
(First Make sure that you've connected the Kindle library to the Alexa app otherwise you'll not find the Kindle library under the Play tab)
4. After that, Tap on the Kindle book you wanted to read.
Alexa will start reading the book for you, you can control Alexa with your Voice OR you can connect it to the Echo Dot to read from the Echo Dot speaker.
Basic Difference between Kindle text-to-speech and audiobooks
Text-to-speech is nothing but 3rd party app/feature that reads the text from Kindle books. While Audiobooks are prerecorded books.
Audiobooks are already generated from text or the original speech of the author. Audiobooks are optimized with the intention to serve for book readers(Listeners).
TTS-generated Kindle books are not optimized and can have mispronounced words.
FAQs:
Which Kindle has text-to-speech?
: All Kindles have built-in text-to-speech features. But, Right now few books provide text-to-speech features or you will need to use Android or iOS to enable it.
Can Kindle do speech-to-text?
: No. Kindle cannot convert speech to text. But, if you want to convert the text of Books into speech, then Kindle has the text-to-speech inbuilt option.
Kindle text-to-speech is not working, what can I do?
: 1. If your Amazon Kindle's text-to-speech is not working then you can shift to another device for the TTS feature only.
2. If you are using Amazon Kindle then you can download the Kindle Android app and can use the text-to-speech feature as mentioned in this article.
How do I enable text-to-speech on my Kindle Android?
: You can enable the Kindle text-to-speech on your Kindle Android by using Select to Speech, Talkback, or 3rd party TTS reader apps. For more details, read this article.
Does the Kindle app have text-to-speech?
: Kindle app on Android or iPhone doesn't provide a Text-to-speech feature. But you can enable Kindle text-to-speech on your Android and iOS devices. We've shared all possible techniques to enable it!
Final lines
All the mentioned methods are proven and I have personally tested them. These Techniques will definitely help to activate Amazon Kindle text-to-speech on Android.
and if you are facing any issues regarding Kindle Text to Speech, Talkback, or Select to Speech then ping me on social media or in the comments.
This method also helps to listen to Kindle books that you've downloaded from Amazon Kindle on your Android phone.
If you have any queries regarding this article guide, feel free to ask in the comments. I will definitely help you to solve your problem.
Apart from the techniques that we've mentioned, provide us your opinion and other methods to use Text-to-Speech on Android phones.
That will help other audiences to solve their problem!
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