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How to Install New Voices

SpeakLine uses Apple’s system voices to read texts. To add new voices to SpeakLine, you first need to download them via the system settings on your device.

Apple offers a variety of voices for each language that can be downloaded and used in SpeakLine. Some voices also have enhanced versions available, which are larger in size but sound more natural.

macOS

  1. Open System Settings, then click “Accessibility” in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)
  2. Click “Spoken Content” on the right.
  3. Click the i-button next to the “System Voice” pop-up menu.
    • For older macOS versions you might need to click the “System Voice” pop-up menu, then choose “Manage Voices”.
  4. Navigate to your preferred language on the left and click on the “Voice” row on the right.
  5. In the list of voices that appears, choose a voice you want to add and click the download button (cloud with arrow).
  6. When you’re done adding voices, close the settings window and restart SpeakLine.

For more information check out the macOS User Guide.

iOS, iPadOS & visionOS

  1. Open Settings, then search for “Accessibility”. (You may need to scroll down.)
  2. Go to “Spoken Content” and select “Voices”.
  3. Navigate to your preferred language and select “Voice”.
  4. To install the selected voice on your device, tap the download button (cloud with arrow) on the right.
  5. When you’re done adding voices, you can close Settings and restart SpeakLine.

For more information check out this iOS User Guide.

Where Are the Siri Voices?

Unfortunately, Apple restricts all developers from using the Siri voices in their apps.

Use Your Personal Voice

Starting with iOS 17, iPadOS 17, or macOS Sonoma, or later, you can use your device to create personal voices.

To create your own voice and allow apps to use them, go to: Settings > Accessibility > Personal Voice. If you don’t see this, your device probably doesn’t support this feature.

For more information on how to create your personal voice and the device requirements, check out this Apple support guide.

Unfortunately, Apple restricts developers from exporting audio files with personal voices.

Adding Reading Pauses

Starting with version 5.2, it is possible to add reading pauses using SSML markup. Enable SSML markup in the app settings and insert <break time="1s" /> whenever you want to add a 1-second pause. See below for more information on using SSML.

SSML Markup

SSML is a W3C markup standard for annotating spoken text. It’s represented using the XML format with various tags and attributes.

From version 5.2, SpeakLine supports this by enabling it in the app settings (⌘,). Once enabled, type your text as usual and set the voice as you like. It’s not necessary to use any of the SSML tags. The tags act as overrides to the default voice settings. You can use the tags below to control voice properties such as speed and pitch.

Please note that when SSML is enabled, the reading speed and pitch settings are overridden and reset to default. You can either customize these attributes using the tags below, or disable SSML again.

Officially Supported Tags

Pause:

<break time="1s" />

  • Duration of the pause in seconds (e.g "1s") or milliseconds (e.g. "300ms").

Reading Speed:

<prosody rate="200%">Your Text</prosody>

  • Non-negative percentage value (e.g. "50%" or "200%").
  • Alternatively: "x-slow", "slow", "medium", "fast", "x-fast", or "default"

Voice Pitch:

<prosody pitch="high">Your Text</prosody>

  • "x-slow", "slow", "medium", "fast", "x-fast", or "default"

Volume:

<prosody volume="soft">Your Text</prosody>

  • A number preceded by "+" or "-" and immediately followed by "dB" (e.g. "+5dB" or "-3dB")
  • "silent", "x-soft", "soft", "medium", "loud", "x-loud", or "default"

Please make sure to use straight quotation marks ("), language based smart quotes (“”) are invalid. The speech engine will read out the tags if they contain an error or are not supported.

Other SSML tags may work, but are not officially tested and supported by SpeakLine. Use them with care as unsupported tags may cause unexpected problems or crash SpeakLine.

Voice License Information

Are you wondering whether you can use the voices outside of the app or whether you can use them commercially?

SpeakLine exclusively utilizes the system voices of macOS/iOS/iPadOS/visionOS. These voices are all licensed under the Apple Software License Agreements.

I can’t provide legal advice, so please refer to the license agreements for the corresponding operating systems at apple.com/legal/sla.

Audio Export Formats

SpeakLine supports exporting audio files as CAF (Core Audio Format) files. This is an Apple proprietary format supported by many apps. CAF files can be converted to other common formats via various web tools.

The previous version of SpeakLine supported exporting to AIFF files. Due to technical reasons, this isn’t possible with the current version anymore.

URL Scheme

The URL scheme allows pro users to open SpeakLine and send text to it. You can type the URL in your browser or any app that supports links, such as the Notes app. SpeakLine must be installed for this to work.

To create a valid URL, replace spaces with %20.

Note: This action replaces any currently typed text in the app.

Alternatively, you can use the “Open SpeakLine” Shortcut action for the same functionality.

Running SpeakLine on an Older macOS

SpeakLine 5 is a fundamental re-write of the app making use of the latest Apple frameworks. Due to that the latest version is only available for macOS Sonoma 14.0 or newer.

If you want to use SpeakLine on older Macs (running macOS 10.13 or newer) please download the previous version.

Download SpeakLine 4.2.2