u/tristanho

Hey all, we're evaluating some new, much more human-sounding voices in Reader.

These voices will soon become the default, but before that, we'd love your help testing them out!

You can try them in the latest version (8.23) of Reader ios/android by triggering "listen", tapping the voice switcher (bottom left), then scrolling to "browse all english voices".

(You'll see 16 new "lifelike" voices listed there. You can also try them out on web/desktop!)

https://preview.redd.it/vscfaewuxysh1.png?width=2580&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e0b15357df96422b0c06ab74aed4a791344ca52

Some other notes on this TTS update:

* Qualitatively (to our team) the new voices sound way better, enough so that they've convinced folks on our team to start using TTS! I've personally used them to listen to three full books already.

* Not only are the new voices higher quality, there are also a lot more to choose from -- 16 different English voices across different tones, accents, etc :) It's really fun to find your favorite. Personally I love Hades for fiction and Arthur for nonfiction. Jessica, Ashley, and Simon are also great.

* These voices will be the default voices in Reader soon, after some more testing

* Not only are these voices higher quality, we also managed to make the time-to-listen a little faster, so you should wait less time between hitting "listen" and actually listening.

* The new voices are English-only right now, but we'll be adding support for better sounding non-English voices imminently.

* Some of you already know this, but TTS is fairly expensive to run, and with Reader we aim to include as close to "unlimited" listening as possible in your subscription without raising prices. While better voices have existed for a while, ones that were economically feasible (again without raising prices) were not. (For example: even with ElevenLabs "turbo" (cheaper) model, their TTS api costs $25-$30 to generate speech for a single book... obviously not tenable at our subscription prices!) So we're super happy to finally have figured out a solution here!

* These upgraded voices also come with a few more improvements to the TTS experience you may notice: a nicer (and more granular) speed picker, a nicer floating bar while listening, and a new sheet for selecting which voices you want to move. More TTS improvements in this ballpark coming soon as well.

Better TTS voices has been one of the most requested features for Reader (ever), so very excited to get this going and hear your feedback :)

- Tristan

Hey all, we just sent out Public Beta Update #14 for Reader :)

We'll probably do dedicated announcements as well for Global Ghostreader and Mobile Chat on their own, but wanted to get this out since it's quite a while since the last update email (for those of you who don't follow the changelog week by week)!

You should have received this via email, but in case not, here's the short version:

• 🌎 Global Ghostreader (web/desktop). You can now chat with your entire library rather than just a single document. Answers are grounded in everything you've ever saved, with citations linking back to the referenced passages. It can also do meta-tasks like tagging documents, moving them, and triaging your inbox. Try it at read.readwise.io/ghostreader
• ✨ Readwise 2.0. We rebuilt the classic Readwise mobile app from the ground up: fresh design, smoother animations, much faster, better search, new ways to capture. Your highlights, your streak, and every workflow you're used to are exactly where you left them.
• 📱 Mobile Chat. You can now chat with a document in the Reader mobile app without breaking your reading flow. This came with a new (opt-in) bottom toolbar that also adds some much requested functionality: swiping between documents and easier deleting (if you're on iOS, you'll need to restart the app after updating to get it).
• 🔍 Better Search. We rebuilt Reader search, again. More relevant results, consistent results across devices, and faster speeds. Opt in from the search page (you'll see a big toggle).
• 📖 Quick Lookup (mobile). Long-press any word or phrase to see its dictionary definition, the author's own usage, or a translation. It uses an LLM, so definitions draw from the surrounding context and translations work in any language.
• 🤖 Readwise MCP/CLI. Anything you've saved to Reader and Readwise, your AI agent can now use as context or operate on. Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, or any other AI app. Setup at readwise.io/mcp

There's also a long list of smaller improvements and 100+ notable bug fixes in the full update: readwise.io/reader/update-aug2026

We've been working really hard on this stuff and hope you all like it. More to come!

- Tristan and the Readwise team

Hey everyone, Tristan from the Readwise team here.

Today we shipped the biggest update to the original Readwise (highlights) app since it launched in 2019: a complete rebuild on both iOS and Android.

A lot of you have (fairly!) called out the old app's dated design and janky animations over the years. We heard you. For the past 8 months the team redesigned every screen and rebuilt every workflow, animation, and query.

https://reddit.com/link/1v3x6zk/video/mm69n98javeh1/player

What's new:

* Fresh design, smoother animations, much faster everywhere
* Scan your paper book annotations with the camera
* Add highlights by voice
* Faster, more accurate search
* A smoother Daily Review (with a completion screen worthy of your streak)
* A beautiful new Stats screen
* AI chat with your highlights

And importantly: your highlights, your streak, and every workflow you're used to are exactly where you left them. Nothing to migrate, nothing to re-learn.

Update your app or grab it from the App Store / Play Store. If anything feels off, tell us here, we read everything :)