In case you’ve ever began studying an article in your iPhone solely to need to drive someplace, stroll, bike, do chores, or in any other case take your eyes off the display — ElevenLabs has an app for you.

The AI audio creation firm based by former Palantir engineers in the present day launched its first iOS app, “ElevenLabs Reader: AI Audio.”

In contrast to the total ElevenLabs web site which accommodates quite a lot of totally different AI fashions and options together with text-to-speech, changing speech into different voices and languages, AI dubbing, and AI sound results, the brand new ElevenLabs iOS app is extra narrowly tailor-made and centered particularly on changing textual content information or hyperlinks from the net into audio narration that the consumer can hearken to whereas on the go, or doing one thing else with their eyes and arms, e.g. barbecuing, making dinner, placing away the dishes, and so on.

Initially, this text-to-speech performance will solely be out there in English on the app, although a pop over display means that the total 29+ languages ElevenLabs helps on the internet will even be making there approach to its iOS Reader app quickly.

The app is accessible totally free obtain by way of the Apple App Retailer and requires iOS 15 or newer variations of the software program.

It requires you to register with an current ElevenLabs account or create a brand new one together with your e-mail and password or utilizing your Google or Apple account to log in.

When you do log in, you’re introduced with a listing of pre-loaded textual content information with accompanying audio narration, most of which look like fairy tales and folklore tales already within the public area corresponding to Cinderella, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Story of Peter Rabbit, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s basic Victorian thriller collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Tapping any of those tales pulls up the textual content and instantly begins the voiceover AI narration, with a inexperienced interactive highlighter following alongside and highlighting every phrase spoken by the AI narrator.

After all, most of us busy adults produce other issues we have to learn moreover fairy tales, so there’s additionally a plus button within the higher proper hand nook of the app’s predominant menu that the consumer can click on on and pull up a menu to “Add content material” of their very own, together with writing their very own textual content, importing a URL that they’ve copied and pasted from their cellular internet browser, or a file from the iOS information app.

The app additionally integrates with the iOS default Share Sheet, so the consumer can add a widget within the share sheet of their iOS Safari browser and share hyperlinks from the browser view to the ElevenLabs iOS Reader app whereas they’re looking, with out having to repeat and paste.

Tapping the 1.0x default pace indicator within the decrease proper hand nook of the app permits the consumer to extend or lower the pace between 0.8x and 2x. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to’t choose these speeds from a dropdown or scroll menu — as an alternative you simply need to faucet to cycle by way of every one, separately, which might be just a little annoying for some customers.

Tapping the soundwave icon within the left icon permits the consumer to select from 11 (natch) totally different voices and accents, from male to feminine, American to Austrian to British English.

Importing a PDF file with visuals and graphics from my iOS Information app to the ElevenLabs iOS Reader app took just a few seconds in my testing, and the app stripped out all of the visuals, displaying solely textual content. It additionally had some points with formatting that made the narration barely award — pausing at inopportune moments to the road breaks.

I additionally encountered a pair random error messages and failures to transform textual content to audio in my temporary testing.

Nonetheless, the app is model new and can little doubt be improved quickly. And the precise performance of AI voiceover narration was surprisingly fluid general and extremely correct and compelling. It even labored on VentureBeat articles and a full novel manuscript of 300+ pages.

One massive query is whether or not ElevenLabs captures all/any of the textual content information and information a consumer submits to the app, shops them someplace (and in that case, whether or not that’s encrypted and personal storage), and/or trains on the information a consumer pastes or uploads. We’ve reached out to the corporate for a solution and can replace once we hear again.