SpeakText for Web FREE - Speak & Translate Web pages for iOS

Designed to convert text to speech in a variety of settings, either in the original language or translated into one of a handful of languages in its libraries, SpeakText for Web FREE could be a very useful app. Because the voice files are downloaded before you start, the process is relatively quick and accurate; but an obtuse design, steep pricing structure, and lack of clear direction make it an app only suited for a small number of users.

The first thing to know about the SpeakText apps is that the core software is designed for three different uses, and this particular version only does one of them. This version, Speak Text for Web FREE, is designed to read and translate Web sites aloud. For composition or document reading you will need one of the other two apps or the all-in-one app that combines all of these functions (for a much higher upgrade price). The free version only reads a limited number of sentences and the interface to do this is messy and hard to navigate. For an app that practically requires a paid upgrade (at $10) due to the limitations of the free version, it seems like they should have put more effort into the execution to give you a more compelling reason to upgrade.

SpeakText for Web FREE works OK, but with its poorly designed interface, text-to-speech limitations, and a translation tool that is no more accurate than a free web-based tool, it is hard to recommend this app.