The text-to-speech hotkey for Mac.
Select text. Double-tap Shift. Studio-grade neural voices read it back instantly — in Safari, Notes, Slack, Mail, Preview, VS Code, anywhere on your Mac. €9.99/mo with Aloud.
The short answer
Aloud is the Mac text-to-speech hotkey. €9.99/mo. Subscribe to Pro, grant the Accessibility permission once, pick a voice — that's the setup. From then on: select text in any app, double-tap Shift, hear it. Double-tap again to stop. Voice and speed live one click away in the menu bar. Studio-grade neural voices generated entirely on your Mac, instant playback, no character cap.
Why a hotkey beats a separate reader
Speechify, NaturalReader, and the rest want you to come to them. Open the app, paste text, click play. A hotkey inverts that: the reader comes to you. You're in Safari, Notes, Slack, a PDF in Preview, an email. You select the paragraph that caught your attention. You press a key. You hear it.
The difference sounds small. In daily use, it's the difference between an app you forget to use and the most-used utility on your Mac.
How Aloud works
Aloud is a menu-bar app. No window most of the time, no Dock icon, no notifications, no popups. The hotkey is the entire interaction surface.
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Subscribe to Pro and install
Aloud is €9.99/mo, monthly, cancel any time from the app's Settings. macOS 13 Ventura or later, Apple Silicon or Intel. The download is small; Aloud lives in your menu bar from then on.
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Grant Accessibility once
On first launch, Aloud asks for the Accessibility permission that any utility needs to read text from across every Mac app. A single click takes you to the right pane in System Settings; flip the toggle and the next gesture works. Aloud uses the permission only to read what you have selected when you press the hotkey — nothing else.
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Pick a voice
Open the menu bar icon and pick from Aloud's library of studio-grade neural voices. Set your preferred reading speed — anywhere from 0.5× to 2.0×. You can switch voices and speeds in one click any time, mid-reading included.
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Select text. Double-tap ⇧ Shift.
In any app — Safari, Notes, Slack, Mail, Preview, VS Code, anywhere — select the paragraph or page you want to hear. Two quick presses of the Shift key, like a double-click on the keyboard. The voice starts in milliseconds. Double-tap again to stop.
A few ways to use it
- Read a long article in Safari: ⌘+A to select all, double-tap Shift. Aloud reads the whole page; double-tap to stop when you're done.
- Read a paragraph as you scan: select the part that caught your attention, double-tap Shift, keep reading visually with your eyes while you listen.
- Read a PDF in Preview: select a section or use ⌘+A for the whole document. Long PDFs work best paragraph-by-paragraph.
- Switch voice mid-reading: click the menu bar icon, pick a different voice, the next press uses it. No restart, no Settings trip.
Doesn't Speechify do this?
No. Speechify and NaturalReader both ask you to read inside their app or via a browser extension that opens their reader in a separate tab. Neither has a real system-wide hotkey on Mac. Aloud is the one. For the broader picture: Speechify alternatives for Mac.
FAQ
How do I set up a text-to-speech hotkey on Mac?
Install Aloud, grant the Accessibility permission once, double-tap Shift on any selected text. The whole setup is under three minutes.
Can I make my Mac read selected text out loud?
Yes. Select text in any app, double-tap Shift, and Aloud reads it back in a studio-grade neural voice. Double-tap to stop.
What does Aloud cost?
€9.99/mo. Monthly billing, cancel any time from the app's Settings.
Does it work on Apple Silicon?
Yes. Aloud is built for Apple Silicon and runs natively. Playback is fast and efficient.
Does it work in Safari, Slack, and VS Code?
Yes. Aloud handles selection reliably across every Mac app where you can highlight text — Safari, Notes, Slack, Mail, Preview, VS Code, anywhere.
Can I use this hotkey while wearing AirPods?
Yes. Aloud routes through the system audio output, which respects whatever device you have selected in Control Center.