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Capture the page
Point the camera at a book, a letter, a handout, a label. Or bring in a photo you already took, or a PDF. The text is recognised on the device and saved as a snippet.
Version 2.0 · iOS 26
Scan printed text. Listen to it anywhere.
Snapshelf turns a page of a book, a document or a PDF into something you can hear, translate and keep — without any of it leaving your iPhone.
- 4.3★ from 33 App Store ratings
- Product Hunt Product of the Day
- No server. Nothing to upload to
Snippet · page 34
Now playing
1.25×How it works
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Listen to it
Press play and hear it read back in a system voice. It runs on the Lock Screen with a proper scrubber, buttons to skip back and forward, and adjustable speed — so you can put the phone in your pocket.
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Keep it in order
Snippets go into playlists and under hashtags. Search finds any of it later. With Pro it follows you onto your iPad through your own iCloud.
Why it is different
Your pages never leave your phone.
Most scanning apps ship your document to a server to be read. Snapshelf does not have a server to ship it to.
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Recognition happens on the device
The camera image and the text pulled out of it stay on your iPhone.
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Translation happens on the device
Apple's Translation framework runs locally. Once a language is downloaded it works with no connection at all.
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Sync goes to your iCloud, not ours
If you turn on sync, your snippets travel through your own private iCloud account. There is no Snapshelf account to make.
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No advertising identifier, no tracking
We collect crash reports and twelve anonymous product-interaction events so we can tell which features are used. They are not linked to your identity, and they never include what you scanned. Read the full policy.
New in 2.0
A ground-up rebuild.
Reads twenty-five languages
Snapshelf recognises printed text in twenty-five languages, and picks them up from the languages your iPhone is already set to — so it reads what you read, without a setting to find.
Translation that stays on the phone
Twenty-one languages through Apple's on-device Translation framework. Download a language once and it translates offline, with nothing sent anywhere — not to us, not to Google.
Works on a plane
Scanning a page and hearing it read back need no connection at all. Only fetching a better voice or a new translation language wants the internet, and only the first time.
Voices worth listening to
Premium and Enhanced system voices, grouped by language — the ones that actually sound like a person. Free, all of them: they are already on your phone, so charging you to use them would be absurd.
A real audio player
Lock Screen and Dynamic Island controls, a progress scrubber, playback speed, and correct behaviour around calls, Siri and headphone disconnects.
It leaves your music alone
Opening Snapshelf no longer stops whatever you were already playing — a small thing that was long overdue.
Yours on every device
Snippets and playlists sync through your own iCloud account across iPhone and iPad. Verified on real hardware, not just the simulator.
Dark mode
The whole app, finally, in the dark. Easier on the eyes when you are reading at night.
Who it is for
Made for people who would rather listen.
If reading is tiring
Some people find it easier to listen than to read — because of low vision, because of dyslexia, or just at the end of a long day. Snapshelf turns a printed page into something you can hear, at a speed you choose, in a voice you picked.
If you are learning a language
Scan the page in the language you are learning — Snapshelf reads twenty-five of them — then translate it on the device and hear either version read aloud. Nothing is sent away to be processed, which matters when the page belongs to a borrowed book or a private document.
If you read on the move
Capture the chapter before you leave, then listen on the walk, the commute or the treadmill. It behaves like a podcast app, because it uses the same controls you already know.
What it looks like
Actual screenshots, actually version 2.0.
Everything you have scanned, in one list
A book chapter, a French menu, a receipt, a ferry timetable, a page of Japanese. Each keeps the image it came from, and all of it is searchable.
It highlights the sentence it is reading
Follow along on screen, or lock the phone and keep listening. The scrubber, the skip buttons and the speed control all work from the Lock Screen.
Pricing
Free to start. Pro when you want more.
Your first week is unlimited, so you can find out whether Snapshelf is worth paying for before you meet a ceiling. After that scanning stays unlimited, in every language Snapshelf reads — capture your whole bookshelf and keep it, organised and searchable, without paying — alongside ten listens and ten translations a week. Pro removes both ceilings and syncs through your iCloud.
Free
$0
Unlimited for your first week, then two weekly allowances.
- Everything unlimited for your first week
- Unlimited scanning, in every supported language
- Unlimited snippets, playlists and search
- Every voice on your iPhone, including Premium
- Listen to 10 snippets a week
- Translate 10 snippets a week
Pro, monthly
See price in App Store
Everything in Pro, billed monthly.
- Auto-renewing
- Cancel any time in Settings
Pro, yearly
See price in App Store
Everything in Pro, billed once a year.
- Auto-renewing
- Cancel any time in Settings
Best value
Pro, lifetime
See price in App Store
Pay once. Keep Pro for good.
- One payment, no subscription
- Family Sharing for up to six people
- Every future Pro feature included
Everything in Snapshelf Pro
- Listen to as many snippets as you like
- Translate as many snippets as you like
- iCloud sync across your iPhone and iPad
Subscriptions are billed through your Apple Account and renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel them in Settings. The lifetime purchase is a single payment and does not renew. See the Terms of Use.
Get Snapshelf free Can Snapshelf read a printed book out loud?
Yes. Point your iPhone's camera at the page and Snapshelf recognises the text, saves it as a snippet, and reads it back to you with a system voice. You can also import a photo you have already taken, or a PDF.
What languages can Snapshelf scan?
About twenty-five, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Thai and Vietnamese. Snapshelf reads the languages your iPhone is already set to, so it recognises the ones you actually use without you configuring anything. It does not try to read them all at once — recognition is more accurate when it is looking for your languages rather than every language. The exact count moves a little as Apple adds languages to iOS.
Do my scans get uploaded to a server?
No. There is no Snapshelf server. Scans, the images behind them and the recognised text stay on your device, and sync only to your own private iCloud account if you turn sync on. Nobody at Snapshelf can read what you scan.
How is this different from apps that use cloud OCR?
Many scanning apps send your page to a server to be read, which means your documents sit on someone else's infrastructure. Snapshelf does its text recognition and its translation on the device itself, so the page never leaves your phone.
Does Snapshelf work without an internet connection?
Scanning a page and having it read aloud work with no connection at all — both happen on the device. Downloading a higher-quality voice, or a translation language, needs the internet once; after that they work offline too.
How many languages can it translate into?
Twenty-one languages and regional variants on iOS 26, using Apple's on-device Translation framework. That is fewer than the sixty-odd the old version offered, because the old version sent your text to a translation server and this one does not. The list grows as Apple adds languages to iOS.
Can I listen with my phone locked?
Yes. Playback appears on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island with a progress scrubber, buttons to skip back and forward through the text, and a playback speed control. It behaves properly around phone calls, Siri and headphones being unplugged.
Which voices can I use?
The system voices installed on your iPhone, grouped by language, including Apple's Premium and Enhanced voices, which are noticeably better than the default one and worth the download.
Does it read handwriting?
Snapshelf is built for printed text — books, documents, labels, signs. Clear handwriting sometimes works, but it is not what the app is designed or tested for.
Can I get the text out of Snapshelf?
Yes. Any snippet can be shared through the standard iOS share sheet as plain text, along with the scan image where there is one — so it goes to Notes, Messages, Mail or anywhere else you would normally share to. There is no audio file export.
Does it sync between my iPhone and iPad?
Yes, with Snapshelf Pro. Your snippets and playlists sync through your own iCloud account, so a page you scan on your iPhone is waiting on your iPad. There is no Snapshelf account to create — it uses the iCloud you already have.
What does Snapshelf cost?
Snapshelf is free to download. On the free tier, scanning is unlimited in every language it reads, you can keep as many snippets and playlists as you like, search them all, share them, and use any voice on your phone including the Premium ones. Your first week is completely unlimited, and after that free covers ten snippets listened to and ten translated each week. Snapshelf Pro removes both of those limits and adds iCloud sync, as a monthly or yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase.
What are the free limits, exactly?
For your first week there are none — everything is unlimited, so you can find out whether the app is worth paying for before you meet a ceiling. After that, ten snippets listened to and ten translated per week, counted separately. The week is a rolling seven days rather than a calendar one, so a slot comes back exactly seven days after the one that used it — there is no Monday reset and no being locked out for the rest of the week. Listening again to something already counted is free, and reopening a translation you have already made is free, because it is saved rather than fetched again. A translation that fails or that you cancel does not count.
Do I have to pay for the good voices?
No. Every voice installed on your iPhone works on the free tier, including Apple's Premium and Enhanced voices. You download those from iOS Settings yourself, so they are yours — it would be strange for us to charge you for permission to use them.
Can my family use one purchase?
The lifetime purchase has Family Sharing enabled, so up to six people in your Family Sharing group can use Snapshelf Pro from that single payment.
What do I need to run it?
Snapshelf 2.0 requires iOS 26, and runs on iPhone and iPad.
How do I cancel a subscription?
Subscriptions are billed and managed by Apple, not by Snapshelf. Open the Settings app, tap your name, then Subscriptions, and you can cancel there at any time.
Put down the book.
Keep reading it.
Free to download. iOS 26 on iPhone and iPad.
Download on the App Store