Read Please is a small Mac app that reads selected text aloud. Highlight text in any app — a webpage, an email, a PDF, a document — press a keyboard shortcut, and your Mac speaks it.
It lives in the menu bar, not the Dock, and stays out of the way until you need it.
This is a public beta. It works and is used daily, but you may run into rough edges. Bug reports and suggestions are welcome — please open an issue.
Download
Open the download and drag Read Please to your Applications folder.
Opening it the first time
Because this is a beta, macOS will block it on first launch. To allow it (just once):
- Open Read Please from Applications. When the warning appears, click Done.
- Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll to the Security section.
- Next to "Read Please was blocked…", click Open Anyway, then enter your Mac password.
After that, it opens normally.
Setup
When you first open the app it runs a quick setup:
- Permission. Read Please needs macOS Accessibility permission to see the text you've selected in other apps. The setup links you straight to the right place in System Settings.
- Shortcut. Pick keys for play/pause and stop, or keep the defaults (Control + ` and Control + 1).
- Voice. Read Please uses the voices already built into your Mac. For more natural-sounding speech, you can download Apple's Enhanced or Premium voices from System Settings — the app shows you where.
You can revisit any of this later from Settings.
Advanced Features
Add more shortcuts. Want more than the two defaults? A JSON file lets you map any number of extra shortcuts. Personally, I use F15 and F16, plus keys mapped to a spare mouse button in Karabiner-Elements — so I never have to reach for the keyboard.
Custom pronunciation. macOS voices usually pronounce words well, but some need a little help. Eg The voice I use sounds out the "th" in "github." You can fix quirks like these by editing the pronunciations JSON file.
Tip: Not comfortable editing JSON? Paste it into your AI assistant of choice and tell it what you want changed — it'll make light work of it.
Privacy
Read Please works entirely on your Mac. It only reads the text you've selected, speech is generated on-device, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Requirements
- macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later
- Accessibility permission (granted during setup)
Feedback
If something doesn't work or you have an idea, please open an issue.
Build from source
Read Please is built with Swift 6 and SwiftUI using Swift Package Manager (no Xcode project required).
swift build && swift test # dev build + tests ./build_app_staging.sh && open ReadPlease-Staging.app # isolated test build ./build_app.sh && open ReadPlease.app # production build