Cadence Reader
Need a hand? We're a small team and we read every message.
The fastest way to reach us is by email at [email protected]. To help us help you, please include your device model, operating system version, the app version (Settings → About), and a short description of what happened. If the problem is with a particular book, tell us the file format and roughly how large it is.
No. The app has no accounts, no analytics, no advertising, and no tracking. Your books, reading positions, and settings stay on your device. The only exception is the optional iCloud Sync on iOS, which is off by default and uses your own Apple iCloud account — never a server of ours. See our Privacy Policy for details.
For reading aloud: EPUB, PDF, DOCX, RTF, and TXT. You can also import audio and video files — including MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, WAV, FLAC, OGG/Opus, MP4, M4V, MOV, MKV, and WebM — so audiobooks and recordings sit in the same library as your books.
The most common cause is DRM. Cadence Reader works with DRM-free files only, so purchases locked to Kindle, Apple Books, or Kobo cannot be opened. Password-protected files are also refused. Scanned PDFs that contain images of pages rather than real text have nothing to read aloud — the app needs a text-based PDF. Extremely large files are rejected as a safeguard against running your device out of memory.
Tap import in the library and pick a file with your device's file picker — that includes files stored in iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or anywhere else your Files app can reach. On Android you can also share a file into Cadence Reader from another app, and on both platforms you can open a supported file directly from elsewhere and choose Cadence Reader to handle it.
Cadence Reader uses the text-to-speech voices already installed on your device — there is no cloud speech service and nothing to subscribe to. Any voice you add through your device's own settings appears in the app's voice picker automatically. On iOS that is Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices; on Android it is in your system text-to-speech settings, where you can also install extra language packs.
Cadence Reader is built to keep reading with the screen off, using proper background audio with lock-screen and notification controls. Some Android phones — Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei/Honor, and OnePlus in particular — ship aggressive battery managers that shut background apps down anyway. The app detects those devices and offers a short setup guide; you can also do it by hand by allowing Cadence Reader to run unrestricted in your battery settings, and by enabling auto-start where your phone offers it.
No. Importing, parsing, speech synthesis, and playback all run on your device. The app works in airplane mode.
On iOS and iPadOS you can turn on iCloud Sync to keep your reading positions, per-book settings, and library metadata consistent across your own devices. It is off by default. Book files themselves are never synced — only the small amount of data needed to resume in the right place. It uses Apple's CloudKit and your personal iCloud storage. Sync is not available on Android or the web.
No. Microphone access is explicitly blocked in the app — it will never be requested. The app does ask for notification permission on Android so it can show playback controls while it reads.
Imported books and their generated audio live in Cadence Reader's private storage on your device. You can delete individual books within the app, or remove everything by uninstalling it. Because nothing is stored on our servers, we recommend keeping your own backup of any important original files.
No. There are no subscriptions, no in-app purchases, and no advertising.
We'd love to hear it. Email us at [email protected] with as much detail as you can.