Catch what your eyes keep skipping.
Hear missing words, awkward rhythms, and sentences that ran long.
Natural text-to-speech for your Mac
Give your eyes
a minute.
When a draft, article, or long message is easier to hear than stare at, highlight it and press one shortcut. Yapper reads from there—without making you change apps.
Free preview · macOS 14+ · Apple silicon · No account required with Apple voices
The preview is not notarized yet, so macOS needs one extra first-open step.
Yapper installs on a Mac. Open this page on your Mac to download the preview.
YOUR CHOICEYou decide what gets read
YOUR KEYCloud keys stay in macOS Keychain
LOCAL OPTIONApple speech stays on your Mac
DIRECT CONNECTIONCloud requests go to your chosen provider
01 / WHEN YOUR EYES ARE DONE
The words keep coming.
Your eyes don’t have to do all the work.
Long documents drain attention. Silent proofreading hides mistakes. Moving text into another tool breaks your flow. Yapper gives you another way through the words already on your screen.
Reading should fit around you—not keep you pinned to a display.
02 / A SIMPLE PLAN
Set up once.
Then it stays simple.
- 01
Highlight
Select the words you want to hear wherever text is selectable.
- 02
Press
Use Option–R, or record a shortcut that feels natural.
- 03
Listen
Yapper starts speaking without making you change apps.
03 / WHERE IT HELPS
For the words that land better out loud.
Finish the read without staying glued to the screen.
Listen through selected passages from articles, documents, and long messages.
Keep moving when another hour of staring isn’t helping.
Choose how the words reach you whenever listening works better.
04 / CHOOSE YOUR VOICE
Start simple.
Switch whenever you like.
Begin with a free voice already on your Mac, or connect a cloud provider for more voices and control. Your shortcut works the same either way.
Compare every providerSTART HERERecommended
Apple System Voice
The fastest way to try Yapper. It works entirely on your Mac and needs no account or API key.
- Best for
- A free, private first run
- Setup
- No account required
STREAMING VOICECharacter pricing
xAI
Expressive streaming voices with language, pace, and delivery controls at a simple character-based rate.
- Best for
- Expressive speech with simple character billing
- Setup
- xAI API account with prepaid credits or approved monthly billing
EXPRESSIVE VALUEFree dev model
Fish Audio
Multilingual streaming narration with natural-language delivery cues, optional custom voices, and a free S2.1 development model.
- Best for
- Low-cost expressive and multilingual narration
- Setup
- Fish Audio account and API key required
VOICE LIBRARY
ElevenLabs
A large voice library with strong voice discovery and controls for delivery and stability.
- Best for
- The broadest choice of voices
- Setup
- ElevenLabs account with billing or included usage required
VOICE DIRECTION
OpenAI
Built-in voices with model-dependent pricing and flexible delivery instructions on supported models.
- Best for
- Directing tone and narration style
- Setup
- OpenAI API account with billing enabled required
05 / PRICING REFERENCE
What does a month
of listening cost?
Bring your own provider key and pay that provider directly. Adjust the example to match how much you expect to listen.
| Provider and model | Public API rate | Approx. per hour | 20-hour month |
|---|---|---|---|
| AppleSystem voices | No usage fee Runs on your Mac | $0 | $0 |
| Fish AudioS2.1 Pro Free | $0 under fair use Evaluation model · no SLA | $0 | $0 |
| Fish AudioS2.1 Pro | $15 / 1M UTF-8 bytes Writing system changes cost | $0.81 | $16.20 |
| xAIText to Speech | $15 / 1M characters Simple character billing | $0.81 | $16.20 |
| OpenAITTS-1 | $15 / 1M characters Speed-optimized legacy model | $0.81 | $16.20 |
| OpenAIGPT-4o mini TTS | ≈ $0.015 / generated min Approximation from token pricing | $0.90 | $18.00 |
| OpenAITTS-1 HD | $30 / 1M characters Quality-optimized legacy model | $1.62 | $32.40 |
| ElevenLabsMultilingual v2 / v3 | $100 / 1M characters Some library voices cost more | $5.40 | $108.00 |
Estimates use generated listening time, not time spent inside Yapper. Fish charges UTF-8 bytes, so non-ASCII text can cost more than the same character count in English.
Rates checked August 2, 2026. Taxes, free credits, subscriptions, voice multipliers, failed requests, and provider discounts are not included. Provider pages are the source of truth.
06 / BEFORE YOU DOWNLOAD
The honest answers.
Yapper is a small preview, not a platform. Here’s what it needs and what it does with your text.
What do I need?
A Mac with Apple silicon running macOS 14 or later and permission for Yapper to access selected text. Apple System Voice needs no account. ElevenLabs, Fish Audio, OpenAI, and xAI require their own API keys.
Why does Yapper need Accessibility permission?
macOS requires it so Yapper can read the text you highlight in another app. Yapper acts when you press your shortcut.
What leaves my Mac?
Apple System Voice keeps speech processing on your Mac. If you choose ElevenLabs, Fish Audio, OpenAI, or xAI, Yapper stores that provider’s API key in macOS Keychain and sends the selected text and speech settings directly to that provider—never through a Yapper server.
Is the preview free?
The Yapper preview and Apple System Voice are free. Fish Audio has a free development model under fair use; paid Fish Audio, ElevenLabs, OpenAI, and xAI charge usage to your own provider account.
Why is there an extra first-open step?
This preview is signed for development but is not notarized yet. Move Yapper to Applications, then right-click it and choose Open the first time. After that, it opens normally.
Does it work with every piece of text?
It works where macOS can expose the current selection or standard Copy works. Some protected content and custom text surfaces may not allow selection capture.
Yapper for macOS
Your eyes can stop.
The words don’t have to.
Highlight what matters and let Yapper read from there.
Download free previewFree preview · macOS 14+ · Apple silicon · No account required with Apple voices