The Only EPUB Reader You Need: Text-to-Speech, a Built-In Dictionary, and Cloud Sync in One Free App

If you read EPUBs seriously, you've probably ended up with a small pile of apps: one to actually read the book, a separate text-to-speech app to listen on your commute, a dictionary app you copy-paste words into, and some cloud folder where your files live. Each one is fine. Together they're a mess — your highlights are in one place, your listening position in another, and half your books are on the wrong device.

This post is about doing all of it in one app. NovelGlide is a free EPUB reader that reads your books aloud, looks up words as you tap them, and keeps your library and reading progress backed up to your own cloud — synced between every device you sign into. It's on the App Store and Google Play, free — no ads, no account required, no subscription.

Below, what an all-in-one reader should actually do, and how NovelGlide handles each piece — honestly, including where it's narrower than the marketing shorthand.

What to look for in an "all-in-one" EPUB reader

Before the feature tour, here's the checklist worth holding any reader to:

• Reads aloud without a paywall — text-to-speech that isn't capped at a few minutes or locked behind a monthly fee.
• Looks words up in place — a built-in dictionary you tap, not a second app you paste into.
• Follows you across devices — start on your phone, continue on your tablet, keep your highlights.
• Runs on the devices you carry — your phone and tablet, in sync, not locked to one.
• Respects you — no ads, no tracking, no mandatory sign-up.

Most apps nail one or two of these. The point of a pillar app is the intersection.

It reads your books aloud — free, with no per-minute limit

Text-to-speech is the feature people most often bolt on with a second app, usually a paid one. NovelGlide builds it in: open any EPUB, start narration, and it reads the book using your device's built-in voices.

Two things matter here that the standalone TTS apps get wrong:

• There's no per-minute cap and no subscription. Speechify, ReadLoudly and friends gate free listening behind minutes or a monthly fee. NovelGlide's narration is just part of the free reader.
• It reads hands-free, right through the book. Start it and it keeps going on its own — turning pages and moving from one chapter to the next, all the way to the end. You can set the reading speed and pick the voice.

The voices are your operating system's own text-to-speech voices, so quality depends on your device — but there's nothing to pay and nothing to install.

Tap a word, get its meaning — a built-in dictionary for Chinese and Japanese

Here's where honesty matters more than hype. NovelGlide's tap-to-look-up dictionary is built for reading Chinese and Japanese — it is not an English-word dictionary.

Concretely, you can tap a word while reading and get an entry for:

• Traditional Chinese — from Taiwan's Ministry of Education dictionary, complete with 注音 (Zhuyin) readings.
• Simplified Chinese — via CC-CEDICT, with Pinyin.
• Japanese — via JMdict.

Definitions can be shown in Chinese, Japanese, or English, so an English-speaking learner reading a Japanese or Chinese novel gets an English gloss. What it does not do is let you tap an English word for an English definition — the lookup languages are Chinese and Japanese.

If you're learning Chinese or Japanese by reading real books, this is the feature that replaces a second app. No copy-pasting into a separate dictionary, no breaking your reading flow — and for Traditional Chinese specifically, the 教育部 + 注音 source is something almost no other EPUB reader integrates.

Your library, backed up to your own Google Drive

Cloud sync usually means handing your library to someone's walled garden. NovelGlide instead backs everything up to your own Google Drive account, using your own storage — sign in with your Google account and it's yours, not ours.

What actually syncs across your devices:

• your books (the EPUB files, covers, and metadata),
• your reading position — pick up exactly where you left off on another device,
• your highlights and bookmarks,
• your collections (how you've organized your library).

One honest note: some of this is stored in Drive's hidden app data area, so it's "backed up to your Google Drive storage," not "a folder of EPUBs you'll browse in the Drive app." The benefit is continuity across devices and a backup you control — not a file manager. App-wide settings like theme and font are per-device today, and don't sync.

One reading experience across your devices

NovelGlide is on iPhone & iPad and Android today, free on the App Store and Google Play.

That's the whole reason the sync in the previous section is worth having — start a chapter on your phone at breakfast, pick it up on your tablet on the couch, and your position, highlights, and library are already there — one app, the same reading experience on every device you open it on.

It's built for reading, not just storing books

An all-in-one app still has to be a good reader. NovelGlide gives you proper book typography rather than a raw HTML dump:

• Paginated reading with adjustable typography, and automatic hyphenation you can toggle for tidier justified text (English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish).
• Vertical writing (縦書き / vertical-rl) is handled properly — genuinely important for Japanese EPUBs and something many readers get wrong.
• Highlights and annotations you can add, edit, and revisit.
• Whole-book search — find a phrase across the entire book, not just the current chapter.

Free, no ads, no account — and privacy-first

NovelGlide is free, shows no ads, and doesn't require an account to read. It's supported by an optional tip jar — a one-time thank-you if you want to chip in — not a subscription and not your attention sold to advertisers.

Because there's no ad business behind it, there's no reason to hoover up your reading data. If you've been looking for a reader that isn't trying to monetize what you read, that's the design goal here.

Who this is especially for

• People tired of juggling apps — one reader instead of a reader + a TTS app + a dictionary + a cloud folder.
• Chinese and Japanese learners reading real novels who want instant tap-lookup with 注音 / Pinyin.
• Multi-device readers who start on a phone and finish on a tablet.
• Privacy-minded readers who want no ads and no mandatory account.

Getting started

1. Install NovelGlide free — from the App Store (iPhone & iPad) or Google Play (Android).
2. Add an EPUB (your own DRM-free files — nothing to buy from us).
3. Start reading. Tap the narration button to listen, tap a Chinese or Japanese word to look it up, and sign in with Google if you want your library backed up and synced.

Get NovelGlide: App Store · Google Play

FAQ

Is NovelGlide really free?

Yes — free, no ads, no subscription. There's an optional one-time tip jar if you'd like to support it.

Does the text-to-speech cost extra or have a time limit?

No. Narration is part of the free app, with no per-minute cap. It uses your device's built-in voices, and once you start it, it turns pages on its own and reads right through to the end of the book.

Can I look up English words?

Not as a lookup language — the tap dictionary covers Traditional Chinese (with 注音), Simplified Chinese (with Pinyin), and Japanese. English is available as a definition language for those, which is ideal for English speakers learning Chinese or Japanese.

Where are my synced books stored?

In your own Google Drive account and storage (partly in Drive's app-data area), so it's a backup you control rather than files on someone else's server. Books, reading position, highlights, bookmarks, and collections sync; per-device settings don't.

Which platforms does it run on?

iPhone, iPad, and Android today — free on the App Store and Google Play.

Do I need an account to read?

No. An account (Google sign-in) is only needed if you want cloud backup and cross-device sync.