ONarrator - Text-to-Speech and Audiobook creator FREE (MacOS and iOS)
Started by Darren McDonald2
on 8/20/2026
Darren McDonald2
8/20/2026 8:23 am
In my search for an app that uses quality voices to export audio files, including audiobooks, I came across this excellent app, ONarrator.
https://www.onarrator.com
I have had problems with creating Japanese audiobooks from PDFs and epub files. I have tried out many apps, searching for them in Internet searches, using AI, and reading reddit posts. None of the apps worked for me, or if they did, the voice was so robotic that it made listening unbearable. I stumbled on ONarrator in the MacApp store when doing a search there.
I contacted the developer today about improving the app further to handle Japanese sections in mainly English text. It turns out the developer is working solo. It was developed for the wife who is also an academic. The developer has a day job, and so is in a position able to develop the app for free, motivated to help out the wife. The developer was also motivated from my email as he had not had any feedback since the app was launched a month ago. This goes to show how the app is not widely known. I didn't ask the developer about whether it was developed using AI, but from my experience in trying out many other similar apps, ONarrator is very polished.
I was really impressed, not only with the quality of the voices, but also with the speed and relatively less space it uses on my HDD space, as well as the relatively lower amount of memory it uses. But I am using an Apple M4 MacMini. ;)
https://www.onarrator.com
I have had problems with creating Japanese audiobooks from PDFs and epub files. I have tried out many apps, searching for them in Internet searches, using AI, and reading reddit posts. None of the apps worked for me, or if they did, the voice was so robotic that it made listening unbearable. I stumbled on ONarrator in the MacApp store when doing a search there.
I contacted the developer today about improving the app further to handle Japanese sections in mainly English text. It turns out the developer is working solo. It was developed for the wife who is also an academic. The developer has a day job, and so is in a position able to develop the app for free, motivated to help out the wife. The developer was also motivated from my email as he had not had any feedback since the app was launched a month ago. This goes to show how the app is not widely known. I didn't ask the developer about whether it was developed using AI, but from my experience in trying out many other similar apps, ONarrator is very polished.
I was really impressed, not only with the quality of the voices, but also with the speed and relatively less space it uses on my HDD space, as well as the relatively lower amount of memory it uses. But I am using an Apple M4 MacMini. ;)