Select text in any app. Press ⌥⌘R. Shmia starts speaking in about a second — with AI voices that sound like a person, not a robot.
Your eyes get one channel; your ears free up another. The articles you saved, the report you have to get through, the documentation you keep postponing — all of it becomes something you can simply listen to while you make coffee or answer email.
Shmia turns any text on your Mac into speech the moment you ask. No copying into another app, no uploading documents, no new reading list to maintain. Select, press the shortcut, listen.
⌥⌘R reads whatever you've selected — in your browser, a PDF, an email, a doc. Or right-click and choose “Read with Shmia.” No importing, no library, no app-switching.
Powered by ElevenLabs, the most realistic AI voices available. Pick your favorite from the entire voice library and preview before you choose.
Shmia doesn't wait to process your whole selection. It streams the first sentences immediately and generates the rest while it speaks — even for ten paragraphs.
0.75× to 2×, pitch-preserved, applied instantly mid-sentence. Your chosen speed becomes your default. Never re-generates audio, never costs extra credits.
A small glass window appears top-right with a live timeline, play/pause, speed and voice — floating above everything, never stealing focus from what you're reading.
Shmia connects to your own ElevenLabs account. No subscription markup, no middleman, and your text goes only to ElevenLabs — nowhere else.
Other apps process your entire text, then start. Shmia splits your selection into chunks: the first one is tiny so speech starts immediately, and the rest are generated in the background — always staying ahead of the voice.
Chunk 1 is kept small on purpose — that's why you hear the first words in about a second.
We looked. Reader apps want you to bring your text to them — import it, upload it, paste it. Shmia works the other way: it comes to wherever your text already is.
| Shmia | Speechify | NaturalReader | ElevenReader | macOS built-in | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native Mac app | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ iPhone/Android only | ✓ |
| Reads selection in any app, one keystroke | ✓ | partial | ✗ import first | ✗ | ✓ |
| Human-sounding AI voices | ✓ ElevenLabs | ✓ premium tier | ✓ premium tier | ✓ | ✗ robotic |
| Starts speaking instantly on long text | ✓ streamed chunks | varies | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Floating mini player with live timeline | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Pricing | Free app · your ElevenLabs credits | ≈ $139/yr Premium | ≈ $110/yr Premium | subscription | Free |
Feature comparison based on each product's published capabilities, July 2026. "Partial" = works in some apps via their own extension or reader window.
Anywhere on your Mac where text can be selected: every browser, Mail, PDFs, Notes, Slack, Word, code editors — everything. If you can highlight it, Shmia can read it.
Shmia itself is free. Voices are generated with your own ElevenLabs API key, so you pay ElevenLabs directly at their rates — no markup. Shmia uses their Flash model, which costs half the usual credits.
Shmia (שמיעה) is Hebrew for “hearing.” That's the whole product in one word.
Any voice in your ElevenLabs library — the defaults, community voices you've added, even your own cloned voice. Pick a default in Settings and preview each one first.
Your selection is sent to exactly one place: the ElevenLabs API, over your own key. Shmia has no servers, no accounts, and keeps nothing.
Yes — instantly, with pitch preservation so it never sounds squeaky. And because speed is applied at playback, it doesn't re-generate audio or spend extra credits.
Shmia is in early access. Request the beta and we'll send you the app with a one-minute setup guide.