Control Narrator playback
Play, pause, seek, change speed, follow the spoken text, and configure the floating Narrator player.
Control a narration from the floating player or the Narrator page. Your position is saved with library entries so you can continue later.
Play, pause, and move through the text
Use the floating player's play button to pause or resume. Its More menu moves back or forward one sentence, speeds up or slows down, and cancels playback. Your keyboard's play/pause key also pauses and resumes, and the Now Playing controls in Control Center can skip 15 seconds back or forward.
On the Narrator page, these keys work while the page has focus:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Pause or resume |
| Left Arrow | Move to the previous sentence |
| Right Arrow | Move to the next sentence |
| [ | Reduce the speed |
| ] | Increase the speed |
Change the speed
Select the speed control on the player to choose any pace from 0.5× to 3×. The change applies straight away and does not use more cloud voice minutes. Narrator keeps the speed you choose for your next narration, including after you quit. Changing Speed in Settings → Narrator sets it too.
Follow the spoken text
The floating player shows the text as Narrator reads it, highlights the current sentence and word, and scrolls to keep them in view. Switch its Text control to RSVP to see one word at a time in the same spot instead.
Click any word in the player's text to continue from there. For a document with at least two headings, open its More menu under Recent narrations and choose a chapter to jump there.
Use the floating player
The floating player keeps playback close while you use another app. It shows play and pause, the time, the speed, and the text being read. Its More menu also switches voices, shares the narration, and turns the text or the whole player off.
Drag the player by its header to move it. Reset Position in the More menu puts it back above the dictation pill. Click – to shrink it to a small capsule with play, pause, and the time, and click the expand button to bring the full player back.
Open Settings → Narrator → Player to hide the player, hide its follow-along text, choose a short excerpt or one synchronized word, and set how long it remains after playback ends.
Keep or export a narration
Open All narrations to search your library, rename an entry, or delete it. Under Recent narrations, Copy narration copies a narration's text. Its More menu can also export the audio as an M4A file, read by the voice you chose.