Questions, answered
InboxToAudio FAQ
Everything about turning the email, newsletters, and documents you already get into narrated audio — formats, languages, playback, privacy, and plans.
Getting started
- How do I listen to my email?
- You get a private listening address that looks like alpha.beta.12345@inbox.inboxtoaudio.app. Forward any email to it from Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, or your phone, and within a couple of minutes you get back narrated audio — in your listening queue and as a private link emailed to you.
- Do I have to give you access to my mailbox?
- No. There is no password, no OAuth grant, and no mailbox connection. You forward the individual emails you want narrated, so nothing is read unless you send it. You can also lock your address to approved senders so only addresses you list can create audio.
- Can I try it before paying?
- Yes. You can forward one email of up to 2,000 words free, with no card required, to hear what your own reading material sounds like narrated. After that, listening requires an active plan, starting at $7.50 a month on annual billing or $9 month to month.
- Is there an app, or is it web only?
- Listening works on the web and iPhone. The iPhone app is on the App Store and adds share-sheet support for Safari and Files, AirPlay, lock-screen controls, background playback, and offline-friendly playback.
What you can listen to
- What can I forward to get audio back?
- Anything that arrives as text email: newsletters, board reports, industry digests, long threads, meeting notes, research summaries. If it lands in your inbox and you can read it, you can forward it to your listening address and get a narrated version back.
- Can I listen to a PDF?
- Yes. Attach any PDF, DOC, or DOCX file up to 15 MB to an email and forward it, and the document is prepared and narrated alongside the message. PDF document understanding includes text-based, scanned, and photographed pages.
- Does it work with paid newsletters like Substack or Beehiiv?
- Yes. A paid subscriber email is just an email, so you can forward it and listen to it like any other issue. You can also subscribe your listening address directly to a publication so every new issue is narrated automatically.
- Can I listen to an article from the web?
- Yes, three ways: paste the text into your queue on the web, use a publication or browser “share by email” option, or share directly from Safari to the iPhone app. Review the extracted text before creating audio.
- What formats and listening options are available?
- InboxToAudio renders email, pasted text, PDF, DOC, and DOCX documents, including scanned and photographed PDFs. Web and iPhone listeners get a private queue, chapters, transcripts, adjustable speed, and optional episode share links. Publisher RSS feeds are available through InkToAudio’s publisher plans.
- Which languages can I render?
- Your selected voice can render audio in 10 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese.
Listening and playback
- Can I change the narration voice?
- Yes. Every plan includes 28 natural narration voices, and you can switch whenever you like — the next item you forward or paste uses the new voice. Individual Pro also offers two-speaker, podcast-style audio for a back-and-forth read instead of a single narrator.
- Can I speed up playback?
- Yes. Change speed while you listen, and set a default speed that applies to everything in your queue. Your position in each episode is saved, so a long report can be finished across several sittings without hunting for where you stopped.
- Are long items broken into chapters?
- Longer items are split into chapters automatically. You can jump between them, and the current chapter is highlighted as it plays — which makes a forty-minute board report navigable instead of one unbroken block of audio.
- Is there a transcript?
- Yes. Each episode has a transcript, so you can follow along, skim ahead, or copy a passage you want to quote.
Plans and minutes
- How much does it cost?
- Three plans, priced per month on annual billing: Individual at $7.50 for 300 minutes, Individual Plus at $13.33 for 700 minutes, and Individual Pro at $25 for 1,500 minutes plus two-speaker audio. Paying month to month costs $9, $16, and $30 instead — annual billing is effectively two months free. Every plan includes your private inbox and all 28 voices.
- What counts against my monthly minutes?
- Only audio you generate. A 20-minute newsletter uses 20 minutes of your monthly allowance once. Re-listening to anything already in your queue is free and never counts again, however many times you play it.
- What happens if I run out of minutes?
- Everything already in your queue stays playable. New forwards wait until your allowance resets at the start of your next billing cycle, or you can move to a larger plan to keep going right away.
- What happens if I cancel?
- Audio you have already generated stays playable. New forwards are not processed, and voice selection and inbox regeneration are locked until you resubscribe. Nothing you already made is deleted because your plan lapsed.
- Can I share an episode with someone else?
- Yes. Copy an episode’s share link and anyone with it can listen without signing in. Sharing is per episode and entirely opt-in — pick “Revoke sharing” or delete the episode and every link you handed out stops working.
Privacy and control
- Is my listening address private?
- Yes. The address belongs to your account alone and is never published. You can restrict it to approved senders, change whether audio-ready replies go to the sending address or your account email, and regenerate the address at any time — the old one stops working immediately.
- Who can see what I listen to?
- Your queue is private to your account. Nothing is published, there is no public feed, and no episode is reachable by anyone else unless you deliberately copy and send its share link.
- Can I stop unwanted senders creating audio?
- Yes. Turn on approved senders in your listening settings and list the addresses allowed to send to your listening inbox. Anything from another sender is ignored, which also keeps stray mail from spending your minutes.
- Can I delete something after listening?
- Yes. Delete any item from your queue and its audio and share link stop working. Deleting does not refund minutes already generated, but it does remove the content.
Troubleshooting
- I forwarded an email and nothing arrived. What now?
- Check that you sent it to your current listening address, that your plan is active, and that approved senders is not blocking the address you forwarded from. Confirmation emails and forwards both appear in your listening inbox, so start there — then contact support if it is missing.
- A newsletter I subscribed to never showed up.
- Most missing subscriptions are unconfirmed ones. Newsletters often send a one-time confirmation link to the address that signed up, which is your listening address — open your listening inbox, find that message, and click the link to activate the subscription.
- An item failed to render. Can I retry it?
- Yes. Failed items have a Retry option, which needs an active subscription. Items that completed successfully cannot be re-rendered — forward the email again if you want a fresh version, for example after changing your voice.
Still stuck? The help center goes deeper, and support answers anything it does not cover.
Hear your own inbox first.
Forward one email free, without a card, and decide from there.
From $7.50/month billed annually · Cancel anytime