Every listening app with natural voices has a limit somewhere. Natural voices cost money to produce, every minute of them, and someone has to pay for that. We're not going to pretend otherwise.
What matters is how the limit is treated. That's what this post is about.
The wall
There's a moment in a lot of apps we've come to call the wall. It's when a tool you're paying for stops serving you and starts selling to you. You're halfway through a document and it stops. A limit you didn't know about. A pop-up where your reading used to be. An offer to pay more to find out how it ends.
We designed Aureley so that moment never comes.
Three rules for the meter
- You can always see it. Your natural-voice hours are shown at the top of your library, not tucked away in settings.
- It warns you before, not after. You hear about it while there's still time to decide.
- Running out never stops the reading.
What happens when the hours run out
Every plan comes with a set number of natural-voice hours each month: 3, 4 or 6, depending on the plan.
When they're used up, Aureley keeps reading in your built-in voice, the voice already built into your phone or tablet. Listening in your built-in voice is unlimited on every plan, so there's no second limit waiting behind the first.
If you'd rather go back to the natural voice straight away, you can top up. Top-up hours stay yours while you have a plan, and they never expire. If you'd rather not, you don't have to do anything. Your document still gets finished.
The promise inside the app is simple. You will not be cut off in the middle of a document.
Why we built it this way
A meter can be designed to sell or to inform. One that appears only when you've run out is doing the first job. One you can see all month is doing the second.
We think the second kind earns more trust, and trust is what keeps people using an app. If you never get a surprise from us, you have one less reason to go looking for something else.
The same rule everywhere
The meter is one part of a wider rule. Nothing that affects your money or your reading should arrive without being said first. So the 7-day trial shows the price and the charge date before you start, we email you 3 days before it ends and again on the final day, and you can see exactly how many hours you have left all month.
Cancel whenever you like. No phone call, and no one trying to talk you out of it.
Too much to read, not enough time. Aureley reads it all to you, in a natural voice, whenever you're ready.