Winston

Since Voice Dream Reader was released for iOS in 2012, I received requests for a Mac version more often than any other platform. Nearly 10 years later, I’m so excited to announce that Voice Dream Reader for macOS is now generally available.

(The actual name in the Mac App Store is “Voice Dream Reader for Desktop” because Apple does not allow the use of “macOS” or “Macs” in an app’s name.)

I started working on the Mac version in 2019. From early on I decided to create a fully native and thoroughly modern macOS app that takes full advantage of the Mac rather than migrating the iOS version with minimal change. (I will write a blog post on how I made this decision.) After 3 years of work, I’m very happy with the result, and I think you will be too.

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Before I dive into the topic of subscriptions, let me say this first: the subscription model will only apply to new products like Voice Dream Reader for macOS. Apps that you already bought, like Reader for iOS, will always be yours.

This decision to make Reader for macOS a subscription was not an easy one: I agonized over it for the past two years, because I know a lot of people do not like subscriptions. And some of you who are excited about this new app will be disappointed. I get it.

So, why go with the subscription model? The short answer is, Voice Dream as a company is not sustainable right now, and subscriptions are the only way for Voice Dream to become sustainable.

When I started Voice Dream 10 years ago, I set out to accomplish three goals: 1) do something good for the world; 2) have autonomy and freedom; and 3) earn enough money to live comfortably. With some hard work (and quite a bit of luck), I succeeded. Voice Dream helps people with visual impairments and dyslexia read and has won many awards, so I think my work has made a positive impact; I did not take any outside investment, so I only have to answer to myself; and my total income from Voice Dream is about what I would make if I joined Google or Facebook as a software engineer. By any reasonable standard, it provides my family with a comfortable living.

So why change anything? When COVID started, my wife and I finally wrote our wills. And contemplating a premature death made me realize that Voice Dream – in its present form – would not survive for long if I become incapacitated […]