Help with Lirawi

What to include

Lirawi has no analytics and no crash reporting, so your message is all we have to work from.

• The Lirawi version: Settings, in the About section
• Your iPhone model and iOS version
• What you were doing: pasting, importing a file, sharing from another app, scanning or choosing photos
• The reading language, and the app language
• What you expected, and what happened instead
• The exact message Lirawi showed, or a screenshot

Lirawi never sends us your documents. If a particular file causes the problem, tell us what kind of file it is, and only attach it if you are comfortable sharing it.

Getting started

What can Lirawi read?

• Text you paste or type
• TXT, PDF and DRM-free EPUB files you import from Files
• Text, PDFs and EPUB books you share to Lirawi from another app
• Printed pages you photograph with Scan pages, or photos of pages you pick with Choose photos, up to 20 pages at a time

Which languages does Lirawi support?

App language: English, French or Arabic. Change it in Settings › App language, or let Lirawi follow your iPhone’s language.

Reading aloud: 31 languages, listed on the Lirawi page. Choose the ones you read most in Settings › My languages.

Text recognition for scanned pages and photos: Arabic, French and English.

How does the voice download work?

Lirawi’s natural voice is a separate download of about 129 MB that you start yourself from Voices, after accepting the voice terms. It comes directly from GitHub. One download covers all 31 languages, and after that, reading and listening work offline.

If Wi-Fi is not detected, Lirawi asks before using mobile data. If you do not accept the voice terms, a downloaded voice stays on your iPhone but cannot be used; you can delete it to free space.

Troubleshooting

“This PDF is a scan”

The PDF contains images of pages rather than text, so there is nothing to read aloud. Photograph its pages instead with Scan pages, or use Choose photos if you already have pictures of them.

A file will not import

• Password-protected PDFs cannot be opened.
• DRM-protected EPUB books cannot be opened. Lirawi can only open DRM-free books.
• PDFs and EPUBs over 50 MB are too large to import.
• Text files must be UTF-8 or UTF-16.

“No readable text was found”

Try a clearer photo of a printed page, with good light and the whole page in view. Check that the text recognition language is Arabic, French or English. If one page is blank, you can remove it or retake the photo.

“Arabic text recognition is unavailable on this device”

Some devices cannot recognise Arabic text. You can paste or type the text instead, and Lirawi will read it aloud.

“Camera access is off”

Allow camera access in iPhone Settings › Lirawi, or use Choose photos instead, which needs no permission.

The voice download stopped

• “Download paused”: check your connection, then tap Resume.
• “Not enough free space”: the message says how much space is needed. Free some up and try again.
• “The download was damaged”: Lirawi has already discarded it. Try again.
• “The server asked us to wait”: GitHub is limiting downloads for the moment. Try again later.

Lirawi is reading in the wrong language

Lirawi detects the language of a text. If it guesses wrong, change the language for that text in the reader. Your default reading language, in Settings › My languages, is used when a text’s language is unclear.

Saved audio is taking up space

Settings › Clear saved audio. Your documents and downloaded voices stay on your iPhone, and audio is prepared again when you listen.

Your data

Is my library backed up?

No. Your library and saved audio are excluded from iCloud and computer backups, so restoring a backup will not bring them back, and deleting Lirawi deletes them. Keep your original files if you need a backup.

I am moving to a new iPhone

Install Lirawi on the new iPhone, download the voice again, and import your original files again.

How do I delete my data?

• A document: delete it in the library. Its saved audio is removed with it.
• The voice: remove it in Voices. You can download it again later.
• Saved audio: Settings › Clear saved audio.
• Everything: delete the Lirawi app.

AppXLab holds no data about you, so there is no account to close and nothing to request from us.

What leaves my iPhone?

Only the voice download. It comes directly from GitHub, which receives your IP address to deliver the file; no document, photo, text or identifier is part of that request. Everything else works offline. Full detail: Lirawi’s privacy policy.

Requirements

iPhone with iOS 18 or later, and space for the voice: about 129 MB to download and about 145 MB once installed.

Privacy questions

Write to privacy@appxlab.io.