Best Line Learning Apps for Actors (2026 Guide)

The best line learning app works like a good reader in the room, and for most actors that app is Offbook. A good app reads every other role for you, waits for you to finish your line instead of running a fixed timer, takes the sides or script you already have, and has tools that move you from script in hand to off book. Apps come in three kinds: AI scene partners, which read the other parts and listen for your line; record-and-playback apps, which play back cues you or a castmate record; and free tools such as your phone’s voice memo app, which cost nothing but take the most setup.

We compared 14 apps to memorize lines on the same five criteria, with prices and platforms checked in October 2026 and rechecked on October 14, with our pick first.

How We Compared the Apps

Every app below is judged on the same five questions. They are the things that decide whether you will still be using an app on the night before your off-book date.

1. Who reads the other roles? AI voices, computer voices, or recordings you make yourself. Recording every cue is free, but it takes time, and you do it again after every rewrite.
2. Does it wait for you? The best apps listen for the end of your line before they play the next cue. Others leave a fixed gap or wait for a tap, which is fine for drilling but does not feel like a scene.
3. How does your script get in? Importing a PDF or a photo of your sides takes minutes. Typing or dictating every line takes much longer. We compare the import step in detail in apps that let you upload a PDF script.
4. Can it get you off book? Look for hidden lines, first-letter cues, and looping, so you can test yourself instead of reading along.
5. Where does it run, and how do you pay? Phone, laptop, or both; and a flat monthly price, a one-time purchase, or a limit on pages, scenes, or auditions.

Facts about each app come from its own website, help pages, or App Store or Google Play listing. We list what we could verify and leave out what we could not.

Line Learning Apps Compared at a Glance

The table follows the order of the reviews below: our pick first, then apps that listen for your line, then record-and-playback apps, then the free tool on every phone. Within each group, apps are in alphabetical order.

Our Pick

Offbook

Offbook runs in a laptop or desktop browser, Mac or Windows. Upload a PDF, photos of the pages, a text file, or pasted text, and it finds each character and their lines, keeps stage directions apart from the dialogue, and gives the scene a title and summary.

You pick your role and choose a voice for each of the others, and realistic voices read every part but yours. It listens through your microphone and plays the next cue when you finish. Strict mode expects the written words, Lenient mode forgives a paraphrase (with a 0-100 slider), and Manual mode moves on only when you press Enter or say “next line.”

For getting off book, you can hide your lines, switch them to first-letter cues, or hide the whole script for a final test, and loop the scene or play all of it in Listen mode. One scene holds up to 50 pages, and the page picker splits up to 150 pages into scenes, so a full-length play fits. On your phone, you can listen to your scenes anywhere, with your own lines spoken, skipped, or left as silent gaps.

Price: Starter $9.99 a month, Pro $14.99, and Premium $29.99, or $7.99, $11.99, and $23.99 a month billed annually, after a 7-day free trial. One flat price, with no per-scene tokens and no cap on how many scripts you upload; each plan includes a monthly allowance for generating new audio. Students and educators get 50% off with a .edu email. Best for: auditions, self-tapes, and full roles, from the script you already have. More on our line learner page.

Scene Partner Apps That Listen for Your Line

These apps can listen for the end of your line before they play the next one, which is the closest thing to a reader in the room. They differ in where the voices come from, how your script gets in, which devices they run on, and how you pay.

Acting Pal

Acting Pal runs on iPhone, iPad, and Android. You import a PDF, and AI voices or audio you record read the other lines. Cue mode listens for the end of your line, while Non-stop mode leaves a timed gap you can adjust. It has a first-letter Memorize mode, and scripts stay on the device by default.

Price: $9.99 a month after a 3-day trial, for up to 60 pages of sides a month. Best for: phone users with short sides. See our Acting Pal alternative page.

ActOnCue

ActOnCue runs in a browser and on iPhone and iPad, and the apps sync; an Android app is listed as coming soon. You upload a PDF, photograph your sides, paste, or type, and AI voices or your own or a friend’s recordings read the other lines. The reader listens for when you finish your line and answers with the next one. It has first-letter hints and hidden lines, and a self-tape recorder with a teleprompter that follows your voice.

Price: paid with usage credits. The free plan has $1 of credit for testing; $10 a month includes $15 of usage, and $99 a year includes $180. AI voices cost $0.19 a minute of generated audio and Perform mode, where it listens and moves you on, $0.35 an hour; Listen mode and your own recordings are free. Best for: actors who rehearse now and then and would rather pay as they go. See our ActOnCue alternative page.

blablabla

blablabla runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple silicon Macs, and Android. It imports PDF, DOCX, Fountain, and Final Draft files, photos, or pasted text, and AI voices read the other parts. It listens and moves on when you finish your line, and you can also tap to continue. Practice mode can show your full line, a hint, first letters, or nothing. Once the audio is generated, it works offline, and it has a self-tape teleprompter.

Price: two voiced scenes free with no card, then the phone’s built-in voices; Pro is $69.99 a year (also $6.99 a month on the US App Store) for 30 or more voiced scenes a month, and one-off packs start at $1.49 for 3 scenes. Best for: rehearsing on a phone with no signal, on Android or iPhone. See our blablabla alternative page.

coldRead

coldRead runs on iPhone, iPad, and Apple silicon Macs. You record every line in your own voice, typing or dictating the text as you go, since there is no PDF import. When you say the last word of your line, it plays the next one. It works offline and keeps recordings on the device.

Price: free for scripts up to 8 lines; unlimited is $10.99 a month or $83.99 a year. Best for: iPhone users who want to rehearse offline in their own voice. See our coldRead alternative page.

Counterpart

Counterpart runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It listens for a cue word, the last word of your line by default. The reader can be your recording, a friend’s (friends record in a browser), or AI text-to-speech. It imports PDFs, including scanned pages, and can hide your lines and run a scene on repeat.

Price: $6.99 a month or $58.99 a year. Best for: Apple users who want a friend’s real voice as the reader.

Line Learner AI

Line Learner AI is a different app from LineLearner. It runs on iPhone and Apple silicon Macs, with an English AI voice per character, and its practice mode listens as you go. It imports PDF, Final Draft, and Fountain files, but not scanned PDFs.

Price: $12.99 a month or $69.99 a year. Best for: writer-performers who work in Final Draft or Fountain.

Linus

Linus, from Actors Kit, runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, and the web. Its AI voices are based on real actors, who are paid when you use their voice. It waits for your line, and it has looping, hidden lines, first letters, and a self-tape teleprompter.

Price: one free 1-page scene; a 3-day pass is $1.99, Pro is $9.99 a month, and Premium is $19.99. Best for: Android users, or one audition paid for with a short pass.

ScenePartner

ScenePartner is built around audition tapes and runs in a browser and on iOS. AI voices read the other lines and listen for your cues, and it has hidden lines, faded lines, and first letters. Plans are priced by the number of auditions each month, and in-app prices on iOS are higher than on the web.

Price: free for 3 auditions with scripts up to 10 pages; Plus is $12.99 a month for 10 auditions and Pro is $29.99 for 100. Best for: actors who tape a few short sides a month. See our ScenePartner alternative page.

Scriptmate

Scriptmate is a newer iPhone app; there is no iPad or Android version yet. You import a PDF screenplay or photos of paper sides, and it marks your lines. It follows your speech word by word through the whole line, so it keeps up if you paraphrase or restart, and the reader answers when you finish. English scripts use American and British voices that the app makes on the phone and then plays offline, and it can record a self-tape with the reader in your headphones.

Price: $9.99 a month or $69.99 a year after a 7-day free trial, with no account needed. Best for: iPhone users who want to rehearse offline. See our Scriptmate alternative page.

Record-and-Playback Apps

This is the classic approach. You record the cues yourself or with a castmate, or let computer voices read them, and the app plays them back with space for your lines. These apps do not listen for you, so you set the pace with gaps or taps.

LineLearner

LineLearner, by Peter Allday, runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple silicon Macs, and Android. You record every line, the other characters’ too, then play the scene back with your part turned off. It has no computer voices or speech recognition. Castmates can share a recorded script and add their own lines. The latest iOS version listed on the App Store is from July 2024.

Price: $3.99 one-time on iOS ($5.49 on Google Play); the lite version is free for 10 lines. Best for: a cast that records a play together. See our LineLearner alternative page.

Rehearsal Pro

Rehearsal Pro, from Sotto Voce Filmworks, is a script binder for Apple devices. You import or photograph your pages, highlight lines in colors, and record the cues yourself. It has an offline mode and no Android or web version.

Price: $19.99 one-time. Best for: actors who mostly want to mark up a script. See our Rehearsal Pro alternative page.

Script Rehearser

Script Rehearser, by Engram Ltd, runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Android. Computer voices read the other parts. It does not detect when you finish: Wait For Me mode pauses at each of your lines until you continue, and Run Through leaves a fixed gap. PDFs need real text, not scans.

Price: free, with Pro at $7.99 a year or $29.99 one-time. Best for: a free download with computer voices. See our Script Rehearser alternative page.

The Free Tool on Every Phone

Voice memos

Record the other characters’ lines, leave a silence after each cue about as long as your line, and say your lines into the gaps on playback. It works on any phone and costs nothing. The gaps are fixed, though, so the track does not wait if you pause, every character sounds like you, and you record again when the script changes.

Price: free. Best for: a short side on any phone.

More Apps Actors Ask About

• Rafy: a self-tape app for iPhone, the web, and Android (in early access). AI voices read the other lines and listen before they give the next one. Plans use tokens, one per scene, from $9.99 a month for 10.
• Scriptation: a script annotation app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Its Playback mode has a Rehearse option that reads the other parts and can wait for your line. Rehearse needs Industry Pro ($100 a year).
• AuditionLead: a free reader in a computer browser. You or a friend record the other lines first.
• Slatable: an iPhone and iPad self-tape app where you record the other lines yourself. Free for 1 audition a month.
• MemoCoach: a silent memorization app for iPhone and iPad that hides words step by step as you read aloud.

For self-tape tools, see the best self-tape apps and readers. For the cheapest ways to start, see free and cheap apps to memorize lines. To compare what each app costs over a year, read how much line learning apps cost.

Which App Suits You

• Cold reads and last-minute auditions: Offbook reads the sides you already have, from a PDF, photos of the pages, or pasted text, so you are not recording cues the night before. Our cold read app page shows the workflow.
• Long plays and big roles: Offbook’s page picker splits up to 150 pages into scenes, with no monthly script cap, so a full-length play fits. Other apps count pages or auditions, or make you record every cue yourself, again after each rewrite.
• Self-tapes: Offbook reads from your laptop while your phone or camera films. Our self-tape apps guide compares the options.
• A tight budget: Offbook’s 7-day free trial covers a real scene, students and educators get 50% off any paid plan with a valid .edu email, and our free line memorizer needs no account.
• Learning on the go: Offbook plays your scenes on your phone, with your own lines spoken, skipped, or left as silent gaps, and playback continues with the screen locked.
• Rehearsing with no signal: save an Offbook scene as an MP3 on your phone first, and listen anywhere.

How to Get the Most From Apps to Memorize Lines

An app only helps if you use it the right way. The most useful idea from memory research is retrieval practice: pulling a line out of memory beats reading it again. In a 2006 study by Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke, students who practiced recalling a passage remembered more a week later than students who reread it.

So hide your lines early, before it feels comfortable. The pause while you search for the words is the work. Move from the full text to first letters to nothing, one step at a time.

Learn the cue as well as the line. Your line is an answer to what the other character just said. The psychologists Helga and Tony Noice found that working actors rarely memorize word by word; they learn what the character wants from the other person, and the words follow. The Noices call this active experiencing.

1. Read the whole scene aloud once, for meaning, before you drill anything.
2. Run the scene with your lines hidden, at full volume at least once a day.
3. Use first-letter cues on the speeches that will not stick.
4. Listen to the full scene on a walk or commute to keep its rhythm in your ear.
5. The day before you must be off book, run it with the whole script hidden.

Our guide on how to memorize lines quickly has the full method. With no one to run lines with, see how to practice lines without a scene partner. New to the term? Read what “off book” means.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best AI line learning app?

Offbook, for most actors. Realistic voices read every other role from the script you upload, it listens for the end of your line, and it has hidden lines and first-letter cues so you test yourself instead of reading along. One flat price covers every scene, with no per-scene tokens.

Is there a free app to learn lines?

Yes. Offbook’s free run lines online tool and line memorizer need no account, a free Offbook account can practice scenes that were shared with it, and the 7-day free trial (a card is required) covers your own script. Your phone’s voice recorder is free, and Script Rehearser is free to download. LineLearner lite (10 lines), coldRead (8 lines), Linus (one 1-page scene), ScenePartner (3 auditions), blablabla (2 voiced scenes), and ActOnCue ($1 of credit) have free versions.

Can an app read lines with you?

Yes. Offbook reads the other characters with realistic voices and waits for you to finish each line, so it feels close to working with a real reader. Record-and-playback apps such as LineLearner play cues you recorded yourself, with fixed gaps for your lines.

What is the best app to memorize lines for a play?

Offbook. One scene holds up to 50 pages, and the page picker splits up to 150 pages into 10 scenes, so a full-length play fits, with hidden lines and first-letter cues to test yourself. Learn the play scene by scene, and run each one with your lines hidden every day. For a theater-only comparison, see our round-up of the best apps to memorize lines for a play.

Which apps to memorize lines work on a laptop?

Offbook runs in a laptop or desktop browser on Mac or Windows, with the full script on a big screen. Linus, ActOnCue, and ScenePartner also have web apps. On a Mac with Apple silicon, some iPhone apps run too, including coldRead, Rehearsal Pro, and LineLearner.

Can I use Offbook on my phone?

Yes, to listen. On your phone you can play your scenes, with your own lines spoken, skipped, or left as silent gaps. Rehearsing out loud with the microphone is in a laptop or desktop browser, and an iPhone app is coming soon.

Do line learning apps work offline?

Yes. To listen with no signal, save an Offbook scene as an MP3 on your phone first. coldRead and Rehearsal Pro work offline, blablabla works offline once its audio is generated, and voice memos always do.

The Verdict

Go back to the five criteria. Most scene partner apps now listen for your line, so the real differences are who does the reading, how your script gets in, and how much script your plan covers. On those, Offbook is the best choice for most actors.

• It starts from the script you already have. Upload a PDF, photos of the pages, or pasted text, and realistic voices read every other role. There is nothing to record or type, and the page picker splits up to 150 pages into scenes, so a full-length play fits.
• It waits for you. It listens while you say your line and plays the next cue when you finish, and Strict, Lenient, and Manual modes set how close to the script you must be.
• It takes you all the way off book, at one flat price. Hide your lines, drop to first-letter cues, then hide the whole script, on plans from $7.99 a month billed annually, with no per-scene tokens, no per-use rehearsal charges, and no cap on how many scripts you upload. Each plan includes a monthly allowance for generating new audio, and running a scene again does not use it.

Rehearse on your laptop with the full script on a big screen, and listen to your scenes on your phone anywhere. The 7-day free trial is the easiest way to test it on a scene you need to learn this week.

Offbook is made by the team behind this blog. Prices as of October 2026.