Reading mode

Google LLC

About this app

Designed for and with people with low vision, blindness and dyslexia, Reading mode helps improve your screen reading experience with a focus on customizable contrast, text size, text-to-speech, page clutter, and font types. Once downloaded, the app integrates into your quick settings and can be easily accessed across apps and web pages.

Instructions:

To get started:

1. Download and install Reading mode via Play Store
2. Find Reading mode on your home screen and tap to open it
3. Read the tutorial and it will redirect you to the settings at the end
4. In the settings, tap “Reading mode” and toggle on “Reading mode shortcut” to allow Reading mode to access your device
5. Please refer to https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/7650693 to set up different Reading mode entry points

Key Features:

• Focused reading view: Reading mode provides a customizable reading environment without clutter to make it easier to access content and focus
• Text-to-speech: Hear written content read out loud to you at the touch of a button. Choose from a selection of high quality long-form voices. Easily accessible audio control options to rewind, fast forward, and change reading speed on the go
• Adjust font type and size: Toggle quickly between font sizes, styles, colors, and line spaces to customize what’s best for your reading needs
• Quick access: Once downloaded, Reading mode is integrated into the phone interface for fast access
• Multi-language support: Reading mode supports English, French, Italian, and Spanish with additional languages to follow
• Compatible with Talkback: Easily use Reading mode when using your screen reader.
• Designed with privacy in mind: Content is never sent off your phone.

Join the https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/accessible to provide feedback and receive product updates.

Requirement:

• Available for phones on Android 9 and later
• Currently Reading mode supports English, French, Italian, Spanish

Permissions Notice:
• Accessibility Service: Since this app is an accessibility service, it can observe your actions and window content.

Ratings and reviews

Update: after update 15 Reading Mode turns off randomly, multiple times a day. On the plus side it reads some emails aloud but will often gives excuse that it can't read many emails because they're badly formatted. Relaunching Reading mode a 2nd or 3rd time will sometimes allow a previous unreadable to be read. Requires a too much extra effort to be "accessibility". The 2-finger-swipe-up is clunky. Pronunciations are pretty good. I don't see a way to correct the mistakes it makes.

Generally good, convenient to set a key combination shortcut to summon. Overall I'm impressed with how intelligible the voices have become, despite occasional inaccuracies in prosody. One odd thing: nearly half the time I initiate reading mode I am requested to download voices. This happens so often that one time I brought up the list of supposedly updated voices, then clicked to cancel and went back to the previous screen. The screen reader functioned fine. Bug?

App spazzes out a lot, it has been extremely glitchy since it was first introduced. After it does a lot of weird behavior, it will freeze and lockup without the ability to close the window or reopen it. Its a useless app, but I think I'm done using it. Google has been cranking out one buggy app after the next without ever addressing the issues, just adding more and more features that barely work correctly.

What's new

Initial release of Reading mode.