Android has offered a text-to-speech engine for quite some time, but it’s not easily accessible. Now, with the Google Reading Mode app, you can read texts aloud on any screen of an Android smartphone with ease. It also comes with features like reading speed, text customization, and more. Best of all, you can also read texts out loud in private apps like WhatsApp and Gmail. So, to install the Reading mode app and enable the feature on Android, follow the steps below.
Install and enable the Google Reading Mode app
- First, download the Reading mode application (Free) on your Android smartphone.
- Next, open the app to enable reading mode and follow the on-screen instructions.
- The “Accessibility” settings page will open. Here, tap “Reading Mode”.
- Next, light “Reading Mode” shortcut. In the pop-up window, allow the service to have full control of your device.
How to use the Google Reading Mode app on Android
First of all, after enabling Reading mode, you will have the option to customize shortcut to start Reading mode on any screen of your Android phone. You can add an accessibility button or press and hold both volume buttons to activate it.
Now, open any web page in Chrome or your favorite Android browser and Tap the reading mode shortcut icon on the side of the screen, or any other activation method you have selected. I like to use Google Assistant and just ask it to “open reading mode” and it does the job just fine.
Once you enable reading mode, the content on your phone’s screen will be presented in a more readable form and friendly format. You no longer need to watch floating ads, pop-up ads or annoying video ads on some websites. Google Reading mode also works in private apps like WhatsApp and Gmail and also in offline mode.
In reading mode, tap the “Play” button at the bottom center to let the app read the text aloud for you. Additionally, you can customize text appearance, reading speed and reading voice from the Settings menu.
Read texts aloud with Google Assistant on Android
Google Assistant has a built-in read aloud feature that also works well. You won’t have to install a separate Android app to access this. However, it is sometimes buggy and does not work in all applications. This is how you can read texts aloud on Android.
- Open any web page and start Google Assistant by saying “Hello Google.”
- Now just say “read out loud“, and Google Assistant will begin reading the text on the screen. It also supports reading speed and text synchronization.
This is how you can enable Reading mode on Android and have it read text aloud on your screen. This feature will be useful if you prefer to listen to news or features instead of podcasts while driving or traveling. If you’re looking for new accessibility features in Google apps, we’ve talked about some of them in our coverage linked here. Finally, if you have any questions, let us know in the comments below.
