Google's Reading Mode App Improves Text Readability and Offers a Read Aloud Mode for Android

Reading Mode is an Android application from Google that helps you read or listen to text on the screen.

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Video Description
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In an attempt to help people consume content on their Android smartphone or tablet, Google has launched an application called Reading Mode. This is available for free in the Google Play Store and should work on all devices with Android 9 and higher.

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Once installed, the application works with the Accessibility feature for Android to improve the readability of all text displayed on your device. This app offers a customizable reading environment while also providing a way for the text to be read to you for those times when you just can't focus on the screen itself.

The company markets the app for those with low vision, blindness, and dyslexia but it can be used by anyone who wants a better interface when consuming text-based content on their Android device.

The Reading Mode application can be downloaded and installed for free via the Google Play Store. A quick search will allow you to find the application but I will also be including a direct link to it down in the video description below.

Once installed, we can open up the app and follow the on-screen instructions. Sadly, to use this application it must be enabled via the Accessibility menu of the Settings application. This means it sticks a button to launch the app on the edge of our screen, but I'll show you how to replace this with a gesture at the end of this video.

As mentioned, Reading Mode from Google will work when the text on the screen is from a native application or when it's just within a web browser. We just need to bring up an article and then tap the Accessibility button to bring it up. This can also be activated via the Quick Settings panel. . .but the tile needs to be manually added and the app must be setup for it to work.

Once you find some text on the screen, activate the Reading Mode application for the overlay card to appear. It will take a few seconds for the text to be gathered, but then you should see it laid out in a much cleaner format.

The application reminds me of the reading mode features that we've seen in web browsers before where it extracts the content, removes the ads, and displays the content in a way that is easier to read.

We can even customize the display options via the Settings icon here at the bottom.
This allows us to increase or decrease the size of the text.
Change the font that is being used.
Adjust the spacing between the lines.
And force the text to be displayed in bold.

There are also some styling options which can help improve the readability of the text.
They even have an option to add a line to the screen to help you remember where you were in the article.

If you wanted, you can use the Reading Mode application to use text-to-speech so that you can listen to the article instead of reading it yourself.

There are even some customization options for this feature.
Including the ability to increase or decrease the reading speed.
And changing the reading voice to one of 4 preset options.

I mentioned there was a way to remove this Accessibility button from being displayed on the screen at all times. Since I do like the idea of using an application like this but I don't have a need for the shortcut to cover up areas of my screen.

At least with Android 13, we can dive into the Accessibility section of the Settings application.
Scroll down to the bottom and tap on Accessibility Shortcuts.
Then select this button and gesture option.
And change it from the default Button feature to a Gesture

We can then activate Reading Mode with a two-finger swipe from the bottom of the screen.
Or we can use the Quick Settings Tile that I mentioned before.


Mentioned Links
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Reading Mode App Page - https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...


Step by Step Tutorial
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1. Intro [00:00]
2. Install Google Reading Mode [01:10]
3. Setup the App [01:51]
4. Demonstration [03:39]
5. Google Reading Mode Options [03:50]
6. Text to Speech Feature [04:54]
7. Customizing the Accessibility Button [05:40]
8. Conclusion [07:34]


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