Android Reading mode just got a lot more accessible

Back in December last year, Google announced the Reading mode app. This is an app designed with accessibility in mind, where it turns websites into formats that make it easier to read, and it also has a text-to-speech function that reads out websites to users who might be visually impaired.

Now Google has pushed out an update for the app that will make it even better to use. As part of the latest update, the Reading mode app will now be gaining background playback support. What this means is that if you want to do other things on your phone while the app reads out a website to you, you can.

There will also be a media player notification that lets you control the playback, like pausing, resuming, skipping to the next sentence, and more. While this was designed for accessibility in mind, it actually makes the Reading mode app even more useful for other users. This is because with background playback support, anyone can turn long articles into mini podcasts of sorts and walk around while listening to them instead of reading them.

It’s a nice quality of life update and if you haven’t checked out the app yet, you can grab the latest version from the Google Play Store.

Source: 9to5Google