How to Add Reading Mode to Any Android Device

• After verifying OS compatibility, open the Google Play Store app on your device and search for “Reading Mode.”

• Select the official Reading Mode app from Google and install it.
• Open the Reading Mode app via the Play Store or native app icon.

• Follow the tutorial instructions in the app. You will be redirected to the Settings menu.

• Click “Reading Mode”/”Accessibility Menu” and enable “Reading Mode Shortcut”/”Accessibility Menu Shortcut”. A prompt will appear asking you to allow permissions.

• Click “Allow” to give Reading Mode the necessary permissions to function properly on your device.
• If your device had “Accessibility Menu” instead of “Reading Mode”, you still need to manually enable certain features. Tap on the “Vision”, “Hearing” or “Physical” categories to provide clear text or voice dictation, depending on the feature you need.

A few more steps

Once in “Settings”, you can also enable reading mode in three ways: using the floating button, volume keys or gesture.

Floating Button is the default option and places a button on the screen that you can tap to activate the feature. If you prefer to use the volume keys, you can set Reading Mode to turn on when you hold down the volume keys for a specified period of time. If you don’t prefer the first two, you can also assign a specific gesture, such as a two-finger swipe up, to activate reading mode.

Effective use of reading mode

Once you have your reading mode set up and ready, open any website or app that has long articles you want to read. Tap the floating button (or use the shortcut of your choice) to open reading mode. The app will reformat the content to make it more readable by adjusting the contrast, color, and font size, as well as making other corrections such as bold text and line spacing.

To have the app read the content aloud, tap the play button at the bottom of the screen. With this feature, there are also various options for adjusting the reading speed and changing various voice settings, up to template voice types.

Things worth noting

Although reading mode is easy to use and convenient, it still has a few caveats. The app does not currently support PDF files, emails, chat messages or social media channels. It mainly focuses on websites and apps with long-form articles.

Then, if you’re using Voice Access and Switch Access, you’ll need to turn them off and on again after reading mode is installed. This ensures that accessibility features can work properly with the app.

Finally, you must have the latest version of Google Speech Services installed on your device. You can update or install it by clicking the Google Play Store link below