Pocket Update Brings Text-to-Speech Reading of Articles

The popular save it for later app, Pocket, has a new update rolling out to Android users.  The update, version 6.6.3.2 for those keeping score at home, brings the ability to have articles read to you while you are on the go.

For those that aren’t familiar with Pocket, it is an app and service that allows you to save an article or other find on the web for viewing or reading later.  There are apps for Android, iOS and plug-ins for popular browsers like Chrome.  It is a great way to save and share articles of interest.

The new text-to-speech feature works great.  Once you have an article open in the app you want read to you, go to the menu (three vertical dots) and tap on “Listen (TTS)”.  The app will automatically start reading the article to you.  The voices used by the app are a little robotic but not to the point of distracting and the app supports playback in the background too.  If you are playing it in the background, the ability to play/pause the reading is available to you in the notification shade.

The app is a free app and available in the Play Store.  If you have the app installed already, you can expect to see the update over the course of the next few days.  Pocket does offer an in-app purchase of $4.99 per month that gives you an ad-free version of the app, permanent libraries and improved searching.

If you haven’t tried the app, I highly recommend it.

 

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