Google Chrome for Android may soon get in-built 'Read Aloud' functionality

It seems that Google has a new feature almost ready for its Chrome browser: in-built ‘Read Aloud’. This new option will enhance accessibility and could be very useful in multiple situations.

The ‘Read Aloud’ feature has been under testing in Google Chrome Canary for months, but it has not yet been implemented in the stable version because its operation is not yet reliable enough.

According to Leopeva64 on X/Twitter, the in-built option is available in Google Chrome on both Android and desktop versions. Also, the mobile app could exclusively get a ‘Translate’ feature, which is curious.

The first implementation of the feature in Chrome for Android occurred in mid-July, while the desktop version received it at the end of August. However, a post from mid-November indicated that it was still not working correctly.

That said, it seems that its final rollout is getting closer, since a report (by GApps Flags & Leaks on Telegram) indicates that the latest Google Chrome Canary update finally includes a working version of the functionality.

The source adds that the feature is independent of the Google app, and that it has a ‘nice UI’ that looks easy to use. To use it, people just have to tap on ‘Listen to this page’ from the browser’s three-dot menu.

Once it is available, you can choose the type of accent you want to hear from a nice variety. Also, you can control the speed of voice playback.

For now, the ‘Read Aloud’ feature is present just in the Google Chrome Canary version, and is only accessible by enabling the ‘chrome://flags/#read-aloud’ flag, so it may take a few more weeks to reach everyone. But the fact that it is already functional indicates that the final rollout is getting closer.