What you need to know
- You can now listen to web pages while doing other things, thanks to background playback support in Chrome 130 on Android.
- Before this update, audio would stop if you switched apps or locked your screen, but that’s no longer an issue.
- The audio now keeps playing even if you turn off your screen or switch to another app, and a media player pops up in your notifications with play/pause and skip options .
Google recently made Chrome for Android even better on the accessibility front. Now, you can listen to web pages while doing other things, thanks to a nifty upgrade for the “Listen to this page” feature.
This update, which was first announced last month as part of the September Android Feature Drop, makes the fan-favorite browser more user-friendly and accessible. As spotted by 9to5Google, Chrome 130 is now bringing background playback support for the “Listen to this page” feature to Android users.
The background playback feature first popped up in June after a low-key rollout, and it was kept under wraps as an experimental flag. Before this update, Chrome for Android would only read web pages aloud when the app was open. You could switch tabs, but if you left the browser or locked your screen, the audio would stop if Chrome wasn’t in the foreground.
The latest update finally tackles this issue. Now, the browser will keep playing audio even if you turn off your screen or switch to another app. When you do switch, the article will show up as a media player in your notification panel, complete with easy play/pause and 10-second skip/rewind buttons.
On top of that, the media player in your notifications will highlight the article’s headline and website. If you want to tweak the playback speed or change the voice, you’ll have to hop into the playback widget within Chrome itself.
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As always, you can adjust the audio speed to fit your vibe. There’s a bunch of voice options to pick from, too. Plus, you can set Chrome to highlight the text as it reads and scroll through the content, so it’s easy to keep up.
Just like the name implies, Listen to this page uses text-to-speech to read articles and web pages out loud in Chrome. When you turn it on, a handy mini-player shows up at the bottom of the screen for easy access.
You can quickly access the feature from Chrome’s three-dot menu. If you use it a lot, you can add a handy shortcut right by the address bar. Just head to the Toolbar shortcut settings in Chrome and choose “Listen to this page.”