In the initial version of Thorium Mobile, listening is strictly limited to synthesized speech on EPUB files.
Future versions of this application will also introduced support for audiobooks and pre-recorded audio in EPUB files.
Listening to an ebook
With Thorium Mobile, we want to make sure that you can switch between reading or listening at any times.
This feature is available while Reading but also from the Homepage or Bookshelf.
While reading an EPUB file:
- Tap on … in the upper right corner
- Select Listen
In the Homepage or Bookshelf, this is also available as an action on a publication. To access this list of actions:
- Tap and hold on the cover
- Tap on …
- Or use a left click if you’ve connected a trackpad or mouse to your device
Thorium Mobile will automatically remember your preference, which means that the next time that you open a publication (tap or click on the cover), it will either use the reading or listening mode based on what you used for your previous reading session.
Controls while listening
While listening, Thorium Mobile will default to the listening screen where the following elements are displayed:
- Cover
- Current chapter based on the table of contents
- Progression bar
- Playback controls
- Switch to reading mode (show text)
In our initial version of Thorium Mobile, listening mode is limited to just a few playback controls:
- Play/Pause
- Previous
- Next
Tapping on Previous or Next will jump to the previous or next sentence by default, but a long tap on either button will also show a dialog with additional options.
The full table of contents (as documented in Reading) is also available in this mode, tap on the the table of contents icon or the name of the current chapter to open it.
A progression bar will display your progression in the current chapter, tap and drag it if you’d like to quickly navigate within the current chapter.
To go back to the text, click on the icon showing an open book in the upper right corner.
Installing higher quality synthesized voices
iOS, iPadOS and macOS come preloaded with a good selection of synthesized voices, but most of them must be downloaded using System settings.
We highly recommend installing them since Thorium Mobile will automatically switch to higher quality voices.
- On iOS and iPadOS:
- Open your system settings and go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content > Voices or Settings > Accessibility > Read & Speak > Voices
- Select the language for which you’d like to install additional voices
- Tap on Voice
- This will display the full list of voices, where you can preview a voice (play button on the left) or download them (tap on the item)
- If you’d like to uninstall a given voice, swipe to the left to reveal a Delete button
- On macOS following the instructions provided by Apple for Installing additional voices on macOS