Chrome on android may soon make it easier to force reader mode for pages

Google is testing the ability to force reader mode in Chrome on Android for compatible pages by adding an option in the menu. Though this feature is intended for developers, we cannot write off the possibility of it being made available to users as well. Here’s more about it and why you might find it useful.

Soon, you can manually force Chrome to simplify pages using the new option currently under testing. Google is adding the “Reader Mode Dev Entry Point” flag for that. Once enabled, you will notice the “Show simplified view” option in the three-dot menu.

The flag description reads, “Shows a button in the app overflow menu to force reader mode,” and the option works right away after enabling the flag.

Google explicitly mentions this feature as “an always-on entry point meant for developer testing”. However, I see no issue in users using it and Google for potentially offering this to users in the stable version.

Reader mode, available as “Simplified View” for supported pages in Chrome on Android, like any other reading mode features, removes clutter, ads, and other navigational elements so that you can focus on reading.

Chrome uses DOM Distiller for Reader Mode to check if the page is suitable to be simplified, then renders the page if initiated by the user.

The feature is not enabled by default. You need to visit Menu > Settings > Accessibility and enable “Simplified view for web pages.” After that, whenever an article supports Simplified View, Chrome offers a “Simplify page” toast message at the top.

The “Simplified Page” feature does not have a on deamnd button. If, for some reason, Chrome decides not to display the toast message to access this feature, the user cannot enter Simplified View.

There has been significant demand from users to provide the option to force reader mode in Chrome for Android. Hopefully, Google is working in the right direction and may consider graduating it to a user-centric feature instead of a developer tool for testing.

What do you think of this development? How often have you used Reader Mode in Chrome or other browsers on Android? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.