iOS + iPadOS: Spoken content not continuing to next page, instead goes in circles

foss-
edited June 30, 2025
iOS / iPadOS 18.5
Zotero 1.0.51 (360)

Reproduce:

1. open PDF on an iPhone or iPad, open Spoken Content (default gesture two finger swipe down, setting is in Accessibility > Spoken Content > Speak Screen)
2. Spoken content controls show, audio reading starts and current position is highlighted

Currently:
When end of page is reached, the reading continued but instead of turning the page and continue reading on the next page, reading begins from the top of the page and is going in circles endlessly.

Expected:
Move to next page and continue reading

Additional info: Was unable to reproduce with an epub file.
  • foss-
    edited June 30, 2025
    This is important functionality but it is not allowed for users to create issues. Unsure how to proceed.
  • foss-
    edited June 30, 2025
    Is there anything I can do to move this forward or get the issue recognized?

    On Android I can't get the OS to read the text of a PDF opened in Zotero at all.
  • michalrentka
    This is an OS feature that we can't control, so if you want to use it you have to move the page manually so that the OS "sees" the new page and can read that. We're working on custom speech feature (https://github.com/zotero/zotero-ios/pull/1131). Development is in progress, no release date is assigned.
  • foss-
    Thanks for the reply Michal. That is fantastic news and thanks for working on this feature.

    Why I brought this up in the first place was, that with Apples own Books app page turning does indeed work. But it could be they are abusing their privileged situation and use some dark magic unavailable to third party developers.

    GoodReader says "no speakable content found" so completely broken.

    PDF Viewer works with default TTS reader but has the same problem as Zotero in that it goes in circles on a single page. It is slightly amazing that there isn't an API for TTS for apps to allow for page turning functionality. I guess I was expecting too much from Apple.

    Looking forward to testing your work in TestFlight hopefully this year.
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