Can I study without looking at my screen?
Turn on Hands-Free Mode in the session setup and study by audio and voice alone, while walking, driving or doing chores.
Can’t look at your screen? Switch Show Hands-Free Mode on in Settings – Study, and the option appears in your session setup.
Vokabulo reads the card out, waits, then speaks the answer, and you reply out loud: say "Yes" if you knew it, "No" if you didn’t. The first run asks for microphone and speech recognition permission. Perfect for reviewing vocabulary while driving (be careful!), walking, or doing chores.
The question is read twice with a short gap, then Vokabulo waits for the Pause before answer you set in Settings – Study, then speaks the answer and listens. If it hears nothing for about ten seconds it asks once more and waits up to a minute, twice.
If it still hears nothing, the card is filed as Not yet, which drops the word two levels, so it is worth stopping the session rather than letting it run on in a noisy place.
Which language you answer in
By default Vokabulo listens in your native language, so say yes or no in that. A Voice commands setting appears in Settings – Study when your app language, your native language and the language you are learning are not all the same. It lets you choose which of them your yes and no are recognised in.
Where the sound goes
A small square at the top right of the card shows the output you are on, with the icon changing to match: earphones, car, speaker. Tap it to pick another. The microphone follows the speaker you choose, which is what stops the app talking through the phone while still listening through earphones you took out.
What you see
The screen does not go blank. The card is drawn and turns over by itself, and underneath it a large microphone with the line Did you know it? Say "Yes" or "No". The microphone is a faint outline while Vokabulo is still talking. It fills in and turns orange the moment it is actually listening, so you can see when it is your turn.
Two large buttons at the bottom pause or stop the session. Stop is the only way out, because the usual back arrow is hidden here. The toggle also switches itself back off if you decline the microphone or speech recognition permission.
Study
- How does Vokabulo decide what I study?
- Why is there no score to win?
- How do the levels work?
- How do I start a study session?
- Can I study only certain words?
- How do the swipes work?
- Can I pause a session or fix a card in the middle of it?
- What does the screen at the end of a session show?
- I tapped the speaker and heard nothing. What now?
- Can I change what the flashcard shows?
- Can Vokabulo remind me to study?
- How does the streak work?
- What do I have to do to keep my streak alive?
- Why did my streak reset?
- Which languages count toward my streak?
- Can I take weekends or a holiday off?
- How do I start over from scratch?