Google Bolo reading tutor app launched in India

India is one of the biggest markets when it comes with smartphones and internet-powered services with millions of users and millions of potential users, especially from rural regions. With more and more rural India adopting smartphones, a lot of service providers are increasing efforts to reach them.

In a bid to penetrate into the rural Indian markets, Google has launched a new app named Google Bolo. It is an Android application that can help children with their reading skills. It offers speech-based reading-tutor service and is aimed at rural kids, who would otherwise not have access to a good education support system.

Google Bolo app also has in-app rewards, badges, and word games to entice users. There’s also a digital assistant called Diya that can read the text out loud for the children and even explain the meaning of the English text. The app can also be shared among many kids and provides a personalized experience to each user.

Google says that the Bolo app has been built with a focus on native Hindi speakers and will help children improve their Hindi and English reading skills by encouraging them to read aloud. The app, which relies on Google’s speech recognition and text-to-speech technology, comes with a large number of engaging stories to help improve their comprehension skills.

India is the first market where the company is launching Google Bolo app and is now available for download for free through Google Play Store and can work offline. The company says that the application is designed in such a way that children won’t need any help in using it and can use it all by themselves. Google also notes that all the reading material on the app is free and it is also working with other companies to bring more content.

Google Bolo app is still in beta and the company says that it will be working with partners like Kaivalya, Room to Read, Saajha, and Pratham to further refine it and take it to more children. It has carried out a controlled pilot for three months in 200 villages of Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district where found improvement in 64% primary grade students.

You can download Bolo app from the Google Play Store using this link.