Google’s New Rivet App Encourages Children to Read

With the increasing use of tablets, mobile phones, and laptops, children nowadays don’t have time to, or in some case, they don’t prefer to take time out for reading. As a result, most of the kids are struggling to read and pronounce certain words properly.

Google’s in-house incubator, Area 120, just released ‘Rivet’ a reading app for children. It has more than 2000 children friendly e-books. The application is still being worked on and the AI is still being trained but this is a step in the right direction.

How Does it Work?

The app can teach your child how to pronounce words and how to read properly. It can read words and complete pages while highlighting the words. Rivet also makes your child read, listens to it and gives feedback to help your child improve.

The app has a colorful interface with cute drawings and also has some built-in gaming features to help the child enjoy the process. The focus is on making it feel like a game rather than a studying session. The application is full of energizers, rewards, and games to keep the child focused. With every achievement, the child unlocks a surprise.

Privacy Concerns

There is definitely a privacy issue here since the child’s speech is being recorded. However, Google has assured that the speech recordings are strictly on-device. They are not being used for anything else other than improvement of the AI and parental consent is the most important for them.

Rivet is still working on a small scale and will be expanding in the near future. Currently, it is available in English in 11 countries. The application can also be used as a go-to reading app in schools in the near future.

You can download the app on both Android and iOS.