Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR Spotify is working on a new feature called Page Match that will let you seamlessly jump between audiobooks and physical books.
When you scan a page in a physical book with your phone’s camera, Spotify will take you to that exact spot in the audiobook.
The feature works both ways and also allows transitioning from an audiobook to its physical copy.
It looks like Spotify is prepping a genuinely clever feature that meets bibliophiles and audiobook fans in the middle. It’s something Amazon has already done with ebooks and audiobooks, but Spotify is taking it a step further by not leaving lovers of physical books behind.
While digging through the Spotify app version 9.1.18.282, we discovered code references to a new feature called Page Match. It’s essentially a tool that will allow users to seamlessly jump between a physical book (or an ebook) and its audiobook version on Spotify.
How will Page Match work?
Spotify
The idea is simple. You open Spotify, scan a page in a physical book using your phone’s camera, and Spotify will take you to that exact spot in the audiobook. The feature uses optical character recognition (OCR) to read the text, identify the passage, and match it to the correct timestamp in the audiobook.
Spotify’s own onboarding strings describe Page Match as a beta feature that lets you “match your progress from the book page to the audiobook — and back again.” This is where things get even more interesting.
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