PhonicsPal is an English reading and phonics practice app for children, parents, and teachers. It helps learners listen to speech sounds, blend sounds into words, read text aloud, and explore new vocabulary.

• Practice short and long vowels, consonants, blends, digraphs, r-controlled vowels, and diphthongs.
• Read typed text or uploaded PDF, TXT, and EPUB books aloud, with word highlighting and dictionary lookup.
• Save useful words, review them in a vocabulary list, and play a short word quiz.
• Add your own phonics cards for sounds or words you want to practice.

Short listening, repetition, and word practice can help children connect written letters with spoken sounds and build reading confidence alongside an adult or on their own.

Version: 0.1.0

1. Choose Phonics to practice sounds, or open My Books to add a PDF, TXT, or EPUB. You can also paste text in Read With Me.
2. In Read With Me, click in the text box and place the cursor where you want to begin.
3. Choose Read From Here. Reading starts at the cursor and continues through the remaining text.
4. Use the reading toggle to pause, then choose it again to resume. Choose Stop to end and reset the current reading session.
5. Choose a voice in the header. Browser voice works without downloading a model; a Natural Voice is downloaded only after you choose Download & Activate Voice.
6. Open Help any time to review these steps or restart the welcome tour.

Read From Here reads the text box from its current cursor position. To choose a new starting point after reading begins, choose Edit text, place the cursor, then choose Read From Here again.

Read It to Me starts the currently open book page. The Pause button changes to Resume when paused; it holds the current speech position and continues there when tapped again. Stop ends speech and goes back to the start of the current page. Clear Text closes the current reading content. Use Slow, Normal, or Fast to change the reading speed.

While reading, the current word is highlighted. Select a highlighted or other word in the reading view to open its dictionary entry; reading pauses, and Resume continues from the word where it stopped. Double-tap a word to make it the new starting point.

• Browser voice: uses a voice provided by your browser or device. It is available without installing a Natural Voice.
• Natural Voices: Kokoro and Piper are listed when the browser and secure hosting support them. Select an engine and voice. Choose Preview voice to hear a sample; if its model is missing, PhonicsPal asks before downloading it. Choose Download & Activate Voice to download and activate it for regular reading. Downloads can be large and always require your explicit action.
• Preview voice: plays a short sample using the active voice. For a Natural Voice that is not downloaded yet, PhonicsPal asks before downloading the model for the sample. Previewing does not switch your regular reading voice; choose Download & Activate Voice separately to activate it.
• Saving space: choose 🗑 Manage voices in the header to see downloaded Natural Voices and delete the ones you don't need.
• The header status tells you whether the browser voice is active, a voice is downloading, or a Natural Voice is ready. If a Natural Voice is unavailable, reading falls back to the browser voice.

Natural Voices need a secure web page such as HTTPS or localhost. Opening the app directly as a file:// page limits voice options.

PhonicsPal currently focuses on English text, English phonics, and English dictionary lookup. It does not currently include language selection or a translate button, so it cannot translate text yet. Online dictionary lookup needs an internet connection; browser and downloaded Natural Voices can read supported English text aloud.

Navigation and home

• Home: returns to the home screen; use it to see the learning shortcuts and word of the day.
• Start Learning: opens Phonics so you can begin sound practice.
• Phonics, Read With Me, My Books, My Vocabulary: open the named activity; use these top-navigation buttons or the matching home shortcut.
• ? Help: opens this guide. Choose Take the welcome tour to go through the first-use steps again.

Voice controls

• Voice engine: chooses Browser voice, Kokoro, or Piper when available. Selecting a Natural Voice engine does not download it.
• Voice: chooses a speaker in the selected engine. Use it before downloading or activating that Natural Voice.
• Preview voice: plays a short sample of the selected voice. If its Natural Voice model is not downloaded, PhonicsPal asks before downloading it. After the sample, the current reading voice stays selected; choose Download & Activate Voice separately to switch.
• Download & Activate Voice / Activate Saved Voice: explicitly loads the selected Natural Voice, shows download progress, and activates it for reading. If loading fails, Browser voice remains available. Each Piper speaker is a separate download; Kokoro downloads once for all its speakers.
• Manage voices (🗑): lists the Natural Voices saved on this device with their sizes. Choose Delete to free up space. Deleting the voice in use switches reading to the Browser voice; you can download any voice again later.

Phonics

• Topic groups (Short Vowels, Phonemic Awareness, Letter-Sound Correspondence, Basic Word Patterns, Consonants, Vowels, Advanced Phonics, Reading Application): the big buttons at the top. Each shows a suggested age and how many of its games have been won.
• Topic tabs: choose a topic inside the group. A topic that belongs to two groups (for example Short Vowels) is the same page, with the same stars, in both.
• ℹ️ For grown-ups: what the topic is, why it matters, how to teach it, a game to play at home and what to watch out for. Choose 🔊 Read it to me to listen instead of reading (the part being read is highlighted), tap 🔊 next to a heading to hear just that part, or tick Always read guides aloud so every guide starts reading as it opens.
• 🎮 Play the game: a five-round game for the topic. Every first-try answer earns a star; winning a game earns that topic's sticker (shown under My stickers).
• Sound or word card, word chip or group header (🔊): plays the sound and its words; tap a group header to hear every word in it.
• Read sentence aloud (🔊): reads a practice sentence. Tap a single word in a sentence or story to hear just that word.
• Blend / Listen: plays the sounds in order, then the completed word, then shows its picture. In Blending Phonemes the letters stay hidden until the end.
• Say it slowly: drops each sound into its sound box.
• Clap cards, sound swaps, onset and rime cards, word builders: tap the card to hear its parts, then the whole word.
• Word Families: choose a family (-at, -an…), then tap a first letter to make a new word. Say the whole family reads them all.
• Silent E: Add magic e turns kit into kite; Hear both compares the two words.
• Dictation: tap a card to hear a word, spell it, then tap Check.
• Fluency Practice: Read it to me, Echo read (a sentence, then your turn), and Time my reading, which keeps your best time for each passage.
• Add Custom Blend: opens the form for a personal practice card. Choose a category, enter a blend or a word, and add an example when requested.
• Save Card: checks and saves the custom card, then shows it in the selected group.
• Close: closes the custom-card form without saving.
• Remove custom card (✕): deletes that personal card from the selected group.

Read With Me and dictionary

• Text to read: type or paste up to 10,000 words. Place the cursor before choosing Read From Here.
• Read From Here: begins at the text cursor and reads onward.
• Pause / Resume toggle: one button pauses at the current position and changes to Resume; tap it again to continue. Stop ends speech and resets the active session.
• Clear Text: clears the current text and closes the open book reading view.
• Edit text: returns to the text box so you can change the text or choose another cursor position.
• Slow / Normal / Fast: selects the speech speed.
• Back / Next: moves between pages of a multi-page book and stops the current reading session.
• Select a word: opens its dictionary entry and pauses reading. Double-tap a word to start reading from it. Hear the word (🔊) plays the word aloud.
• Try again: retries an online lookup that failed or could not reach the dictionary.
• Save Word: adds the displayed word to My Vocabulary. The button changes to Saved afterward.

My Books

• Choose a book to upload: opens the file picker for PDF, TXT, or EPUB files up to 35 MB. The status line reports reading, progress, success, or a problem.
• Browse Project Gutenberg: opens its website in a new tab to find public-domain reading material.
• Open & Read Aloud: opens the selected saved book and its reader controls.
• Delete: removes the selected book from this browser’s local library.

My Vocabulary

• All Words / Saved by Me / Starter List: filter the vocabulary cards by that group.
• Practice: starts a short meaning-to-word quiz. Choose an answer button; feedback tells you whether to try again or continue.
• Hear [word] (🔊): plays that word aloud.
• Remove: removes a saved word from My Vocabulary.
• Next word: starts another quiz question.

Welcome tour

• Continue / Finish: moves to the next welcome step or closes the tour after its final step.
• Read aloud / Mute: reads each tour step aloud, or stops reading. When the tour is started from this Help page it is read aloud automatically.
• Skip tour: dismisses the tour. You can also press Escape to close it, then open it again from this Help page.

• No voice: choose Browser voice in the header, check that your device volume is on, and try clicking a sound again. Some browsers require a user tap before audio can play.
• Natural Voice unavailable: use Browser voice, check your internet connection, then select the Natural Voice and choose Download & Activate Voice again.
• Reading does not start: add text first and check that it is not empty. If the cursor is at the very end, reading starts from the top. For a book, choose Open & Read Aloud.
• Reading stops when the phone screen turns off: phone browsers usually hold the Browser voice while the screen is off. Choose a Natural Voice at the top; it plays as audio, keeps reading with the screen off, and can be paused or resumed from the lock screen. Leaving Phonics stops any phonics sound that is still playing.
• Book does not open: use a readable PDF, TXT, or EPUB under 35 MB. Scanned, protected, or image-only PDFs may not contain extractable text.
• Translation: translation is not available in this version.

PhonicsPal version 0.1.0. Project copyright: Sanjay Y M and Ashok Kumar S.

Voice and file features use Kokoro/Kokoro-JS, Piper, PDF.js, and JSZip. English word lookup can use Free Dictionary, Wiktionary, and Datamuse services. Project Gutenberg is linked as a source for public-domain books. Third-party services and libraries keep their own terms and licenses.