Listen to a deck hands-free with Podcast Mode

Podcast Mode plays a deck out loud. For each card it says the word, leaves a few seconds of silence for you to recall the answer, then says the answer. It's made for listening while you walk or drive, without looking at the screen.

What you need

• The Vocards app on an iPhone or an Android phone. Podcast Mode isn't on the web app or in the Chrome extension.
• A deck with cards that have both sides filled in. Cards without a back, and cards you hid with Don't show again, are left out.
• Audio in both of the deck's languages. Podcast Mode speaks both sides, so it doesn't work for a deck where either language is Persian or Uzbek, which have no voice.
• An internet connection to open Podcast Mode. The deck's buttons, including the one that opens it, are hidden while the app is offline.

1. Open Podcast Mode from a deck

1. Open the deck you want to hear.
2. In the row of buttons at the top, tap the headphones button. Screen readers announce it as Listen.

If the headphones icon is grayed out, one of the deck's languages has no audio. Tapping it shows Audio isn't available for this language yet .

The Podcast Mode screen opens on a dark background, with the deck's name at the top. It shows Preparing… while it loads the first card. It doesn't start playing by itself.

The first time, a line under Hands-free listening says New here? Tap above to see how it works. Tap Hands-free listening to open How Podcast Mode works. It explains the mode and ends with Eyes on the road: you don't need to look at or touch the screen while it plays.

2. Choose what you hear

Tap the gear in the top-right corner to open Podcast settings.

• Speak first: pick Front side to hear the word in the language you're learning first, or Back side to hear the translation first and recall the word. The default is Front side.
• Recall gap: the silence between the question and the answer. Choose 2, 3 or 5 seconds. The default is 3.
• Examples: after the answer, play the card's first example sentence. Learning plays the sentence in the language you're learning, Native plays its translation, Both plays both and Off plays none. The default is Learning. Examples need a connection the first time they play. The sheet's note says examples play online only, but one that Podcast Mode has already played is kept and replays offline.
• Repeat the term: say the word in the language you're learning once more at the end of each card. Off by default.
• Shuffle: play the cards in a random order. Off by default, so the deck plays newest card first.

Between cards there's a pause of about a second. You can't change it.

These settings stay on this phone. They aren't shared with your other devices.

Note: Changing a setting reloads the deck, so it starts again from the first card.

To slow the voice down or speed it up, go to the Settings tab. Under Learning, drag the Playback speed slider anywhere from 0.5x to 1.5x. When you let go, a short sample plays at the new speed. Podcast Mode uses the same speed as the rest of the app.

3. Play the deck

Tap the large green play button in the middle. Each card plays in this order:

1. The question side.
2. The recall gap, in silence.
3. The answer side.
4. The example sentence, if you turned examples on and the card has one.
5. The word again, if Repeat the term is on.

The screen shows "CARD 1 OF 20" , the side it asks first in large type, the other side under it, and moving bars while audio plays. The answer stays on screen during the pause, so look away if you want to test yourself.

• Tap the same button to pause and again to carry on.
• The buttons on either side skip to the start of the Previous card or the Next card.
• Under the buttons, the screen reminds you that listening won't change your card schedule.

Podcast Mode is set up to keep playing when you lock the phone or switch to another app, on iPhone and on Android. It loads the rest of the deck while the app is open, so on a slow connection keep the app open for a while after you press Play, or download the deck first (step 4).

To leave, tap ✕ in the top-left corner. Screen readers announce it as Exit.

4. Download the deck for offline listening

Podcast Mode fetches each card's audio from the internet while the app is open. If you'll lose the connection on the way, download the deck's audio first. You still need to be online to open Podcast Mode. Once it's open, a downloaded deck plays without a connection.

1. On the deck page, scroll down to Audio for offline use. It has one row for the language you're learning and one for the language you know.
2. Tap Download on both rows. Podcast Mode needs both.

Each row shows its progress, with Pause and Cancel while it runs. When a row finishes, it reads Audio downloaded, and a message says Audio downloaded for offline use. Remove on that row deletes the downloaded audio.

Downloads only work while you're online. If you add cards later, the row offers to download the remaining ones. Word audio that Podcast Mode has already played is kept on the phone as well, and the rows count it.

Note: Example sentences aren't part of the download. Offline, Podcast Mode skips any example it hasn't played for you before.

To see how much space downloaded audio takes, open the Settings tab and look under App for Downloaded audio. Tap Remove there and confirm to delete all of it at once.

What you'll see

At the end of the deck, the screen shows Done listening with how many cards you heard, and a voice says the deck has ended. Listen again starts again from the first card.

Listening doesn't change when your cards come back for review. To move words up a level, study them in a session: see Your first learning session.

Limits

• Podcast Mode plays every card in the deck, whether it's due for review or not.
• Only the first example sentence of a card is played.
• Playback speed goes from half speed (0.5x) to one and a half times normal (1.5x).

If something goes wrong