Google Play Books just made jumping back into a book even easier

Have you ever read a book and had trouble remembering a character? Or maybe you’re jumping back in after a few weeks away, and you just need a refresher on what’s happened so far. Google Play Books & Audiobooks is getting a new tool to give you the answers you need without leaving the page.

If you follow our coverage closely, you may remember that we discovered a work-in-progress feature for the Google Play Books & Audiobooks app back in December. Hiding within the code was a hint about an Ask Gemini button for reader insights. While we couldn’t get the tool to work at the time, it is now rolling out as a feature called “Book Insights.”

Google has announced that it will start rolling out Book Insights to the app starting today. The feature is designed to be a reading companion, providing recaps and answering questions. When you zoom out of a page, you should see a new light bulb icon in the top right corner of the screen. Tapping this icon will take you to the Book Insights page.

On this page, there’s a “Catch me up” button that generates a quick summary of what you’ve read so far. You can also highlight a passage to ask questions and dive deeper into themes, context, or characters. The aim of this tool is to make returning to a book and understanding its concepts more convenient than searching for them outside the app.

As mentioned earlier, Book Insights is rolling out to the Google Play Books & Audiobooks app starting today. It will be available for select English titles, including thousands that are available for free. Google did not say if or when the tool will expand to non-English books.