How to use Spotify’s Page Match feature while reading
If you’re like me and tend to read physical books while listening to the audiobook, dismayed by the inconveniences of time spent away from your current narrative, insisting that this storyline pass through your consciousness 24/7, there’s a new Spotify feature for you. (I’m doing well.)
Launched on February 5, Spotify’s new Page Match feature takes inspiration from Audible’s play/listen sync, allowing you to seamlessly switch between audio and physical format. The feature was announced as part of Spotify’s major push into physical book sales, with the audio streamer partnering with online book marketplace Bookshop.org to sell titles directly through the platform.
Spotify goes beyond audiobooks to offer physical books
The anticipated feature follows Spotify’s Audiobook Recaps feature, launching in November 2025, which lets you listen to short audio summaries of the story so far.
But what is Page Match and how does it work?
What is page matching?
As Mashable Culture Editor Crystal Bell writes, Page Match is a “technically ambitious” Spotify mobile app feature that merges your physical books, audiobooks, and ebooks and lets you continue where you left off reading. Essentially, it’s like a bookmark across time and space.
Crushable speed of light
“Built using computer vision and text matching – not AI, [Owen Smith, Spotify’s global head of audiobooks] “This feature allows readers to scan a page in the Spotify app to instantly jump to the corresponding moment in the audiobook, then scan again later to find their place on the page,” Bell writes.
So far, Page Match is only available in English and will be available for most titles by the end of February.
Is Spotify Match Page free?
Page Match is available to all Spotify users, free and paid, but there are some differences – and remember, these prices are increasing.
The feature only works for free users who have purchased an audiobook through Spotify. Spotify Premium users can use Page Match for any book with the monthly allocation of audiobook hours that comes with the subscription, just like users who paid for the additional Audiobook+ plan.
Now here’s how to use this feature, whether you’re switching from a book to an audiobook or vice versa.
How to Use Spotify Page Match (Book to Audiobook)
-
Spotify iOS or Android app on mobile
Step 1: Open Spotify on your smartphone.
Step 2: Find your book in the audiobook section.
Step 3: Tap “Scan to Listen” and allow access to the camera with the pop-up window.
Step 4: Take a photo of the page you are currently reading.
Step 5: Wait for Spotify to match the page to the audiobook time, then tap “Play from here” or “Save for later”.
If Spotify can’t find the page, the app will ask you to try again.
How to Use Spotify Page Match (Audiobook to Book)
-
Spotify iOS or Android app on mobile
Step 1: Open Spotify on your smartphone.
Step 2: Navigate to your audiobook in Search or Your Library.
Step 3: Tap the “Page Match” button.
Step 4: Tap “Scan to Read” and allow access to the camera with the pop-up window.
Step 5: Take a photo of any page in your physical book or e-reader.
Step 6: Wait for Spotify to process, after which it should tell you where in the book you stopped listening.
If you don’t see Page Match buttons on your Spotify app yet, don’t worry. The feature only launched on Thursday February 5 and is rolling out globally, so it should be showing up on your phone soon – make sure you’ve at least updated the Spotify app.
