Reading time and idle pauses

How idle time can be excluded from reading time while you keep the reader open.

What counts as reading

Reading time is not simply wall-clock time with the reader tab open. The system tracks active engagement signals to distinguish genuine reading from idle time:

  • Scrolling or tapping within the reader resets an activity timer
  • Audio playback advancing through sentence cues counts as active
  • Long periods without interaction — the reader open but untouched — may be discounted

The exact idle threshold is set to be generous enough that brief pauses to think do not get cut, but conservative enough that leaving the reader open overnight does not inflate your stats.

A note on accuracy: Both reading and listening times are best-effort estimates. There is no perfectly reliable way to determine whether you are actively studying at any given moment — some active reading will be missed, and some idle time may slip through. Treat these numbers as useful guides rather than precise measurements.

Why idle detection exists

Without idle detection, reading time would be meaningless. A tab left open in the background would accumulate hours of fake study time, distorting any metric derived from it. The idle detection system is designed to make reading time a reliable signal of actual study effort.

Practical guidance

If you pause frequently to look up words or think about a sentence, expect reading time to be a conservative estimate rather than a stopwatch of tab focus. The dropped idle segments are usually short, but they add up over a long session.

If you want the most accurate reading time possible:

  • Close the reader when you step away, even briefly
  • Use sentence mode for audio-driven sessions where engagement signals are more frequent
  • Check the words-read chart alongside reading time — if words read is climbing normally but reading time seems low, the idle detector may be more aggressive than expected for your reading style

How it differs from listening time

When you study with audio (from narration, YouTube, or text-to-speech), listening time may be tracked separately. Listening time uses its own engagement signals — primarily audio progression rather than scrolling or tapping. The two metrics are designed to be complementary:

  • Reading time reflects active visual reading
  • Listening time reflects audio-driven study sessions

Both are shown in the stats dashboard when available.