Speaker activities
The three "Speaker" tiles are Verbie's hands-free, spoken-practice mode. Instead of questions and answers, Dutch plays aloud on a loop with a pause after each item so the customer can repeat it out loud. They are designed to be used while walking, commuting or doing something else — hence Sneaker Speaker.
| Tile | Plays | Screen |
|---|---|---|
| Sneaker Speaker | Full Dutch sentences drawn from the whole question library | Dark screen, sentence in large white text |
| Vocabulary Speaker | Single Dutch words with their English meaning and part of speech | Dark screen, word in very large text |
| Bookmark Speaker | Only the items the customer has bookmarked | Same screen as Vocabulary Speaker |
Sneaker Speaker and Vocabulary Speaker draw only on the customer's selected Practice Levels; Bookmark Speaker plays everything they have bookmarked regardless of level. All three are untimed and continuous, and are left with the ✕ button. None of them awards XP or counts towards the daily streak.
The loop
- The Dutch is displayed and played aloud.
- A countdown appears — the gap before the next item.
- The next item plays, and so on, until the customer stops.
The gap length is set in Settings → Speaker Quizzes → Time Between Items, from 1 to 10 seconds (default 3). Customers repeating whole sentences aloud usually want 5–8 seconds.
Controls
Sneaker Speaker
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Pause / Resume | Freezes the loop and its countdown |
| Repeat | Plays the current sentence again |
| Translate | Fetches and shows the English translation under the sentence |
| Record | Records the customer saying the sentence (see below) |
| Me | Replays their last recording, as often as they like |
| Bookmark (top right) | Saves the sentence to Bookmarks |
| Swipe left / right | Next / previous sentence |
| Double-tap the sentence | Opens Report Problem — see 15 |
Each sentence also shows a coloured level badge (A1 green through C2 purple) and the grammar category it came from.
Vocabulary Speaker and Bookmark Speaker
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Pause / Resume | Freezes the loop |
| Native | Plays the Dutch word again |
| Record | Records the customer saying it |
| Me | Replays their recording |
| Bookmark (top right) | Saves the word — not shown in Bookmark Speaker, where every item is already saved |
| Swipe left / right | Next / previous word |
| Double-tap the word | Opens Report Problem |
The status line reads "Listen, then repeat it aloud" between items, and "Next word in 3" during the gap.
Recording your own voice
Recording is the point of these activities: the customer hears native Dutch, says it themselves, and hears both back. Verbie never scores or grades pronunciation — it is a mirror, not a judge. Be explicit about this, as customers sometimes expect a score.
The sequence:
- Tap Record. A short high beep marks the start.
- Speak. Recording lasts up to 5 seconds and stops automatically; Stop ends it sooner.
- A lower beep marks the end.
- The recording plays back immediately.
- The loop resumes. Me replays the recording any time until the next one is made.
Only the most recent recording is kept — each new recording replaces the last. Recordings are stored in temporary storage on the device and are never uploaded.
Microphone permission is requested the first time. If it was declined, recording will not work; the customer must enable it in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → Verbie (or iOS Settings → Verbie).
Automatic Speaker Mode
Settings → Speaker Quizzes → Automatic Speaker Mode
With this on, Verbie records the customer after every prompt automatically — no need to reach for the Record button — plays their attempt back, and only then moves on. This is the setting to recommend for genuinely hands-free practice on a walk.
With it off (the default), recording only happens when Record is tapped.
Using them with an Apple Watch
While a Speaker activity is running on the iPhone, the Apple Watch app mirrors it and can drive the controls from the wrist. See 12 – Apple Watch.
Bookmark Speaker specifics
Bookmark Speaker builds its list from everything in the Bookmarks tab — bookmarked verbs, adjectives, sentences, phrases and words. If nothing has been bookmarked, starting it shows:
Bookmark some quiz items before starting Bookmark Speaker.
This is the highest-value activity to point customers at, because it drills exactly the material they marked as difficult.
Common questions
"There is no sound." Check the ringer/silent switch and volume, then check the connection — each clip is downloaded the first time it is played. See 11 – Audio, voices and storage.
"It stops when I lock my phone." Verbie keeps the audio session alive between items so the loop continues in the background, but iOS can still suspend the app under memory pressure or when another app takes over audio. Leaving the screen on, or keeping the app in the foreground, is the reliable configuration.
"The gap is too short to repeat the sentence." Raise Time Between Items to 6–8 seconds, or use Pause.
"It keeps repeating the same sentences." Sentences are shuffled once at the start of the session; a narrow set of Practice Levels means a small pool. Turning on more levels widens it, and exiting and restarting reshuffles.
"I want it to tell me if my pronunciation is right." Not a feature — Verbie plays native audio and the customer's own recording for comparison. Worth logging as a feature request.