The narrator is a great accessibility feature on Android phones that reads out whatever is on the screen and relays it through the speakers. The feature is great for those with a disability. But you may have turned off the narrator by mistake.
Here’s how you can turn off the narrator on an Android phone.
• Using Google Assistant.
• Using your phone’s settings.
• Using your volume keys.
This article will cover exactly how you can turn off the narrator on an Android phone, alongside all the different methods.
Method #1: Using Google Assistant
Google Assistant is the quickest way to turn off your narrator. Once you issue a command, your phone inherently does the same function as it would if you were to do so manually using Settings.
To turn your narrator on an Android phone off using Google Assistant, here’s what you need to do.
- Open the Google Assistant using your power/Home button (depending on your phone) or say, “Hey, Google”.
- Say, “Turn off TalkBack”.
TalkBack is referred to as the Voice Assistant in some Android phones. However, this isn’t disabling Google Assistant. It only disables the narrator.
Method #2: Using Your Phone’s Settings
If you can’t open the Google Assistant or find the Settings application more convenient, here’s how you can use it to turn off the narrator on your Android phone.
- Open the Settings application.
- Scroll down to “Accessibility” and select “TalkBack”.
- You can now turn the feature on and off.
- Select “OK” and exit the application.
Method #3: Using the Volume Keys
If you’ve enabled your Volume key to be used for the narrator, you can also use it to turn it off when needed. If you haven’t, here’s how you can enable your narrator to be used with your volume keys.
- Open the Settings application.
- Head to “Accessibility”.
- Select the shortcut, in this case, the “TalkBack” shortcut.
- Select your volume keys to be used with the shortcut.
- Select “Save”.
Now that you have the shortcut up and running, here is how you can disable it in its entirety by using the volume key and turning the narrator off on your Android phone.
- Hold both volume keys for three seconds.
- Hold the volume for three seconds again.
- If you have the narrator turned on, it’ll turn off. If you don’t, it’ll turn back on again.
How To Disable the Narrator for Speaking Passwords
By default, the narrator will also repeat characters from a password to you. To change that, you must head to your phone’s Settings, tap on “TalkBack”, and disable “Speak Passwords”. Do note, though, your phone will still speak passwords when connected to headphones.
Sometimes, your auxiliary port connection (to your car, for instance) can be misconstrued as headphones. In those cases, your phone may start blurting out your password even though it wasn’t supposed to. So, ensure that you aren’t connected to a Bluetooth device that isn’t recognized as a headphone.
Conclusion
Turning off the narrator on an Android phone is quite a simple process. In most cases, you might have enabled it accidentally, especially if you’ve enabled the volume shortcuts. However, suppose you do have a disability. In that case, we recommend setting up a Volume shortcut so you can immediately disable or enable the narrator, depending on your situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your phone is narrating everything you do because you’ve turned on the narrator/TalkBack feature in the setup process. To fix it, you can head to “Settings” > “Accessibility” and disable “TalkBack”.
You have enabled the TalkBack feature on Android if your phone is speaking to you. To remedy that, you’ll need to turn off the narrator by heading to Settings, selecting “Accessibility”, and then disabling “TalkBack”, which is also referred to as “Voice Assistant” in some cases. After that, your phone won’t speak to you.
Use your volume keys to change your narrator’s volume on an Android phone. If you are at maximum volume, the narrator will be quite loud. Depending on your Android phone, you may be able to silence your narrator too. However, recent Android updates have led to the narrator retaining a low volume level, even if your media volume is very low.
