How to set up android to read your texts aloud

Conveniently send and receive texts using only your voice

Scott Orgera is a former Lifewire writer covering tech since 2007. He has 25+ years’ experience as a programmer and QA leader, and holds several Microsoft certifications including MCSE, MCP+I, and MOUS. He is also A+ certified.

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Give your eyes a rest and allow your Android device to read your texts to you. This feature (as well as sending texts using your voice) is available through Google and the free apps that you can download from Google Play. Here are the ways you can make your Android read text messages.

The information below should apply to all Android phones and mobile devices.

Enable Google Voice Match

Google is installed by default on Android devices. It provides basic voice texting functionality without additional software. If you have Android 4.4 or above and the Voice Match setting activated, you’re good to go. Here’s how to enable the setting:

Open the Google app. In the lower-right corner, select More.

In the menu, select Settings.

Select Voice > Voice Match.

Turn on the Access with Voice Match toggle switch (it should be blue).

Tell Google What to Do

Now you can issue commands to Google. First, speak the wake phrase, OK Google or Hey Google, to alert it. Alternatively, select the microphone icon in the Google app or the search bar on the home screen.

Next, speak a command. Here are some examples of texting commands Google responds to and what to expect when you issue the command:

• Show me my last messages. Google announces the sender of the previous five messages. Then, it asks if you want each message to be read or skipped. Those you approve are read aloud. After each message is read, you have the option to send a reply using your voice.
• Send a text. Google prompts you for the name of the person you want to send the text to and the message content.
• Do I have any messages? Google informs you of new text messages.
• Show me my last message. Google displays the most recent conversation.

Download Google Assistant

Another way to use Google voice commands is through the Google Assistant app. You can download it for free on Google Play. After you install the app, open the app, then speak the commands described above.

Use Third-Party Apps

Several third-party apps support voice texting. Here are three popular options:

It’s not always convenient or possible to glance at your smartphone’s screen as you normally would, but with a few tweaks to your phone’s settings, you can get the most important information without having to look down at the display. Here’s how to get your phone to read the info you need aloud to you through the speaker or your headphones.

Android

Google Assistant isn’t all that capable at reading stuff to you beyond driving directions and answers to trivia questions, but it can easily handle incoming SMS messages. Make sure hands-free access is enabled (Apps and notifications, Assistant, then Say “Hey Google” in Settings), then say, “Read out my text messages,” to hear them read out loud.

Unfortunately, this only works for new messages that come in and haven’t been read yet (maybe while you’ve been driving), though you get the option to reply, too. The Assistant used to be able to read out older texts, but that functionality is no longer available for some strange reason. To get anything else read out, you can use the text-to-speech engine built into the mobile OS.

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From Settings, tap Accessibility then Text-to-speech output and configure your options for reading speed and pitch as you prefer. Back on the Accessibility screen, tap Select to Speak and turn it on. You can then swipe up with two fingers from the bottom of the screen whenever you need something read out.

Just hit the play icon and you’re up and running. The text-to-speech engine does have a few quirks, and doesn’t use the most natural-sounding voice we’ve ever heard, but it does the job of getting everything from emails to websites read out for you if you can’t look at the screen.

Android being Android, several other apps can lend a hand—the freemium Ping covers texts, emails, and messages from WhatsApp and Facebook, and has modes for driving, exercising, and working. Then there’s the free, ad-supported @Voice Aloud Reader , which works on top of Android’s text-to-speech engine and can read out just about any kind of document or webpage you want, as long as the Android Share option is available.

That should be enough of a selection to keep you going, but bear in mind that several apps come with a read-aloud feature built in. If you’re saving web articles to Pocket or Instapaper to catch up on later, for example, both apps have options to read out saved articles if you don’t want to look at them on screen. In Pocket, tap the Headphones icon at the bottom, and in Instapaper, tap the three dots (top right), and then Speak.

iOS

Over on iOS, you can say, “Hey Siri, read out my text messages” to hear (and reply to) unread text messages. Just set up hands-free operation under Siri & Search in Settings, if it isn’t already. Unlike Android, you can have older messages read out, too: “Hey Siri, read out my older messages.”

Siri used to be able to read out emails, but now it only displays them on screen—to go further, you need to activate some accessibility options. Choose Accessibility in Settings, then select Spoken Content, and Speak Screen (to hear everything on screen) or Speak Selection (to hear only currently selected text). You can configure the iOS text-to-speech engine here as well, from the speed of the speech to the pronunciation it uses.

With Speak Screen enabled, swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers to have the text on screen read out loud (iOS shows playback and speed controls as well). With Speak Selection, select any text on screen, and you get a new Speak option—it works everywhere from Safari to Mail, and the reading will even carry on as you switch to and use other apps on your phone.

Once you’ve enabled the accessibility options through the iOS Settings app, you can launch them through Siri, too, if you need to stay hands-free (though you have to get the right app and page up on screen first). Just say, “Hey Siri, speak screen,” and you get the same end result as you do with a two-finger downward swipe.

Apple being Apple, you don’t get the same choice of third-party reading apps as you do on Android, because they just don’t have the same sort of low-level OS access. One exception is Speaking Email (basic features for free or $5 a month), which can tap into your Google, Microsoft, or Yahoo inboxes and read them out for you.

As on Android, if you’re using Instapaper or Pocket to save articles from the web that you can’t get around to immediately, you can use the text-to-speech features built into those apps to listen to pages you’ve saved as well. The option is behind the Share menu in Instapaper and the Headphones icon in Pocket.

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How do i stop my phone from reading text messages aloud ?

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‎11-08-2020 07:55 PM in

I absolutely HATE the sudden reading of my text messages out loud . sitting at my desk and “YOU HAVE A TEXT MESSAGE FROM “. then it goes on to read the private message to my colleagues, mom, boss . I cant figure out how to turn it off, pretty sure a hammer will solve it but that will probably void my warranty. right ?

Can anyone help me out?!

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‎11-08-2020 08:06 PM in

@JIMMYJONES123: Please can you confirm the model number and current Android version of your device, and I will look into this for you. In the meantime, try going to Settings > Accessibility > Screen Reader > Voice Assistant > Off, or look for a text-to-speech option, and switch it off.

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‎11-08-2020 08:58 PM in

Thanks for the quick reply.

Model number SM-G950W and Android Version is 9 both those options are already off.

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‎11-08-2020 09:02 PM in

Actually there are 2 text to speech options google and the general/Language and input one. that onoe doesnt let me turn it off. just change the language pitch and Speech rate.

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‎12-08-2020 01:22 AM in

For a service to read your text messages they would normally need notification access.

In settings>apps>(3 dots)special access>notification access

Do you have anything other than led icon, Samsung dex, or smart view turned on?

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‎21-08-2020 12:26 PM in

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‎25-02-2021 05:11 PM in

I have been having the same problem. Samsung Note 8- using Android 9 – kernal version4.4.153

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‎25-02-2021 05:12 PM in

Everything I can find related to text to speech and accessiblity options for reading outloud text is already off.

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‎06-05-2021 03:32 AM in

Any updates on this?

I have a Note 10+ and am experiencing I think this exact thing. What I’ve figured out so far plus a workaround I’ve figured out.

• Whenever I get a text message my phone announces who it’s from, read the message, and then “open messages”
• The sound happens whether or not I am in silent mode, even if I’m using “do not disturb”
• It’s definitely the Google voice service, when I tweaked the pitch, it changed when I got my next text.
• I have no Bixby routines, I’ve deleted all of them to completely rule that out.
• It’s the stock messaging app by samsung which is affected. I downloaded the Google messages app and made it the default messaging app and it works! So while that’s good, and I don’t have to deal with it all the time, it’s not an actual fix.
• I’ve also scoured the accessibility settings and text-to-speech and haven’t found anything

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• ‘)” data-event=”social share” data-info=”Reddit” aria-label=”Share on Reddit”>
• ‘)” data-event=”social share” data-info=”Flipboard” aria-label=”Share on Flipboard”>

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You can utilize Google’s Text-to-Speech service by adjusting settings from your phone’s accessibility screen. Choose what text will be read, how your phone will provide feedback, and view a short tutorial on how text-to-speech works to enhance your device. Once enabled, hover over anything you want to learn more details about and your phone will read text aloud. To project text-to-speech through a headset, simply connect your wired or Bluetooth headset to your phone and activate it before you select the text you want read aloud.

Press the Menu key and tap on “Settings” or “System Settings.”

Scroll through your settings until you locate “Accessibility” and tap on that.

Tap on “TalkBack” or “Text-to-Speech” and slide the bar at the top right-hand side to “On.”

Configure your text to speech options by tapping “Settings” at the bottom of the screen. You can ask your phone to speak the caller ID of anyone that calls you, in addition to whether or not your device will speak when the screen is off.

Connect your headset to your device. If it is a Bluetooth set, you will need to enable Bluetooth functionality on your Android. Tap the menu button followed by “System Settings” and then tap on the “Bluetooth” slider to activate it. Wired headsets will enable the moment they are plugged into the headphone jack of your device.

Touch your screen to use the text-to-speech service, which reads descriptions of what you are hovering over. You can scroll up or down with two fingers on the screen, then use one finger to select an individual app or block of text by swiping it along the screen. Your Android will automatically read anything you touch, as well as provide vocal feedback for actions like turning off your screen.

Engaged Learning

Because Android is a fragmented platform some of the apps below may not work on specific devices. The Amazon Kindle Fire player is a modified version of Android. So it may not offer some of the following apps because users are restricted by the version of the operating system and in which app stores they have access to. For all apps that are listed there are links provided for which app store it can be obtained from. The two app stores we will reference are the Google Play Store and the Amazon App Store for Android. The Google Nexus, Google Play edition, and Google Pixel devices will always give the best results because they run a stock version of android.

Android does not have great built-in tools for reading text for people with learning disabilities. To get a clipboard reader you will need to download third party apps like @Voice Aloud Reader or EZ Text to Speech Pro. Android does however have a larger list of lower cost reading apps for ebooks than iOS.

TalkBack

To turn on TalkBack

Easy Text to Speech Pro

@Voice Aloud Reader

@Voice Aloud Reader is a decent reading app that has both the features for a clipboard reader and for a document reader for PDF and Word docs. You can also cut and paste any text you want to have read out loud. The program will open and extract the text from documents like PDF files before displaying them in the document view. You can also open files with @Voice Aloud that appear in your Dropbox app.

Voice Dream Reader

Voice Dream Reader is an excellent reading program that will read PDF, Word, Text, HTML, and ePub. It will also read documents for people that have a Bookshare.org subscription. Voice Dream can also display either the original llayout of the PDF or a plain text document when reading PDF files. Voice Dream highlights text as it reads through the document.

On Android it is better if files are opened with Voice Dream than if files are imported with the Add button in the app like on iOS. This seems to be the trick with most reading apps used on Android.