Samsung and Google have partnered to bring the ultimatescreen reading experiencefor Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets. Samsung packed its voice assistant with Google’s TalkBack feature to provide audio feedback for those with low vision and loss of eyesight. Thanks to some handiwork by Samsung, you canchange gesture controls on your Galaxyto make TalkBack more intuitive and comfortable with your hands.
To help you get started with this nifty unified screen reader, we walk you through how to turn on TalkBack while outlining some discoverable features on yourhandy Samsung phoneand tablet.
How to use the TalkBack feature on Samsung
Turning on Samsung TalkBack invites a voice assistant to talk through everything presented on the screen, including what you touch while navigating through an app, reading aloud the focused text displayed on the page, reading the notifications that show up, and describing all the buttons and menus you’re currently touching. To help you understand what Samsung TalkBack brings to Galaxy devices, here are some of the main features of TalkBack:
6 best Samsung Galaxy motions and gestures
Activate these motions and gestures for a better experience
How to turn on Samsung TalkBack
Samsung TalkBack operates with gesture-based controls. You don’t have to rely on finding precise locations for buttons and accidentally touching these commands (which may prompt you away from the menu or screen). To activate Samsung TalkBack, navigate to your device’s settings and select it from the accessibility options. We walk you through how to do so below.
Ensure your text-to-speech settings match your system’s language. Your device may flag you if your system language differs from your settings.
To change your text-to-speech settings, return to your device’s TalkBack settings, selectText-to-speech settings>Language, and chooseEnglish (United States)for US-based devices.
How to turn off Samsung TalkBack
Since TalkBack is turned on, every tappable step requires two taps to confirm your selection while swiping with two fingers to maneuver through the menu. you’re able to also manually turn off Samsung TalkBack by revisiting your settings. Read our steps below to learn more.
Holding down both volume buttons on your device for three seconds turns Samsung TalkBack on and off without going to your settings.
Paving our way to more accessibility on Android
Android 14 improved and brought additional accessibilityoptions for Android users. While accessibility features still have a way to go for those with low vision or who are hard of hearing, the efforts are appreciated. Samsung’s introduction to custom gestures shows we are heading in the right direction. As Android gains more sizable updates, we will get moreaccessibility options that can get us caught up to Apple.
