How to turn off voice control on my android phone

Dave Johnson

Freelance Writer

Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.

Did you just pick up your phone, and it starts talking to you? Like it's reading aloud what's on your screen to you? Well, you might be wondering at first, but you don’t need to. It’s the Android TalkBack feature at work. And here, we’ll tell you how to turn off TalkBack on Android if you don’t need it. 

TalkBack is an accessibility service developed to help visually impaired and blind people use Android devices to their fullest. It acts as a screen-reader and controller when activated. With that, the visually impaired, blind, or anyone who chooses to enable it can have eyes-free control of their device. Meaning, you’ll be able to control your device without looking at the screen. 

TalkBack has continued to be a beneficial feature on Android. Of course, it brings the fullest of Android to anyone alive. However, if your eyes are clearly working and you’re not feeling lazy, waking up to see your phone speak to you can be worrisome. Not just that, using TalkBack for the first time can be tiring, at least if you’re used to controlling your device in one tap. 

Well, you're probably not here to learn how to turn off TalkBack. Instead, let us help you get rid of it. The following content contains various ways on how to turn off TalkBack on your Android. Try any of them to see which one works for you. 

How to permanently turn off TalkBack on Android 

Turning off TalkBack on Android devices is straightforward. You can turn it off using the volume keys, Google Assistant, or by going to the Accessibility settings on your device. Here are the three ways in which you can disable TalkBack on Android. 

Before you start, the procedures might be slightly different on different Android phones, Android versions, or the TalkBack app version. However, the steps are pretty simple to follow. 

Method 1: How to disable TalkBack using the volume key shortcut 

The fastest way to disable TalkBack on your Android device is using the Volume buttons. While setting up TalkBack on your phone, you’ll see an option to enable an Accessibility shortcut for it. If you enabled it, then you can disable TalkBack easily with the volume buttons. 

• Locate the Volume keys on your device.
• Press and hold the two Volume keys for 3 seconds.
• You’ll hear theTalkBackvoice saying “TalkBack OFF”. That means you’ve disabled the accessibility feature on your device. 

If TalkBack won’t turn off using the volume key accessibility shortcut on Android, try the next method below. 

Method 2: Turn off TalkBack from the device’s Accessibility settings 

The second and standard method of disabling TalkBack on Android devices is via the Settings app. You need to find the Accessibility options and disable the TalkBack feature from there. 

Note: Since TalkBack is activated already, you’ll need to double-tap to select anything on the screen. Keep that in mind and follow these steps to disable TalkBack. 

• Launch the Settings app on your device.
• Click on Accessibility.
• TapTalkBack
• Click on the switch next to “UseTalkBack”
• Finally, tap STOP to permanently disableTalkBackon your Android device 

Method 3: How To Turn off TalkBack using Google Assistant 

Asides from going to the device settings or long-pressing the two-volume buttons for 3 seconds, another way to turn off TalkBack on Android is talking to the Assistant. As you probably already know, the Google Assistant is capable of doing nearly anything on your Android phone. The same goes for disabling TalkBack. Here’s how: 

• Launch the Assistant by any means
• Say “Turn of talk back”
• You should receive a response confirming the request.

How to turn off Accessibility Shortcut on Android 

As earlier mentioned, the accessibility shortcut on Android lets you disable or enable any accessibility service installed on your device with the volume buttons. You’ll usually see an option to turn on “Volume key shortcut” whenever you enable an accessibility service, like TalkBack. 

However, there are chances you want to disable it, maybe you no longer need it, or you need the volume buttons for another shortcut. If that's it, follow these steps to turn off Accessibility Shortcut on Android: 

Android 11: 

• Launch the Settings app and select Accessibility.
• Tap the Service/App you want to turn off its shortcut. You can selectTalkBack, for instance.
• Then, tap theTalkBackshortcut. 
• Turn off the two shortcuts, then tap Save.

Android 10 and below: 

• Launch the Settings app and select Accessibility.
• Tap Volume key shortcuts.
• Tap “Use service” to disable any accessibility shortcut service you’ve registered already.

How to turn off TalkBack on the lock screen 

Asides from disabling the accessibility shortcut on Android completely, you may also turn off TalkBack on the lock screen. That doesn't mean it won't work on the lock screen. Rather, you or anyone won't be able to enable TalkBack or any other accessibility service from the lock screen using the volume buttons gesture. 

Turning off TalkBack on the lock screen can be advantageous for privacy reasons or in the sense that your phone won't start talking to you when locked. Follow these steps to disallow TalkBack from the lock screen. 

Android 11: 

• Launch the Settings app
• Select Accessibility, then scroll to the bottom.
• Under EXPERIMENTAL, turn off “Shortcut from lock screen”

Android 10 and below: 

• Open your device Settings.
• Tap Accessibility
• Select Volume key shortcut
• Turn off “Allow from lock screen”.

That’s it. You’ve gotten rid of TalkBack on your device successfully. If you ever need to re-enable it, you can always reverse the procedures. 

With no compromise, Accessibility services are quite useful on Android. And when it comes to TalkBack, it’s indeed a beneficial feature on Android that aims to connect more people, bringing the best of a modern smartphone to the disabled. 

However, if you’ve mistakenly enabled TalkBack on your device and you don’t know how to disable it, the methods and steps mentioned in this article will surely help you. And if you later change your mind, or someone needs to activate TalkBack on his/her device, be cheerful to help them with this article. 

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