Turn off text-to-speech
jrh4054
Specialist - Level 3

How do I turn off the text-to-speech?  I have followed the instructions in the user guide (attached).  Even though the instructions are wrong, when I get to the right place in the settings, there is no option to turn off the text-to-speech.  I need help.

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1 Solution
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

jrh4054,

After review, I was able to find that there is a Text-to-Speech option in the Accessibility setting. To get there go to Settings>My Device>Accessibility>Text-to-speech options. If you find there are no settings in this section that will help eliminate the device reading out your text messages, we may recommend a hard reset.

Did this issue begin as soon as the device was activated or did it begin sometime after a recent software update?

EfrainM_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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Dave-in-Decatur
Specialist - Level 2

I'm not sure you can turn it off altogether. It is used, for instance, to give turn-by-turn directions in Maps (which means you can use these settings to change the voice you hear). What is a situation where it's giving you text-to-speech and you don't want to hear it?

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jrh4054
Specialist - Level 3

Dave, see my answer to Ann154 about when this happens.

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Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

If the phone is talking to you for everything, that's a setting under the Accessibility options. You might have to touch an item twice to make a selection and accept that selection for the phone to respond to your commands.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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jrh4054
Specialist - Level 3

Thanks for the reply.  I've checked the Accessibility settings and don't see anything there causing this.  What's happening is the phone speaks text messages I receive when the volume is higher than vibrate.  This just started and it's very annoying.

Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

It reads the actual messages to you? Or does it state "You have a text message." as a notification?

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

Do you have "Hands-free mode" or "Driving Mode" turned on? For the tabbed view of the Settings, it is Settings > My device > hands free mode.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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tikibar1
Community Leader
Community Leader

settings > accessibility > talkback (ensure it's off)

settings > hands-free mode (ensure it's off)

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Dave-in-Decatur
Specialist - Level 2

I'll bet a Christmas cookie it's Hands-free mode that got turned on accidentally. This can also be controlled from the Notifications settings (it may be fairly deep in the list). It used to be called "Driving mode," and still is called that in the User Guide. On p. 33: "Driving mode: Enable or disable Driving mode, to have incoming caller ID and text messages read out." The User manual in the on-phone Help does now call it "Hands-free mode."

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tikibar1
Community Leader
Community Leader

It was changed to Hands-free Mode with the update to 4.3

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jrh4054
Specialist - Level 3

Thanks to all of you who have responded to my question.  The 'hands-free' mode is off on the phone.  The phone announces an incoming text and reads it aloud.  It's very annoying.  It doesn't happen with the phone is set to just vibrate.

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

jrh4054, this is a good question. I know I definitely wouldn't want my text messages to be read out loud all the time. When you pull down the notification bar from the home screen. You should have options on the top that are either Green or Grayed out, if you slide through those options you should see one that says "Hands-free mode" and it looks like a steering wheel. If that is green go ahead and tap on that to make it gray. Let me know if that stops the reading out of your text messages.

KevinR_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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jrh4054
Specialist - Level 3

KevinR_VZW, as I have told others here, the hands free feature is off.  In fact, I have never had it on.  Any other ideas?

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Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

Can you post screenshots of your notification bar showing the icons for the various settings? Maybe the community members will see something that hasn't been tried already. Please make sure that the screenshots don't include any personal information.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

jrh4054,


Oh my, sorry to hear your phone is still reading out your text. I would suggest putting your phone in safe mode and seeing if it still reads out your text. Here are the steps for safe mode: http://vz.to/KqH4GQ. Are you using a third party application? If not then the next step would be to do a hard reset: http://vz.to/1cQhLJc.

KarenC_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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jrh4054
Specialist - Level 3

To Karen C_VZW:  This isn't annoying enough to to a factory reset.  I've had too much experience with the time it takes to get the phone back to where it was before the reset.  I would have to have some sort of catastrophic failure to do the reset. 

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

jrh4054,

After review, I was able to find that there is a Text-to-Speech option in the Accessibility setting. To get there go to Settings>My Device>Accessibility>Text-to-speech options. If you find there are no settings in this section that will help eliminate the device reading out your text messages, we may recommend a hard reset.

Did this issue begin as soon as the device was activated or did it begin sometime after a recent software update?

EfrainM_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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koch720
Newbie

Issue happened after system update in January 2020

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vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

Thank you for clarifying, Koch720. Are you able to complete a hard reset?

 

KourtneyC_VZW

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bassnote
Enthusiast - Level 1

Really? Is this the best that Verizon can do when it cannot properly research an answer for a problem that affects many people. "Just hard reset the phone." The amount of inconvenience this causes for people is unbelievable... to have to factory-reset the phone and go through the process of reloading all the apps, as well as all the custom settings for those apps... and for some people who don't understand that process, then losing data they cannot retrieve. What a ridiculous solution!

KH-Michael
Moderator Emeritus

Due to the age of this thread, it will be locked in order to keep discussions current. If you have the same or a similar question/issue we invite you to start a new thread on the topic.

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