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Conflict between android talkback and google assistant on samsung phone (self.Blind)
submitted by locutus123
Hi, I am helping a friend who is fully blind setup a samsung A12 phone with Android 11. She is used to a screen reader on windows and is now learning to use talkback. Google assistant can do many things via voice command, so we gave it a try. I turned on assistant and got my friend's voice trained for hey google / ok google.
However, our problem is that once you say 'hey google', talkback immediately starts talking about what is onscreen and google assistant starts speaking simultaneously and its very confusing. Depending on context sometimes after talkback finishes speaking, google assistant is still listening but not always, making it very difficult to use.
The workaround I came up with is to use the shortcut of holding down the volume keys to temporarily turn off talkback, use the assistant, and then reactivate talkback, which is slow and clunky.
Has anyone else had this experience? I'm not sure if we haven't setup things correctly or if the two apps weren't intended to be used together.
Further, when we did try assistant with talkback turned off, the accessibility settings to have google assistant make a sound when it stops and starts listening don't seem to work. This makes its hard for her to tell if the assistant is listening or not. I tried checking volume, turning on and off and restarting and regardless it makes no notification.
It's been rather frustrating so any advice would be welcome - thank you!
However, our problem is that once you say 'hey google', talkback immediately starts talking about what is onscreen and google assistant starts speaking simultaneously and its very confusing. Depending on context sometimes after talkback finishes speaking, google assistant is still listening but not always, making it very difficult to use.
The workaround I came up with is to use the shortcut of holding down the volume keys to temporarily turn off talkback, use the assistant, and then reactivate talkback, which is slow and clunky.
Has anyone else had this experience? I'm not sure if we haven't setup things correctly or if the two apps weren't intended to be used together.
Further, when we did try assistant with talkback turned off, the accessibility settings to have google assistant make a sound when it stops and starts listening don't seem to work. This makes its hard for her to tell if the assistant is listening or not. I tried checking volume, turning on and off and restarting and regardless it makes no notification.
It's been rather frustrating so any advice would be welcome - thank you!
pictouguy 6 points 1y ago
This is something that Samsung had to fix. I dumped Samsung long ago for that very reason. In fact the issue you describe with your Samsung was apparently an issue on the Pixel series but I could never duplicate this error that others seem to have. Good luck.
DHamlinMusic 6 points 1y ago
Ah, this explains why that issue vanished at some point between when I got my Pixel 4 Midway through 20 20 when it was still running Android 10.5 and now with it running Android 12.
locutus123 [OP] 3 points 1y ago
thanks for your reply! that's very dissapointing that samsung has not addressed this accessibility problem. Thanks for pointing out the new google phones seem to have corrected this (I'd also been told that apple phones don't have this issue either) - will look into exchanging the new samsung phone if possible, or else keep turning talk back on and off manually
pictouguy 0 points 1y ago
Oh no. Don't lock your friend in rotten Apple's walled garden. Apple also has a nasty habit of pulling an entire feature set without notice or explanation. Grab a Pixel 6. Don't bother with the pro unless you really need the zoom lens. Go through the TalkBack tutorial. You can dm me if you have questions.
DHamlinMusic 1 points 1y ago
I second this position entirely, I would note that the pixel 5a came out last August just before the 6th released and is about $200 less than the 6 with all of the same features for the most part I'm not sure entirely what the real major difference is are or if they're relevant for any reason to this subject.
pictouguy 1 points 1y ago
The biggest difference in the Pixel 6 is the Tensor chip. To me at least Tensor is important because it performs several functions offline as well as other on device tasks that allows you to maintain privacy. Also the Pixel line is guaranteed 5 years of software updates. Another advantage is that under the Pixel line you can actually extend the devices life beyond what Google will give you.
Edit: Another really awesome thing the P6 does extremely well is read human printing. So you can now read a note someone wrote. Or you can now read print mail without the need of a spouse or partner.
Edit: Another really awesome thing the P6 does extremely well is read human printing. So you can now read a note someone wrote. Or you can now read print mail without the need of a spouse or partner.
DHamlinMusic 2 points 1y ago
Yeah, unfortunately this is a problem that I'm not sure I've even found in a solution for and I've been dealing with it for more than a year and a half. Best solution I've found is that the assistant voice is tied to the media volume slider, whereas talkback is tied to the accessibility volume so you can set media volume on but very low and it is less frustrating to deal with. As for the assistant notification sound, I am not actually sure I have ever noticed that in general on my phone, I have noticed it on other Google devices such as smart speakers and whatnot where it is a helpful indicator that the device is listening, but on the phone I don't actually know if it even exists despite a setting being there for it.
Edit: based on a another reply to OP, it seems this issue has mostly been resolved in first party Google devices AKA pixel phones. I should have noted that the issue on my experience is less common currently as it was when I got my phone initially. I don't use the assistant much more than making calls so I headed actually noted that it is less frequently doing this as of late.
Edit: based on a another reply to OP, it seems this issue has mostly been resolved in first party Google devices AKA pixel phones. I should have noted that the issue on my experience is less common currently as it was when I got my phone initially. I don't use the assistant much more than making calls so I headed actually noted that it is less frequently doing this as of late.
locutus123 [OP] 2 points 1y ago
Thank you for your reply! That is dissapointing that the two don't seem to work in harmony. I didn't know about the separate volume controls and will give that a try. Regarding the assistant notification, the settings screen seem to say it should be for the phone itself, but maybe its intended for paired speakers like you suggest. I'll keep researching. I was hoping talkback might have a way to exlcude some apps from being read aloud and could add google assistant to that list, but don't think thats possible.
DHamlinMusic 2 points 1y ago
Just because I could not remember where it was located I went and looked for the setting to have the assistant make a noise when it's listening and cannot find it, it is possible that it was removed between Android 11 and 12 as my phone is a pixel 4 running 12. One additional suggestion I can make is set at the very least ring tone sounds just to vibrate as talkback will announce caller ID and if you have a ringtone they will conflict with each other and it's just incoherent.
locutus123 [OP] 2 points 1y ago
Thanks for the tip on the notification/announcing of caller id. And thanks for the point on the google phone vs. samsung the phone - will look into if my friend wants to keep the phone or perhaps exchange as its only a few weeks old.
DHamlinMusic 3 points 1y ago
Yeah I wouldn't suggest changing phones just for that if the phone is rather new, Google releases their budget versions of the Pixel models usually the following August so the Pixel 6a should be announced next summer at some point. Those tend to be about 40 to 50% cheaper than the flagship version of the same number, and starting with the Pixel 6 they dropped the face unlock and return to fingerprint sensors which I really would like my phone to have but it doesn't and that makes me sad. I'm not one to normally get a new phone every year, I tend to keep a phone for two to three years or until my carrier stop supporting it. But I am tempted as the Pixel 6 was already significantly cheaper than previous flagship models starting at around 600 US dollars so the 6A if the price difference between the flagship and budget versions stays about the same should come in around 350 to 400 US dollars which I would be willing to spend to get a new phone sooner rather than wait a couple more years.
Speaker-Swimming 0 points 1y ago
Hey guys I am looking for help my father is slowly losing the rest of his site. I just want too do everything for him so u know how that is going😄 can I get put in the right direction too make his use positive ? He loves otr, tune in , but now he barely able to get the sites running he tries too stay "lite" abt it but he is my daddy and this hurts seeing him unable to complete a task on his phone. Its a Samsung something . again thank you for listening I will continue looking it would make it easier if I knew where too go.... Thank you. Hope in California
TechnicalPragmatist 1 points 1y ago
Have you tried to turn on the screen reader which is talk back?
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