Common Sense Media Review
By Christine Elgersma
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Built-in assistive tool helps by reading on-screen text.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Google TalkBack
Parent and Kid Reviews
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
GOOGLE TALKBACK is usually found in the Accessibility area of Android devices. Once you select it, you'll need to grant a series of permissions around what the app can see and control. There's a tutorial that walks you through its basic functions and the various gestures you can use to perform specific tasks, like swiping up and left or down and right. To select an app on a device, touch it once to hear its name, and then double-tap to select. The same is true for letters as you type. As you browse the web, tap a text block to hear it read.
Is It Any Good?
This assistive app seems to hit the mark for many users, but may not work as well for others. Google TalkBack has many features and gestures that will be helpful to those who need text read to them, but how easily it works may partly depend on your device and operating system. On a Samsung Galaxy Tab A running Android 7.1.1, there were many lags and some instances when text wasn't automatically read. However, that may not be the case for other Android users. Also, the text-to-speech voice and speech patterns sometimes didn't completely match the text, especially when there was all-caps emphasis. Because you'll hear the word "next" often as you tap the Next button, it would be great to have it read more accurately; as it stands, it's pronounced in a strange way. All in all, however, this free utility is a great addition for Android users who will benefit from having text read to them.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how apps like Google TalkBack might help kids with visual impairments use devices more easily. How does it help? Are there ways it could improve?
Talk about other ways kids with text-based difficulties can get extra help. Do fonts make a difference? Does it help to see only one line of text at a time?
App Details
- Device : Android
- Subjects : Language & Reading : letter or word recognition , reading
- Skills : Self-Direction : academic development , Communication : listening
- Pricing structure : Free
- Release date : January 25, 2018
- Genre : Utilities
- Publisher : Google LLC
- Version : 6.1
- Minimum software requirements : Android 5.0 or later
- Last updated : September 26, 2024
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