Setup & Use Select to Speak on Android

Learn how to setup and use select to speak on your Android device.

Setup Select to Speak

Setup a shortcut to use Select to Speak and adjust speech settings such as the reading voice or enable experimental features.

Open Settings
Scroll down and tap Accessibility
Tap Select to Speak
Enable Select to Speak Shortcut
Select a shortcut to enable and use Select to Speak: Accessibility button, Volume keys, or Accessibility gesture (if swipe navigatiion is in use)
Tap Settings to edit more settings:
‣ Text to Speech Settings: Adjust the system speech language, rate, and pitch.
‣ Change Reading Voice: Change the voice Select to Speech uses.
‣ Read in Background (Experimental Feature): Select to Speak will continue reading when youo switch between apps.
‣ Read Text on Images (Experimental Feature): Tap on text within photos or the caera viewfinder to hear text read aloud.

Open Settings
Scroll down and tap Accessibility
Tap Installed Services
Tap Select to Speak
Enable Select to Speak Shortcut
Select a shortcut to enable and use Select to Speak: Accessibility button, Volume keys, or Accessibility gesture (if swipe navigatiion is in use)
Tap Settings to edit more settings:
‣ Text to Speech Settings: Adjust the system speech language, rate, and pitch.
‣ Change Reading Voice: Change the voice Select to Speech uses.
‣ Read in Background (Experimental Feature): Select to Speak will continue reading when youo switch between apps.
‣ Read Text on Images (Experimental Feature): Tap on text within photos or the caera viewfinder to hear text read aloud.

When Select to Speak is enabled, you can do any of the following:

Tap an item to hear it spoken aloud.
Drag your finger accros the screen to select multple items.
Tap Play to hear everything read aloud.
Tap text while using the camera to hear text read aloud in the live camera feed.

Last updated: March 26, 2025

Reference the original support article by Google here: Use Select to Speak - Google Support

All references to Google and their products and services are trade-marked and are used in these articles for educational purposes.