Does Android have announce notifications?
Announce notifications are a feature that reads incoming notifications aloud to users through an audio device like headphones or a speaker. They provide an accessible way for users, especially those with visual impairments, to stay aware of notifications from their devices hands-free. When enabled, announce notifications will speak the name of the app sending the notification and read out its contents. This allows users to receive notifications without needing to look at or touch their device.
What are Announce Notifications?
Announce notifications are a feature that reads aloud incoming notifications from your smartphone. When enabled, your device will speak the contents of notifications through your headphones or speaker, allowing you to hear them without needing to look at your phone’s screen (1).
This differs from regular notifications, which simply display a visual banner, icon badge, or other cue that a new notification has arrived. Users still need to pick up their device and view the screen to actually read those standard notifications. Announce notifications proactively read the messages out loud as they come in (2).
The feature is useful for staying updated without constant visual disruptions, and can help users focus on tasks, exercise, driving, or other situations where glancing at a screen is inconvenient. It promotes accessibility as well. Announce notifications allow users like those who are visually impaired to access notifications hands-free (3).
(1) https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210415
(2) https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210415
(3) https://support.apple.com/en-us/102536
Are Announce Notifications Available in Stock Android?
Announce notifications, which read aloud incoming notifications, are not a native feature in stock Android. The core Android operating system does not include text-to-speech functionality to enable apps and notifications to be read out loud. While Android does provide some basic accessibility features like screen magnification and display color inversion, vocalized notifications require third-party apps and services.
As explained in the Android developer documentation, the standard notifications system in Android allows apps to display alerts and information to the user via the notification shade, status bar, lock screen, and other UI surfaces [1]. However, Android does not natively support converting notification text into speech. The accessibility APIs in Android similarly do not include TTS engines or methods to automatically speak notifications.
Some Android phone manufacturers like Samsung do provide customized versions of Android with added announce notification capabilities through device-specific services. But the core open-source Android OS does not have built-in tools for vocalized notifications accessible to all apps. Users who want announce notifications on stock Android need to utilize third-party accessibility apps.
Third-Party Apps for Announce Notifications
While Android does not have built-in announce notifications, there are a number of third-party apps that provide this functionality. Some popular options include:
Announcer – This app reads aloud incoming notifications from apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Gmail and more. Users can customize the voice, language, notification settings and more.
Spoken Notifications – It reads notifications for emails, texts, WhatsApp, calls and more even when the phone is locked. It also has voice commands to respond and take actions.
Notification Reader: Shouter – Shouter reads out notifications so users don’t have to look at the screen. It supports customization of the voice, speed and language.
These apps provide customizable voice announce notifications for many major apps and messaging platforms. They aim to make Android more accessible by reading notifications aloud. Most offer options to control the voice, language, speed and notification settings.
Accessibility Services
Accessibility Services in Android allow apps to provide features that make using devices easier for people with disabilities. These services give apps access to perform functions like reading screen text aloud, adjusting font sizes, performing gestures, etc. Several third-party apps like Sound Amplifier use accessibility services to provide announce notifications for Android devices.
The apps register themselves as an accessibility service and once enabled can listen for notifications posted by other apps. When a notification is received, the accessibility service can read out the contents aloud to the user. This allows users to get audible announce notifications even if the device doesn’t natively support it.
According to the Android developer documentation, accessibility services run in the background and receive callbacks for various events like notifications. So third-party apps can leverage this to create announce notification features.
How to Enable Announce Notifications
While stock Android does not have built-in announce notifications, there are several third-party apps that can enable this feature. Here are some steps to enable announce notifications using third-party apps:
1. Download an accessibility app like Scribe or Automate from the Play Store. These apps can read aloud notifications from various apps.
2. Enable the accessibility service for the app in your phone’s settings. This allows the app to read notifications.
3. Open the app and enable notification reading. Configure the apps and notifications you want read.
4. Make surenotifications are enabled for the apps you want read. The accessibility app can only read notifications if they are enabled.
5. Some apps may require additional notification access to be granted manually. Follow any setup instructions from the app.
Customizing Announce Notifications
There are several options for customizing announce notifications to meet your specific accessibility needs on Android. This includes choosing different voices, adjusting speech rate and pitch, and controlling volume levels.
The built-in TalkBack screen reader in Android allows you to select from a variety of text-to-speech voices that will speak your notifications aloud (source: https://developer.android.com/develop/ui/views/notifications/custom-notification). You can test drive the different voices to find one that is clear and comfortable for you to listen to.
In the TalkBack settings you can also adjust the speech rate, pitch, and volume of the announcement voices. This helps you tweak the voice to be louder, slower, higher or lower pitched according to your preferences (source: https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-change-create-android-notification-sounds-4783114).
For even more customization options, third-party accessibility apps like AutomateIt allow granular control over all speech and sound aspects of your announce notifications. You can use text-to-speech to generate custom voices, adjust tone and cadence, and pipe notifications through specialized audio filters.
Limitations
Despite the benefits of announce notifications on Android, there are some limitations to be aware of:
Android imposes limits on notifications that can impact announce notifications. For example, only the first notification per second makes a sound. So if multiple announce notifications are triggered rapidly, some may not be audibly announced.
Additionally, the maximum character length for notification titles is limited to 65, while the description is capped at 240 characters according to CleverTap. This restricts how much detail can be included in each announce notification.
There are also potential inconsistencies in how different Android devices handle announce notifications based on their version of Android, UI skins like Samsung Experience, and accessibility settings. So the experience may not be uniform across all devices.
While announce notifications help increase accessibility, they are not a complete solution. Users who are blind or have limited vision may require additional tools like screen readers to fully access a device.
The Future of Announce Notifications
While Android does not yet have built-in announce notifications, there are signs this could change in the future as Google works to improve accessibility and personalization of notifications. This Computerworld article discusses how Android notifications could become more intelligent and customizable in the future, adapting to user preferences. For example, allowing users to set quiet hours, snooze notifications, or have them read aloud at certain times.
Google has also introduced new notification features like Bubbles and Conversations to improve the notification experience on Android. As noted in the Android developer documentation, Conversations allows collapsing message notifications from the same sender to reduce clutter. Bubbles and Conversations show Google’s increased focus on making notifications more user-centric.
Given these developments, it seems likely Google will add more advanced accessibility features like built-in announce notifications in future Android versions. The company has been working to improve Android accessibility over time. As users increasingly expect more customization of their notification experience, announce notifications could become a standard feature that helps Android better serve the needs of diverse users.
Conclusion
Announce notifications can be handy for people who want their notifications read aloud. This allows you to be made aware of notifications without having to keep checking your phone or even look at the screen. While stock Android does not have built-in support for announce notifications, there are many popular third party apps you can use to enable this functionality. Things like the Accessibility API and resource-intensive services mean full-fledged announce notifications are difficult to implement at the OS level. However, with third party solutions you can get customizable announce notifications, even if certain limitations exist. The good news is Android continues to evolve, and future releases may include deeper announce notification capabilities.
In summary, getting Android to read notifications aloud requires installing additional software like Automate or Tasker. While not included in stock Android yet, the third party development community has come up with effective solutions for announcement-style notifications. As Android matures as a platform, we may see more robust implementations directly within the OS.