Why is my Prime Video narrating everything?

Amazon Prime Video offers an audio narration feature that describes the visual elements of videos and movies in detail to enable people with visual impairments to enjoy the content. This feature reads aloud descriptions of settings, actions, facial expressions, scene changes, on-screen text, and other visual details.

Sometimes this narration feature can become enabled without the user intentionally turning it on. Having the content suddenly narrated without expecting it can be jarring and unpleasant. This article will provide troubleshooting tips to turn off Prime Video narration and restore normal audio playback.

Checking Your Account’s Accessibility Settings

The narration feature on Prime Video is part of the accessibility options available for those with visual impairments or other needs. You can turn narration on or off in your Prime Video account settings.

On the web, navigate to the Prime Video website and click on your account icon in the upper right corner. In the dropdown menu, select “Settings”. This will open your Prime Video settings page.

Under “Accessibility” you will see options for “Spoken Subtitles” and “Audio Description”. Toggle these on or off as needed. Spoken subtitles will read aloud the text captions on videos. Audio description provides additional narration of key visual details.

In the Prime Video mobile app, open the left side “Navigation Drawer” and select “Settings”. Scroll down to “Accessibility” and you will find the same options to toggle narration and audio description on or off.

Checking these settings will allow you to verify if narration has been enabled for your account, and disable it if not needed.

Sources: Accessibility Features on Prime Video – Amazon.com, Prime Video Accessibility

Verifying Your Device Settings

One of the first troubleshooting steps when Prime Video is unexpectedly narrating everything is to check your device’s own accessibility settings. Both Android and Windows devices have built-in screen readers and other accessibility features that can be enabled, which will cause narration in apps and services like Prime Video.

On an Android device, check the Accessibility settings and look for services like TalkBack or Select to Speak and make sure they are disabled. These provide spoken feedback and can be triggered accidentally.

On Windows 10, go to Settings > Ease of Access > Narrator and make sure the narration options are turned off. As described in this guide, there are some Narrator settings that could be on without you realizing.

Checking your device’s built-in accessibility services will allow you to rule out whether those settings are inadvertently causing Prime Video narration.

Is Someone Else Using Your Account?

One possible reason for narration suddenly being enabled is that someone else using your Prime Video account turned it on. Family members or friends who you’ve shared your login with may have accidentally or intentionally enabled audio description narration without informing you.

Check with anyone who has access to your Prime Video account to see if they enabled narration on a device. Often narration settings save across devices if you’re logged into the same account. So someone turning it on on their smart TV could enable it on your devices too. Just have them double check their accessibility settings to disable narration.

If no one admits to changing the settings, it’s still a good idea to check with shared account users in case narration was enabled accidentally. Sometimes family members, especially kids, may turn on accessibility features without understanding what they do.

Recent App or Device Updates

One common cause of narration suddenly being enabled in Prime Video is a recent app or device software update. For example, Amazon may push an update to the Prime Video app that turns on accessibility features like audio descriptions by default (coolblindtech.com). Similarly, an update to your smart TV, streaming device, smartphone, or tablet could enable system-wide accessibility settings without you realizing it (makeuseof.com).

If you’ve noticed Prime Video narration start after updating the app or your device’s software, this is likely the culprit. Check your device and app settings to see if a recent update changed accessibility options without your knowledge. You may need to manually turn narration back off in Prime Video or your device settings after verifying the app/system update enabled it automatically.

Contacting Amazon Support

If you still cannot resolve the issue after trying the troubleshooting steps above, you may need to contact Amazon Prime Video support directly for additional help. Amazon provides customer service through various channels:

• Call Amazon Prime Video support at 1-888-280-4331. Support representatives are available 24/7.
• Initiate a live chat with an Amazon support agent on the Amazon Prime Video help page.
• Email Amazon customer service by selecting Prime Video and describing your issue on the contact us form.

When you contact Amazon support, provide specific details about your issue, including when it started and steps you’ve already tried. Support agents can access your account details to further diagnose the problem.

Using Third-Party Apps

Some third-party streaming apps can trigger accessibility features like narration without you realizing it. For example, if you watch videos from an app that has its own text-to-speech or voice assistant capabilities enabled, it may be inadvertently turning on similar options in Prime Video as well.

Check the settings of any third-party streaming apps you frequently use and disable any text-to-speech, narration, or voice assistant options within those individual apps. This prevents them from interfering with Prime Video’s settings and triggering narration incorrectly.

Additionally, be mindful of apps that request broad permissions or accessibility access to your device. Restrict their permissions if possible or consider uninstalling unnecessary apps. This reduces the chances of them accidentally enabling Prime Video narration when you don’t want it.

Stick to using the official Prime Video app for watching your content. Third-party apps sometimes have bugs or quirks that conflict with Prime Video’s intended functionality. Avoiding them reduces the risk of issues like inadvertent narration occurring.

Resetting Your Prime Video Settings

Resetting your Prime Video settings to their factory default is one way that may fix the issue of Prime Video narrating everything. This will clear all customized settings and restore the default options.

On a Fire TV device, go to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications. Find Prime Video in the list of apps and select it. Choose the option to clear data and cache. This will reset the app’s data and settings. You may need to sign in again and reconfigure any settings afterward.

On an Android device, go to Settings > Apps & Notifications > See all apps. Find Prime Video and select Storage & Cache > Clear Storage and Clear Cache. On an iOS device, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Find Prime Video and select Offload App, then reinstall it to reset.

You can also visit Amazon’s website for device-specific instructions on fully resetting Prime Video settings and data.

Resetting Prime Video will wipe any customizations made to profiles, parental controls, subtitles, and other settings. But it may correct issues caused by problematic settings or updates. After resetting, you can reconfigure Prime Video as needed.

Switching Playback Devices

One potential solution is to try switching the device you are using to stream Prime Video. The narration feature may be isolated to a certain device or browser. Try streaming Prime Video from a different smartphone, tablet, smart TV, or computer than what you normally use. You can also try using a different web browser on your computer. For example, if you typically use Chrome, try watching in Firefox or Microsoft Edge instead.

If the narration persists across multiple devices and browsers, then the issue is likely with your Prime Video account settings rather than a specific hardware or software problem. However, if the narration stops when you switch playback devices, then you’ve identified the root cause. You may need to troubleshoot, update or reset that particular streaming device or web browser to disable the narration.

Some older or unsupported devices may default to enabling narration due to limited accessibility features. So upgrading your streaming stick or smart TV software may help. Refer to your device manufacturer’s support documentation for instructions on how to update. Alternatively, you can try factory resetting the device and setting up Prime Video again from scratch without narration enabled.

Conclusion

In summary, there are a few potential causes if your Prime Video is suddenly narrating all content aloud. This issue likely stems from an accessibility setting being enabled, either on your Amazon account itself or within your device’s settings. It’s also possible someone else with access to your Prime Video activated this narration feature. While annoying, the good news is this can typically be resolved fairly easily.

First, check your Prime Video settings and your Amazon account’s accessibility options to see if narration or audio description has been turned on. Next, inspect your device’s audio and accessibility settings to see if a screen reader or other narration capability has been activated. You may also want to log out any other devices using your Prime Video account in case someone else enabled this feature. As a last resort, try resetting the Prime Video app, updating your device software, or contacting Amazon support for additional troubleshooting.

With a few simple steps, you should be able to disable the narration and resume enjoying your Prime Video content as normal. Just be sure to methodically check the potential culprits discussed here to identify what setting got flipped on inadvertently.